Michael is a member of the National Youth Service Team and his school's student council. He plays in the school jazz band and enjoys High-Q. Michael would like to become a zoologist or an engineer. "I love animals, and I love to work with them," he says.
Michael's mentors are his parents. "They have taught me that everything around me has a science connection."
In 2000, a large garment finisher in El Paso, Texas, processed 300,000 pairs of jeans every week. This resulted in the disposal of several million tons of lint—an expensive problem for the company. This led Michael to wonder about the effect recycled lint would have on soil and plant growth and whether lint could be recycled and used as an organic fertilizer.
Michael filled three containers—one just with soil, another with soil and two cups of lint, and another with soil and four cups of lint. He planted an even amount of geranium seeds, lima bean seeds, and chives in each container and recorded the plants' growth. After one year, he analyzed the soil. He found that the cotton fibers in the lint decayed and released mineral nutrients into the soil. This caused an increase in the number of air pockets in the soil, resulting in healthier plants that needed less water. Michael concluded that using lint as a fertilizer saves money and recycles an unused resource.
