YOUNG SCIENTISTS TELL WHAT DRIVES THEM

By Mary Hovee, 15; Joi Officer, 12; Laura Mangan, 12; Becky Mangan, 11.

There were hundreds of gawkers and exhibits from all over the world.

But nothing made the Intel Science and Engineering Fair last month feel more like a zoo than the signs: "Please do not poke, tease, or feed the science nerds."

About 1,480 of the world's most talented young scientists and inventors packed the Indiana Convention Center in May to compete for a total of $4 million in scholarship money. About 15 percent of the participants, who ranged in age from 12 to 20, already have patents or have applied for one.

The prodigies represented 47 countries, regions and territories. Engineering was the most popular category, with 200 projects. Next in line was environmental sciences, with 155 exhibits. Intel, a computer chip manufacturer, has been the title sponsor for 10 years.

Four members spent two hours watching and talking to the teens. The projects were divided into 14 subject areas, ranging from botany to zoology and including such fields as health and behavioral science.

Hamsters and caffeine

Grade and school: Juniors at Charleston Catholic High School, Charleston, W.Va.

Description of project: The experiment involved giving nine hamsters varying amounts of caffeine to see how far they could run in hamster wheels. The girls recorded the acceleration, velocity and number of revolutions each hamster made. They concluded that hamsters with higher doses of caffeine ran faster.

Motivation behind project: They hope companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi can use their model to test soft drinks on hamsters before humans. The teenagers e-mailed Coca-Cola to suggest the use of hamsters in research, but haven't received a response.

Best part about the fair: "The coolest part . . . was the different people," Sarah Whiteside said. She met a group of Uruguayans who understood her French better than her English. "We sat down and had lunch with them," she said.

Plans: The girls want to work together again for next year's contest, this time doing a computer science project involving solar panel cars or different types of fuel.

River quality

Name: Shannon Babb, 18.

Grade and school: Senior at American Fork High School, American Fork, Utah.

Description of project: "I looked at a newly emerged hot sulfur spring and what its long-term effects were on the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the Diamond Fork River" in central Utah. In an earlier project, Shannon also tested the impact rivers near her home had on humans.

Motivation behind project: She was tired of scientists guessing about the quality of the water without actually testing it.

Challenges behind project: To accurately test dissolved oxygen, Shannon had to get up between 3 and 4 a.m. In the winter, the surrounding air temperature could drop as low as minus-25 degrees Celsius.

Plans: At Utah State University, Shannon plans to study environmental hydrology and continue her experiments. She hopes to pursue a doctorate in environmental law.

Awards: At the Indianapolis competition, Shannon received six awards worth more than $5,000, including an all-expense-paid trip to the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden. In early spring, she was awarded the top prize -- a $100,000 scholarship -- for a related project at the INTEL Science Talent Search.

Addictions

Name: Kristina Argo, 17.

Grade and school: Senior at Central High School, Spring Hill, Fla.

Description of project: Kristina would like to know which addictions are genetically controlled, which ones stem from the environment and which are linked. She surveyed people about a variety of addictions, including drugs, alcohol, gambling and television.

Motivation behind project: Kristina personally has seen the negative effects of addiction and wants to make a difference.

Challenges behind project: "People were not honest when they had to take my survey, so the lack of honesty and respect for what I was trying to do was difficult."

Impact: "There are cures for everything, and there is going to be a cure for future generations of addicts. You don't have to be addicted to something; you can break the chain."

Plans: Next year, Kristina plans to dually enroll in high school and college. She hopes to find a cure for addicts and teach people about her discoveries.

Sock helper

Name: Gitte Jonsson, 20.

Grade and school: Senior at EUC Lolland, Nakshov, Denmark.

Description of project: "I have invented an aid to help the physically disabled take socks on and off. It's a very big problem for a lot of people all over the world who, for some reason, cannot bend down to take their socks off."

Motivation behind project: She was inspired by her grandmother, whose hip replacement made it difficult to put on socks.

Positive experiences: "It went very well, and I got some very good advice from many patients and people who work at the hospital."

Plans: Gitte is interested in health science.

Mosquitoes

Name: Howell Fishel, 15.

Grade and school: Freshman at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla.

Description of project: Howell wanted to know if mosquitoes are attracted to perfume, stinky socks, Limburger cheese and dry ice, the frozen form of carbon dioxide. After 15 days of testing, he found that mosquitoes were only attracted to carbon dioxide, which they sense with their antennae. That fuels an attraction to humans because people exhale carbon dioxide, the poisonous waste product of the breathing process.

Motivation behind project: He had noticed a significant mosquito population in Florida, as well as a public fear about the spread of the West Nile virus.

Challenges behind project: His biggest problem was positioning the stinky socks in the trap.

Impact: Howell hopes his work can help create traps that attract mosquitoes without the use of chemical repellants or insecticides.

Plans: He is considering continuing his mosquito project in high school and pursuing a science career.

Caffeine and REM sleep

Name: Caroline Blosser, 16.

Grade and school: Sophomore at Upper Arlington High School in Columbus, Ohio.

Description of project: Caroline examined the effects of caffeine consumption on rapid eye movement, or REM, a late stage of sleep. "REM is really important because it's responsible for memory and for storing and retaining information. Caffeine has commonly been thought to interfere with sleep, so that's why I wanted to see if it interfered with REM sleep."

Motivation behind project: "I myself am a pretty big caffeine drinker, and I've always been fascinated with sleep, so the connection just kind of came naturally."

Challenges behind project: "The only problem that I did run into was with the human subjects not really wanting to participate."

Impact: "It really is relevant to everyone because everybody sleeps. And with caffeine being one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide, I think it has relevance for really everybody."

Plans: She plans to continue entering science fairs and would like to pursue a career in science someday.

Advice: "Stay away from coffee."

Parents' reactions to gay children

Name: Mariely M. Cepeda-Lopez, 17.

Grade and school: Junior at Colegio Sonifel, Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Description of project: Her goal was to measure how Puerto Rican parents would react if their teenage children came out to them as gay or lesbian.

Motivation behind project: The gay-rights movement.

Challenges behind project: "Sometimes the parents were a little bit shy about talking about this theme, and they didn't want to answer some of the questions because it was hard for them." Mariely concluded that Puerto Rican communities are intolerant toward homosexuality.

Impact: She hopes teenagers will better understand how parents might react to gays and lesbians. She also wants to educate parents about homosexuality and tolerance.

Plans: "Next year, I would like to compare these results of the Hispanic culture with another culture." She also wants to investigate how children feel when they discover that a parent is a homosexual.