Curiosity leads us far, do not surrender, recommend Mexican scientific girls

From different regions of the country, four Mexican girls: Ana Paola, Xareni, Sophia and Daira have faced challenges, there are bold questions and look for answers.

In an interview with The dayin the context of International Women and Girl Day in Science, they shared how, through clubs, competitions and research projects, they have traveled from fog forests to investigating how to convert used oil into removal soap.

In a world where there are still barriers to women, their stories reflect how, despite obstacles, perseverance and access to opportunities can open doors for more girls to become scientists.

If I could do an experiment without limits, you would investigate the behavior of sharks at the bottom of the sea: What is your behavior? How do they live? How could I mix that with technologySaid Ana Paola Paredes Ruiz, 14.

His interest in nature began since childhood, when she was amazed by the exuberance of the fog forest that surrounds her house in Coatepec, Veracruz. While my parents worked, I stayed with my grandparents and played in the garden. Seeing insects interact with plants aroused my curiosity.

That restlessness grew over time, fed by a series of stimuli: an insect book, an encyclopedia about the oceans that leafed through again and again, and, later, a computer that his mother presented him.

Ana Paola is attracted to plants and insects, but also by robotics and technology. I am looking for a race that combines the two areashe said.

If I could build a robot, I would design it to help old people. I would like that I could attend them in their day to day, remember to take their medications or accompany them in simple tasks.

For her, electricity and the Internet are the most revolutionary discoveries of humanity.

A Quitamanchas soap is the most important scientific project in which Daira Jasmín Vargas Bedolla, 8, has worked. The idea arose after seeing how a neighbor from her colony, in Morelia, Michoacán, discarded oil after frying donuts.

I started investigating what I could do with him, and I decided to make soaps. Now, instead of throwing it, it gives it to mehe said.

Daira’s interest in science was promoted by her grandmother, who told her about her importance. One day, intrigued for what he could learn, he asked his mother to register her in the program adopts a talent (pattern) of UNAM, where children develop scientific projects. It was there that Daira proposed to transform the oil into soaps.

With Alejandro Frank – recognized researcher in nuclear and molecular physics – as a reference, he considers that the most valuable of his experience in pattern has been learning not to surrender. Science puts us challenges and teaches us to be stronger. It shows us that, although something does not go to the first, we can try again.

If I could travel to space, Xareni Castro Ayala would look for a habitable planet for humans. I know that the most appropriate is Mars, so I would like to investigate what adaptations we would need to live therehe said.

At 15, Xareni knows that his future will be linked to science, although he still explores from which area. He is fascinated by biology and botany, but also feels a special attraction for marine biology.

I would love to immerse myself in the reefs, discover the corals and find out everything about them: what animals inhabit them? How do they survive the increase in temperature in the oceans?he said.

His interest in science arose in a succulent workshop in a school in Xalapa, Veracruz. Since then, he has not stopped participating in activities of this type. In November 2024 he was part of the Explorers of the Fog Forest, where he talked about the scolitin beetles, insects that reproduce between the trees.

If I had in front of Sylvia Earle, Marina Biologist and National Geographic explorer, I would ask how did you spend more than a thousand hours investigating underwater during the Tektite project?

When thinking about a superpower based on science, she is inclined to talk to animals in danger of extinction. I would like to ask them what we need to do to conserve their species.

A restless mind

In the summer of 2021, Sophia Aquino Quiroz, then 11 years, discovered that science was much more than only theory in books: I could experience, observe and question. A mother’s friend invited her to the course offered by the Yucatan Scientific Research Center (CISY) for children to explore various topics.

They let us do everything: from macerating habanero seeds to working with liquid nitrogen. It was greatremember. But it was an experiment, the color of the life of plants, which really marked it. Seeing how they grew differently when you put them under different shades of light: blue, red and natural light, it was something unforgettable.

Since then, he combines the school with his participation in clubs such as scientific roots. Also, in competencies such as Expociencias in Hermosillo, Sonora (2023), Science and Art in Yucatan, and Semilleros de Scientos, in Colombia (2024), where he obtained outstanding results.

Sophia is concerned about plastic pollution and dreams of developing a biodegradable material that replaces them.

Living in the Yucatan Peninsula, hurricanes are a phenomenon that intrigues it. It impacts how a clash of temperatures in water can generate such a large force capable of destroying houses and lifting objects.

Girls interested in science left them a message: Do not give up. If they find the right people and continue their curiosity, they will go far.