13-Year Old Invents Medicinal Lollipop, Launches Start-Up Company

During the summer of 2010, Mallory Kievman was afflicted with a bad case of the hiccups. She tried many different folk remedies and the hiccups eventually went away. But Mallory figured that there had to be a better way to get rid of the hiccups quickly. So she invented a lollipop that does just that:

She had developed the product in her family’s Manchester, Conn., kitchen, amalgamating her three favorite cures — lollipops, apple cider vinegar and sugar — into a single confection. “It triggers a set of nerves in your throat and mouth that are responsible for the hiccup reflex arc,” said Mallory with a matter-of-fact tone. “It basically over-stimulates those nerves and cancels out the message to hiccup.”

She submitted her invention, dubbed the Hiccupop, to a kids' invention contest and won. Now she's launching a company to market her invention:

Mallory hopes Hiccupops will become a staple of school nurses’ offices and drugstores. She also wants to explore a medical niche, since hiccups are a common and uncomfortable side effect of chemotherapy. “It always has been really appealing to me to be able to sort of have a product out there that can help people,” she said. “I want to become a doctor and go into medicine.”

News Story and Company Website -via That's Nerdalicious! | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user GoRun26