Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Died at 35

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Bach have the same effect as Mozart on spatial reasoning?
Subject: Psychology / Music
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2000
Description: Participants in this study are exposed to Bach's and Mozart's music and a silence control. Then the participants are tested by the spatial-temporal test.
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/150.php

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species Celebrates 150 Years

On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a seminal scientific work, considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.

Though, Darwin's book did not address directly the question of human evolution, saying only that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history", the possibility of linking humans with earlier apes by descent became clear after 1859 with the publication of On the Origin of Species which argued for the idea of the evolution of new species from earlier ones.

At the time, ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with scientific mainstream and religious beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to animals. As a result, Darwin's evolution theories were met with ridicule by the scientific community and hostility by the Church before moving to the front line of science.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The kangaroo rat and its adaptations for survival in a desert habitat
Subject: Zoology
Grade level: Primary School / Kindergarten - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: Main topics: kangaroo rat's adaptation to desert habitat; why its population status is threatened; what humans can do to protect it; quiz; pictures.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/blac5b0/public_html/

 

Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) was Was Born

Marie Skłodowska Curie was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes, receiving one in physics and later, one in chemistry. She was the first woman to serve as professor at the University of Paris.

Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term she coined), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms (cancers), using radioactive isotopes.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Nuclear Energy
Subject: Physics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: Main topics: nuclear history, nuclear energy (fission, fusion), nuclear reactors, nuclear accidents (Chernobyl), nuclear waste storage (Yucca Mountains), food irradiation.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/chiuw3w/public_html/index2.html

The Dog Laika Is Launched Into Space - November 3, 1957

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, which carried the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit the Earth. Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and Laika died a few hours after launch, presumably from stress and overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. However, the experiment proved that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure weightlessness. It paved the way for human spaceflight and provided scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments. On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika. A small monument in her honor was built near the military research facility in Moscow which prepared Laika's flight to space. It features a dog standing on top of a rocket.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which planet in our solar system (other than the Earth) has the safest environment for humans to live on?
Subject: Astronomy / Space Exploration
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: This project explores the environmental, weather, temperature and atmosphere conditions on the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and their suitability for sustaining life.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/foge8m2/

Pelé (1940 - ) Was Born

Edison Arantes do Nascimento is a Brazilian football (soccer) player, best known as Pelé by which he has become a sporting legend. He was given the title "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee. In 1999 Time Magazine named Pelé one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Test if air pressure will affect the dynamics of a soccer ball bouncing.
Subject: Sports engineering
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: Different soccer (football) ball pressures will be measured with an air pressure gauge. Then the bounciness of the ball will be tested by using a video camera with a tripod and a metric plastic tape measure.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Sports_p007.shtml

Thomas Alva Edison, the Inventor of the Light Bulb, Died

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931) was an American famous inventor, best known for the invention of the light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, power station and other 1093 patents and inventions.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does an incandescent bulb produce more heat than a fluorescent bulb?
Subject: Electricity
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs were lit in an insulated box for same periods of time; temperature measured.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/patt5e0/public_html/

2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry are Announced

The winners are Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz and Israeli Ada Yonath for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome (composed of RNA) that translates the DNA code into life.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Modifying Plant Characteristics Using RNA Interference
Subject: Biology / Biotechnology
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: The objective of this project is to demonstrate how RNAi modifies the expression of genes which affect pathogen growth during plant infection.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/adam8s2/

2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Physics are Announced

Charles K. Kao was awarded for his contribution involving the transmission of light in fiber optics; Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded for inventing the CCD - the Charge-Coupled Device, an electronic light sensor used in digital cameras.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Investigate the CCD: Heart of the Digital Camera and other Optical Devices
Subject: Electronics
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: digital photography basics, CCD basics, timeline of digital photography, movie and digital photography glossary.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/krol6s2/47AD999D-2AC3-4F47-A948-436A1318840A.html

Enrico Fermi (1901 – 1954) Was Born

Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his work on induced radioactivity and is today regarded as one of the top scientists of the 20th century.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Nuclear energy transportation
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: Nuclear mechanics, Ford Nucleon, nuclear ships, nuclear aircrafts, Mars rover, advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy transportation and environmental impacts.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/iaco8v2/

World Heart Day 2009

World Heart Day, organized by the World Heart Federation, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO, is the World Heart Federation's most important advocacy event and aims to increase public awareness and promote preventative measures to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Begun in 1999 with the vision that all World Heart Federation members could collectively help to curb the global pandemic of cardiovascular disease, which claims some 17.5 million lives world-wide annually, World Heart Day is now celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What is a pacemaker?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: how the heart works; what is a pacemaker; different kinds of pacemakers; the invention of the pacemaker; recent innovations; movie.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/torr7m2/

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) Was Born

Michael Faraday was an English scientist, best known for the discovery of electromagnetic induction and the inventions of the electric motor and dynamo.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Measure the torque of an electric motor by the mass lifted by the motor.
Subject: Electricity / Magnetism
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: In order to measure the torque, the electric motor is suspended off the ground and a string is attached to the axel of the motor while the other end of the string is attached to different weights. The distance the motor lifts the weights off the ground is measured.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/benn7b2/

Upton Sinclair (1878 – 1968) Was Born

Upton Sinclair, Jr. best known for his novel The Jungle (1906) which dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that partly contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Various Temperatures on the Type and Growth Rate of Bacteria in Meat
Subject: Food Safety
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2006
Description: Four different types of meat (hamburger, steak, pork, chicken) were grinded and incubated under different temperature and periods of time conditions. Bacteria colonies were counted and identified under a microscopes.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2006/SarahS.html

Norman Borlaug (1914 - 2009), the Father of The Green Revolution, Died

Norman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution.
During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, India and Africa. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply.
Borlaug continually advocated the use biotechnology to decrease world famine.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Expression patterns of low temperature-induced genes in winter and spring wheat
Subject: Plant Genetics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Seeds from two wheat varieties were germinated for 15 days and exposed to 4 degrees Celcius for different periods of time. Leaves were harvested and RNA was extracted. From the extracted Ribonucleic acid (RNA), copy-Deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) was synthesized to use in Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to measure expression of cold-induced genes. The Real-Time PCR data was then used to calculate the relative expression of the genes.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/kula6m2/

 

Marvin Minsky (1927 - ) Was Born

Marvin Lee Minsky is a prominent American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of MIT's AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy.

Minsky's patents include the first head-mounted graphical display (1963) and the confocal microscope (1957), a predecessor to today's widely used confocal laser scanning microscope. He developed, with Seymour Papert, the first Logo "turtle". Minsky also built, in 1951, the first randomly wired neural network learning machine, SNARC.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Finding a practical mathematical function for f(x) with genetic algorithms
Subject: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: This project addresses the following problem: Given a set of points on a graph, can a computer accurately find a practical mathematical function through the use of a genetic algorithm without any prior knowledge of what function that set of points may resemble?
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/chin7j2/

Erno Rubik (1944 - ) Was Born

Ernő Rubik (born July 13, 1944) is a Hungarian inventor, sculptor and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including Rubik's Cube, Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Snake and Rubik Sphere.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Making Patterns with Rubik's Cube
Subject: Mathematics
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Demonstrative
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Year: 2008
Description: Main objective: To figure out ways of making geometrical patterns with Rubik's Cube.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Math_p024.shtml

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716) Was Born

Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician who wrote primarily in Latin and French.
He invented infinitesimal calculus independently of Newton, and his notation is the one in general use since then. He also invented the binary system, foundation of virtually all modern computer architectures.
He was, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, one of the three greatest 17th-century rationalists philosophers. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, probability theory, psychology, linguistics, and information science.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Build a binary marble adding machine
Subject: Mathematics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Matthias Wandel's Woodworking Website
Description: Detailed building instructions including diagrams and video
Link: http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/index.html

Sir Paul McCartney Was Born

Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Music Affect Students' Math Performance?
Subject: Music / Mathematics
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2001
Description: Students listened to different types of music (classical and rock) and no music. Then students were given math tests; scores were recorded compared and graphed.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2001/KendraC.html

Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933) Was Born

Knud Rasmussen was a Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" and was the first to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. He remains well known in Greenland, Denmark and among Canadian Inuit.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Explore the medicine wheel and its cultural meaning.
Subject: Religion
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Kainai Middle School, Canada
Description: Main topics: the medicine wheel, the meaning of number four in native American life.
Link: http://www.kainaimiddleschool.ca/Science_Projects/MedicineWheel/medicinewheel.html

World Environment Day 2009

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. WED is hosted every year by a different city and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5. WED agenda is to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which Type of Paper Decomposed the Fastest?
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2002
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2002/MelissaB.html

World No Tobacco Day 2009

World No Tobacco Day is observed around the world every year on May 31. The member states of the World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. It draws global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to its negative health effects. The day aims to reduce the 5.4 million yearly deaths from tobacco related health problems. From 1988 the WHO has presented one or more World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Awards to organizations or individuals who have made exceptional contributions to reducing tobacco consumption. On May 31st, 2008 the WHO called for a complete ban on tobacco advertising; the organization said studies establish a relationship between exposure to cigarette advertisement and starting smoking.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: It is possible to distinguish between smokers and non-smokers by the sound and quality of their voice alone?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: In this experiment 40 participants', 20 smokers and 20 non-smokers, voice was recorded reading a standard text. Voices were evaluated by two minors, three adult voice experts and two non-expert adults.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/kost5d0/public_html/

Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) Was Born

Edward Jenner was an English scientist who is widely credited as the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, and is sometimes referred to as the 'Father of Immunology'.

In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. This was the result of coordinated public health efforts by many people, but vaccination was an essential component.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The development of a plant-based vaccine against SARS-CoV
Subject: Medicine / Biochemistry
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards:
1st prize, intermediate life science division, University of Western Ontario
Second Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Pfizer Canada Award of Excellence
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: The goal of this project is to produce a plant expression vector containing a synthetic DNA coding for an antigenic region of the SARS Spike protein fused to a bacterial gene encoding cholera toxin B subunit, and express it in transgenic tobacco plants. The results obtained from this project provide a foundation for the development of a low-cost, orally administered vaccine that can be used to prevent SARS infection.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/wang5d0/public_html/

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) Was Born

Sigismund Schlomo Freud was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free association, his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. Many of Freud's ideas have fallen out of favor or have been modified by Neo-Freudians, although at the close of the 20th century, advances in the field of neurology began to show evidence for many of his theories.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What causes dreams?
Subject: Psychology & Human Behavior
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: specific causes of dreams, types of dreams, nightmares, body's reactions to dreams, rapid eye movement.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/lamo8z2/

Earth Day 2009

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Can we reduce the waste that our school produces?
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: Primary School - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: In this project are demonstrated a few simple methods to reduce environmental waste and pollution.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/kina4c1/public_html/

James Dewey Watson (1928 - ) Was Born

James Watson is an American molecular biologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA - the double helix. For this Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Can DNA be extracted from onions and observed with the naked eye?
Subject: Biochemistry
Grade level: elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Under the right conditions, DNA can be extracted from onions and observed with the naked eye, and seen more closely using a magnifying glass.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/mcma6m2/

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Was Born

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Bach have the same effect as Mozart on spatial reasoning?
Subject: Psychology / Music
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2000
Description: Participants in this study are exposed to Bach's and Mozart's music and a silence control. Then the participants are tested by the spatial-temporal test.
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/150.php

World Day for Water 2009

In 1993 the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as World Water Day. Its main goals, among others, are to promote the cause of clean drinking water and sustainable aquatic habitats and to ensure safe water and decent sanitation for civilians in conflict zones.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Comparison of pH Levels in Municipal Drinking Water vs. Domestic Well Water
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Law
Awards: Regional Mid Columbia Science Fair Award of Distinction for Creativity (2004)
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2004
Description: Samples (same temperature) of different municipal drinking water sources and domestic well water were tested with a pH meter.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2004/BelenL.html

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824 - 1887) Was Born

Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term "black body" radiation in 1862, and two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission are named "Kirchhoff's laws" after him.
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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Test if the length of a pencil resistor effects the output of a circuit.
Subject: Electricity
Grade level: Elementary School
Academic Level: Ordianary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: Different pencil lengths serve as a resistors. While connected into a basic series circuit, students observe the light intensity of a bulb.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Elec_p013.shtml?from=Home

International Women's Day 2009

International Woman's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.
Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc). In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine whether men and women differ in their feelings towards career and family.
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2004
Description: Participants were 72 undergraduate students enrolled in Loyola University New Orleans - male and female between the ages of 18 and 22. Career and family priorities were measured by Life Role Salience Scales (Amatea et al., 1986), a five-point Likert scale, and Women Workplace Culture Questionnaire (Bergman & Hallberg, 2002).

Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/502.php

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922) Was Born

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Repeat Alexander Bell’s Telephone Experiments
Subject: Telecommunication
Grade level: Middle / High School - Grades (6-12)
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: None
Description: Main topics: the tuning fork experiment, Alexander Bell’s liquid transmitter, variable resistance microphones

Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/telephoneexperiments.html

Heinrich Lenz (1804-1865) Was Born

Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz was a Baltic German physicist most famous for formulating Lenz's law in 1834.
Lenz's law gives the direction of the induced electromotive force (emf) and current resulting from electromagnetic induction. The law provides a physical interpretation of the choice of sign in Faraday's law of induction, indicating that the induced emf and the change in flux have opposite signs.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Research the Force Generated from a Changing Magnetic Field
Subject: Magnetism
Grade level: Middle / High School - Grades (6-12)
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: California State Science Fair (CSSF)
Year: 2005
Description: A NIB magnet was dropped down a metal tube. As the magnet passed through the tube, a changing magnetic field exerted a braking force on the falling magnet to slow it down. Then Newtons' Second Law (F = ma) was used to measure the magnetic braking force by connecting the NIB magnet with a string that was attached to a cart that was pulled up an incline ramp.

Link: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects/J1529.pdf

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543) Was Born

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: A Visit to the Solar System
Subject: Astronomy
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: the sun, inner planets, asteroid belt, outer planets, kuiper belt, solar system timeline, exploration timeline.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/wang8c2/

Darwin Day 200

Charles Robert Darwin realised and demonstrated that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, providing logical explanation for the diversity of life.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Evolution of Enzymes
Subject: Biology
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Directed evolution of alkane degrading enzymes for improved activity on natural and high molecular weight substrates.

Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2004/lavr4v0/public_html/

World Cancer Day 2009

World Cancer Day is marked on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. It is led by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), a global consortium of more than 280 cancer-fighting organizations in over 90 countries.
The campaign emphasizes that 43% of cancers can be prevented through these healthy behaviors:

• Provide a smoke-free environment for children
  
• Be physically active, eat a balanced, healthy diet, and avoid obesity
  
• Learn about vaccines for virus-related liver and cervical cancers
  
• Avoid over-exposure to the sun

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Everything About Skin Cancer
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: our skin; types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squarmous cell carcinoma (SSC), malignant melanoma; skin cancer prevention.

Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/pare6b2/

Groundhog Day 2009

Groundhog Day is an annual holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada on which if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks. The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.

Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Snow, Sun and Sky in Saskatoon
Subject: Meteorology
Grade level: Primary School - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: snow flakes, objects in the sky, the Sun, photos, drawings, quizz.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/bamy6a2/

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2009

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, is the universal commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1st November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session to mark the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust which resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews by the Nazi regime. January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by Soviets troops.

Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Phrenology in America
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 1999
Description: Phrenology (from Greek: "mind"; and logos, "knowledge") is a defunct field of study, once considered a science, in which the personality traits of a person were determined by "reading" bumps and fissures in the skull. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, the discipline was very popular in the 19th century. Phrenology was practiced by some scientists promoting racist ideologies, including Nazism. They used phrenological claims, among other biological evidence, as a scientific basis for Aryan racial superiority. (source: wikipedia)
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/83.asp

Martin Luther King Day 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the birthdate of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15. It is one of three United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person. King was the chief spokesman of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Your Hair Colour Affect Your Thinking Skills?
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Brunette and blonde male and female school kids were tested by thinking skills questionars. Results were compared, graphed and analyzed.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/loth6b2/

International Year of Astronomy 2009

The International Year of Astronomy is a year-long celebration of astronomy, taking place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century. The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the UN. A global scheme, laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), has also been endorsed by UNESCO - the UN body responsible for Educational, Scientific and Cultural matters. This initiative is an opportunity for the citizens of Earth to gain a deeper insight into astronomy’s role in enriching all human cultures. Moreover, it will serve as a platform for informing the public about the latest astronomical discoveries while emphasizing the essential role of astronomy in science education.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Build Your Own Telescope
Subject: Astronomy
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Fun Science Gallery
Description: This is a simple and cheap telescope allows the learning, structure and operation of telescopes in general. Although it is simple, it can reveal the craters of the Moon and the satellites of Jupiter. It is also very useful for demonstrating lens aberrations.
Link: http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/tele/tele.htm