These Students Are Developing Bacteria That Eats Our Plastic Pollution

''While most of us spent our student years working a little and partying quite a bit, Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao have used their time for something more productive: developing bacteria that can break down ocean-bound plastic waste. Having first worked on the problem in high school, they have since filed two patents, founded a company, and raised about $400,000. They're still only 22 and 21 years old.

The students recently picked up the latest in several awards: the $30,000 Perlman Grand Prize at the 2016 Wharton Business Plan Competition. That and four other prizes from Wharton: the Wharton Social Impact Prize, the Gloeckner Undergraduate Award, the Michelson People’s Choice Award, and the Committee Award for Most "Wow Factor." They're the first undergraduates to win the Perlman, and the first students to win all five awards, according to the University of Pennsylvania (home to Wharton business school)...''

by BEN SCHILLER