Great egg-samples from budding young scientists

Standards are set to be higher than ever with a record number of projects entered for this year’s exhibition, which opens next Wednesday

DETAILS ON how to keep your hens happy, your apples sweet and the flu at bay will be revealed next week as the annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibitiongets under way at the RDS in Dublin.

Standards will be higher than ever, given the record-breaking entry, which saw 1,735 projects put forward for consideration. Students involved in the 520 or so projects accepted for presentation will face the initial round of judging next Wednesday, with the Young Scientist for 2011 announced on Friday evening, January 14th.

Now in its 47th year, the exhibition represents a high point on the Irish scientific calendar. It is the largest exhibition of its kind in Europe and one of the longest-running in the world.

It has also had a tremendous impact on the public’s understanding of science and the value that can come from research, given the level of student involvement as they prepare their projects. These cover a staggering range of subjects in science and mathematics, technology and the social sciences.

Annie-Mae Doherty of St Joseph’s Secondary School, Marist Convent, Claremorris, Co Mayo, for example decided to discover why hens sometimes stop laying eggs.

In a project entitled, “What makes a happy hen?” she looked at the bird’s diet, anatomy, physiology and health, searching for factors that could affect egg production.

All will be revealed when the event kicks off next Wednesday.

Also to be revealed are research findings about whether hurlers or soccer players have the greater hand strength, findings put together by William Daly, Ross O’Donavan and Kevin O’Keeffe.

The students from Nagle Community College, Mahon, Blackrock, in Cork measured hand strength in the general population, linking this to age, sex, sporting activity, wrist circumference and hand size.

Luke Jennings of Coláiste Phádraig in Lucan, Co Dublin took a more mathematical approach in his project, which used probability statistics to gauge whether card-counting could influence the likelihood of winning simple card games.

He showed that a form of counting greatly increased the odds of winning both blackjack and the game hi-lo.

The odds were not greatly improved, however, when playing other games such as poker and bridge.

Méabh Smyth, Aoibhin Osborne and Blaithin Johnston of Our Lady’s Grammar School, Chequer Hill, Newry, Co Down, decided to develop a device to help people with a disability put on their socks.

They built a prototype sock-aid out of wood and then modified it to improve the design. They were inspired to develop the device after their teacher described an elderly neighbour with arthritis who had difficulty putting on his socks.

Amelia Glynn, Erin Ryan and Melanie Carmody of Castletroy College, in Castletroy, Co Limerick, undertook a study of the maturity and ripening times of Irish apple cultivars.

Their study focused on biodiversity and the importance of protecting against loss of crops and unique plant varieties as a way to ensure food security for the future.

In another project from Coláiste Phádraig in Lucan, Keith Lok, Stephen Dunne and Stephen Conroy used a computer programme to track the evolution of the swine flu and the components of the virus used when a vaccine was developed against it.

The programme allowed them to measure the effectiveness of different vaccines against a variety of influenza viruses.

President Mary McAleese will preside at the exhibition’s opening ceremony next Wednesday afternoon, along with Graham Sutherland, BT’s chief executive officer.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan will be on hand on Friday, January 14th, to present the Young Scientist award and the top prize of €5,000.

The event opens to the public at 1.30pm on Thursday, January 13th, until it closes at 5.30pm on Saturday, January 15th. Student and concession tickets cost €6, adults are €12 and family tickets for two adults and three children cost €25.

Full details of the event are available on the website btyoungscientist.com