This year's winners of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition are John D O'Callaghan (14) and Liam McCarthy (13), second year students from Kinsale Community School, Co Cork, and both sons of farmers. For their project they developed a cheap and efficient way for farmers to detect infection in cows by testing their milk.

The boys were concerned about the financial losses incurred if milk sold from their farms had high contents of somatic cells.

Somatic cells reflect infection in the mammary gland of the cow and downgrade the process ability of the milk during cheese making. Current tests for somatic cells are expensive and slow.

John and Liam discovered that if a small amount of detergent is mixed with a fresh sample of milk, the mixture becomes progressively more viscous as the somatic cell content of the milk rises. Encouraged by their findings, they developed a simple apparatus that could be used by the farmer to quickly test the milk and determine its status.

"This will be of tremendous commercial help to farmers and is a marketable product," the judges said.

The boys said their background in dairy farming taught them the importance of these tests.

"The problem of somatic cells is huge across Ireland because of the financial deductions," said John.

"From my personal experience, the wait for the results of the tests is too long. We read up about tests with fairy liquid and thought we could develop the idea."

"It was really an old tale that we turned into reality," Liam said.

The students received a cheque for €5,000 and a Waterford Crystal trophy. They will now represent Ireland at the 21st European Union Contest for Young Scientists in Paris in September.

"Words can't describe how we feel. We are absolutely delighted. We weren't expecting it at all. It means the world to us," John and Liam said.

Other winners included Andrei Triffo, from Synge Street CBS, who scooped The Best Individual Award for his project, "Infinite Sums of Zeta Functions and other Dirichlet Series".

Andrei also won the Intel Student Award in Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics goes to the best individual or group at the Exhibition in that category. The prize is an all expenses trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair which is being held in Reno, Nevada in May this year. Andrei and his teacher Jim Cooke will fly off to Reno in May to represent Ireland at this event.

RIGHT: (l-r) Jim Cooke, teacher at Synge Street Dublin, who will accompany his winning student Andrei to Reno, Nevada in May for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair; Kieran O’Dwyer, teacher at St. Ailbe’s Vocational School, Co. Tipperary and winner of the Intel Educator of Excellence Award; Leonard Hobbs, Intel Engineering Research Manager; Andrei Triffo from Synge Street CBS, Dublin, winner of Intel Student Award and winner of the BT Best Individual Award.

The award for group runner-up went to Rhona Togher, Eimear O'Carroll and Niamh Chapman, from Ursuline College, Sligo, for their exhibit, "The Sound Of Silence -- An Investigation Into Low Frequency Therapy for Tinnitus Sufferers".

The award for individual runner-up went to Henry Glass, from Clongowes Wood College, Co Kildare, for his project, "The Distribution Of The Freshwater Limpet Ancylus Fluviatilis In A Short Stretch Of The Moneycarragh River".

Tommy Collison, from Castletroy College, Co Limerick, was presented with the Fr Tom Burke Bursary Award of €1,000 to assist his further education.

In addition to The Best Individual Award, Andrei Triffo from CBS Synge Street was also the winner of the Intel Student Award in Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics, which goes to the best individual or group in that category. The prize is an all expenses trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair which is being held in Reno, Nevada in May this year. Andrei and his teacher Jim Cooke will fly to Reno in May to represent Ireland at this event, which is recognised as the 'Olympics of Science Fairs', with over 50 countries from all over the world represented by students competing for more than $3 million in scholarships and prizes.

Teacher Kieran O’Dwyer from St. Ailbe’s Vocational School, Co. Tipperary, won the Intel Educator of Excellence award. Kieran will also be given the opportunity to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno this year.

Intel said it was delighted to be able to do something to recognise the unsung heroes of the exhibition - the teachers, who do so much work behind the scenes to support and encourage their students. The company has been involved as a Gold Sponsor in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition for eleven years with particular focus on the Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics section.

This year, more than 1,600 entries were received in the four subject areas and three age categories, with 500 group and individual projects chosen for exhibition. These were made up of 99 projects for the chemical, physical and mathematical sciences category; 152 projects for the biological and ecological sciences category; 74 for the technology category; and social and behavioural sciences with 177 projects.

The projects were assessed by over 70 judges before the final results were announced.

Speaking at the official opening of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, President Mary McAleese described the event, now in its 45th year, as an "exceptional demonstration of Ireland’s young brainpower". She said the finalists would be the researchers, entrepreneurs and teachers who would "keep Ireland’s name in global lights as a centre of scientific and technological creativity and innovation".

"The insights of this generation, the questions they ask and the answers they construct tell us that this is a generation like no other in its confidence, its skill, its insight and its intellectual muscle," she said

"Today we have a problem-solving generation like no other and though economic times are much more difficult than anything they have encountered up to now, these are the young men and women with the analytical powers and the creative genius to navigate themselves and their country successfully through whatever future storms erupt," the President said.