Reflect the Heat with More Pizzazz

Scientists have found that white, heat-reflecting paint, helps cool cities and buildings, by reflecting the Sun’s rays. But what if you want a nice blue house instead? Lightweight plasmonic paint, has a bottom layer that reflects 80% of mid-infrared light, which is usually absorbed as heat. The top layer is filled with colored nanoparticles.

Time to Pick the Honeycrisps

Are you going to go apple picking this season? Find an apple orchard nearby, and stock up! See how many varieties you can eat, while you walk around collecting the perfect apples. Many orchards also sell hot apple cider. Make sure you bring enough apples home to also make a pie or some applesauce!

Refill the Toilet Paper

Today is Toilet Paper Day. Before TP was invented, people used corn husks, rags, stones, or whatever else was handy to wipe themselves! You know who doesn’t need toilet paper? Dogs! Today is also Dog Day, so pamper your poochie, or play with a friend’s dog. Pretend you’re a dog, and bark at everyone.

Throw Nice Squishy Ones

Every year, the town of Buñol Spain, has a giant food fight. This is the 80th anniversary, of the original tomato fight between teenage boys at a parade. Now, thousands of people gather to throw 240,000 pounds of tomatoes, grown just for the La Tomatina Festival, at each other.

Preserving Parks Is Everyone’s Responsibility

Today is Park Service Founders Day, marking 109 years since the National Park Service was formed. Everyone can help protect the parks. One kid returned a rock, apologizing for taking it from the Smokey Mountains. Park rangers thanked her for understanding, that if all visitors took a souvenir, 11,000,000 rocks would disappear every year!

Fruit With an Extra Scoop of Fun

Today is Banana Split Day, so here’s what you need to do. Scoop 3 flavors of ice cream into your bowl, slice a banana lengthwise and put half on each side, then add chocolate, pineapple, and strawberry sauces, whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. Now eat it all up! The banana makes it healthy!

Pre-Worn Clothes Are Better for the Earth

When you outgrow your clothes, don’t just throw them in the trash. You can sell them, donate them to charity, or give them to younger friends and family. By shopping for secondhand clothes, you save money, and help the Earth by recycling. Give vintage clothes a chance, for Secondhand Wardrobe Day! You’ll look fabulous!

No Dinosaur Could Jump That Far

The continents on Earth, weren’t always separated by oceans. Millions of years ago, there was a supercontinent called Pangea. Look at a globe, and see how the continents fit together like a puzzle, before drifting apart. Paleontologists found lines of dinosaur footprints in Cameroon and Brazil, 3,700 miles apart, that were probably once connected!

Care for Some Keratin?

Have you ever gotten a hair in your mouth? Yuck. But a protein found in your hair, called keratin, could soon be used in toothpaste. Scientists found that keratin pulls minerals from saliva, and forms something like tooth enamel. It could protect and whiten teeth naturally, just by brushing your teeth.

Which Instrument Sounds Most Like a Volcano?

Today is Vesuvius Day. Mount Vesuvius is the volcano in Italy, that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. Create your own volcano and make it erupt, while listening to unusual music for International Strange Music Day! You can make music from anything. Today is also Waffle Day. What’s your favorite flavor, blueberry or chocolate chip?

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