About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the future of humanity.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/intermittent-lockdown/
Mar 31, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 31, 2020—Think of dieting. You can fast for two months and lose weight, but you will probably die. Even if you survive, you will quickly gain weight again. Similarly, a two-month lockdown will suppress the coronavirus, but it will kill the economy. Lockdown will push hundreds of millions of people globally into unemployment and poverty. Many sectors of the economy will collapse. At the end of each lockdown, remaining patients will cause a resurge in the epidemic, forcing another lockdown.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/uncovering-varied-pathways-to-agriculture/
Dec 06, 2017...
Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto and Dr. Tobias Richter. In the foreground is a Natufian hearth at Shubayqa, Jordan
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 6, 2017— Around 15,000 years ago, the Natufian culture appeared in what is today’s Middle East. This culture, which straddled the border between nomadic and settled lifestyles, had diverse, complex origins – much more than researchers had assumed. This finding arises from new research by a team of scientists and archaeologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of Copenhagen.
Aug 21, 2014... Speaking at a TEDx event at the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Ron Milo – while today a plant scientist – talks about the magic of numbers; for example, the only way to truly understand the difference between hot and cold is to know that there's a 10 percent difference in the vibration of select molecules. We can use this numerical intuition to better understand our own biology.
Jun 09, 2017...
Image via Shutterstock
When it comes to bread, we’ve known for a long time now that it’s better to pick the brown, whole-grain-y stuff over ultra-processed white bread. Right?
Well, maybe not, according to a new study published in Cell Metabolism and reported on by Science Daily. Apparently, we should be focusing less on the bread itself and more on who’s eating it.
Here’s how the study went down: Researchers at the Weizmann Institute conducted a randomized trial with 20 healthy subjects in order to figure out how processed white bread and “artisanal whole wheat sourdough” might affect the human body in different ways. Half of the participants were asked to eat more white bread for one week than they normally did, and the other half was assigned to eat more whole wheat sourdough. Then, there was a controlled 2-week period with no bread, after which time the two groups swapped diets. The half that had originally consumed the white bread switched over to whole wheat, and vice versa.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/weizmann-in-focus-episode-11-time-to-get-fit/
Feb 07, 2020...
We’re well into the New Year and many of us have resolved to get fit in 2020 … but does the time we work out make a difference? In the latest episode of Weizmann in Focus, Dave Doneson discusses the research of Dr. Gad Asher, who studies the effects of our biological clocks on everything from fitness to jetlag to liver disease.
Find out Dr. Asher’s take on whether mornings or evenings are the best time to hit the gym. Please share the video with friends via email or social media.
Dec 12, 2018...
Among the farmers, labourers, religious zealots and political refugees who washed up on the shores of British-controlled Palestine during the inter-war period was German architect Erich Mendelsohn. Fleeing the rise of Nazism, Mendelsohn landed in the Levant in 1934, leaving behind a decade’s worth of prominent commissions in both Germany and Britain.
In Palestine, then a country in the making, Mendelsohn found an unblemished canvas on which he could inscribe an evolving aesthetic as much informed by his sophisticated past as by his idealistic visions for the nation’s future. Emboldened by the potential of this desert utopia and lauded by its nascent intellectual class, the modernist Mendelsohn unabashedly enthroned himself as Palestine’s chief architect. ‘Palestine of today symbolises a union between the most modern civilisation and a most antique culture,’ he wrote. ‘It is the place where intellect, vision, matter and spirit meet.’
Nov 03, 2014...
An in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure [Illustrative]. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Two leading biologists at Rehovot’s Weizmann Institute of Science have strongly objected to an offer by Facebook and Apple to the US companies’ female employees to finance the freezing of their ova so they can delay motherhood, as a pathway for improving women’s access to fulfilling careers.
The position paper was issued on Monday by Prof. Michal Neeman, dean of the biology faculty and director of the Clore Center for Biological Physics, and Prof. Nava Dekel of the developmental biology department. Their ire was triggered by the companies’ announcement of October 14.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/five-business-values-from-girl-scouts/
Aug 01, 2013...
Girl Scouts and mentors on the stairs at Science House. Image Credit: James Jorasch
In preparation for pitching their business ideas to a panel later in the week, fifty Girl Scouts recently visited Science House to be mentored. We brainstormed on the walls of the Imagination Room and listened as pairs of teams told us about their business ideas developed as part of their program with the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College.
Jul 21, 2014...
Image via Shutterstock.com
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 21, 2014—We have heard that eating beef is bad for the environment, but do we know its real cost? Are other animal or animal-derived foods better or worse? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, conducted in collaboration with scientists in the U.S., compared the environmental costs of various foods and came up with some surprisingly clear results. The findings, which appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), will hopefully not only inform individual dietary choices, but those of governmental agencies that set agricultural and marketing policies.Dr. Ron Milo of the Institute’s Department of Plant Sciences, together with his research student Alon Shepon and in collaboration with Tamar Makov of Yale University and Dr. Gidon Eshel in New York, asked which types of animal-based food one should consume, environmentally speaking. Though many studies have addressed parts of this issue, none have done such a thorough, comparative study that gives a multi-perspective picture of the environmental costs of food derived from animals.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/dietary-advice-based-on-the-bacteria-in-your-gut/
Feb 25, 2018...
Evidence is growing that the 100 trillion organisms in the human gut play a role in individuals’ differing responses to food. PHOTO: WEIZMANN INSTITUTE
For almost a decade, researchers have been sequencing the bacteria that live in the human gut. Now, some startups are claiming they can use that technology to help people diet more effectively—and in at least one case, scientists say the approach is showing some promise.