World Science Day for Peace and Development- November 10

Science is one of the best tools we have for improving life.

Unfortunately, humanity has used many scientific discoveries and technological inventions in ways that have exacerbated the state of the environment and made the world a less safe place. Thousands of nuclear bombs sit around us waiting ... oil spills at a rate ... burning fossil fuels creates smog and global climate change ... and that's just a small part of how humanity is negatively impacting the world.

Some people look at these grim results of science and technology and blame science itself. They blame inventions and technology rather than humanity itself for the overpopulated population, the urge to control lands and resources, and short-term profit-driven thinking.

The solution to bad use of science is not to remove responsibility from ourselves and blame science, but to use science in a better, more responsible and more mature way, with long-term thinking.

The UN has created Science Day for Peace to urge people to use science in the name of peace and find innovative technologies to make the future sustainable!

The field of sustainable development is extremely important for the environment. The damage done to the environment not only harms vegetation and wildlife but also humans and endangers the present and future of us all. If we continue to live the way we live today, we will already in this century need three planets to survive, instead of one Earth.

Ways to live sustainably

Every day the choices we make in our lives affect the environment, the climate and other species besides us. From what we eat to how many children we decide to give birth to. We can do a lot to “choose sustainability” and reduce our environmental footprint to leave more room for animals and wild plants that are important to our continued existence in the world and advanced science and technologies have an important contribution to make to enable us to do so.

Think twice before you go shopping. Every product we buy has an environmental footprint, from the materials used to make it to the pollution emitted during its production and the packaging that ends its days in landfills. Think about the amount of space we need for the garbage we produce! To get rid of this much garbage one has to bury it in the soil, which pollutes it and our water sources, or burn it, which pollutes the air. Both options are bad for the environment. If you are already buying something, try to buy something recycled or second hand that has minimal packaging.

Make sure your large purchases have great environmental benefits. If you are buying appliances, make sure they are energy efficient. Buying a car? Buy cars that are as fuel efficient as possible. If you are buying a house or apartment, make sure they are built with a standard of green construction. All of these benefits will also reduce your electricity bill and fuel expenses.

Stop using plastic. The plastic is not biodegradable. It fills in vast quantities about 40 percent of the world's oceans. Every year thousands of seabirds, sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed by trapping or suffocating in plastic. You can reduce your use of plastic in a few simple steps: use reusable bags when shopping, use reusable water bottles, use bags as little as possible. Give up the hardships of drinking and avoid products made of plastic or packaged in them if possible (choose products that are not wrapped when you shop in the grocery store or stores, reduce the online shopping that uses a lot of plastic packaging materials).

Reduce the consumption of animal products. Food engineers are developing meat substitutes and substitutes for milk and eggs from plants. Leather and fur products also have synthetic substitutes. The industrial farms for animal husbandry are among the main causes of the environmental crisis. This is according to a detailed UN report examining the impact of the meat, dairy and egg industries on the environment. According to the report, the animal food industries are a major cause of global warming and are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of human activity (more than all transportation combined: by air, sea and land).

Avoid products that endanger wildlife. Some products contain ingredients that threaten the living environment of animals, because of deforestation or the use of their water they need. One of the elements that threaten the livelihoods of animals is the palm oil whose production is responsible for the extinction of tropical forests, which are home to a huge variety of organisms, threaten the ecology and contribute to the extinction of wildlife such as the orangutan, sumetra tiger and Asian rhino.

Drive less, drive green. Ride less in cars and walk more or ride a bike. If you are traveling, try to travel with more people to reduce the number of cars on the road, use more public transportation.

November 10 is also Sesame Street Day and Vanilla Cupcake Day

Science Education Day - March 14

March 14 is Science Education Day, and it is also the birthday of Albert Einstein who was born on March 14, 1879.

Coincidentally, this is also the day of the death of the physicist scientist Prof. Stephen Hawking, on March 14, 2018.

On this day, the education system and government institutions pay special attention to the subject of science in general and the advancement of science in studies. On this day, the winners of the Young Scientists Competition in different countries are also announced.

In honor of Albert Einstein's birthday, here are some interesting facts about him:

When he was a child, Albert Einstein spoke very slowly and had learning difficulties.

Einstein's great breakthroughs came from visual experiments he performed in his head rather than in a laboratory.

The pathologist who performed the post-mortem on Albert Einstein's body stole his brain and kept it in a jar for 20 years.

The money Einstein received when he won the Nobel Prize went to his ex-wife as part of the divorce settlement.

In 1952, David Ben-Gurion, the then Prime Minister of Israel, proposed that Einstein become the second President of the State of Israel. He politely declined because he wanted to dedicate his life to science.

Einstein's favorite scientist was Galileo Galilei.

Einstein was not an atheist as many think, because atheists in his opinion deny the existence of God while he does not deny, because even his non-existence cannot be proved, but prefers not to believe in what cannot be proved, namely an agnostic.

Einstein failed the university entrance exam, and had to re-enroll the following year.

Einstein never won the Nobel Prize for his famous theory of relativity. It won because of the photoelectric effect.

Einstein was famous for his poor memory. He would not remember names, dates and phone numbers.

Einstein had an illegitimate daughter born in 1902.

What do Einstein, Darwin, Alan Poe and Saddam Hussein have in common? The answer - they all married their first-degree cousins.

The Austrian physicist Friedrich Hasnoehrl published the basic equation E = mc2 a year before Einstein did so.

Einstein's eyes are kept in a safe in New York.

Yoda, from Star Wars, was designed according to the look of Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein was an avid cyclist. He did not have his own car and he never learned to drive.

Albert Einstein did not like to wear socks.

Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955 as a result of internal bleeding following rupture of an aortic aneurysm, at the age of 76.

March 14 is also Pi Day, Crowdfunding Day, Japanese Love Day and Potato Chips day

National Geographic Day - January 27th

On January 27, 1888, National Geographic was founded. The goal of the organization was to explore the world and promote knowledge in the general public. Nine months after it was founded, its first magazine was published and since then it has been published regularly, once a month, 12 times a year.

The first director of National Geographic was Alexander Graham Bell, the British scientist and inventor who invented Bell's phone (many think he was the one who invented the telephone, but there is controversy over this and some consider Antonio Mauchi the inventor of the telephone prototype).

For almost 130 years, the magazine has reviewed and published thousands of topics, presenting its readers with articles and pictures of distant lands, remote islands, magical and breathtaking landscapes, rare animals, wonderful plants and special and exotic customs of people from other cultures.

At first the magazine consisted of many text articles and few drawings. But when they saw that the popularity of the sheets containing many images was greater, the publishers switched to extensive pictorial content.

Thousands of issues have covered the magazine since its inception. From beautiful dancers on the island of Bali to brutal killing of animals by hunters. Thanks to the magazine people got to know new things that never occurred to them and were not even able to imagine. Thanks to him the distant and unfamiliar world became closer and closer.

The articles published in the monthly deal with a variety of topics such as history, science, geography and geology, and from time to time a special edition is published dedicated to a particular topic. Recently, the magazine has been particularly vocal on environmental issues such as deforestation and endangered species. The magazine has won many accolades for the beautiful and quality photography and the quality of the booklets and is well known due to the detailed maps that are published alongside articles about various places around the world.

On September 1, 1997, the National Geographic television channel was founded, which is a documentary channel that deals mainly with geography, hiking, animals and science.

One of the most famous stories of the magazine, is the story of the girl who scribbled exile from Afghanistan. In 1985, a photo of photographer Steve McCurry was published on the front page, showing the face of an Afghan girl with bright green eyes and a penetrating look. The girl's figure became famous all over the world. After the United States invaded Afghanistan, they began searching for it and in 2002 it was identified as an exile, an refugee of Afghan origin who fled to the United States during the war. The story of her life was published in the March 2003 issue and a documentary series was made about it on the National Geographic television channel. The organization has set up a foundation named after Sharbat Gola, whose funds have established a number of schools in Kabul, Afghanistan, and has promoted the education of girls in Afghanistan and other countries in the region, including food and drink concerns.

The Afghan Girl - Link to the article  

The organization has supported other important and significant projects such as the North Pole Expedition of Robert Piri and Matthew Anson, Antarctica Exploration by Robert Barlett, the excavations at Hiram Bingham's Machu Picchu, the first flight over Richard Byrd's South Pole, the Underwater Diving of Jacques Costo, Jane Goodall's Chimpanzee Exploration, Diane Pussy's Gorilla Exploration, George Bass' Archaeological Exploration, Robert Blard's Decked Titanic Discovery, Paul Zerno's Dinosaur Exploration and more. 

In honor of National Geographic Day, look for issues of the magazine at home or at your parents 'or grandparents' house. In many libraries you can also browse the magazines. If you have the TV channel, watch interesting shows. We tend to take the existence of the National Geographic for granted, but when you think about it, its contribution to humanity is so important, enormous and significant and without it we would have known much less and perhaps the development of humanity would have been slower.

Link to National Geographic website

National Geographic title page (source)  

January 27 is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Chocolate Cake Day

Microbiologist Louis Pasteurs birthday- December 27

Louis Pasteur, born on December 27, 1822, made a huge contribution to the world of vaccination.

Pasteur was a French chemist and biologist who had pioneered the study and prevention of disease, and his discoveries saved the lives of millions of people ever since.

Pasteur is famous for his contribution to dairy technology, a process that prevents food contamination by bacteria and lies in his name - pasteurization.

Louis Pasteur is one of the three founders of Bacterial Theory - Bacteriology, together with Robert Koch and Ferdinand Cohen. Thanks to Pasteur's discoveries, the number of deaths from birth defects dropped significantly. He also created the first vaccine against rabies and anthrax.

Although Pasteur was not the first to propose the theory of bacteria, he developed it and carried out experiments that clearly demonstrated the correctness of the theory and convinced many European scientists of its correctness, thereby contributing to the development of science in this field later on. He is sometimes mistakenly called the father of macrobiology, but what is true is that it is not him but Anthony Van Levenhoek.

He died on September 28, 1895, at home surrounded by family and friends, as a result of poor health resulting from a series of cerebral palsy.

Balloons Around the World Day- The first Wednesday in October

Today is an informal holiday, created by Jeff Brown of Alaska in 2000. The holiday is designed to encourage people to use balloons and the art of balloon folding to make people around them smile. Balloon artists all over the world are invited on this day to distribute designed balloons to passers-by, employees who serve the public and children.

The balloons are a kind of inflatable bags made of rubber or latex that can be filled with air or helium gas. They are usually colored and come in the form of a circle or a long tube that can be folded.

In the distant past, in pre-Columbus America and ancient China, balloons were made from animal blisters. 

The first rubber balloons were invented in 1824. Professor Michael Faraday used them for his experiments at the Royal Institute in London. He used them to contain gases he had experimented with, especially hydrogen.

In 1847 the modern rubber resin balloon was invented as it is sold today by G.I. Jay Ingram in London. Mass production of the balloons began in 1930.

How to celebrate Balloons Around the World Day?

Have a party and use balloons for decoration.

Learn how to make balloons in the shape of animals, objects and symbols.

If you already know how to make balloon decorations, make some and give random people on the street see them smiling.

You can also take advantage of this special day for a balloon ride.

When is Balloon Day around the world coming up in the coming years?

2021- October 6th

2022- October 5th

2023- October 4th

2024- October 2nd

2025- October 1st

Champagne Balloon Garland Arch Kit (link)

DNA Day - April 25

April 25 is DNA Day, celebrated on this day because of the anniversary of two important discoveries:

Publication of an article by Francis Crick and James Watson on April 25, 1953, in which they proposed that DNA molecules have a double helix structure, in the scientific journal Nature.

Completion of the Human Genome Project on April 25, 2003, two and a half years ahead of schedule.

DNA Day can be celebrated with DNA studies, lectures, films and quizzes. More details on the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) website, Celebrate DNA Day.

  April 25 is also East meets West Day and World Malaria Day