Mumbai students go bananas at science fair

Ever heard of shoe polish made out of bananas or glue you can actually eat? Or of a formula that can test the limits of our attention span?

These were some of the submitted judged on Friday at the IRIS science fair at Nehru Science Centre, Worli. Most of the projects used bananas to make innovative and useful products.

Students from 82 schools, including four city schools, participated in the event.

The winners will get a chance to showcase their projects at the annual International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which is held in the Unites States every year.

Harshita Mishra and Shardha Kadam of Modern English School, Chembur, created edible shoe polish and glue from bananas. “This eco-friendly and cheap polish gives nearly four times the shine as compared to an ordinary polish, and does not dirty your hands,” said Mishra.
Std IX student Meenakshi Ramesh has developed an adhesive that can be used on wood-based products, from bananas. “Instead of using phenol formaldehyde, which is a finite petroleum resource, I used the discarded peels of different types of bananas,” Ramesh said.
Muddassir Mulla and Haroon Hublikar, meanwhile, have developed a cleaning brush made from used toothbrush bristles. “Bristles produce a large amount of waste and do not decompose, creating environmental problems. So, with the help of bristles, batteries and a vibrator, we created an automatic cleaner for household items,” they explained.