10 Kids Changing The Tech World

These kids were coding web apps when you were watching cartoons. See how Membership is helping one woman on her mission to empower a new generation of innovators.

1. Ann Makosinski, 16, Thermoelectric Flashlight

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Makosinski created a flashlight powered by the heat radiating from her hand, which won her a Google Science Fair award.

2. Jack Andraka, 16, Inexpensive Cancer Detection

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Andraka created a paper that's sensitive to a specific protein in urine that is elevated in early stages of pancreatic cancer. The best part? It's so cheap and easy to produce that it may soon be available over the counter.

3. Eric Jacqmain, 19, Solar "Death Ray"

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Using over 5,000 mirrors, Jacqmain created a highly focused solar "laser" that can burn through nearly any surface.

4. Andrew Brackin, 19, Parking App

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Brackin's app, Spot, allows people to rent out their driveway at an hourly rate — perfect for people looking for space in areas where street parking is a jungle, like San Francisco.

5. Nick D'Aloisio, 15, Summly

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D'Aloisio created Summly, an app that automatically summarizes long-form articles, which was bought by Yahoo for an undisclosed sum when D'Aloisio was 17.

6. Elif Bilgin, 16, Banana Bioplastic

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Bilgin created a plastic out of discarded banana peels that is both cheaper and more eco-friendly than traditional petroleum plastics.

7. Jen Lamere, 17, Twivo

Lamere's app acts as a pause button for TV spoilers. Tweets pertaining to a live event can be delayed, and they'll show up at the top of the tweet stream after the event has concluded.

8. Viney Kumar, 14, App for Ambulances

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Kumar's app, PART, increases the time drivers have to react to approaching ambulances to 67 seconds from 7 seconds, on average. This drastically decreases the chance that an ambulance will be delayed or halted by traffic.

9. Sean McElrath, 17, KickAsk

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McElrath is the mind behind KickAsk, a website students can use to crowdsource answers to their homework, but only if they build up credit by answering other questions.

10. Brian Wong, 19, Kiip

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Wong, third in from the left, founded Kiip (an app that allows advertisers to offer rewards and prizes to mobile gamers) when he was 19 and then became employed full-time at Digg.

Presented by American Express:

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Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code, is just one Member of the American Express #PassionProject. See all of the inspiring stories here.