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.
Dec 18, 2020... On December 21, 2020, stargazers are in for a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event: Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer together than at any time in almost 400 years, in an event known as a great conjunction. Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions happen every 20 years. But this year’s happening will be the closest the planets have come since 1623. In this video, Ilan Manulis, Director of the Weizmann Institute’s Martin S. Kraar Observatory explains the science behind this celestial event and shares how to watch it.
https://weizmann-usa.org/blog/what-is-happening-to-our-sense-of-time-during-covid/
Dec 31, 2020...
We have all experienced a warped sense of time during these Groundhog Blursdays of the pandemic – but why?
Some reasons are obvious. We have lost our guideposts, and events that occurred like clockwork – holidays, birthdays – have largely been cancelled. Seasons and school days aren’t well-defined. Weekends – what’s the diff?
And if you are fortunate enough to work remotely, you no longer have the adjustment period of a commute; going straight from bed to the kitchen coffeemaker to one’s makeshift office is simply not the same. Our environment, clothing, and habits are unchanging.
https://weizmann-usa.org/blog/star-frequency-tuning-in-to-radio-signals-from-space/
Jan 27, 2021...
As we continue to be isolated so much of the time, it can be comforting (or not, depending) to know that we might not be alone. For instance, we recently encountered what the great Carl Zimmer characterized thusly: “A spooky radio signal showed up after a radio telescope was aimed at the next star over from our sun.”
The mysterious beam was the first big breakthrough from the Breakthrough Listen initiative – part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program – which scans the galaxy’s radio waves, looking for signals from intelligent life.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/solidarity-from-the-weizmann-institute-community/
May 19, 2021... The Weizmann Institute is made up of scientists and staff from many faiths and more than 50 nationalities. During the current crisis in Israel, the Weizmann Institute community offers a message of hope, unity, and coexistence. As Prof. Maya Schuldiner, Department of Molecular Genetics, says, “We know that the only way to move humanity forward is by working together.” Dr. Yifat Merbl, Department of Immunology, adds, “Just like in science, rather than focusing on the problem, we must start looking for the right solutions.”
Jun 21, 2021...
Around 50,000 years ago, a group of Neanderthals was living in the Negev Desert, near today’s town of Ofakim. No bones remain because the high concentration of gypsum in the soil decomposes the bones, but the stone tool set found there is typical of Neanderthals.
At about the same time, a wave of migration by anatomically modern humans reached a site known as Boker Tachtit, by Kibbutz Sde Boker, as reported in Haaretz. Their bones have also long since turned into dust, but the tools there – defined as Initial Upper Paleolithic tool culture – are typical of Homo sapiens, the archaeologists say. Boker Tachtit appears to have been a sort of waystation for great migration waves of modern humanity out of Africa to Eurasia via the land that is today Israel.
https://weizmann-usa.org/blog/will-ai-tell-us-what-whales-are-saying/
Jul 08, 2021... In the 70s, an album was released that shared something remarkable, even transformative: recordings of humpback whales singing. The whalesong on the soon-to-be-a-hit album moved people worldwide, and the raised awareness led to the “Save the Whales” movement. Half a century later, technology has evolved a bit from LPs and may be able to help us understand these highly intelligent, mysterious mammals and their eerie songs, their clicks and whirrs.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/a-glimpse-of-the-weizmann-institute/
Jul 12, 2021... Catch a glimpse of the Weizmann Institute’s beautiful, garden-like campus where scientists are working to solve the greatest challenges of our time.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/beyond-the-bench-a-conversation-with-ofer-yizhar/
Jul 26, 2021...
Ofer Yizhar photographed war zones before he ever imaged a mouse brain.
Today, the former documentary photographer in the Israeli army is professor of neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, where he builds tools — such as engineered proteins and neural probes — to manipulate and monitor neural circuits using pulses of light.
Yizhar works at the forefront of a type of neurotechnology called two-photon optogenetics that enables researchers to stimulate and monitor neural circuits at the same time, including in moving mice. He uses this technology to study the neural circuits underlying autism and other complex conditions.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/weizmann-tops-2021-leiden-ranking-again/
Dec 06, 2021...
For the second year in a row, the Weizmann Institute of Science was ranked amongst the world’s top ten research institutions!
Specifically, the Institute was ranked eighth for research quality by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University, the Netherlands (“Leiden Ranking”). It is also one of only two institutions outside the United States in the top ten (the other is the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, ranking ninth). Other institutions in the top ten include Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, Rockefeller, MIT, and Caltech.
Jun 13, 2022... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 13, 2022—They say that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and Weizmann Institute of Science researchers are working hard to investigate that claim, or at least elucidate what constitutes “smoke.” In an article published today in PNAS, the scientists reveal an advanced, innovative method that they have developed and used to detect nonvisual traces of fire dating back at least 800,000 years – one of the earliest known pieces of evidence for the use of fire. The newly developed technique may provide a push toward a more scientific, data-driven type of archaeology, but – perhaps more importantly – it could help us better understand the origins of the human story, our most basic traditions, and our experimental and innovative nature.
©2023 American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
