Power. It’s arguably the most precious commodity of the modern age, and the obsession of brilliant minds around the world. Scientists scramble to harness and hone earth’s natural resources, the brilliance of the sun and the awesome potential of the wind. Engineers run countless configurations to determine the most effective ways to charge our homes and vehicles. For so many of us, unlimited power is a given, something we’ve learned to take for granted. For more than a billion people across the planet, however, electricity is a limited, rare commodity. High schooler Ann Makosinski, 16, of Victoria, Canada learned of this reality and dedicated a science fair project to the situation. Her hand-heat-powered “Hollow Flashlight” was, in her mind, a practical solution to a pretty big problem. To the science community at large, it was a stroke of genius to recognize that power originates within every one of us—every day, all the time. Thermoelectricity took a step forward. “I’m half-Filipino, half-Polish, and I was talking with a friend who lives in the Philippines,” Makosinski recalls. “My friend was failing school because there was no electricity at home. She was supposed to be studying at night. I came to find out that a lot of people around the world don’t have access to electricity and wanted to find a way to help people in that situation.” Ann recalls hearing that humans are “walking 100-watt light bulbs,” so she put the big light bulb above her head to work. Ann created a prototype for the hollow flashlight—a hollow aluminum tube that cools the sides of Peltier tiles at the flashlight’s cylinder. Warmth from the human hand heats the other side, thus creating power. Ta-da, a flashlight that needs no batteries or solar charge. It was an idea simple enough for an everyday (albeit extremely bright) teenager in British Columbia to come up with, and yet it has the potential to improve the lives of so many world citizens. This is simply Makosinksi’s way. The daughter of two HAM radio enthusiasts, she’s been interested in experimenting since before she could walk. “My first toy was a box of transistors,” she says. “I was always taking garbage from around the house, taking things apart and putting them together. I just wanted to make things better.” These days, she counts a super-powerful Intel-powered tablet among the tools that further her explorations and allow her to connect with friends both near and far. Ann started participating in the local science fair at grade six, and fell for the spirit of innovation that ran through that community. Her flashlight brought her to the Canada-wide science fair, where she earned a gold medal and was awarded for distinction in the energy sector. She won first prize in her age group at the 2013 Google Science Fair. And this year she is slated to be on Team Canada at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). “I was listed in Time magazine’s ‘thirty under thirty’ and have given three TED Talks, too,” she says. She was also featured on a hilarious segment of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Just another year in the life of your way-above-average Canadian teenager. Makosinski has filed a patent and is working with engineers to improve her flashlight’s brightness and maximize the circuit’s efficiency. “I love to know why things work,” she says. She hopes this technology will someday be applicable to issues like global warming and renewable energy. “Maybe thermoelectricity will be able to power a tablet someday,” she wonders. It’s likely we’ve only just begun to see where this technology—and Ann’s mind—will take us.