Karnataka teenagers Aman K A and A U Nachiketha Kumar have developed an eco-friendly and cost-effective process of coagulating rubber using 'bimbli' extract, a feat that has bagged them the National Geographic Explorer Award by Google.
The idea, says Aman, germinated from a story narrated by his mother on how his grandfather (who was in rubber business for over four decades) would keep looking for alternatives when he ran out of formic acid, a vital ingredient in the coagulation of rubber latex to make sheets.
"We took bimbli fruit. Its scientific name is Averrhoa bilimbi. We extracted its juice and added 60 ml of it to a