- Feb 5, 2002
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A young man has won a five-figure financial prize at the nation’s top science fair for his research into a mysterious outbreak of tumors he witnessed among the sea turtles under the waves of his home in Hawaii.
Maddux Springer lives on Oahu and spent most of his free time during the pandemic free diving among the reefs in Kāneʻohe Bay. Down among the quiet and peaceful corals, he couldn’t stop noticing that practically every green sea turtle he saw was covered in cauliflower-like tumors.
Whether young or old, the whole population seemed to be infected and slowly dying, prompting Springer to start what would become a 2.5-year research program. It might have gone faster if wildlife authorities had agreed to allow him to perform a biopsy on one of the tumors, and without this direct evidence, he had to find other ways to collect data.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
Maddux Springer lives on Oahu and spent most of his free time during the pandemic free diving among the reefs in Kāneʻohe Bay. Down among the quiet and peaceful corals, he couldn’t stop noticing that practically every green sea turtle he saw was covered in cauliflower-like tumors.
Whether young or old, the whole population seemed to be infected and slowly dying, prompting Springer to start what would become a 2.5-year research program. It might have gone faster if wildlife authorities had agreed to allow him to perform a biopsy on one of the tumors, and without this direct evidence, he had to find other ways to collect data.
Continued below.
High Schooler Wins $10,000 for Discovery Solution to Mysterious Outbreak Killing Sea Turtles in His Hawaii Hometown
Tumors on green sea turtles are likely a symptom of fibropapilomatosis, or FB for short, caused by a herpes-type virus
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
