The (Revised) Calendar of Science Holidays

(Note from Julie: Well, Blogger and I had a falling out over my previous Calendar of Science Holidays. So, I thought I'd recreate the post here. My apologies to those kind folks who commented on the previous version and sent me new holidays. Please add your comments or any link corrections here. Thanks!)


Each year holds a wealth of weird, wacky, and interesting -- yet under-celebrated -- days for science, like World Meteorological Day and World Water Day. I decided to put together a calendar of annual science holidays and special events that celebrate science so that we could enjoy them together.

National events listed here refer to the United States, unless otherwise noted. Of course, if you live outside of the US, you are more than welcome to celebrate with us! (And I'll admit, some of these holidays are a little less "official" than others.) I expect to update this post in the future, so feel free to send me your special day and I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

* * * *

January
5 - National Bird Day
17 - Kid Inventors' Day
Last Saturday of the month - National Seed Swap Day

February
2 - World Wetlands Day
11 - National Inventors' Day
11 - International Day of Women and Girls in Science
12 - Darwin Day
mid-month - Great Backyard Bird Count (four days)
third week - National Engineers Week (includes Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day)

March
12 - National Agriculture Day
12 - Plant a Flower Day
14 - Pi Day
22 - World Water Day
23 - World Meteorological Day
on or near Spring Equinox - Sun-Earth Day
National Wildlife Week

April
12 - Yuri's Night (The World Space Party)
13 - International Plant Appreciation Day
14 - Citizen Science Day
22 - Earth Day
25 - National DNA Day

second full week - National Robotics Week
last week - National Environmental Education Week
the week of the new moon - International Dark Sky Week 
Earth Month

May
4 - Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!)
8 - National Rain Day (Australia)
12 - National Lab Day
22 - International Day of Biodiversity
23 - World Turtle Day
third Friday - Endangered Species Day
first full week - National Wildflower Week

June
5 - World Environment Day
6 - National Butterfly Awareness Day
8 - World Oceans Day
15 - Global Wind Day
first Saturday - National Trails Day
National Pollinator Week

July
20 - Moon Day
22 - Pi Approximation Day

August
fourth Sunday - World Kitchen Garden Day
National Water Quality Month

September
12 or 13 - Day of the Programmer
14 - Protect Your Groundwater Day
18 - International Observe the Moon Night
18 - World Water Monitoring Day
25 - Nature Rocks Day
26 - World Rivers Day (Canada)
third Saturday - World Tree Day
last Saturday of the month - National Public Lands Day
24-30 Take a Child Outside Week

October
10 - Powers of Ten Day
14 - No Child Left Inside Day (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
15 - National Fossil Day (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
17 - Geologic Map Day (date varies, part of Earth Science Week)
20 - World Statistics Day
23 - National Mole Day (celebrating Avogadro's number)
4 - 10 World Space Week
week containing the 10th day - National Metric Week
second full week - Earth Science Week
third full week - National Chemistry Week
Waste Reduction Week (Canada)

November
10 - World Science Day (for Peace and Development)

15 - America Recycles Day
30 - Computer Security Day

December
(No listings yet.)

[Last updated - 3/17/18: Updated World Weather Day into World Meteorological Day, added Global Wind Day, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, World Science Day, International Dark Sky Week, Pi Approximation Day, Day of the Programmer; 3/16/18: Added Citizen Science Day and National DNA Day; 3/28/14: Added Star Wars Day and No Child Left Inside Day, corrected dates. 10/20/12 - Added Geologic Map Day.  1/29/11 - Added National Seed Swap Day; edited link for Sun-Earth Day. 10/4/10 - Added World Space Week. 9/17/10 - Added International Observe the Moon Night, National Metric Week. ]


Photo credit: SantaRosa OLD SKOOL via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Website of the Week: The Brothers Brick

Are you an AFOL who has been living in the Dark Ages? 

(Translated: Are you an adult fan of LEGO who has been busy with real life for far too long?)  

Looking for some LEGO inspiration? Check out The Brothers Brick, a blog dedicated to these addictive and ubiquitous, brightly-colored building blocks. There's even a glossary to help translate some of the most commonly used lingo. You can suggest your own creations - include a photo and building instructions - for consideration as blog posts. Follow the instructions for submitting your awesomeness here.

Although this is primarily a blog for adults - and some content may not be wholly appropriate for all ages - kids can find inspiration here too. There are YouTube links to get you started with your builds and extensive links to Flickr photos of amazing LEGO creations. (Personally, I wandered off into Andrew Somers' amazing Flickr photo set of Year End Reviews - news events of the year captured in LEGO format.)

Enjoy and happy building!

Photo credit: C. Slack, via Flickr

OT: It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Yes, this is off-topic, but I wanted to share this with you. Do you have pirate-lovers at your house, too? Today, September 19th, is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Planning a pirate-themed party to celebrate? Add your event to the official map. Browse through the link list and you, too, could wind up with a cool pirate name like mine. :)

My pirate name is:

Bloody Jenny Rackham

Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Win big at the fair!

During the last school year, Kerm had to build a colonial ship and create a three-dimensional butterfly sculpture. What can you do with school projects once they've been graded and returned home? This year, we're going to enter them as a "model boat" and "miscellaneous model" in our local community fair.

I've written about county fairs and how they can be fun places to learn about science. But if visions of ribbons motivate you, competing at a fair can also be a great way for you to learn something new and share your knowledge with others. With categories like home-grown fruits and vegetables for green thumbs, collections of shells or rocks for budding naturalists, and educational exhibits tailored to your favorite topic, everyone can find something to fit their interests. You might even win a ribbon!


Photo credit: Benny Mazur, via flickr //CC BY 2.0

Ten Tips for Celebrating Snow Days

With the forecast for much of the United States calling for snow sometime in the next week, I thought I'd re-post these ten tips for making the most of snow days. (This post is excerpted from my original article, which was published in Washington Parent magazine in January 2007.)


The forecast is grim: snow, snow, and more snow. What are you going to do all day? Before you go stir-crazy, try these ten tips for turning a snow day into together time:

1. Have an all-white day. Encourage everyone in the house to wear white. Prepare your family all-white meals like oatmeal with milk for breakfast and chicken breast, mashed potatoes and cauliflower for dinner.

2. Make snow-themed treats together. Bake your favorite cookies and add a dusting of powdered sugar "snow" on top. Make marshmallow snowmen using candies for eyes, raisins for buttons and pretzel sticks for arms.

3. Read about Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley. Virginia mom Karen Cole, founder of Big Learning, suggests the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and the Snowflake Bentley website. In 1885, Bentley became the first person to photograph individual snowflakes; in his lifetime, he took pictures of more than 5,000 different snowflakes (including the picture at the top of this post!).

4. Have a snow-inspired movie marathon. Bring out snowy family favorites like Ice Age and March of the Penguins. To increase the educational value, break out the encyclopedias or hop on the Internet to learn about glaciation or the continent of Antarctica. Be glad that you don't live at Vostok Station in Antarctica, where the coldest recorded temperature on Earth was observed on July 21, 1983 (-128.6°F / -89.2°C).

5. Conduct scientific experiments with snow.

"Even though freshly fallen snow appears bright white and clean, it is not," says Dr. Joseph M. Moran of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Moran is the author of a brand new textbook, Climate Studies: Introduction to Climate Science.

"One of my favorite activities goes a long way to convincing children not to eat snow. You will need a 1- or 2-gallon pail, large paper coffee filter, paper towels, and a magnifying glass … Scoop up a large pail of freshly fallen snow and bring it indoors to a warm room. Set the pail down undisturbed until all the snow melts. Then, over a sink, slowly and carefully pour the meltwater through a paper coffee filter. Set the coffee filter aside on some paper towels until it dries. Next, examine the surface of the dry coffee filter … What do you see? Where did that material come from?"

He adds, "As snowflakes fall through the atmosphere, they intercept and capture a variety of tiny particles that are suspended in the atmosphere and carried by the wind. Most of these particles originated at the Earth's surface. [You can] speculate on what these particles might be."

6. Have your kids play "cool" word games. For example, ask them the following questions: How many words can you think of that start with the word "snow"? (snowflake, snowplow, snowstorm, snowmobile …). How many words can you make from the letters in the word "snowflake"? (sow, now, lake, wake …). For a harder challenge, try making words from the letters in the word "avalanche" (ache, vale, lava, leach, lane …).

7. Try recipes made with snow. (Although, after reading Dr. Moran's comments, you might wish to make your own "snow" by mixing ice from the freezer in your blender!). Scoop up some fresh snow, and mix it with fruit juice to make a snow cone. Or make Snow Cream: Scoop snow into a large bowl, and blend in 1 cup milk or cream, 1/2 cup sugar and a few drops of vanilla. Enjoy!

8. Compete in your version of the Winter Olympic Games. See who can throw a snowball the farthest or sled down a hill the fastest. Stuck indoors? Glide over the kitchen tiles in your socks and have an ice-skating competition.

9. Go outside and examine individual snowflakes.

Dr. Moran says, "This activity requires a sheet of black construction paper or a dark cloth, a magnifying glass, a journal and a pencil. During a snowfall, go outdoors and hold the construction paper or cloth horizontally to catch some snowflakes. Take care that the heat from your breath or fingers does not melt the snowflakes. Using the magnifying glass, examine the individual snowflakes. Describe what [shapes] you see, and draw some of them in your journal. Are any of the snowflakes identical in appearance?"

He notes, "Recording data in a journal is a good introduction to scientific observation and the scientific method."

10. Share your family's favorite snowy memories. Do you remember when you saw snow for the first time? Ever caught a snowflake on your tongue? What was the deepest snowfall that you can remember? You might be surprised at what your family members share with you. Sometimes, a day spent together "doing nothing" turns into a cherished memory.


Photo credit: Wilson Bentley. This picture is part of NOAA's National Weather Service Collection and was taken in 1902.

Make-A-Flake

Last year, I wrote a post about the joy of paper snowflakes, and how it was fun to make them both on- and off-line. One of the websites my kids and I enjoyed was Barkley Interactive's Make-A-Flake.

Little Brother made his own snowflakes this year!

Make-A-Flake is fun because you get to see how to properly fold (virtual) paper to make a six-sided snowflake. You can cut (and re-cut) with your virtual scissors to get the desired effect. A trip through Make-A-Flake's snowflake gallery reveals a wide range of artistry. Some snowflakes are very simple, others are truly amazing. Can you tell which cuts were needed to make them?

I can't visualize my snowflakes before they are unfolded to reveal their shape. Can you predict what yours will look like? I think it's an interesting test of spatial awareness. As person with only one working eye, I have some limitations in that area.

I enjoyed making some snowflakes, too. I think this one looks like six aliens around a campfire. What do you think?

Win $500 in gardening supplies!

As a parent-volunteer, I've been busy this past week looking for grants and supplies for Kerm's school. Searching for grants is an interesting process. I like to web surf, so I just type various words into a search engine and let 'er rip. As I was looking for a free source of butterfly hatching kits, I wound up finding something delightful and unexpected. I just had to share it with you!

The National Gardening Association has a wealth of information on their website, including a section for gardening grants. The H.J. Heinz company (makers of Heinz® Ketchup) is sponsoring the Heinz Wholesome Memories Intergenerational Garden Award.

The cool thing about this grant is that you don't have to be an organization to apply for it - it's meant for families. All you need is an older generation that wants to garden with the kids in the family - like a Mom and her kids or a Grandpa and his grandkids. The application form isn't long, and you could win a pile of nifty gardening supplies like kids' tool sets, a composter, elevated planter, gardening journals, and more.

If your family likes to garden, this grant is for you! The application deadline is January 10, 2010. Good luck!

(I'm so excited about this grant that I've already downloaded the form and I'm planning to apply. Kerm and Little Brother would have great fun planting in our backyard.)



Photo by Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

National Doughnut Day!

June 5th is National Doughnut Day here in the United States. Krispy Kreme® and Dunkin' Donuts® are both offering free doughnuts today! Check this list of participating Krispy Kreme® stores (this is a .pdf file) or type in your zip code to find a Dunkin' Donuts® near you. (Don't delay! I read on Twitter that some places are already closing their doors because they've run out of doughnuts.)

Check this out! If this doesn't make you long for a hot jelly-filled doughnut, nothing will. This does start a bit slow, though, so I'd recommend viewing from 0:37 on. Enjoy!

Website of the Week: Guinness World Records

Do you ever wonder who has the world's longest fingernails (for the record, over 28 feet long!) or who can pop their eyeballs out of their sockets the furthest? Wonder no more!

The Guinness World Records are online, with categories in the human body, science & technology, and the natural world. You can even learn how to break a world record and apply to appear on Guinness World Records Smashed, a new UK television show!


Largest Sand Painting on the Planet
Photo credit: Secret Tenerife via a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Flying cars

Want your own personal flying car? Get your driver's and pilot's licenses -- and $10,000 deposit -- ready and head on over to Terrafugia. Their "roadable aircraft" is set to roll off the assembly line in 2011. The prototype hit the skies on March 5, 2009 for a test run. The company claims that the wings can fold up in less than 30 seconds! In car mode, the company says the vehicle can get 30 miles per gallon and can go up to 65 miles per hour. The full purchase price is expected to range around $200,000 (US).

Website of the Week: ZooBorns

Newborn Black Bear CubsPhoto credit: Mark Betram, Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
Are you looking for adorable pictures of newborn wildlife? Drop by ZooBorns, a brand-new website from the minds behind Zooillogix. According to their website, "ZooBorns brings you the newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world." What a great idea!

ZooBorns already has pictures up of nineteen kinds of animal babies, with plenty more to come. The Red Panda Cubs might be cute, but my favorite is the tiny pink Six-Banded Armadillo (I wonder if that picture shows baby Beauregard or Ed?) .

Got a photo or video of baby wildlife to share? Be sure to check out ZooBorns' Submission Policy.

Mama Joules' (totally biased) Top Five Science Movie List

I promised you a while back that I would come up with a list of my favorite science movies. Let me tell you, it was harder than I expected! There are lots of science *fiction* movies out there – some with very little science – but not too many that are just science based. I tried to make sure that I didn’t just include science fiction on my list. (That said, a few of the movies that I picked are pretty light on science ... but I have my reasons!). See what you think:

1. Star Wars. I was eight years old when the original Star Wars movie came out and it tops my list for two reasons. First, it is one of my favorite movies of all time, regardless of genre. Second, it changed the way I saw the world and my place within it. My favorite scene is where Luke Skywalker is standing on the rocks near his home, watching the two setting suns. As a child, when I saw that scene I literally got chills. It was the first time that a movie transported me out of my universe and into a totally alternate one. Star Wars made me believe that we might not be alone out there. For that, it gets my number one ranking.

2. Apollo 13. Hands down, I think this portrayal of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission is the best science-based movie out there. The entire movie depicts scientists working together to solve an impossible problem. I love the sense of camaraderie and intense focus as the ground-based crew tries to beat improbable odds to bring the team home. My only nitpick is that the female actors weren’t as strong as their male counterparts. Kudos to Ed Harris for his outstanding portrayal of Gene Kranz.

3. Jurassic Park. Now, I’ve had enough discussions with friends to know that Michael Crichton’s presentation of mathematical concepts doesn’t hold up quite as well as his take on biology. But regardless of the probability of this ever happening, I love the idea of dinosaurs roaming the earth and mingling with people. The whole concept of cloning these extinct monsters and bringing them back to life is just so darn clever … and, as one might imagine, so terribly ill-fated.

4. Back to the Future. Christopher Lloyd's fantastic performance as Doc Brown, the seemingly crazed but truly charming scientist, cements this movie in my top five. I love the scene where he builds a small-scale model of the town and demonstrates to Marty how they can return him home -- only to have the wind-up car simulating the time machine run off the table and set things on fire. Although there is very little actual science presented in this movie, the concept of time travel is a fun one and the special effects and attention to detail make this movie a charmer.

5. Twister. This isn't one of my favorite movies -- I found it a bit too overdrawn and melodramatic -- but it makes my top five science list. As an amateur weather-watcher, I enjoyed watching this movie about tornadoes and the scientists who study them. The portrayal of dedication to one's research -- to the point of breaking up your relationships -- struck a chord with me. And there's always that fun scene with the flying cow!

So ... there's my top five. Which movies did I miss? (Be sure to comment and let me know!)


Note: I haven't seen too many movies in the last ten years (graduate school, kids), so I'm sure I missed a few. I didn't want to include anything I hadn't seen, which is why I didn't include March of the Penguins. And I really wanted to include Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I just couldn't justify the science angle!

Head on over to the county fair!

I'm traveling with family this week and, unfortunately, we are missing the week-long county fair at home. I enjoy attending the fair each year with my sons. We usually head first to the special barn that houses the baby animals. Often, we get to pet a few. I point out the baby ducklings and geese peeping about, tell my sons to avoid those animals that bite, and finally we stop at the display of honeybees and look for the queen. I remind the boys that bees are in decline and that we shouldn't be afraid of them or squish them.

We then wander among the displays near the barn. I pick up a free car trash bag and fill it with various science-themed items: a baby seeding from a forestry group, some compost from a local compost retailer, a few pencils from the 4-H club.

We stop by the 4-H building next. Along with admiring the food and crafts, we learn about science in its various forms: keeping lifestock, raising plants, growing vegetables, exploring the food chain. Right outside of the 4-H building, we see a gigantic walking "tree", talking to kids and teaching them about conservation.

My younger son favors the rescue vehicles, so we always walk over to learn about "stop, drop, and roll" while playing on the inflatable firetruck and inspecting the real ladder trucks. The craft displays are also favorite of ours, since we often enter items in the fair. My sons are especially fascinated with the Lego® and K-NEX sculpture competitions.

If you haven't stopped by your local county fair lately, you might give it a try. There are a variety of things to see and do and you can pick up some great low to no cost science education materials. Drop by County Fairgrounds, USA! to help plan your next trip!

More weird animal names

Of all the posts I’ve written here at Mama Joules, Weird animal names has been the most popular. So, I thought maybe you’d enjoy some more! Read about these animals and thank your parents that you weren’t saddled with these monikers:

“Fat” is the last name of Psammomys obesus, also known as the Fat sand rat, a rodent living in the sandy, salty deserts of northern Africa and the Middle East. Fat sand rats are sought as research animals for the study of diabetes.

Psammomys obesus by Tino StraussThis photo was published under the CC-BY-SA-2.5
Doesn’t Nine-banded armadillo sound better than this mammal’s other informal name, the Common long-nosed armadillo? It's even been referred to as the poor man’s pig! Fun fact: When pregnant, Nine-banded armadillos always carry four identical babies. Another fun fact: A South American relative (Dasypus pilosus) is stuck with an even worse name: the Hairy long-nosed armadillo.

Some species of horned frogs, including the South American ornate horned frog, are commonly known as “Pac-Man frogs” because they resemble the round video game character that gobbles everything in its path.

Ceratophrys ornata by avmaierThis photo was published under the CC-BY-2.0
Australia’s Bridled nail-tail wallaby (so named for its pointy tail) was thought to be extinct from 1937 to 1973, when a small population was discovered in central Queensland. There are about 450 Bridled nail-tailed wallabies alive today, according to The State of Queensland Environmental Protection Agency (reference: Recovery Plan for the bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraentata) 2005-2009 [Note: this is a .pdf file]). What a wonderful species recovery story – and a nice reminder that it’s never too late to start protecting wildlife.

Bubbles on the wind

Today, when I was blowing bubbles at the park with my youngest, I started thinking about the wind. My first stream of bubbles floated away to my right. Next, the bubbles drifted to my left. Finally, I had bubbles right where I wanted them, in front of my youngest. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the direction of the wind. I thought about how a meteorologist might describe the breeze: light and variable.

Blowing bubbles is a wonderful way to introduce the concept of wind direction. Draw a simple compass on a piece of paper using arrows to show north, south, east and west. Place this at your feet. Make sure that both you and the compass are pointing north and blow some bubbles. You or your child can keep a running tally of which direction the bubbles are drifting. If they always float toward the north, for example, you know that the wind is coming from the south.

(My thanks to my oldest for patiently blowing bubbles for me to photograph. Snips of my half of our dialogue: "Wait, wait, they're not blowing the right way. Stand over here." "No, let's try over there, that background is all wrong." "Oh, no! Can you do that again? I missed the shot.")

Just for Fun: Ice Cream!

Well, I've been trying to think of a way to tie this into a science lesson and I haven't come up with one yet. But I don't care! I read about these events online and I couldn't wait to share them with you.

Mark your calendars!

April 29, 2008: Free Ice Cream at Ben & Jerry's!

According to numerous internet sources, Tuesday, April 29, 2008 is the 30th annual Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stores. Check out their Fun Stuff page for E-cards, online games, paper crafts, and my personal favorite, the Flavor Graveyard.

April 30, 2008: 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins!

Come to any Baskin-Robbins ice cream store on April 30th from 5-10 pm for 31¢ scoop night. Check out the Baskin-Robbins Store Locator to find the store nearest to you.

MythBusters Marathon

Yesterday, I kicked back and watched a MythBusters marathon on the Discovery Channel. If you like to watch people shoot things and/or blow them up for fun -- all the while explaining the science behind what they are doing -- this show is for you. (All I could think of when I watched this show was -- I want this job!!) I learned that salsa can corrode metal bars, pants saturated with certain pesticides can ignite and practically explode, you really can shoot a hole in a coin using today's high powered guns and mixed alloy coins (but not using the guns of the old west and traditional silver dollars), and that you shouldn't heat jawbreaker-style gumballs in the microwave (they can explode when you bite them and cause burns). If you're wondering whether a myth you've heard is true, you can submit your idea to the show. You can also discuss episodes and debate whether the tests were run correctly. Head on over to the MythBusters Talk About It page to learn more about their forums.

[Note to my younger readers: This show is rated PG. My six-year-old thought it was too scary to watch.]

Weird animal names

Did you ever wish you could change your name? Well, just imagine if you were one of these animals:

The Stinkpot turtle lives up to its name by giving off an unpleasant smell when threatened or scared.

The Southern hairy-nosed wombat is native to Australia.

Townsend's big-eared bat also goes by the name "lump-nosed bat." You can check out some video of Townsend's big-eared bat in action at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's BatCam.

Dung beetles actually eat the poop of other animals!

The scientific name of the Eastern spotted skunk is Spilogale putorius. The word “putorius” comes from the same Latin root as the word “putrid.” In other words, this skunk’s last name is stinky.

The Least weasel is the smallest meat-eating mammal in the world.

Least WeaselPhoto credit: Chris Russoniello, National Park Service

Check out a guide to mammals at your local library and see if you can find some even stranger names. I’d love to hear them!

[If you like this post, check out More weird animal names!]