Ok. After those two detours, lets get back to ISYF (International Youth Science Forum).

Part two is all about Research!

Two events fall squarely into this category, the Science Research Symposium on day 2 and Nobel Forum on day 3.

During the Science Research Symposium, we were all decked out in our respective school attires. We were ushered into the Cheng Yi Auditorium around 3, and the venue was really big, spacious, and well furnished. This was our first chance to meet the Nobel laureates. First on the menu, we were served with a keynote address by Dr Kerson Huang from MIT. Thanks to the Cheng Yi Auditorium (did I mention that the seats were quite comfortable), many of us were soon dozing away.

After that, proceedings took a turn for the interesting. Two groups from Hwa Chong Institution presented papers about biodegradable plastic and forward osmosis. Then, it was the part I hated the most. The few of us who were selected for poster presentations rushed out once the auditorium-based activities were over. Nobel laureates were assigned to judge our posters and provide comments. When it came to my turn, I presented my poster, and was about to thank the Nobel laureate, when a nasty incident occurred. Three HCI students rushed over and started talking animatedly to the laureate. (One of the 3 is the guy who beat Shaun at gayness.)  They hogged him for the rest of the session and the other participants from various countries did not get the chance to have their projects judged. It’s all over now, but humankind’s voraciousness still never fails to amaze.

The Nobel Forum on the other hand was a much shorter event held in the morning. It served as a panel discussion cum official opening ceremony. After another address that was much more interesting but no less comfortable, all five nobel laureates were invited on-stage to discuss about science, their experiences and also aspirations. They provided interesting insights to research in general.

When asked who the first scientist was, Professor David Philips replied,

I guess it’s Adam, because he experimented with Eve

He is right, I guess.

ISYF Part One

ISYF Part Two