Raghav Tripathi is a senior at Westview High School in Portland, Oregon, but he's already a promising scientist. When the 17-year-old's mother broke her leg in a skiing accident and refused to take painkillers for fear of becoming dependent, Tripathi began looking into the possibility of producing a nonaddictive alternative. He read about anandamide (AEA), a compound naturally released by the body to ease pain and inflammation. "I thought I could find some way to increase concentrations of this molecule," he says.
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