Driven young scientists put distracted motorists to test

TWO budding scientists, too young to drive a car, used a go-kart for their study of distracted motorists — one of 520 projects entered in this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Luke McLeod and Thomas Moore, first-year students at Balbriggan Community College, Co Dublin, will be hoping to make an impression with their scientific investigation when judging gets under way at the RDS today. They know standards will be higher than ever this year, given the record-breaking entry of 1,735 projects for the competition, in its 47th year.

Luke and Thomas, both 13-years-old and first-time entrants, were among the 3,943 students who entered the competition this year. Luke’s older brother, Cián, a fifth-year student also at Balbriggan, won first prize in the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences category last year.