Owen Falzon during his presentation.

Biomedical engineer Owen Falzon represented Malta at the Famelab International 2013 competition final held recently at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival. He was among the top 10 contestants chosen to participate in the final from among the 21 country representatives that took part in the semi-final.

The final was won by Irish environmental scientist Fergus McAuliffe with a story about how the Wood Frog’s unique physiology allows it to literally freeze solid in winter and thaw in spring without dying.

McAuliffe argued that if the mechanism was used to transport human organs, thousands of lives could be saved .

Since 2004, Famelab has grown into arguably the world’s leading science communication competition. It helps young scientists acquire valuable skills to communicate their work to a non-scientific audience.

A video of Dr Falzon’s presentation may be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9CYv-kjUTY.

For details about the competition, visit www.famelab.org.