The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition has secured a €2 guarantee of support over the coming three years. The continued support from BT means that the annual exhibition will remain one of the largest and most successful events of its kind in Europe. BT has also announced that the travel and accommodation grant is being increased by fifty per cent, making it easier for schools throughout the country to participate. Graham Sutherland, CEO of BT said the exhibition ticks all the right boxes in terms of meeting the needs of students and stimulating interest in science, technology, engineering and maths. It also encourages a positive attitude to innovation, and ultimately that is of benefit to everyone in the country, The closing date for entries is 3rd October 2011, and the exhibition will run from 11th to 15th January at the RDS. LIVE www.btyoungscientist.com INK
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YOUNG SCIENTISTS
Going cyber for the show, Asling Mullen from Mercy Secondary School.
Aislinn Begley and Doireann Roche, St. Vincent’s Secondary School, Dundalk, Co. Louth
Debate on animal testing
In AprIl finalists met at the TCD Science Gallery to debate the claim that animal testing is necessary for the advancement of disease treatment. More than fifty schools from around the country had entered the debating competition, and by the finals, this had been narrowed down to four teams. The winners, who backed the claim, were from St Vincent’s Secondary School, Dundalk. Coláiste an Phiarsaigh of Glanmire Co Cork were the runners up at the final. Ulster was represented by St Catherine’s Vocational School, Killybegs, Co Donegal and Connacht by St. Joseph’s College Garbally, Co Galway. The debating competition is a cross-border event involving collaboration between REMEDI, W5, Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, RCSI, Crann, Clarity, Tyndall and APC.
Inspirational
SIx transition year students from St Gerald’s College in Castlebar have been named, “The most inspirational team in the world” for their Lego engineering project. The Lego Robotics Challenge is an international competition attracting thousands of entrants from around the world. Bernard Kirk, Director of the Galway Education Centre, who first brought the competition to Ireland, said this is the second year for Irish students to make it through to the finals in the US. The students, Paul McDonogh, Luke Benson, Oisin Kyne, Donnchadh Barry, Paul Murray, and Ardian Murphy travelled to the St Louis, Missouri, with their teacher, Declan Askin. They were among 88 teams from 28 countries, so coming out ahead as global winners, said Declan, was quite an achievement.
Smart ideas
Junior inventors have come up with some smart solutions to everyday problems. In a competition for primary schools run by the Patents Office pupils from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, won with their plan to make it easier for people to find seats in a darkened cinema. Like many good ideas, this one is quite simple, and could be very effective not just in cinemas but in all sorts of situations where people have to leave and come back to seats which have then been taken by someone else. rosin Connolly, Kate Dowling and Abbie Byrne, from Scoil naomh iosaf in Baltinglass, came up with a lighting system that glows green when the seat has been tipped up for more than ten minutes, indicating that the position is vacant. Pupils from St Anne’s national School in Straffan, Co Kildare, came up with another suggestion that could save lives. Most of us use mobile phones, and for many people they double up at nig ht as alarm clocks. As Eimhin O’Neill observed, most fires spread at night, when people are asleep, and it should be relatively easy to incorporate a smoke alarm into the phone. According to the Patents Office, 2,500 entries from 234 schools were received for this year’s competition.
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 47 Page 30