YOUNG SCIENTISTS CONVEY CREATIVITY

Does your birth order affect what job you select? Does caffeine affect the growth of earthworms?

Students at Kelso C-7 School in New Hamburg wanted to find out. So they developed a science fair project around those questions.

Their creativity didn't surprise their teacher Angie Barger.

"They really impressed me with their ideas," she said. "I didn't know what to expect."

Nor did the judges for the 40th annual Regional Science Fair know what to expect from the projects. Judges from area businesses, industries and Southeast Missouri State University evaluated the 273 projects Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Convention Center.

David Warren, chief of judges for the fair, said there is a process of elimination for the exhibits. As each judge examines a project, the student must also answer questions about experiments, control groups and hypotheses.

"They judge the projects based on creativity, thought and verbal delivery," he said. "They have to know what they were doing and disprove or prove their theory.

Judging based on creativity alone could be difficult. Project topics ranged from "The Susceptibility of Temperature Stress on Eukaryotic Cellular Membranes" to "Does the Quality of A Paper Towel Affect the Price of It?"

Students had an easier time finding a topic for their project than proving the theory.

Anjuli Dahiya, a freshman at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School, put an end to a household argument with her topic, "Expiration Frustration."

Since her brother and mother continually disagree about whether aspirin can expire, she created a test to prove it can.

"My brother is always arguing that it's too old, but my mother says that just because the date says it's old doesn't mean it is the truth."

Through her project, Dahiya found that some brands of aspirin can expire before the actual date on a bottle while others last longer than the expiration date suggests.

Andrew Ostrenga, also a student at Central Junior High School, tested the nutritional value of breakfast foods. He found that Carnation Instant Breakfast drink has the greatest nutritional value and the least fat.

But he isn't sure if he can give up the traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs for a glass of tomato juice or instant breakfast drink. "Maybe I'll change," he said.

Judges awarded ribbons Tuesday afternoon. Formal announcements will be made Thursday at 7 p.m.

The fair is open to the public from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. today and 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday.