Meet the 8-year-old whose invention could save millions of lives.

What were you doing when you were eight years old?

If you were anything like me, you were probably working on your times tables and learning it was not socially acceptable to pick your nose.

While these are impressive achievements, they have nothing to do with the invention of one incredibly clever 8-year-old from Queensland.

Alexander Hill has come up with the idea for a nail polish that goes on clear, but turns green when you get too many germs on your hands and so you know exactly when to wash them.

This game-changing nail polish can help people by saving unnecessary medical bills and improving food preparation and hygiene.

And it was invented for very selfless reasons.

Alexander told me in a (very cute) interview that he had invented this for his friends.

“I wanted to make something so my friends would stop getting sick. I thought of this nail polish, so they would wash their hands and stop getting sick all the time.”

Clever and thoughtful. Way to keep showing the adults, Alexander.

He has put a lot of thought into colour choice. Green was chosen specifically because it “is a colour when you know your hands are dirty. Instead of pink … pink’s not a dirty colour”.

Knowing that boys do not wear nail polish, he had an alternative solution for their hygiene too.

“I would do something with the colours. Probably they can have red, blue and black colours.”*

After winning the littleBIGidea competition last year with this idea, Alexander made some big decisions about his future.

He told me that he had given some thoughts to his career, and “would really like to be an inventor.” But not just any inventor. “I would like to be a scientist because I would like to know when things are going to happen. I think that would be cool.”

Winning the competition didn’t just shape his future – it also made a difference to his status at school. I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone if they learn that Alexander is now a fairly big deal at The Southport School in QLD.

His friends saw him on TV. “Actually, I was very famous after that”.

Although celebrity status in primary school has its perks, it also has its cons. Alexander was faced with the same reality that so many celebrities have to deal with.

“It’s not easy, you have to sign a lot of autographs.”

But Alexander is looking onwards and upwards. He has since visited Queensland’s largest nail polish manufacturer and is certain that the world needs to hear from other kids like him because they have “really, really cool ideas”. And after talking to Alexander, I have to agree with him.

As for his next invention, I was told coyly, “Well … it’s top secret. You’ll be the first to know.”

I’ll also be the first to steal this idea and pretend I invented it myself.

Thanks, Alexander.

Do you have an invention idea?

The 2014 Origin littleBIGidea competition winners won a trip to NASA and we are very jealous…

Want more? How about:

The nail polish that knows if your drink has been spiked

If you can solve this birthday logic test, you might just be a genius.