Winning idea could be commercial success

THE simple test for testing fresh milk for infection that won teenagers John D O’Callaghan and Liam McCarthy the title of BT Young Scientists 2009 could become a commercial success.

As well as earning Kinsale Community School in Co Cork the top prize in Dublin on Friday night, the project also won them a special award from the Patents Office, which is made to the project that best demonstrates the use of technology in new or improved applications, enhanced efficiencies and clever innovations.

The judges were highly impressed by the apparatus they devised to allow farmers test milk for somatic cells, which can indicate infection in a cow and reduces the milk’s processability during cheese-making.