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TBI Innovations: ZIMBA – A Simple Machine To Quench The Thirst For Clean Water

An affordable device that does not need electricity or moving gears but runs only on gravity, is scientist Suprio Das’s answer to water contamination. Nilanjana Nag Pereira reports. Odd as it may seem, innovation and its usage have become inversely proportionate today. Says scientist Suprio Das, “90 per cent of our leading designs are created [...]

May 3, 2012 / 4 Comments / Read More

An illiterate Farmer designs a Water Mill to generate Electricity

April 8, 2011 6 Comments

Siddappa, an illiterate farmer from Somapur village in Gadag district of Karnataka, has designed a water mill to generate electricity. Right from conceptualizing to materialisation, the farmer has done everything on his own. He operates the water mill in the canal near his house. Using timbers, Siddappa prepared a giant wheel that joined at a [...]

Arvind Gupta: Teaching Science by Creating Treasures from the Trash Can

March 15, 2011 1 Comment

Science owes a great debt to imagination. Many great inventions and discoveries would never have come about if some day dreamer hadn’t imagined it first. Sitting in a classroom, or a laboratory or under an apple tree, wondering… ‘What if’? Back in the late eighties when I was still in the single digits, my father [...]

India’s Brave New Women Scientists

February 4, 2011 1 Comment

Kolkata, West Bengal (Women’s Feature Service) When her male colleague packed his bags and wandered off to the Maoist belt of West Midnapore in Bengal, 30- year-old scientist Paushali Bal, an M.A. in Sociology and a Ph.D in Epidemiology, felt disadvantaged in being a woman for the first time in her life. “The area was [...]

Haathi Chaap: Elephant Poo Paper

October 21, 2010 No Comment

That’s right. We are talking about paper made from elephant dung! The brainchild of retailer Mahima Mehra and Jaipur-based handmade paper producer, Vijendra Shekhawat, this pooper, christened “Haathi Chaap” meaning “Elephant Print” is creating quite an impact in Indian and international markets. The Birth of an Idea The thought of creating paper from elephant poo [...]

Innovation: Biomass Cooking Stoves

July 13, 2010 3 Comments

In this article, we write about the Biomass Cooking Stove innovation that is being nurtured by the Villgro foundation. Context and problems with LPG Micro and small establishments that provide boarding services to 40 – 100 individuals in rural and semi-rural areas face the three pronged problem of not having the access, both financially and [...]

Agastya: Sparking Creativity in Rural India

May 23, 2010 4 Comments

Spread over a vast area of 170 acres of rocky wasteland in Kuppam, a deprived rural area in Andhra Pradesh, Agastya International foundation believes that complete learning is a combined form of shiksha (education), samskara (values) and sansara (world). It focuses on transforming the critical and much neglected area of primary and secondary education of [...]

Daily Dump – Easy and Effective Waste Management

September 27, 2009 8 Comments

One question that you would perhaps like to answer is “How do I reduce my contribution to the city’s garbage system without altering my lifestyle too much?” Well, let Daily Dump answer that for you. Daily Dump provides a commercial compost ‘pit’ that you can have at your home. All your leftovers and other organic [...]

Science Is Fun!

May 12, 2009 7 Comments

How much fun can Science be, you ask? Lots, if it is taught with the help of a simple rocket experiment and other practical applications! The techie duo of Udaya M V and Adithya B, who visit select government schools in Bangalore on weekends, do precisely this. Both young software engineers who are in their [...]

Indian Scientists Discover new types of Bacteria

March 19, 2009 4 Comments

Up until very recently, it was believed that Ultra Violet (UV) rays from the sun can inhibit, or even prevent, formation and continuance of life. However, a team of Indian Scientists, led by the eminent Jayant Narlikar, has discovered 3 new types of bacteria which are UV resistant. What is even more fascinating is that [...]