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Saanich student, 16, shows off invention on Tonight Show

A young Saanich inventor has joined the likes of Will Smith, U2 and Jerry Seinfeld as one of the first guests featured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Ann
Saanich's Ann Makosinski, 16, shows Jimmy Fallon her body heat-powered flashlight Wednesday on the Tonight Show.

A young Saanich inventor has joined the likes of Will Smith, U2 and Jerry Seinfeld as one of the first guests featured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Ann Makosinski, 16, showed off her body heat-powered flashlight Wednesday night as part of a segment called Fallonventions in the show’s New York City studio.

“I’m going to work for her one day, I can feel it,” Fallon said after testing Makosinski’s invention.

Makosinski, a student at St. Michaels University School, told Fallon she came up with the idea for the hollow flashlight after a lack of electricity in the developing world caused a friend to fail her studies.

Fallon, meanwhile, presented his own invention to her: An edible, 4,000-calorie cereal bowl called the “granola bowla.”

Two other young inventors also demonstrated their work — a piece of headgear that holds your smartphone for you and a “doggy-drying system.” All three walked away with $5,000 from segment sponsor General Electric.

Makosinski has already won the top prize in Google’s annual global science fair with her hollow flashlight, and was named by a Time magazine panel one of 30 people under 30 who are changing the world.

Fallon became the sixth host of the long-running NBC late-night show this week, following Jay Leno.

asmart@timescolonist.com