Congratulations to Samuel, the clear winner of the WA state final of the 2023 Brain Bee Competition!
Funded by the Australasian Neuroscience Society, the National Brain Bee is an annual competition for Year 10 students and an opportunity to explore the world of neuroscience!
This year, 12 of our Year 10 students competed in round 1 of the WA state Brain Bee and four students were selected to move to the second round held at the University of Western Australia. Samuel, Thomas, Esther, and Emerson joined Mr Taylor and a host of other budding neuroscientists for the big day.
The team heard from researchers at the Perron Institute exploring motor neurone disease, youth mental health and pharmacogenetics and concussion and traumatic brain injuries. They watched someone have transcranial magnetic stimulation to move their arms and fingers, prodded the spines of a cricket’s leg to record voltage changes in its neurons, and explored the human anatomy lab.
It was a great opportunity to think about what makes someone a Christian scientist. Would you be doing different things, or the same things? Is it what we do, or how we do it? Can we see how Science can be used for redemptive purposes in humble and joyful submission to King Jesus?
Oh, and there was the competition itself, 1 hour in a computer lab in UWA, what will be the outcome!? Let me tell you the outcome…… Samuel Richards, the clear winner of the WA state final of the Brain Bee 2023! Well done to Samuel, he dedicated significant time to learning the content and now has the opportunity to head east and represent WA at the national finals in Brisbane later this year. May he point to Jesus as he does so!
I want to encourage all those who participated, and maybe one day it will be some of these students presenting their PhD work to future Year 10s, inspiring them to see how they can use what God has given them to serve His purposes in this world!
