Heman Bekele is Time's "2024 Kid of the Year," honored for his work on a cancer-fighting soap. Last year he won a $25,000 prize from 3M for his research. Above, he's pictured with 3M mentor, Deborah Isabelle, who's said of Bekele, "he's going to continue to inspire other young people to realize that science can make a positive difference."
3M
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A teenage girl wearing a face mask, head scarf and long black robe, listens to a math teacher at a tutoring center in Kabul. The center was established by a women's rights activist to circumvent a Taliban ban on girls attending secondary school. The activist said she has informal permission by Taliban authorities to run the center as long as teenage girls abide by a strict dress code. Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption
"The Fine Cut" is a re-created barbershop poster that depicts two kinds of cuts — hairstyles of African-American men and ritual scarification of African faces. Vivian Doering hide caption
This Artibeus fruit bat feasts on sugary fruit every night but these winged mammals don’t suffer from diabetes or other metabolic problems as humans might if we were to gorge on sugar. Luis Echeverría for NPR hide caption
A magnification of the head of a midge larva. Midges — biting flies — and mosquitoes are spreading the Oropouche virus in Latin America, which is reporting higher numbers in 2024. Frank Fox/Science Photo Library//Science Source hide caption
The palms of a patient with mpox during a past outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. The country is now seeing a dramatic spike in mpox. CDC/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
Conservation biologist Gliselle Marin carefully untangles a bat from a net in Belize during the annual Bat-a-thon. Her fanny pack is decorated with printed bats. Luis Echeverría for NPR hide caption
Elias Abdi Abdullahi, an Ethiopian farmer, carries a bunch of uprooted weeds from the wheat field he farms with his wife. They're trying to increase their crop yields in an area often threatened by conflict and drought. Ed Kieran/PBS Newshour hide caption
Rayssa Leal of Brazil competes in the women's skateboarding street final at the Place de la Concorde. She won a bronze medal. The 16-year-old Olympian remembers that when she was a kid, a pair of sneakers without holes were an implausible dream. Rodolfo Buhrer/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images hide caption
Nurse Christian Musema takes a sample from a child declared a suspected mpox case at the treatment center in Munigi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus has been surging. Cases have also been identified in four other countries in East Africa. Arlette Bashizi/Reuters hide caption
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda crosses the finish line during the men's 10,000-meter final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, setting an Olympics record. Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua via Getty Images hide caption
Colombia's Ángel Barajas jumped over fences as a kid, was spotted and sent to gymnastics club — and has now won Colombia's first medal in the sport. Here he is during the Men's Horizontal Bar Final at the Paris Olympics. Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images hide caption
Gymnast Rebeca Andrade (center) of Brazil wins her first gold medal in Paris. Paying homage are silver medalist Simone Biles (left) and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles of the United States. Elsa/Getty Images hide caption
Two health workers see a patient. “Cataract cut my main income source," the patient said before she had surgery. "I cannot sell anything, I cannot write anything. It’s difficult to continue with my job.” Michael Amendolia/Fred Hollows Foundation hide caption
Brazil's Rebeca Andrade competes in the floor exercise event of the artistic gymnastics women's team final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on July 30. Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Marc Franke, known as "the Düsseldorf patient," is one of only seven patients in the world to be cured of HIV. His treatment involved a stem cell transplant. “It was a very rocky road,” he says. “I had so many troubles.” Lena Mucha for NPR hide caption
Musician Toumani Diabaté of Mali and his 21-string kora, photographed at WOMAD -- the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival held yearly in the United Kingdom. Diabaté died on July 19 at age 58.
Judith Burrows/Getty Images/Hulton Archive
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From left: Francisca Chagas Dos Santos. Taquari District. Rio Branco, Brazil. March 2015. Terence McKeen with his mother, Gloria. Blackcreek, Middleburg, Florida. United States. September 2017 Gideon Mendel hide caption
Palestinian children are sitting on a street flooded with sewage water in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on July 23. Polio was detected in multiple samples of Gaza's wastewater a week ago and now infectious disease experts suspect there are mild cases of the disease already in the population. Majdi Fathi//NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
A Sudanese girl who has fled from the war with her family arrives at a refugee transit center. The conflict that began in April 2023 has displaced millions and created a humanitarian crisis. Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Sara Miliji, 12, from the border village of Naqoura, participates in an art class at a renovated movie theatre in the city of Tyre. Sara's family fled when their village was bombed. They now live along with hundreds of other families in a schoolroom turned into a shelter.
Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR
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