Inuvik (Mar 19/04) - Judging by the excitement at the SAMS elementary gymnasium for this year's science fair, it's safe to say that interest in the sciences among students has been rekindled.

"This is the most science projects that we've had in years," said fair coordinator Sylvia Musselwhite of the nearly 70 projects entered.

On the gym floor, students checked out their peers' projects or manned their own booths, answering questions.

What was most interesting was the wide variety of studies and experiments that touched on every aspect of science, from physics to the behavioral.

As Grade 5 student Natalie Davis prepared to activate her working model of a volcano, she described what she learned from her study "Volcanoes in Hawaii."

"I learned that volcanoes can destroy anything in their paths," she said, while "lava" poured from the top of her volcano to the delight of other students watching the spectacle.

Thankfully, hers was not real as neighbour Billy Medernach's project would have been in danger.

Medernach would go on to capture first prize among Grade 5 entrants for his exploration into human behaviour.

With his project entitled "Was Ben Right?" Medernach surveyed 70 people about their sleeping patterns, personal incomes and education levels to determine if Ben Franklin's adage, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," had any merit.

"I found that only 20 per cent of people get the proper amount of sleep of eight hours each night," he said. "And those who slept more weren't very successful."

By capturing top prize, Medernach -- who says he always gets eight hours a night -- added more weight to Franklin's claim.

In another project that garnered applied science results, Grade 6 student Brittenie Jefferd-Moore researched the fat content in several everyday foods.

"I thought it would be a fun project to show people how much fat each food had," she said.

Her project, which earned third place, found that butter, peanut butter and avocado contained the most fat. Those three were compared with yogurt, raw bacon and whipped cream.

When asked if the results would change her eating habits, Jefferd-Moore, a confessed peanut butter lover, said she didn't think so.

The top three projects in Grade 4, 5 and 6 will go on to compete in the Regional Science Fair, March 27, at Samuel Hearne secondary school.