Benelux representative wins FameLab

FameLab competition resembles TV talent shows. Instead of singers or dancers, competitors are scientists. They have three minutes to present a selected issue in a fascinating manner, and the jury evaluates their presentations.

First place in the competition won the Benelux representative Padraic Flood, PhD student of the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. In his presentation, he spoke about how "light is converted into life", i.e. on the process of photosynthesis, which is the foundation of life on Earth. He argued that by improving the process of photosynthesis through genetic modification, scientists can help to increase crop yields.

"I\'m very surprised. I did not think that I could win, because all the finalists did a great job here. Now I would like the popularisation of science to become a part of my career to a greater extent than I previously intended" - the winner told PAP.

Equivalent two second places were awarded to: Lyl Tomlinson representing the United States, and David Davila from France. He also won the audience award in Cheltenham (south-west of England).

Dr Joanna Bagniewska, who also competed, won the prize awarded by the winners of previous editions of FameLab, who watched the struggle on the internet.

Dr. Bagniewska is a zoologist, and teaches ecology and biodiversity at Nottingham Trent University. Doctorate, which she completed at Oxford University\'s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, concerned biotelemetry, discreet observation of wild animals. Her latest project involved the detection of drugs by bees. This issue was the subject of her presentation in the finals.

She explained that bees can detect even trace amounts of drugs or explosives. You can train them to protrude tongue rolled into a tube if they smell heroin or cocaine in the air sample.

"Compared to humans and even dogs, bees need much lower concentrations to sense the fragrance. A bee need only six seconds to learn a particular smell and be able to recognize it" - she described the. She had to share the prize with UK representative Caroline Shenton-Taylor.

23 scientists from European countries, but also from South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia, competed in the world finals of the competition on 3 - 5 June in the Cheltenham, UK.

FameLab was created in 2005 in the UK by the organizers of the Cheltenham Science Festival. Two years later, the British Council joined the project and organized editions of the competition in various countries around the world. Today, FameLab editions are held in several countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. In Poland, the competition is co-organized by the Copernicus Science Centre.

From Cheltenham, Ewelina Krajczyńska

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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