COOL: 13-Year-Old Invents Lollipop That Cures Hiccups

New York Times

Mallory Kievman Invented Hiccupops Because, Well, She Had a Big Case of the Hiccups

Here's another kid who's going places, and in this case, maybe all the way to the bank, with her invention: 13-year-old Connecticut student Mallory Kievman had a bad bout of the hiccups in the summer of 2010, so she researched all the best ways to stop hiccups, and combined the best ones into one super cure: the Hiccupop lollipop.

The ingredients: apple cider vinegar and sugar, which, combined with sucking on a lollipop, were deemed by Kievman as the best hiccup remedy.

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"It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc," Kievman told the New York Times. "It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup."

The oh-so-clever and resourceful teen entered her Hiccupops in a state invention convention, where they of course won recognition, and after patenting the pops and working with some graduate business students, and her dad, on the product, Kievman now plans to start selling Hiccupops this summer.

"It's funny to see her give a business overview presentation, because she shows the organizational chart and there's her as the C.E.O. and head of R&D," Kievman's dad told the Times (via The Mary Sue). "Then you get a picture of me, and it says 'adult supervision.' It's been great to see it come together because this was something that she developed on her own. I'm trying to do my best to support it but to also not, you know, drive it."

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The big challenge for Kievman right now is perfecting her Hiccupop formula, trying to find a recipe that hardens well, has a good shelf life and tastes great.

Her mom has been a bit frustrated with all the "R&D" -- since it's happening in her kitchen, says Kievman's dad -- but there's no way the Kievman's can't be incredibly proud of their impressive daughter.

"It always has been really appealing to me to be able to sort of have a product out there that can help people," Mallory Kievman said. "I want to become a doctor and go into medicine."