Students set for Young Scientist exhibition

A BMX display team, an acrobat suspended by a rope and, oh yes, the Tánaiste will all be on hand at the RDS tomorrow to launch…

A BMX display team, an acrobat suspended by a rope and, oh yes, the Tánaiste will all be on hand at the RDS tomorrow to launch the 46th annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Student exhibitors began arriving this afternoon to set up their projects. That process should be complete before tomorrow afternoon when the 2010 Young Scientist exhibition will officially be declared underway.

The exciting opening show including a musical act will quickly give way to the formal side the exhibition as the more than 60 volunteer judges begin the business of finding the next Young Scientist of the year.

Judging takes place tomorrow afternoon, all of Thursday and part of Friday morning. During that time every student will get a chance to describe their work and hopefully win a category or a top prize for their research efforts.

The exhibition opens to the public on Thursday afternoon and can also be visited during Friday and through to Saturday afternoon. There will be plenty to see with daily shows taking place in the BT arena, and dozens of displays on hand in the exhibition hall.

BMX performers Team Extreme who help open the show tomorrow afternoon will perform during the exhibition along with Belfast based W5 who will carry out amazing experiments. As in past years Robot Wars will be on hand with metal-munching robots battling for supremacy.

And visitors and exhibitors will be able to see Celestial Extravaganza, a show that combines gaming technology with the latest 3-D stereo animations to deliver a cosmic voyage of discovery.

The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition runs until Saturday evening. Once open to the public, family tickets covering two adults and three children cost €25, students and concessions are €6 and adult tickets are €12.

More information is available from the web site, www.btyoungscientist.ie

Dick Ahlstrom

Dick Ahlstrom

Dick Ahlstrom, a contributor to The Irish Times, is the newspaper's former Science Editor.