Students discover why science is flamin’ great

MAGIC wands, football games played with the brain and fossils from millions of years ago are drawing gasps of wonder from children at a Science Week event in Cork city.

Fifth and sixth class children of St Fin Barre’s National School made the short journey to University College Cork to see the appliance of science in astounding demonstrations of physics, chemistry and biology.

The biggest queue was for the Mindball game, in which participants sit at opposite ends of a four-foot table, wearing a headband that measures brain activity. The person whose mind is most relaxed pushes a ball from the centre towards their opponent’s end of the table. Robyn Mayes easily beat a classmate, with the computer chart connected to her headband showing a completely flat line of brain activity.