More boys have started entering the annual competition to determine Ireland's Young Scientist of the Year.
This year 40 per cent of entries, in the Esat BT Young Scientists & Technology Exhibition, come from boys. Last year that figure was just 25 per cent.
Although fewer boys have been entering the competition they have featured more prominently than girls among the winners.
The organisers announced it had received an all-time record number of entries this year. Some 910 projects were submitted, up 18 per cent on last year. Projects have been submitted by a total of 2,583 second-level students from all but two of the 32 counties.
All projects have been through the preliminary judging stage and almost 500 of them have been short-listed to appear in the finals which take place in the RDS, Dublin, from January 7th to 11th, 2003. Mr Michael Kennedy, marketing director of Esat BT, said he was overwhelmed by the level of entries.