Be it stories of eclipses or 'alleged' Coronavirus cures, WhatsApp has always been the warehouse for fake news. Amid the quarantine, Mango Education, a Coimbatore-based firm came up with something which you can share, and it is not fake because it is all about.....Science! The group will send you one science story a day over WhatsApp.
Mango Education is a start-up which teaches science as an after-school program for kids. Taking the lockdown into consideration, the team introduced Mango Science Radio. To know more, we sat down virtually for a quick conversation with Obuli Chandran, Science educator, Mango Education. "People trust WhatsApp forwards these days. Fake news is spreading like wildfire. With the lockdown, people are spending most of their time online. Considering this, we started the Mango Science Radio through WhatsApp. One Science story is sent every day to subscribers, and it is absolutely free!"
What kind of topics are discussed you may ask and Obuli answers, "Science is a subject which we have been working with for ages. It is not an overnight job. Hence, we have chosen topics which would interest listeners. The history of something, about scientists, how Einstein's study is used in GPS today, and so on." Citing an example, Mango Education forwarded us the story of how explorer Christopher Columbus got shipwrecked and how he used his knowledge of eclipses and manipulated the natives of the island.
Obuli assures us that the stories are from two to ten minutes long only. "If the audio clips are lengthy, then parents and students will not be patient enough to listen to the whole story. Also, the audio clips are delivered individually, and hence there is no question of privacy as well," he shares. There are about 100 listeners for Science Radio who are from New Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore, and so on.
Is this radio restricted to the lockdown? Obuli says, "No. We want people to get accustomed to listening to Science stories every day. I am the resource person for now, and we are also contacting resource persons (scientists) to step in for the initiative. We are planning to continue this throughout the year."
If you are already interested and wish to get the Science stories in your inbox, then all you need to do is WhatsApp 'TUNE ME INTO MANGO SCIENCE RADIO' to 9952243541.
