TRURO, NS — (May 22, 2007) An Ontario high school student's research has won a $500 Manning Innovation Achievement Award at 2007 Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF). Mark Shearer, in Grade 12, found evidence for chemical memory in his project "¿Heads of Tails? II: Memory at its Finest."

Chemical memory is the concept that animals can store memories in chemicals in the body, not just in the nervous and immune systems. Shearer trained Planaria flatworms to expect a shock following a flash of light. He then ground up their tails-planarians can regenerate their tails-and fed the material to untrained Planaria. The untrained Planaria reacted to the light flashes as if they were trained and remembered the shock.

Shearer, who also won a CWSF bronze medal in the Life Sciences Division, hopes his research could lead to investigations of chemical memory in the human body, and the possible role of chemical memory in autoimmunity and other disease states.

Shearer was among the approximately 25,000 young Canadians in Grades 7 though 12 who earlier this year competed in regional science fairs across the country. Of these students, 459 Finalists gathered at the 2007 Canada-Wide Science Fair, held in the Colchester County of Nova Scotia from May 12-20^th. The annual fair is the showcase event of Youth Science Foundation Canada.

The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation introduced the Young Canadian Program in 1992 to recognize innovative Canada-Wide Science Fair projects. Each year a judging team selects eight winning projects for the $500 Manning Innovation Achievement Awards, which are presented at the science fair awards ceremony.

Contact:
Bruce Fenwick
Executive Director, Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation
Phone: 403-645-8277
Email: bruce.fenwick@encana.com

Lori Murray
Youth Science Foundation Canada
Phone: (Toll free) 866-341-0040 ext. 3
Email: communications@ysf-fsj.ca