LIFE

It’s been a year for crazy inventions, and engineering among tweens and teens is no different. In the past month or so, youth across the country have been submitting their designs to engineering and science contests—and winning major moolah. Others have just been tinkering with incredible success. Here are a few wow-worthy projects to inspire you…

OK, maybe not quite that far, but New Jersey high school senior Justin Beckerman has built a one-man submarine that really works. Justin, 18, spent $950 and countless hours crafting his vessel, which can dive about 30 feet deep. Take a look at the video below, and read the full story here.

We love our smartphones, but the one downer is that have to be plugged in for ages pretty much every day. But thanks to Eesha Khara, an 18-year-old Californian, that might be thing of the past in the not-too-distant future. According to Mashable, her entry to the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair was a super-capacitor that has the potential to charge a phone in 20 to 30 seconds. She scored $50,000 for her invention, which she plans to put toward her Harvard University tuition this fall. 

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