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THEY have thought of everything from revolutionary headphones and eco-friendly sugar burners to gaming devices that whisk you back in time so it's not surprising the young science whizzes at St Brendan’s College, Killarney, have been impressing at regional as well as local level.

Last Thursday some 19 students from the school participated in the 2016 Kerry regional finals of SciFest at the Institute of Technology Tralee. “The students exhibited exemplary projects displaying in-depth research and investigation as well as innovative entrepreneurial talent,” said St Brendan’s teacher Marian O’Gorman.

The school submitted a total of 12 projects. These were selected following the results of St Brendan’s in-house SciFest competition last March. The projects were based on a broad range of topics including brain injury, invasive species in Killarney National Park and Internet safety. A number of projects involved the invention of a device including drift turbines, a revolutionary set of headphones, an eco-friendly sugar burner and a tracking device.

The school won two awards at the event. Eoin O’Connell was awarded the Sustainable Energy award for his eco-friendly sugar burner. This burner offers a way forward as an alternative energy source which doesn’t burn fossil fuels. As a result, this is an energy source which does not pose any damage to the environment. Eoin may be selected to compete in the SciFest finals next November. Seán Farndon, Seán Myers and Aaron Duggan were awarded an honorary award for their invention of their revolutionary headphones. They carried out a study on a wide range of available brands of headphones and identified the strength of each brand. “By combining the best characteristics from each brand, the team designed their own headphones which are of excellent quality and can be retailed at the reasonable price of €20 per set,” said Marian.

 
Seán Farndon, Aaron Duggan and Seán Myers who received an honorary award for the headphones they designed.