Page 40 - magazine 1 august

good as produced by
compound microscope
(Fig. 4). Plastic body
of the waste bottle

Level 2 makes it light-weight,
damage-proof, and
cheap while contribut-
Fig.4 Plastoscope ing to the problem of
plastic waste
management. After several prototyping ven-
tures, we have also installed a feature of dark
field microscope that enables us to see living
Level 1 cells without staining which can be used by
students to see cells like pollen grains,
Figure 3: Game sketch parallel to Real glimpse of children playing the spores of ferns,
STAPOO game bacterial and algae cells in water on school
2.National Award For trips.
Microscope Made From Waste Plastic
Bottle Alongside this, for educating a large group
of students we
Our planet is choking on plastic. According have also designed
to United Nations, we produce about 400 a setup to connect
million tonnes of plastic waste every year. the live phone
The estimated annual loss in the value of camera to
plastic packaging waste during sorting and laptop/projector
processing alone is US$ 80- 120 billion. The on Wi-Fi/USB
ubiquitous application of plastics has resulted Fig.5 Plastoscope integrated to the which projects the
in a massive amount of plastic waste released laptop microscope focus-
and accumulated in the bay ecosystem, ing and cell move-
posing significant ecological effects [5]. It is ment on a larger screen and also aids to
estimated that 75 to 199 million tonnes of online education which became so prevalent
plastic is currently in our oceans. in times of pandemic (Fig. 6).
Governments across the globe have started
promoting innovation so the plastics we need Not only for education, Plastoscope can be
are designed and brought into the economy used for diagnosis of genetic diseases like
in a way that allows for their reuse. Sickle-Cell Anemia, hence prevent its
transmission, and malaria by detecting the
In alignment of this vision we have malaria protozoa in blood sample or blood
microscope designed from waste plastic groups. This is because, though we have
bottle “Plastoscope” worked on reducing costs the principle,
features like fine-tuning, coarse tuning, and
Plastoscope is a cost-effective and easy to replacing power of lenses remains the same,
access and handle microscope made from hence providing exactly the same or even
waste plastic bottle that produces results as better results.

Celebrating the plastoscope
Beside winning National Award from Inspire Manak the project was invited at the launch
programme of Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme (PMILP)-"DHRUV“ at ISRO,
Bengluru. Project " Plastoscope" mentored by Dr. Shilpa Raghuvanshi Chauhan was among top
9 science projects across the country that were selected for 14 days long ambitious program. The
student was awarded by Honorable Vice President of the Country, Shri Venkaiah Naidu.
The project was not only showcased at IISc, Bangalore, IIT Delhi, ISRO but also got coverage on
All In Radio (AIR) and various national newspapers and channels.
Coverage on DD news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8GCshgfgxk
Hindustan Times
https://pressreader.com/article/281809990185037

38 xÉ<Ç =cÉxÉ twu -2023