The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the world’s biggest pre-college science competition that allows students from 65 international countries, regions, and territories to present their research and strive to win over 4 million dollars.
On May 13th to May 18th, Pascack Hill’s very own science scholars, Jessica Smith and Maddy Weinfeld, will participate in the ISEF Intel science fair with more than 1,500 other high school students.
Maddy and Jessica participated in the North Jersey Regional Science Fair in March and won first place, which gave them the opportunity to enter this honorable and competitive event.
The competition will take place in Pittsburgh and Dr. Edelberg will be joining the two girls for the trip. They will be presenting their test of the effect of Natural Beta Blockers on Drosohila melanogaster and Daphnia magna Exposed to Caffeine.
Maddy said, “We used fruit flies and water fleas to study how caffeine speeds up the heart and then check if either bananas and/or raisins can counteract caffeine’s effect on heart rate and lifespan.” The results show that that raisins can do this.
The grand prize of the Intel fair is $75,000, but there are over 200 other awards, the smallest being $1,000.
While both Maddy and Jessica are very nervous, they have all of PHHS rooting for them. Good luck girls!
