Teens close in on zero-G science

Can zero gravity open the way to better fungicides, novel types of liquid circuitry and magnets ... and previously unseen snowflake shapes? Those are the kinds of questions that six teams of teens want to answer as they move into the final phase of the YouTube Space Lab competition.

The regional winners were named today and will gather in Washington next month for a series of events and tours, including a March 22 awards ceremony. The contest is divided into two age categories, for 14- to 16-year-olds and 17- to 18-year-olds. Three teams were selected in each category to represent the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Europe/Africa/Middle East region.

While they're in Washington, the teens will be treated to a weightless airplane flight and a special tour and dinner at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, which will be home to the retired space shuttle Discovery by that time.

The regional winners were chosen in a process that was guided by judges as well as by votes cast by more than 150,000 YouTube users. Next month, the judges will announce the top teams in the two age categories. Those teams will have their zero-G experiments run on the International Space Station and live-streamed on YouTube over a Lenovo laptop. The two top teams can travel to Japan this summer to watch their experiment launch as part of Japan's robotic HTV-3 space station supply mission — or they can choose to go through cosmonaut training in Russia once they turn 18.

One of the experiments would send a bacteria with fungus-fighting properties, known as Bacillus subtilis, into space to see whether growth in weightlessness enhances its virulence. Earlier experiments have shown that to be the case for salmonella bacteria, a common culprit in food poisoning.

The other proposed experiments would study how zero-G affects surfactants, ferrofluid magnets, ice crystallization, heat transfer and even the hunting habits of jumping spiders. Rather than going into the details here, let's have the regional winners themselves explain their research:

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

The Space Lab competition is sponsored by YouTube, Lenovo and Space Adventures, in cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The man behind the idea is Zahaan Bharmal, Google's head of marketing operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

"This grand project demonstrates that math and science matter," Bharmal said in today's announcement of the regional winners. "These six winners represent the next generation of scientists and even space explorers. Their families, schools, local communities and countries should be very proud."

Amen to that.

More about student science projects:

• Hey, kids! Put your space experiment in orbit
• Biochemist bags top prize at Google Science Fair
• Obama takes his best shot at White House science fair
• Formerly homeless teen gets presidential shout-out

Alan Boyle is science editor at msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding the Cosmic Log Google+ page to your circles. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.