Turkey

This archive collects solutions-journalism stories and progress milestones from Turkey — covering advances in health, environment, civic life, technology, and more. Each entry highlights what is working and why it matters.

Medical researcher in a lab examining vials related to asthma and COPD treatment and mRNA vaccine development, for article on benralizumab injection, for article on mRNA lung cancer vaccine

World’s first mRNA lung cancer vaccine enters human trials in seven countries

By / / Good News For Humankind

A landmark mRNA lung cancer vaccine is now being tested in human patients for the first time, marking a historic milestone in cancer treatment. BNT116, developed by BioNTech, uses the same messenger RNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to train the immune system to recognize and destroy non-small cell lung cancer cells. The phase 1 trial spans 34 sites across seven countries, with roughly 130 patients enrolled. Unlike chemotherapy, this approach targets only tumor cells, potentially offering a more precise and lasting defense against the world’s deadliest cancer, which kills 1.8 million people annually.

Solar panels, for article on utility-scale solar farm, for article on Pacific renewable energy, for article on dome-shaped solar cells

Turkish scientists develop “bumpy” solar panel concept that can harvest up to 66% more energy

By / / Good News For Humankind

Dome-shaped solar cells could absorb up to 66% more light than their flat counterparts, according to new simulations from a research team at Abdullah Gül University in Türkiye. The trick is geometric: tiny hemispherical bumps catch sunlight from many angles at once, acting almost like little lenses that funnel light into the cell. That means solar power could finally work well on surfaces that flat panels struggle with, like clothing, curved windows, greenhouse roofs, and wearable medical devices. The design still needs to be built and tested in the real world, but it points toward a future where solar generation lives quietly inside the everyday surfaces around us, rather than only on dedicated rooftops.

Woman holding Turkish flags

Women in Turkey win right to keep surnames after marriage

By / / Good news links

Women in Turkey can use their own surnames after they marry, now that a rule forcing them to take their husband’s surname has been overturned. Article 187 of the Turkish civil code previously stated that a woman had to take her husband’s surname upon marriage, however she could use her own surname first “with a written application to the marriage officer or later to the civil registry office.” The new decision by the Turkish Constitutional Court came into effect on January 28, following a ruling in April 2023.

Al-Jazari publishes his Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices

By / / Archive of Human Genius

In 1206, engineer Ismail al-Jazari finished a manuscript at the Artuqid palace in Mardin describing 50 machines he had actually built — water clocks, fountains, and pumps. One twin-cylinder pump used a crankshaft, the same rotary-to-linear principle that later drove steam and combustion engines. A practical book, copied for centuries because people wanted to build things.

image for article on Seljuk Empire founding

Tughril and Chaghri Beg establish the Seljuk Empire across Central Asia

By / / Archive of Human Genius

Seljuk Empire founders Tughril and Chaghri Beg, two brothers from a nomadic Turkic clan near the Aral Sea, captured Merv and Nishapur in 1037 C.E. and built a state that eventually stretched from the Aegean to the Hindu Kush. Rather than dismantle Persian civilization, they governed through it — a pattern of cultural fusion that echoed across later Islamic empires.

View of the site of the Temple of Artemis, for article on temple of artemis

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus rises as one of the ancient world’s greatest buildings

By / / Archive of Human Genius

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was completed around 550 B.C.E., rising from marshy Anatolian ground as one of the first monumental buildings made almost entirely of marble. Its architects stabilized the soft soil with charcoal and sheepskin, and its funding drew from Greek cities and the Lydian king Croesus alike — a wonder built at a cultural crossroads.