--- title: Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year | TIME description: Meet the 15-year-old scientist who could change how we treat skin cancer. canonical: https://time.com/video/JCGMEpTy/ og:title: Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year og:description: Meet the 15-year-old scientist who could change how we treat skin cancer. og:url: https://time.com/video/JCGMEpTy/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JCGMEpTy/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year twitter:description: Meet the 15-year-old scientist who could change how we treat skin cancer. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JCGMEpTy/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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[Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year?](/video/L68zaUg4/) ### Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year? --- ## Transcript [00:00] My name is Haman Bekele. [00:03] I'm 15-years-old, and I love science creating, [00:07] and I recently made skin cancer treating soap. [00:15] My interest in skin cancer came growing up in Ethiopia, [00:19] where I saw so many people that were working really long hours under the hot sun. [00:24] But when I came here to America, [00:26] I realized how big of a problem the sun and [00:28] UV radiation is when you're exposed to it for really long periods of time. [00:32] And so that's what inspired me to go towards skin cancer because really, right now, [00:36] there are no affordable and accessible alternatives [00:39] to the really pricey treatment in the market. [00:47] Far before I was mixing ingredients for soap. [00:51] I would just mix together potions looking for a reaction and I would call them potions. [00:55] But really, they were just dish soap, laundry detergent, [00:58] common household chemicals, and, you know, [01:01] hide them under my bed, see what would happen if I left them overnight. [01:04] So my parents always worried, [01:06] I would one day burn down the house, [01:07] and it never ended up happening. [01:09] But at that age, I was more just developing initial curiosity. [01:13] Every. [01:30] Hi, I'm Human Mica, [01:33] and I'm here to end melanoma. Cats. [01:36] The three Mung scientist challenge was where I [01:38] first was given the platform to share my ideas. [01:41] What is the universal product that almost everybody uses or knows how to use? [01:46] Cream, kind of, lotion kind of, [01:49] they could all work, but really soap. [01:52] Amos everybody uses soap, [01:54] water, some form of. [01:55] And so as that universal product, [01:57] we chose that soap would probably be the best option. [02:01] Doesn't the active ingredient rinse off when the soap rinses off? [02:06] That's a great question. So the purpose of [02:09] the lipid based nanoparticle is it wraps around the drug itself, which is imiquimod. [02:14] And so once the nanoparticles are loaded with that drug, [02:17] what happens is the bar of soap goes onto the skin, [02:20] the water would wash the soaps and suds away, [02:22] but then the drug would stay on the skin at a very molecular level. [02:26] I had a lot of mentors, [02:28] and I always stressed the importance of mentorship, [02:30] and they really did help me with not only getting the ingredients, [02:33] but also learning how to synthesize lipid based nanoparticles. [02:38] I personally hope one day that [02:40] skin cancer treating soap can turn into a more not for profit organization, [02:44] where we can really just distribute it to people that need it the most. [02:48] So what do you do for fun? For one, [02:52] the marching band season starting up again, [02:54] and I love participating in marching band, [02:56] as well as that, I play chess, [02:57] which is something that I absolutely love. [03:00] I love to read. I love playing basketball. [03:02] I just try to fit in time when I'm not doing research to pursue my own hobbies, [03:07] not necessarily to be the best at them, [03:09] but just to have a really good time. [03:11] A lot of people have this mindset that everything's been done. [03:14] There's nothing left for me to do. [03:16] T anybody having that thought, [03:18] we'll never run out of ideas in this world. [03:20] Just keep inventing, keep thinking of new ways to [03:22] improve on our world and just keep making it a better place. 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