The Evolution of My Son's Speech

At first we both thought pathogens were the big problem with drinking water. His subject is how he can clean it all up.

So he wanted to do the whole genetic engineering thing to eat up the bad bugs. But as it turns out, the problem was bigger than we thought + the bugs are not the main problem. E. Coli, for example, doesn't live long in the water.

He's going to lead off with something pretty alarming - but in fact, true. One out of every two streams in the US are polluted. 90% of all China's city water is polluted. 14,000 people die every day due to water pollution. 700 million people in India do not have access to a proper toilet.

His speech, due within the next two days - is going to be about cleanup using iron dust. Surprisingly, powdered iron rusts quickly in water and the rust process pulls tons of bad stuff out of the water. And then you can just pull it out with magnets.

And he's going to talk about how he cleaned up streams and lakes by himself. Its becoming more personal, simple, and interesting.

He is trying to tell the panel that will judge his speech - that this is something he can do. I think for a small boy, that's important: give him problems he can solve. I have my fingers crossed for him.

No props. No cards. He's going to be in the shark tank tomorrow. Wish him luck.