So You Want to Be A Scientist Searching for the BBC's Amateur Scientist of the Year

Material World - Radio 4's weekly science show - wants to help you turn your ideas into real-life experiments.

Got a hunch about the way the world works? A pet theory to test out?

It's not just working scientists who have light bulb moments. Anyone, anywhere can have a brainwave that's worth investigating.

Last Time

In 2010, gardening grandmother Ruth Brooks was crowned the winner of So You Want to Be a Scientist?

“One of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of my life.”

Her experiment involved measuring the homing distance of garden snails. You can follow Ruth's research diary on Facebook and her post on the Radio 4 Blog.

Other finalists researched crowd density at music gigs, the psychology of Facebook and noctilucent clouds.

You can read about the range of entries we received in this BBC News article, "So you want to be a scientist?" from the programme's producer.

What Happens Next

This year our four finalists have been selected by the judges, from over 1,000 entries. They are now busy designing and carrying out their experiments:

- Dara Djavan Khoshdel, 25 from Bournemouth, wants to find out if the price of art correlates to our emotional response to the work.

- Val Watham, 53 from Reading, is investigating whether horizontal or vertical stripes are more flattering to wear.

- William Rudling, 69 from Leeds, is a caricaturist who thinks he can tell what people look like from hearing their voice.

- Izzy Thomlinson, 18 from Shropshire, wants to know how the sounds that annoy us change with age.

The amateur scientists will present their results at Cheltenham Science Festival in June, when the judges choose a winner. You can follow their progress on Material World and through their research diaries on Facebook.

Terms & Conditions

For more information about So You Want To Be A Scientist and who was eligible to apply, read our full Terms and Conditions.