SWEET 15

Brennan plays musical numbers

When Colt Brennan was drafted by the Washington Redskins two years ago, he wanted the No. 15 he wore on his University of Hawaii Warriors jersey — but quarterback Todd Collins already had it, so Brennan settled for No. 5. This week, the Philadelphia Eagles traded Donovan McNabb to the Redskins to be the starting quarterback, and McNabb let it me known that he wanted to keep No. 5, his Eagles number. No problem. Last month, the Redskins released 38-year-old Collins, who was considering retirement, so Brennan finally gets No. 15. At this stage of the NFL game, though, he probably would be happy with any number.

UNUNSEPTIUM

He ain't heavy, he's my new element

Just when you thought they had run out of elements to discover, along comes a team of physicists from Russia who recently figured out how to make the “;superheavy”; element 117. Strangely, elements 116 and 118 have already been discovered, so the new element, called ununseptium, slips into the periodic table between them. It is created by smashing together calcium-48 and berkelium-249, resulting in two isotopes with 117 protons.

SCIENTIFIC HIGH

Hawaii's scientists and engineers of tomorrow are at the fair today

Wonder if Albert Einstein started out this way?

Budding scientists in Hawaii got to exercise their curiosity and receive big doses of encouragement in the 53rd Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair, culminating in today's 4:30 p.m. awards ceremony at the Hawai'i Convention Center. Public viewing of the students' hard work will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

As it does every year, the science fair provides public and private school students in grades 6-12 an opportunity to conduct scientific research and to present their findings in a professional setting.

More than 7,000 students do a science project as part of their science class or extracurricular activity. Last year more than 500 students competed at the state level, representing 75 public and private schools. Awards totaling more than $100,000 were given to students and their teachers.

A Hawaii delegation of winners will head to the International Science and Engineering Fair next month in San Jose, where students from around the globe will compete for more than $4 million in awards and scholarships.

Brainiacs of the future — unite!