Breakthrough Junior Challenge: Kaustav Mehta's innovative take on scientific concepts has made him a finalist

Explaining complex scientific concepts and theories to a lay-person is no easy task. But that’s what Kaustav Mehta, a Chennai-based 15-year-old attempted to do with the YouTube video, in which he explains, in a fun way, the difference between dark matter and dark energy.

The video, one of the two entries from India, has made it to the finals of Breakthrough Junior Challenge global science video contest.The Breakthrough Prize, launched last year, is supported by Google’s Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Yuri and Julia Milner and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

Mehta is one of the 15 finalists who will compete for the $400,000 prize, which includes a $250,000 scholarship. A cash award for the science teacher who inspired the winner and state-of-the-art science lab for the winner’s school will also be awarded in Palo Alto, California, next month.