Ever wondered about the difference between regular store-bought eggs and homegrown eggs from a backyard chicken coop? A local high school senior conducted a sophisticated experiment to learn more about the issue. 17-year old Julia Buschmann’s project won several awards at the Southeast Alaska Regional Science Fair in Juneau earlier this month. She was also a first-tier finalist at the competition and will compete again this summer at the Genius Olympiad. That’s an international, high school science fair in Oswego, New York. Matt Lichtenstein asked Buschmann about her science project, which is called “Cracking the Shell: Insights into Chicken Protein” During this month’s regional fair in Juneau, Julia Bushman’s project won an American Chemical Society Award for Excellence in Chemistry, a Juneau Medical Society and Bartlett Hospital award for health-related research, and a US Metric Association award for best use of the international metric system.