After a successful commencement of Vigyanotsav ’17, the second day was buzzing with excitement. For the first time, students from Krishna Devaraya School, Telangana Model School, Surya’s Radiant High School, Karimnagar joined the event. On entering the School of Life Sciences (SLS), they were shown short documentaries related to laboratory visits in the afternoon. The inauguration was done by the pro vice-chancellor, Prof. Vipin Srivastava. He persuaded students to work in the basic sciences, never to stop questioning and added that one needs to have guts in order to thrive in the scientific community. Prof. Krishnaveni Mishra, associate director of CIS reiterated that students need to actively participate in lectures and get their questions clarified.
The audience was enthralled as Prof. K.P.N. Murthy, the founder of JSC, gave an interesting introduction to the micro-macro synthesis. He enunciated more on terms like internal energy, pressure, entropy and provided with fascinating analogies from day-to-day life. As it may seem implausible, children were truly astounded when he said microscopic objects do not have a sense of direction of time. He concluded with the statement, “Every single person has a place in science.”
During the short snack break, students were given crossword sheets to solve. The break was followed by a lecture by Prof. Aparna Dutta Gupta on the fascinating world of insects. The observations on diapause (hibernation of insects), mimesis, different kinds of feeding patterns, thanatosis and the usefulness of insects as bioreactors were explained in detail. She urged students to pursue science irrespective of their economic strata. Hemani from DAV School commented, “The lectures were aweinspiring and informative. I found Vigyanotsav enjoyable.” The Science Quiz finale was appealing at its best, as seven teams competed against each other to prove their mettle. The winners were Rita Abani and Akash Singarikonda from CHIREC International School.
The laboratory visits to Central Instrumentation Laboratory (CIL), Center for Nanotechnology, Genomics and Proteomics Laboratories, SLS were the showstoppers. The children were escorted in batches and shown the popular instruments used in these places. At CIL, one of the major attractions was the scanning electron microscope. An ant’s facial morphology was shown on the computer screen which captivated the crowd. The second round of crossword contest resumed in the second tea break and the day culminated with prize distribution.