ANSWERS TO some of the pressing questions and mysteries of our times will be revealed later today when the 46th annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition gets under way.
Why does a cut onion make you cry? How much water can a dog get in one lick? And why does popcorn pop? The solution to these and other teasers will be disclosed to the public at the RDS in Dublin.
The final stand count this year is 514 according to the organisers, with projects in the usual areas of chemical, physical and mathematical sciences, technology, social and behavioural sciences and biological and ecological sciences.
This year participants from all 32 counties are in attendance and once again the students have surpassed themselves in delivering projects that are as much fun as they are informative.
There are research studies into how to win at monopoly and the word game hangman, and whether tying your school tie too tight can affect vision.
One group studied whether deaf people can hear when they dream while another measured the bacteriological content of open-bin sweet displays.
On stage in the BT Arena at the RDS will be a BMX bicycle display team, an acrobat and a live band before the students troop out to take over their stands as judging gets under way.
Running parallel to the main young scientist exhibition are four other exhibition halls featuring special acts – battling robots and public and private sector exhibitors.
The BT Arena will provide a number of shows daily, including the Team Extreme BMX display team, the Bending It Like Beckham show that explains the science behind those remarkable penalty kicks and the W5 Amazing Experiments show.
Robot Wars attends the exhibition again this year and tours of a galaxy near you are provided in the Celestial Extravaganza show.
But the students remain at the heart of the exhibition and are set to be the primary attraction for an estimated 35,000 visitors. Their research efforts were described as “astounding” by main sponsor BT’s chief executive Chris Clark.
Judging gets under way this afternoon after the exhibition launch and continues through Thursday and into Friday. Students are vying to become the Young Scientist (or Young Scientists in the case of a group win) for 2010 and win the top award of €5,000.
The top four prizes for individuals and groups will be announced at the end of a special awards ceremony on Friday evening. The Irish Times will also publish a complete list of all category and group winners from the exhibition in next Saturday’s newspaper.
Full details are available from www.btyoungscientist.ie