Australia's ‘brainiest' student, Jackson Huang from the Gold Coast, will compete in the International Brain Bee Competition (IBB) in Austria this month.
Australia's only high-school neuroscience competition, initiated by The University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), is designed to identify the student with the most neuroscience knowledge.
Jackson, from the Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics & Technology at Toowong, outsmarted seven other Australian finalists in a two-day series of examinations at the national final for Australia and New Zealand in January.
The 16-year-old displayed outstanding knowledge on memory, intelligence, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, ageing, sleep, Alzheimer's disease and stroke will now be pitted against students from across the globe from 22-24 September.
Jackson will prepare for the competition by studying neuroscience textbooks downloaded from the Internet.
The competition format consists of oral questions and answers, laboratory tests, neurohistology tests with microscopes, patient diagnosis with actors, and magnetic resonance imaging brain imaging analysis.
Created to motivate students to learn about the human brain, IBB works to inspire students to enter careers as clinicians and researchers to treat and find cures for more than 1000 neurological and psychological disorders.
5500 students from over 300 schools participated in the challenge this year.
ABBC is calling for entries for students wishing to become the 2014 Australian Brain Bee Champion.
Registration is free and teachers may nominate one student and multiple students including their entire class.
For more information or to register visit www.abbc.edu.au
