Their duties can sound ordinary until you look more closely: One dusts for footprints â?? of black holes. Another is a cartographer â?? using laser beams to map a rain forest. Another is an Internet repairman â?? who actually is restructuring the Internet to protect websites from hackers.
Collectively, they are among the “Brilliant 10” scientists and researchers identified in October’s Popular Science. The sixth annual issue, which lands on newsstands Tuesday, honors these bright young minds:
Helen Blackwell, 35; University of Wisconsin-Madison. Like a good librarian, she knows how to say “SHHH!” Only for Blackwell, the thing she’s shushing is bacteria. By using chemicals she has created, she stops bacteria from talking to each other, which then prevents infections.