YouTube Competition Allows Teens to Launch Ideas Into Space

Six teams from throughout the world are in the running to have one of their experiments performed aboard the International Space Station and live-streamed on as part of a global event the company has organized to celebrate science and space. 

San Bruno-based YouTube announced the regional winners of its Space Lab competition on Wednesday on the company's blog. More than 100,000 people cast votes for their favorite science experiments, and, along with a panel of judges, they helped select the teams moving on to the final stage of the competition. 

The 14- to 16-year-old regional winning teams are:

• Asia Pacific region: Is space too cold for life to exist? by Patrick Zeng & Derek Chan from New Zealand
• Europe, Middle East and Africa region: Could weightless liquids be the key to better gadgets? by Laura Calvo & María Vilas from Spain
• The Americas region: Could alien superbugs cure disease on Earth? by Dorothy Chen & Sara Ma from the U.S.

The 17- to 18-year-old regional winning teams are:

• Asia Pacific region: Could liquid magnets take us deeper into space? by Sachin Kukke from India
• Europe, Middle East and Africa region: Can you teach an old spider new tricks? by Amr Mohamed from Egypt
• The Americas region: Could a snowflake unlock the mysteries of the universe? by Emerald Bresnahan from the U.S. 

The six teams will get to travel to Washington, D.C., where YouTube will announce two global winners—one team from each age group, the company said. 

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