Istanbul University

Every day, fishermen are going out fishing in the Bosphorus to hunt veined rapa whelks, large sea snails that have been touted widely as an antidote to cancer and are popular in Far Eastern countries.

Taner Yıldız, an academic from Istanbul University, told daily Hürriyet that the rapa whelks were significantly valuable, saying their export market value is around $20 million.

Dubbed as the "Plant Library of Turkey," the Forestry Faculty of Istanbul University, located in Istanbul's Sarıyer district, hosts some 37,000 plant species found in the country's rich flora.

"There are plant samples here in the 'plant library' that have been collected since the 1950s," Ünal Akkemik, an academic from the university, told Demirören News Agency on April 20.

An exhibition featuring many photographs that have captured Poland's UNESCO World Heritage List was presented to visitors at the Istanbul University's rectorate building.

World-renowned Ottoman historian Mehmet Genç has passed away at the age of 87.

Genç, a retired professor of Marmara University, was receiving treatment for lung cancer.

Genç graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences in 1958.

The seabed of the Bosphorus is full of sinkers that have fallen off from fishing rods, causing massive risk to human lives and the ecosystem, a marine biologist has warned.

"Those sinkers are made of lead that can dissolve in time in salty waters," Gülşen Altuğ from Istanbul University told Demirören News Agency on March 16.

Asuman Baytop, a leading Turkish expert on botany and botanical history who provided a significant contribution to the country's flora with her discoveries, was commemorated on Feb. 19 on the 6th anniversary of her demise.

Turkish writer and psychologist Doğan Cüceloğlu on Feb. 16 was found dead at home in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district.

Cüceloğlu, 83, was well known in Turkey for his personal development books, over 40 published scientific articles, and numerous seminars and conferences.

Prominent Turkish sociologist Nur Vergin, who had long had Alzheimer's, has died in her home in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district. She was 80.

Vergin was found dead at her house after her neighbors informed the police that they had not been able to reach her for two days.

Turkish historian Filiz Çağman, one of the world's leading experts on manuscripts and miniature art, died on Jan. 11 at the age of 81.

Retired in 2005, Çağman worked for 41 years at Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, one of the most famous landmarks of Istanbul that once housed Ottoman sultans while the city was the capital of the empire.

Fishermen using cast nets in the depths of the Bosphorus Strait and close to its shores on big fishing boats are threatening marine wildlife, experts have warned.

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry permits industrial fishing at 24 meters of depth offshore and in seas, but fishermen have been throwing nets from their large fishing boats close to the banks of the Bosphorus Strait.