1 gif to go: Otherworldly engineering
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Teams from a dozen local high schools turned Westinghouse's Cranberry headquarters into a playground of pulleys and mousetraps on Friday, competing in the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest with their best Rube Goldberg-style machines.
The big picture: Students got inventive with this year's task: "Plant a seed."
Case in point: A team from Hempfield Area High School planted a giant seed representing conspiracy theories into a mannequin's head — framed by aliens building the Egyptian pyramids and lurking cryptids — for their project called "The Chain of Misconception."
- They took first place honors, followed by teams from Brentwood and North Allegheny.
How it works: Students across Southwestern Pennsylvania dream it up, sketch it out and build a contraption that completes an assigned task in more than 20 steps and 30 seconds.
- Then, they bring it to Westinghouse's judges for a live demo. Teams compete for scholarships, sponsor-funded prizes and more.
The bottom line: The competition, launched more than 25 years ago, gives students a chance to explore STEM careers.