simigolf

Three teenagers in India have built a refrigerator that could help save lives, and it runs on nothing more than salt and water. No electricity. No batteries. In 2025, 16- and 17-year-olds Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain created Thermavault, a portable cooling system designed to keep medicines and vaccines cold in places where reliable electricity is difficult to obtain. The device can maintain temperatures of around 2 to 6 °C (35 to 43 °F) for 10 to 12 hours, making it suitable for storing temperature-sensitive medical supplies. Even better, the salts used in the cooling process can be reused, which helps keep operating costs low. Their idea earned them the Earth Prize Asia 2025 and $12,500 in funding. They now plan to build 200 units and test them across 120 hospitals in India. The inspiration came from a real problem. During COVID-19, many rural clinics struggled to keep vaccines cold because of unreliable power. Their solution is simple, portable, and potentially life-changing. Three teenagers. Salt, water, and one idea that could bring reliable cold storage to the places that need it most.