Brain researcher is Young Scientist of the Year

Physiology PhD student Martin Sale is the Young Scientist of the Year for 2007.
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Wednesday, 12 September 2007

A University of Adelaide student whose research is helping us to better understand how the brain works has become the 2007 Young Scientist of the Year.

Martin Sale, a physiology postgraduate student in the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, has won the honour thanks to his involvement in the national Fresh Science competition.

Fresh Science helps to identify new and interesting research being done by early-career scientists around the country, and gives them the opportunity to communicate their science to the media and the public.

Mr Sale's research has found that the time of day influences your brain's ability to learn - and the human brain learns more effectively at night.

The story about his work received worldwide attention when it was released last month during the Fresh Science event.

Mr Sale was chosen for the Young Scientist of the Year award from a national pool of 16 young researchers.

As Young Scientist of the Year, he will get to experience the real world of science communication first hand, working as a journalist for two weeks in The Australian newspaper's Sydney bureau.

He says he's excited about the opportunity.

"This will allow me to learn more about what's involved in science communication and how the media operates," Mr Sale says.

Of the 16 Fresh Scientists selected for 2007 from more than 80 nominations, four were from the University of Adelaide. The others were Quinn Fitzgibbon, Cadence Minge and Edwina Sutton.

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