Young Minds - HT article

Claim to fame: Have invented an ecofriendly way of controlling mosquitoes and have won the Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science (IRIS) award 2007. Their story: It was not the first time that Divya Venkataraman and Neha Kulkarni, students of Std IX of Modern English School, Chembur, dabbled in science projects. But since it was a chance to participate with IRIS, the duo thought they might take it a bit seriously Fed up with mosquitoes in . their area, 14-year-olds Venkataraman and Kulkarni decided to come up with an ecofriendly solution. "Since this was an environmental science project, we thought we could tackle the issue of mosquitoes by not resorting to chemicals which are detrimental to health and the environment," says Venkataraman. Since both the girls are neighbours and batch-mates, it was easier for them to put in long hours of experiment and research. "It was quite exciting to brainstorm and come up with crazy solutions," says Kulkarni. While trying out various techniques, they decided to fill trays with water and leave it at the base of different trees. Surprisingly, after a couple of days they found out that except the papaya tree, mosquitoes had laid eggs on all the other trays. "We screamed ‘Eureka' in unison - much like Archimedes," the girls giggle. The conclusion was that mosquitoes do not lay eggs on papaya trees and the young inventors made a mosquito repellant with the extracts of papaya. "It was not as easy as it sounds. We had to struggle and conduct various experiments to come up with this solu tion," they say.

And this is not all. Not only have the girls won an award with IRIS, they are selected to present their project at the International Science and Engineer ing Fair (ISEF) at Atlanta in May this year. "No one from my family has ever gone abroad and this is the first time that the youngest member of the family will take a flight," smiles Kulkarni.

Sitalakshmi Parmeshwaran, the geography and environment science teacher, "It is a proud moment for our school. Our principal has always been encouraging and we ensure that we help young students who have the will to learn and create. I am sure they will excel in Atlanta." The girls who love outdoor sports as much as they enjoy being close to nature say, "We are excited and hope we can do our country proud." As Venkataraman, signs off by saying that she wants to be an aeronautical engineer, Kulkarni admits that she is still on cloud nine with the success of this experiment and will take each day as it comes. As the duo continues up dating their project for Atlanta, they have also sent their invention for patenting. WHAT IS IRIS? IRIS is an effort by CII, DST and Intel to provide a platform for students to participate in research based science projects. IRIS reaches to the grass root level and contacts students and teachers and educates them on how to make the projects by conducting workshops across India. This year IRIS has reached 26 states and has conducted 68 workshops for students. LAST YEAR MUMBAI WINNERS (ISEF) Vaishnavi Viswanathan Modern English High School (Second prize of $500 U.S. Savings Bond) Invention: Anti-termite properties of Desmostachya bipinnata. Rehan Netarwala Sarvesh Nevatia Jai Hind College Invention: Spherical Wheels – A New Revolution.