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Sixty of the brightest Year 11 students from city and country WA will test their knowledge of the brain when they take part in the WA final of the third national Australian Brain Bee Challenge held at The University of Western Australia on June 16, 2009.

WA's Chief Scientist, Professor Lyn Beazley, will open the competition and Lord Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi, will present the prizes.

The challenge is a quiz about important facts concerning intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, ageing, sleep, Alzheimer's disease and stroke. Participants are asked multiple-choice questions such as: The average human brain loses about what percentage of its weight over a lifetime?

Brain Bee State coordinator Dr Jennifer Rodger, from UWA's School of Animal Biology, said the Brain Bee gave students a great introduction to the fascinating field of neuroscience.

"It also encourages them to explore science in general. We hope to motivate young people to learn about the brain, maybe capture their imagination and inspire them to pursue careers in biomedical research," Dr Rodger said

The finalists will be in the running to win a Zeiss microscope for their schools and individual prizes. Students will take part in a tour of UWA's neuroscience labs as well as have the opportunity to meet researchers and undergraduates.

Coordinated by the Queensland Brain Institute, part of the University of Queensland, the preliminary round attracted more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand high school students. Those who make it through the WA final will take part in national finals in Sydney in January 2010, with the national winner travelling to the US to compete in the international finals in November 2010.

WA finalists come from the following schools:

Metro: Shenton College, St Mary's Anglican Girls' School, Roleystone District High School, Santa Maria College, Mundaring Christian College, Murdoch College.

Country: Goldfields Baptist College, Harvey Senior High School, Bunbury Senior High School, Newton Moore Senior High School and Morawa District High School.

For more information visit: www.abbc.edu.au

Media references

Dr Jennifer Rodger (Animal Biology)  (+61 8)  6488 2245
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716