The teen from Dallas, Texas settled a long-standing debate between her parents over the merits of organic produce by feeding organic and conventional foods to fruit flies.

She began the project while still in middle school, and eventually submitted it to the 2011 Broadcom Masters science fair and was named one of the fair's 30 finalists.

She found that organically fed flies lived longer, had more babies, and showed more resistance to stress. Her research garnered headlines and settled the argument between her proud parents.