On June 16, 1902, biologist Barbara McClintock was born. McClintock studied courses in genetics before it was accepted as a discipline. Using corn cobs as her exploratory medium, she noticed colour spots on kernels that could not be explained by Mendelian genetics. Immediately attracted…
On June 5, 2026, World Environment Day celebrates its 53rd anniversary. This year, the aim is to focus our attention and efforts #NowForClimate – For decades, the world has heard the climate story — the warnings, the target time deadlines for changing our behaviours.…
The Second Weekends of May and October are events observed twice each year as World Migratory Bird Day to focus world attention on the need to protect migratory bird populations, their habitats, and their international flyways. Through exchanges of information from people within and…
On May 8, 1926 British naturalist Sir David Frederick Attenborough was born. For 70 years, Attenborough has filmed, documented, and advocated on behalf of nature around the planet. He has showcased biological sciences and enhanced our visual relationship with the natural world and its…
On May 3, 1715, astronomer Edmund Halley observed a total lunar eclipse of the sun in London England. At the moment of totality, he observed an arc of uneven light around the disc of the moon just before it covered the sun. The points…
On April 27, 1947, American forester and conservationist Mollie H. Beattie was born. The first woman Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Beattie fought to conserve species by managing whole ecosystems rather than waiting until individual species were endangered. “What a country…
On April 24, 1996, Wapusk National Park, an area covering 11,475 km2 (4,430.5 mi2 ), became part of Canada’s National Parks system. Wapusk, “White Bear” in Cree, protects one of the world’s largest polar bear den areas. On the transition between boreal forest and…
April 22, Earth Day, is celebrated around the world as tens of millions of people make time to attend their environment. The United Nations calls this International Mother Earth Day because “Mother Earth” is a multi-national common expression used in most cultural references to…
On April 17, 1899, English entomologist Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth was born. He created a new science – the study of Insect Physiology – and researched extensively into the role of hormones in insect growth, metamorphosis, and reproduction. Wigglesworth detailed many physical mechanisms and…
On March 27, 1905, aeronautical engineer Elizabeth Muriel Gregory “Elsie” MacGill was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Attracted first to the red-hot field of radio, she became the first woman electrical engineering graduate from the University of Toronto. Working her first job at the…