From shampoo to surfboards and chairs to computers, entrants at this year's BT Young Scientist Technology Exhibition are discovering that everyday products can affect our health, writes Claire O'Connell
Shampoo ads lure with the promise of strong hair, but students in Coláiste Ailigh in Donegal found otherwise. Siobhán Ní hAilpín, Nicole De Brún and Shannon Nic Raith took 45 hair samples from schoolmates and tested the tensile strength with pressure gauges.
Washing the hairs with shampoo actually weakened the strands in some cases, explained first-year student Ní hAilpín.
Also in the bathroom, your toothbrush might look clean but it can harbour a collection of bacteria. Catherine Higgins, Danielle Gallagher and Aoife Flynn from Loreto Convent in Donegal analysed bacteria on toothbrushes that were stored in sealed containers, out in the open, or in toiletry bags.
"The one with the most bacteria was in the sealed container, because it doesn't allow the brush to dry, and the brush in the toiletry bag had the least," explained Higgins. The students also found that steaming toothbrushes and changing them frequently could keep the bug count down.
And for washing, choose skin products carefully, said Màriyah Zia Janjua from Naomh Iosaef in Mayo, who examined changes in the skin pH of 300 volunteers using a range of soaps and cleansers.
She said that pH-balanced skin products might particularly help control acne, where skin pH tends to be high.
With clean hair, face and teeth it's time for school, but how can sitting in a poorly designed chair for half the day affect your spine?
Transition-year students Conor Costello, Ciarán Buckley and Eoin Boland from Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Cork measured the slopes of chairs in local primary schools and compared them to healthy dimensions they found online.
"We found a 15 degree difference from what they should be," said Costello, who described how they also compared the spine curvature of 10 secondary school students before and after sitting in school chairs for prolonged periods.
"There was up to a 10cm difference in some cases after they had been sitting in chairs," he noted.
Watch those computer screens too, they could aggravate your eyes, according to a study on dry eye syndrome by Rachel Bridgette, Carol Gallagher and Ronan Healy, who monitored more than 60 students before and after they used a computer.
"We counted people's blinks before and after they used the computer for half an hour, and 11 per cent of people didn't change at all, but 45 per cent of people blinked more, and about half of them felt their eyes itching or stinging or burning," explained Bridgette, a student at Lucan Community College. They also found that distance from the monitor was a factor: "The people who were sitting further away were least affected."
And if real surfing is your thing, your body can also take a bashing. Deirdre McGuane, a transition-year student at Castleknock Community College looked at a rare but debilitating pelvic injury caused by the force of being sucked under a wave.
The project could pave the way for a new design of surfboard leash to help reduce injury, explained McGuane, who wants to study medicine when she leaves school.
The BT Young Scientist Technology Exhibition 2009 showcases 500 projects and is open to the public on Thursday and Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm, and on Saturday from 9.30am to 5pm at the RDS
Entry for students is €6, adults entry is €12 and a family ticket costs €30. More information on: www.btyoungscientist.ie