Move over Messrs Attenborough, Bellamy and Ms ní Lamhna and make way for the likes of Nicholas Hogan (9) and Lauren McDonald (12) of Castlegar and Oughterard in Galway.
The young students are among hundreds who are taking part this week in the Galway Science and Technology Festival, the biggest event of its type in the State.
There is little that Nicholas doesn't know about the life-cycle of a snipe, while he can also apply his artistic skills to a fine clay model of a wren.
Together with fellow pupil, Emily Murphy (11), of Colmcille Naofa National School in Castlegar, Nicholas was able to enthral visitors to the festival yesterday with the results of his school's field trip to Ballindooley lake and castle.
As for Lauren McDonald, business acumen and a keen scientific brain ensure that she earned €1,000 during a couple of weeks last summer when she was still at school at Scoil an Chlochair, Oughterard, by collecting mayfly along the shores of Lough Corrib and selling them to visiting anglers.
Lauren was a participant in her school's sixth-class project, displayed at this year's Galway sciencefest, on the lifecycle of the brown trout.
Under the guidance of teacher Regina Fitzmaurice, the pupils worked with John Gibbons at Oughterard trout hatchery and the Galway Atlantaquaria to study the insects which had been eaten by the fish.
The stomach contents examined confirmed one fact . . . the western lake is definitely suffering from pollution.
A team from Belfast demonstrated the properties of absorbent nappies and the tricks which physics can play in your average kitchen.
Julie Thompson of Armagh Planetarium took visitors on a tour of the universe, from constellations like Pegasus, the flying horse, to the stationary North star to the bright shining Mars.
Space was a theme of this year's festival, with a visit earlier in the week by Mr Michel Tognini, head of the European Space Agency's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany. The French air force pilot and engineer received training as a cosmonaut in the former Soviet Union. His first mission to space took place in 1992 when he was a member of the third Franco- Russian Antares mission to the space station Mir.
Mr Tognini said a "good attitude" and abilities in maths, science and sport made for astronaut material, while communication and patience were also essential qualities.
