It’s not every day a high school student makes the finals in a global competition. But Brentwood’s Adam Rakmanov has, and he’s up for a $250K scholarship prize.

Rakmanov, an 18-year-old student at Ravenwood High School, created a video explaining how a specific bacterium in water called Ideonella Sakainesis can help break down plastic in 6 weeks.

He entered his video into the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global competition where students simplify complex science topics into a 2-minute video.

“Plastic is a big problem, the plastic epidemic has wreaked havoc on our whole globe,” Rakmanov said. “There’s so many defects that are coming from plastics, where new research is coming up every single day.”

The $250K prize winner is expected to be announced in May. If he wins, Rakmanov plans to use the money for college. Even if he doesn’t win, he’s pleased with making it this far.

“Being in the top 16 out of 3000 is already impressive in itself, especially for college, but I really hope I win.”

Wherever he goes, he plans on majoring in pre-med, attending medical school and becoming an entrepreneur in the medical world.

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Nashville’s industrial East Bank is in the midst of a long-term transformation. One of the biggest changes to the area will be a new Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC).

The new facility, which will be relocating from its current downtown location near the state capitol, will play a key role in the East Bank’s revitalization. The project, which was finalized in an agreement between Metro and TPAC late last year, will be costly.

The state has dedicated $500 million toward construction, contingent on TPAC raising private matching dollars and Metro’s involvement.

TPAC has enlisted prominent Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, in collaboration with William Rawn Associates and Nashville-based HASTINGS Architecture.

This week TPAC unveiled the structural new design, complete with sweeping waves of metal encasing the facility.

Construction of the new facility is expected to start in early 2027.

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Photos: Bloomimages

f you’re simultaneously taking care of children and aging parents, we want to hear from you — because you’re in good company.

HealthQ co-host Cara Anthony had a sandwich generation moment when she found herself balancing work, taking her mom to the doctor, and looking out for her daughter who was home sick from school. For others, it’s when they started packing pillboxes for Dad or fielding medical questions from Mom — or when their families had to adjust to their parents moving in.

Share your experience in the comments or as a DM for an upcoming show from HealthQ, a collaboration between Nashville Public Radio and @kffhealthnews

It is designed to boost your healthcare know-how.

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A rural Tennessee Emergency Medical Services team is taking action to fight infections. It is something that ambulance teams have not done before. And it could save lives across America.

Untreated infections are still one of the leading causes of hospitalization in the U.S. If people with infections go without antibiotics, they can enter sepsis – a severe, life-threatening condition that disproportionately affects people in rural areas who don’t have easy access to hospitals or clinics. Rural hospital closures spurned by cuts to Medicaid are making it worse.

But one emergency medical service agency in Tennessee might have an answer. Hawkins County EMS is giving paramedics and EMTs the training and antibiotics they need to identify and treat sepsis in patients before they even reach the emergency room.

This is a departure from the way people have historically been treated on ambulances. For decades, paramedics and EMTs were trained to treat symptoms and stabilize patients all while getting them to a hospital as quickly as possible. But in rural areas, ambulance rides average 30-45 minutes. By the time they reach a hospital, it could be too late.

Now, Hawkins County EMS is improving outcomes for patients in rural Tennessee, say local medical providers.

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Photos: Pierce Gentry / WPLN News

What can you do with the bills you had during the winter storm in Nashville? You can apply for reimbursement. The aid can help reimburse temporary housing and living costs if you were displaced, as well as home repairs.

Tennessee has now been approved for a major disaster declaration for the January ice storm.

This allows individual residents in 29 counties to apply for cash assistance from FEMA. It applies to Nashville and most surrounding counties (see the list below).

You can apply by:
visiting DisasterAssistance.gov
calling 800-621-3362
using the FEMA app

Eligible counties: Benton, Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Clay, Davidson, Decatur, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Lewis, Macon, Madison, Maury, McNairy, Montgomery, Perry, Robertson, Rutherford, Shelby, Sumner, Trousdale, Wayne, Williamson and Wilson.

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Senior music writer Jewly Hight has been covering what`s happening with AI in music for for the last two years. From the passage of Tennessee`s ELVIS ACT, to the rollout of Suno and Udio, litigation, and the quietly expanding use of AI in sessions.

So when she got a press release about Soundbreak — a new AI music-generating platform launching in Nashville with songwriters behind it — it seemed too different to ignore.

Behind the app is Kevin Griffin, who came to fame leading the alt-rock band Better Than Ezra and became a player in the music business ecosystem of middle Tennessee. He decided to channel his concerns about apps like Suno into action.

What’s notable about Soundbreak is the fact that it’s built around a roster of established writer-artists who signed on to participate and help shape AI models that reflect their signature styles. And they get a portion of both the subscription earnings and song ownership when users choose to “co-write” with them.

Watch Jewly in our reels as she creates a song called “Control” on the app. Do you like Song Option 1 or Song Option 2? Drop a comment to let us know.

Tap link in bio for more. And be sure to check out Key Changes, a “reporter’s notebook” view of the trends in the music industry.

Photos: Jewly Hight