She juiced 36 beets to save lives. Most teenagers spend their senior year stressing about prom. Dasia Taylor spent hers inventing medical technology that could change surgery in the developing world. At just 17, this Iowa City West High student created surgical sutures that literally change color when a wound gets infected. Bright red when you're healing fine. Dark purple when something's gone wrong. The secret weapon? Beet juice. Healthy skin sits at an acidic pH around 5. When an infection sets in, that number climbs to about 9. Beets are natural pH indicators, so Dasia dyed her threads with beet juice and let chemistry do the rest. The color shift happens almost instantly. Here's why it matters: in some African countries, up to 20% of women who deliver via C-section develop surgical site infections. Globally, fancy "smart sutures" already exist, but they rely on Bluetooth, smartphones, and internet access most patients in developing nations simply don't have. Dasia built something better. Cheap. Visible to the naked eye. No tech required. Her work made her a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, one of the most prestigious science competitions in America. She's now pursuing a patent. A girl, a chemistry class, and a bag of beets just outsmarted billion-dollar medical tech. Source: Smithsonian Magazine