Have you ever wondered whether earthworms react to music? Or whether Ireland could become a major world supplier of bugs as a food export? Or how to brew a perfect cup of tea?
All these questions and many more will be answered as the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2015 gets under way at the RDS in Dublin.
The doors opened early this morning to almost 1,200 students coming from across Ireland and Northern Ireland who have completed 550 research projects that will be judged over the next three days.
The object is to find that one special project whose author will be declared the Young Scientist of the Year for 2015.
Prizes
This accolade and the awarding of the three other main prizes at the exhibition won’t happen until Friday evening. Before then there will be live shows, an entire exhibition hall full of exhibitors and an opportunity from tomorrow for visitors to tour the stands.
This is the 51st exhibition and to mark the occasion An Post has issued a commemorative stamp. It depicts a rocket, something which reflects the scientific side of the Young Scientist but also points to the history of the event.
The exhibition began in 1965 after two UCD scientists, Fr Tom Burke and Dr Tony Scott, watched a rocket launch at a science fair in New Mexico in the US and brought the idea of a fair home with them, leading to what is now one of the largest events of its kind in the world given the numbers of students involved and the expected 50,000 visitors.
The mix of research projects is as varied and interesting as ever. Students from Kinsale Community School in Cork put together a study to see whether students had better reading comprehension when looking at paper as opposed to a tablet.
Risk
Another project from
Bush Post Primary School
in Co Louth looked at whether intensive sports training when a child is 13 to 16 years of age left the person at increased risk of serious knee injury when playing at senior level.
The exhibition gets under way after an official opening at 2pm and formal judging begins immediately afterwards.
The BT Young Scientist for 2015 (or Young Scientists if a group project) will be announced at an awards ceremony early on Friday evening.
It opens to the public and to student visitors from tomorrow morning and visitors are welcome until the end of the exhibition on Saturday afternoon.
Tickets for the event cost €6 for a student or €12 for an adult and a family pass costs €25.
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