Sutton student’s study scoops scientific prize

CLAIRE Nichols, a fifth year student from Sutton Park School, has been awarded a top prize in a national science competition.

Claire competed among the best scientific minds at SciFest 2015, an all-island science initiative which fosters active, collaborative and inquiry-based learning among second level students.

This year saw a record number of over 7,200 students exhibiting their projects in local and regional science fairs across the country. 

Claire was one of 48 students who went on to exhibit their 27 STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) projects at the national final held in the Marino Conference Centre in Dublin.

She was awarded an Excellence in STEM award for her project ‘Correlation or Coincidence? Solar Flares, Lunar Phases and Stock Market Activity’.

The fascinating project sought to determine whether geomagnetic storms have an influence on people’s decisions regarding the stock market.

Geomagnetic storms are caused by large bursts of energy from the sun.

This can have an effect on people’s moods, causing depression, anxiety, and bad judgment. Claire analysed data on every solar storm over the last 13 years that reached a level of six on the planetary K-Index, which measures the actual disturbances in the earth’s magnetic field.

For the stock market, daily data on the S&P 500 Index was used over the same time period.

Testing showed that selling the S&P 500 Index after a K-6 geomagnetic storm, and remaining out of the market for seven  days following the storm, had a hypothetical return of 210.63% between January 1, 2002 and December 26, 2014.

This is compared to a hypothetical return of 81.63% for the S&P 500 Index over the same period.  

This strategy out-performed the buy-and-hold strategy for 10 out of the 13 years tested, in both up years and down years for the overall stock market. 

She is currently testing the effect of lunar phases on market volatility, using a similar process. So far, her data suggests that the full moon causes a change in sentiment (mood swings from 

high to low or low to high) among the human population of traders as it is happening.

So be careful if you invest during a full moon!

SciFest is funded primarily by the SFI Discover Programme, Intel Ireland and Boston Scientific.

Sheila Porter, SciFest CEO, said: “Each year the standard of projects exhibited at SciFest gets better and better.

“All projects exhibited show that when students engage with STEM outside the classroom, they bring their learning to a new level and produce amazing results.

“Participation in SciFest helps students to develop the skills sets essential for the next generation of creative problem solvers and entrepreneurs.

“The innovation and the creativity on display at the national final is a testament to the hard-work and dedication put in by the students and their teachers.”