From live demos and quizzes to lectures and posters — all departments of the Indian Institute of Science present many activities to engage with the public on their Open Day on February 29. National Centre for Biological Sciences presents Science Cafe this week

If you are intrigued about the scientific experiments in the hallowed Indian Institute of Science (IISc), then their annual Open Day gives you an opportunity to discover the many wonders of science. If you want to solve the Rubix cube, see how electricity can be derived from a potato, understand how the human brain works or want to participate in quiz competitions, then Open Day has all these for you. From live experiments to science lectures, from exhibitions to a special kid’s zone, the activities presented by all the IISc departments are unique. Here is a summary of what to expect on Open Day, to be held on February 29, 9 am to 5 pm. For details visit on Open Day visit: openday.iisc.ac.in.

Biological Sciences

This year marks the centenary celebration of the founding of the Department of Biochemistry. An exhibition highlighting past and current research activities as well as historical aspects about the department will be on display in the department.

Centre for Ecological Sciences presents, among others, games on predator-prey interactions, sexual selection, bird and frog calls, toxin evolution, ecosystems, etc, a Nature documentary, a tree walk on campus and a treasure hunt.

Centre for Infectious Disease Research will display posters on various infectious diseases of relevance at present, posters on important work in CIDR, display of infected and normal small animals used in research on infectious diseases, a video on the working practices in a BSL3 lab, and microscopy.

Centre for Neuroscience will present demonstrations on mind-gym, human brain anatomy, Ames windows illusion, luminance illusion, endless wormhole, laser cavity, demonstration of Optogenetics, A learning related task, a hologram presentation (3-D presentation of neuron, spikes, etc.), Stimulate your brain - TMS Demo, and more. There will be posters on display on Neurodegenerative disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, how we pay attention, how we move, how does the brain develop, detailing the large-scale population studies being undertaken by CBR and CNS to study neurodegenerative diseases in India, etc.

Microbiology & Cell Biology will present Cancer biology. On display will be posters and models to demonstrate the formation, spread and treatment of cancer. Virology- life cycle of viruses such as HIV, HCV and influenza in the human body will be shown through posters, immunology, plant biology, and more.

Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics will display posters showcasing the research being carried out in the department and the research questions being addressed within their laboratories.

Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science

Computer Science & Automation will present interactive demos, reinforcement learning, hacking, data visualisation, quizzes for students from classes 6 to 12, for college students, and quizzes open to everyone. There will be coding competitions, machine learning competitions, hackathons, brain teasers expert advice, theoretical computer science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer System Architecture and systems & security.

Electrical Communication Engineering will present a talk on inverse design in nanophotonics by Preetam Kumar, a student for BTech level audience. There will be quizzes and demonstration, and much more.

Electrical Engineering will feature Glaucoma diagnostics on the smartphone, time and pitch scaling of speech, spectrum works—an assortment of various image processing demos, power electronic converters and components, among other activities.

Electronic Systems Engineering will present ‘Solve a Bin Packing problem’, solve a Travelling Salesman problem; learn about internet security; and more.

Mechanical Sciences

Aerospace Engineering will present hypersonic wind tunnel facility, ultrasound in inspection of structures, static display of UAV models, and more.

Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences will have tornado tube, cloud in a bottle, Einstein’s tea leaves experiment, chaos in a system, vortices in fluids, stratified fluid, Heron’s fountain, posters and videos on atmosphere, ocean and climate, climate quiz Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS) Rocks and Minerals Pavilion, and much more. :

Civil Engineering will have a poster presentation on structural engineering demonstrations: shake table, RTS, Dymanimics lab experiments ( five demos ), fatigue lab, biaxial testing, UTM with split furnace, walk in chamber, post tension facility and AE monitoring system.

Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing presents annual design show- Ripples, Cocoon – smart sleep system, KiX – A micro-mobility device, predictive analysis of machines – for structural health monitoring, Crookonomics, an interactive game on corruption and honesty, baby pram for street vendors, design mock-ups, scaled models, live demonstrations, exhibition of various installations, and more.

Divecha Centre for Climate Change will feature IR absorption by CO2, greenhouse effect demonstration, laser beam propagation through the atmosphere, effects of scattering and turbulence.

Materials Engineering will display posters and demonstrations on various materials from non-Newtonian fluids to metallic foams to super alloys to live bacteria

Mechanical Engineering will present, among others, ‘Beams that can bend it like Beckham’, want to build a house on the moon? get space bricks here! • stand-at-ease chair for elderly, breaking views: fun with fracture, cool boiling, Research Showcase • Chronicles of Mechanical Engineering Department, “Who wants to be a Mechanical Engineer?” quiz

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Centre for Cryogenic Technology-Magnetic levitation, resistance versus temperature, Boyle’s law, Charles law, Gay-Lussac’s law, vortex tube air separator, change of properties of materials at cryogenic temperatures Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP). Posters on the following topics: Detector physics, standard model, black holes, gravitational waves, dark matter and dark energy, quantum information, and more.

Instrumentation and Applied Physics- Glass blowing sessions, poster and demos from different labs of the department Quiz for kids and fun games like rubik’s cube, and cards, etc, stereo vision and smartphone based microscope.

Mathematics- Quiz, pictionary, there will be a panel discussion, games and demonstrations, short talks by professors/students, screenings physics, anti-theft scanner, levitation of magnetic spinning top, measurement of speed of light using microwave oven, conservation of electromagnetic angular momentum, Eddy current brakes and gravitational lens.

Interdisciplinary research

Centre for Nanoscience & Engineering presents remote control light/lamp, arduino-based traffic light using LED, a quiz, and more.

Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning presents a traffic game, quiz, puzzles computational and data sciences (CDS), talk by experts, and more.

Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research presents energy and combustion related demonstration and posters

Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research will display models like eco toilet, urban flood model for Bengaluru, remote sensing working model and games.

Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems will present learn to walk: dynamic locomotion in quadruped robots via reinforcement learning

Supercomputer Education and Research Centre, the country’s leading supercomputing centre that hosts SahasraT, the largest supercomputer for academic research, will display posters and present videos.

Kid’s Zone

Kid’s Zone is a platform for basic school level science experiments (most relevant to students of sixth standard, and onward, students) demonstrated by IISc students from different departments under one roof. This is the fourth edition of Kid’s Zone, the previous three editions were quite successful. The kids can enjoy the fun of science on February 29, from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm, near Old Aerospace Building. For more information email kidszoneiisc@gmail.com or visit: sites.google.com/view/science-for-rural-india/kids-zone.

Science cafe

National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) Science Cafes are informal discussions between a scientist fromthe Bangalore Life Science Cluster, and the public, in a community space, cafe, bookstore, etc. to ensure there is an interactive atmosphere and engagement in science. This time Science Cafe presents Deepti Trivedi talk Supermodels! Fruit flies in biological research.

Fruit flies are responsible for many Nobel prize-winning discoveries and are workhorses for hundreds of biology labs worldwide. Deepti Trivedi is facility-in-charge for the Fly Facility at BLiSC, and she will discuss how these tiny insects have revolutionised biology research.

The talk will be held on March 1, 3.30 pm, at Katte - The Creative Community, Indiranagar. The Science Café is organised by the Communications Office at the Bangalore Life Science Cluster (BLiSC). It is free and open to all.