Students Dean Cleary and James McCain from Dunshaughlin Community College, showcasing their project ‘Hovering Holder’ at the 58th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. Photo: Fennell Photography

From fitness to fake news and farming ... Meath’s young boffins experiment

Sports, pollution and sustainability are among the topics tackled by Meath students as 20 projects from 12 Meath schools are entered in this week's virtual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The projects will be showcased at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition from Wednesday 12th to Friday 14th January

Enfield Community College and St Joseph's Mercy, Navan each have three projects that qualified.

St Michael's Loreto, Navan, Eureka Secondary School, Kells, and St Patrick's Classical School, Navan, as well as Dunshaughlin Community College each have two projects in the competition.

Enfield Community College in just its second year in existence has two individual entries – one investigating a device to turn water vapour into drinkable water and a second looking at the effect of carbon dioxide on student concentration.

Millie Burns and Aoibhe Byrne, students from Colaiste Dun an Ri, Kingscourt, Co. Cavan and their project 'Anti-bacterial Sprays vs. Anti-bacterial Wipes'.
 Photo by Fennell Photography

Enfield also has a group project which compares the fitness levels of Irish dancers to non Irish dancers.

The projects from Mercy in Navan include an individual project entitled 'Soil O Two' and a group project entitled 'Bottomless Bucket.'

A third project from Mercy looks at how to optimise domestic battery usage using a mobile phone app.

St Patrick's Classical School has an entry which investigates the physics behind how a ball bounces, while another looks at the consumption of micro-plastics.

One of the projects from St Michael's Loreto in Navan looks at how a pre-game warm up affects reaction time, while a second is a study on mixed species sward grazing and its effect on milk yield.

Students Tom Brady & Adam Curran from Boyne Community School, Trim Co Meath. Their project is titled 'How air pressure effects the flight of a football'. Photo by Fennell Photo

Students in Eureka School investigated 'Technology's effects on our brains' and also looked at how lockdown affected young girls fitness levels. The projects from Dunshaughlin Community College are entitled 'Hovering Holder' and 'P-hacking and false papers'.

Beaufort College in Navan has an entry entitled 'Local Chatter,' while Ashbourne Community |School's project is called "IOFA _The Outdoor Fire Alert System.'

Students at Boyne Community School investigated 'How air pressure affects the flight of a football," while Ratoath College's project is entitled "Electricity-powered jet engine.'

The project from St Ciaran's Community School looks at assembling your own computer. The Laytown and Drogheda Educate Together School has taken on a very topical subject 'Fake News v Real News'.

Following the first ever virtual BTYSTE in January 2021, which reached more than 77 countries around the world, this year’s finalists will once again compete on a virtual stage to both a national and international audience.