Jasmine Roberts
The Huffington Post website as well as many others have disturbingly run a story on “a group of microbiologists at Virginia’s Hollins University” that supposedly found “alarming levels of bacteria, possibly from feces, in fast-food soda fountains.”
Well, Jasmine Roberts, a 15-year old scientist in Florida would be surprised to hear that this is their discovery. Back in 2006, when she was merely 12-years old, she was one of the Whiz Kids on Oprah telling millions of her viewers about her scientific discovery of the exact same thing. She even showed how toilet water had less bacteria in it than the ice and water used for the soda machines.
Her brother Justus Roberts II, is also a scientist. At the time of the Oprah show, he was working on groundbreaking stem cell research at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His study found a treatment using umbilical cord blood stem cells that could be given to stroke victims to “reduce the inflammation and put the organs back to its original state.”
Spread the word! It’s our children pushing the envelope of scientific excellence. Not some stuffy shirts in a lab with a million two and three letter acronyms behind their names. Check out Ms. Jasmine! This is definitely not the last time we’ll be hearing from her or her brother.
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:25 am
I am quite sure that many of today’s breakthroughs have been previously “discovered” through science fairs and in basements around the world. However, until they are scrutinized by the scientific community and published, there is no way that the world can know about science fair discoveries. Not everyone watches Oprah for their scientific information.
I’m pretty sure the folks in Virginia went through the long process of publication more to alert the general public of a potential problem than to steal the thunder from a child.