tomorrow’s young scientists, today

In the last few days I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time with the latest crop of up-&-coming young scientists 🙂

Yesterday I spent the day doing a Scholarship Biology preparation day for students in Hawkes Bay(very kindly hosted by Lindsfarne College in Hastings). I always get a real buzz out of working with the schol students – they ask such thoughtful, penetrating questions & I find that really stimulating. (Hopefully they enjoyed the day as much as I did!) We got through a lot of work (reviewing scholarship, doing some work on critical thinking skills, & applying them to last year’s exam) – & there was still time for me to visit a couple of vineyards before the sun went down!

And last Wednesday I was at Morrinsville College, with a bunch of other scientists, judging the East Waikato Science Fair. This is quite a small Fair but it punches well above its weight – students from it have gone on to win the national Realise the Dream competition on a regular basis. I’m always hugely impressed (& at times rather awed, truth be told) by the amazing work that some of these young people are doing in science & technology. An elegantly simple device for getting bulls out of drains (not  a job I’d want to do in any circumstances), a novel post-puller, a way to collect feijoas as they fall, an examination of the contributions of taste & smell in identifying food… & lots more besides. Wondeful stuff!

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