Witnesses are frequently unreliable and can easily be influenced by the way they are questioned, according to the results of a student project from Belvedere College in Dublin.
"There is a lot of psychology in it," explained Ronan Lee (15) who with Stephen Heary (15) and Michael Veale Martine (15) examined the accuracy of witnesses recounting details from videotaped and performed events.
The team tested the memory of classmates by questioning them afterwards.
One experiment balanced the witness's confidence in being able to recount events accurately with the reliability of their responses.
They found that for most subjects the greater the confidence level, the more likely the response was incorrect, Ronan explained.
They also tested positive and negative questioning techniques which had a powerful influence on how the witness answered.
"You have to be aware of your body language so you don't negatively influence the witness," he said.
Three second-year students from the Loreto College, St Stephen's Green, were interested in how to influence chemical solutions for their project on crystal formation.
Emma O'Brien (13), Laura McKenna (13) and Louise Lane (14) studied how mineral salts could form a variety of crystal shapes and grew their own stalactites and stalagmites.
Asked how they got involved, Emma stated: "My mum is into crystals and how they channel energy back into the body."
Once they got going they "crystallised a lot of substances", said Laura.
Robert Staunton (16), a fifth-year from Salesian College, Co Kildare, proved himself to be something of an inventor for his project, entitled, "A design for life - sciences helping in safety".
He built a small transmitter and receiver designed for installation in cars. It is meant to serve as an early warning system for oncoming vehicles or badly parked cars.
He also developed a method for using a heat-releasing chemical reaction to help warm the wetsuits of cold-water divers.
He chose a hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide reaction to generate the heat and detailed a piping network and circulation system for the suit.
"I always had these ideas and I thought of making them, and the Young Scientist gave me the excuse for doing them," Robert said.
He hopes to study mechatronics or graphic design when he finishes secondary school.
