1997 Student Winners

Categories:

Biology and Microbiology

Therese McGillion
McCarthy Catholic Senior High School, Emu Plains, NSW

'Chemical Deterrents for Kangaroos'

Therese has a particular interest in both the natural environment and agriculture. Therese was surprised to find that little if any research had been done on ways to deter kangaroos from damaging farm crops. So, she set out to find a natural solution to the problem. Of all the chemical extracts she tried, she found that two in particular were effective in warding off the foraging marsupials.

Now you might not appreciate this over lunch, but the two substances were blood and bone fertiliser and dog faeces, both of which presumably mimick odors associated with the kangaroos' predators. The judges praised Therese for the elegant simplicity of her experiments and her attention to scientific method.

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Chemistry and Biochemistry

Susannah Bellows
Doncaster Secondary College, Doncaster, VIC

'Cleaning Paintbrushes'

Susannah is a budding artist whose frustration with sticky and stained paintbrushes led her to conduct experiments on the best chemical solution to the problem.

As Susannah puts it, she hates using dirty, worn paintbrushes because they ruin her masterpieces. At the same time, she wanted a solution that was easy and cheap to use and was safe for the school art room. She tested a wide range of substances, acid and alkaline, caustic and corrosive, but found the best solution was probably the simplest - dishwashing liquid in cold water.

Susannah hasn't told us how good she is washing up after tea at home, but the judges particularly liked her intuition and problem solving skills in the science classroom.

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Environmental and Earth Science

Geoffrey Briarstone
Trafalgar Primary School, Trafalgar, VIC

'Geoffrey's Alternative Product to Plastic'

Ten year old Geoffrey Briarstone has already experienced some of the setbacks research scientists confront. In Geoffrey's case, the problem was the family cat walking over the samples he was drying as part of his experiments to find an environment-friendly alternative to plastic, particularly plastic shopping bags. His project was inspired by the papier-mache model dinosaurs his mother had made for his tenth birthday using cornflour and water paste.

Varying samples of starch and plastic were tested around the family home and in his backyard and, despite the efforts of the cat, he produced his special formula, which he calls 'Geoffrey's Alternative Product to Plastic'. The judges admired Geoffrey's tenacity in the face of feline interference and praised his detailed experimental work.

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Physics, Engineering and Technology

Bronwyn Wilkes
Wentworth Falls, NSW

'An Investigation of the Regions N159 and N160 in the Large Magellanic Cloud'

Perhaps it is the clear skies over Bronwyn's home in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney that have helped produce such a promising stargazer.

Whatever the reason, Bronwyn's astronomical research project greatly impressed the judges. Bronwyn investigated two regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the closest galaxy to our own and a particularly fruitful object for research by observers in the southern hemisphere.

Bronwyn found energetic activity in one region of the Cloud that suggested the possible existence of a black hole warranting further examination. Though she is studying in Year 12 at school, the judges said Bronwyn's sophisticated and extremely thorough work would match that of a full-time research astronomer.