A total of 18 entries from Westmeath schools have made it to the finals of the 2017 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, to be held in the RDS, Dublin from January 11-14.
The Westmeath entries include six from Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone; four from Moate Community School; three from Athlone Community College; two from Meán Scoil an Chlochair, Kilbeggan; one from St Aloysius College, Athlone; one from Marist College, Athlone; and one from Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar.
The Bower entries include ‘Aquaflow Bin’; ‘Getting out and about – the Free Travel Scheme and older people’; ‘Green pools - are they the future?’; ‘Bio glam!’; ‘Diet induced thermogenesis: preventing obesity, diabetes and heart diseases using anthocyanins, catechins and capsaicins’; and ‘The health consequences of sterilising babies bottles’.
From Moate Community School the projects are ‘Growing plants for nutrition in space’; ‘What will bee the end for the Varroa destructor mite?’; ‘The wonders of red palm oil’; and ‘Can plants lead the way to unleaded soil?’.
The Athlone Community College entries are ‘To determine the technical feasibility of using machine learning technology to predict when a mobile phone or charger may explode’; ‘MCPA pesticide in drinking water’; and ‘Pedal power’.
Meán Scoil an Chlochair’s two entries are ‘Do our daily activities influence the subject of our dreams?’ and ‘Does participation in transition year enhance psychological wellbeing for participating students?’
The project from St Aloysius College is entitled ‘Making caring for people easier using technology’; the Marist College entry is ‘Get off my tail’; while ‘Alert-a-buoy’ is the Coláiste Mhuire project that made the grade.
A record number of entries were received this year, with 2,091 project ideas submitted by secondary students from across the country, of which 550 projects were shortlisted to compete at the exhibition.
The 53rd BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition will take place in the RDS, Dublin from January 11-14, where more than 140 teacher and pupil awards will be up for grabs, including the overall title of BT Young Scientist & Technologist(s ) of the Year.
For more information on the exhibition, see www.btyoungscientist.com or follow the exhibition on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat @BTYSTE.
