It’s DNA Day!
There’s no question about it – DNA IS AWESOME AND ALL THINGS GENETIC ROCK. Those looking for evidence to support this claim need not look further than April 25th, National DNA Day.
National DNA Day commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, and others published papers on the structure of DNA. The holiday was first celebrated in the US in 2003, when both the Senate and the House of Representatives announced it as a one day event, alongside a declaration that the Human Genome Project was nearly complete.
National DNA Day was not intended to be an annual holiday. Hence, you will be hard-pressed to find an appropriate Hallmark card to share with your fellow DNA fanatics. Every year from 2003 onward, however, DNA Day celebrations have been organized by the National Human Genome Research Institute. April 25 has since been declared “International DNA Day” and “World DNA Day” by various international consortia and universities.
So, how does one celebrate such a fantastic day? Fun and innovative ideas abound on the internet.
- Understand how pop culture and genetics merge in NHGRI’s guest speaker ‘s talk Harry Potter and the Genetics of Wizarding
- Learn about careers in genetics
- Get online with educational videos, articles, and experiments
- Check out past DNA Day events
Whatever you do decide to do, just remember . . . DNA made this day possible!
