Students from the Food Science & Technology Department showcased a wide range of economical and energy-efficient appliances intended to cook and preserve food at a recent food equipment expo held on campus at the University of Karachi.
Haris Kamran’s air fryer, which dispenses hot air around meals while using only a small amount of oil, was a notable invention. Kamran claimed that he built the machine in six days for Rs. 9,000 and that it has the highest temperature of 160 degrees, making it a healthier alternative to traditional fryers.
Meanwhile, Sohaib Malik’s mini refrigerator was also a great product because it was built with an eco-friendly thermoelectric microchip that uses less harmful gas than standard refrigerators. According to Malik, the mini refrigerator can reach temperatures as low as -12 degrees Celsius.
Another significant invention was Ariba Khan’s dough kneading machine, which can knead more than 5 kg of flour within only a few minutes thanks to its 250-volt gear motor. Khan revealed that the prototype cost her Rs. 10,000.
Assistant Professor Dr Zubala Yasir said that 13 development projects were on display at the expo, and various organisations expressed an interest in working with the participants to further develop their innovations.
Moreover, Aiysha Siddiqa, a Pakistani climate activist, was named to Time magazine’s list of women of the year.
Siddiqa, who comes from a tribal community in Northern Pakistan, became a climate and human rights defender after becoming a personal victim of climate change. At the age of 14, she realised that her surroundings were unsafe.
She is regarded as a strong voice in climate change activism. She also spoke at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, last year, and shared her poem “So much for your durability, my people are dying.”
Siddiqa began her activism as a climate sustainability activist at the age of 16, and for the past 24 years, she has been presenting the influence of climate change issues happening worldwide, with a special emphasis on low-income countries that bear the biggest damage from climate change.