At six, standing on tiptoes behind a podium at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Anirudh Rao explained how he planned to “control wind.” The idea, he told the amused audience, came from Lord Krishna swallowing a hurricane. He then launched into the science behind it, talking about sensors, dust alerts, and wind patterns. The audience quickly turned attentive.
Thirteen now, the Indian-origin Colorado boy hasn’t stopped surprising adults since. With four inventions (one in patent stage, three in prototype), the young scientist has developed Mirai, an eco-friendly alternative battery that provides affordable electricity in areas without reliable access to power. The invention has made him a Top 10 finalist at the 3M Discovery Education Young Scientist Challenge 2025. “Mirai means future in Japanese,” he explains. “I would like to implement it in India and test-run it once it is patented. It uses specially treated nanomaterials and water to produce voltage, usable in power sensors.”
Anirudh’s real passion lies at the intersection of science and history: ancient architecture, civilisations, and the timeless logic woven into old solutions. “I love helping others. If the answer does not come, I keep at it,” he says.
The science behind Mirai is intricate but simple: graphene oxide creates normal carbon waste, while water interacting with hydroxyl and carboxyl groups triggers ionic movement and voltage. It took him nearly 100 attempts and 640 test cycles to finally crack the invention. “I was astonished when it worked,” he exclaims.
Mirai isn’t ready for electric cars yet. “Currently, it does not have the amperage and joules, as cars use DC voltage,” he admits. But he believes the technique could transform next-gen batteries: “Sustainable and eco-friendly, without a need to recycle.” He’s now working on building amperage and stability with a custom circuit.
Despite his scientific intensity, Anirudh is far from one-dimensional. He hikes, composes music, plays football, and holds a Taekwondo black belt. Younger brother of Gitanjali Rao, Times Kid of the Year 2020, Anirudh’s curiosity is rekindled every day by his parents, who have ferried both their kids from museums to school clubs since childhood.
The Paradigm Grand Prize winner is, at his core, a solution-oriented scientist. Visiting ancient Indian temples nudged him toward his next obsession: decoding ancient science using AI. “The Indus Valley script is still undeciphered. So are the Mesopotamian and Sumerian scripts. What if AI could find linguistic patterns across civilisations? Trace similar words, feed them into a model? It could unlock lost knowledge, and maybe help solve future problems.”
Every invention begins with a problem that refuses to leave him alone. The idea for Revere — a tornado-warning system — came to him when a friend’s home was torn apart by one. A drone doodle came first. The science followed years later. “Tornadoes emit infrasound—under 20 Hz—in their earliest stages. You can detect it miles away,” he explains. “If we capture that infrasound early, calculate direction, combine it with weather data and ML, we can push today’s 13-minute warning to nearly 40.”
His home science lab? “Messy,” he grins, but every corner charts a new scientific rabbit hole. Take Semmelweis, a wound-management solution based on the hydrovoltaic effect. Inspired by ancient Greek and Egyptian wartime medicine, he designed a moisture indicator that detects excess humidity, prevents infection, and reduces unnecessary dressing changes.
Then came black ice. Mint leaves, cicada wings, and Namib beetles became his blueprints. “I developed biomimetic surface patterns — super-hydrophobic structures that prevent ice formation and speed melting.” The invention has caught Colorado’s Department of Education attention, which features it in its tours.
Anirudh’s world isn’t contained by borders. He shares his digital lessons with students in India, Colombia, Africa, and even the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. “When I visit India next, I want to meet the schools and communities,” he says. His guest lecture at Universidad de La Sabana in Colombia alone reached 5,000 students.
His current fascinations orbit gene editing and the cellular misfires that spark cancer. Scientific inquiry and the guidance of mentors form his toolkit. With every invention, the “boy Einstein” keeps raising the bar, embracing the pressure and even the failures, as fuel.