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/in-the-news/rats-long-term-memory-erased-in-study/
Aug 16, 2007... This article can be viewed by downloading the PDF.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/a-lesson-in-sleep-learning/
Aug 27, 2012...
Anat Arzi (l), Prof. Noam Sobel, and a research subject in the lab.
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 27, 2012— Is sleep learning possible? A new Weizmann Institute study appearing August 26 in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone – even when no odor is present – both during sleep and, later, when awake. In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconsciously modify their waking behavior.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/sweet-smell/
Sep 18, 2007... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 18, 2007—What makes one smell pleasant and another odious? Is there something in the chemistry of a substance that can serve to predict how we will perceive its smell? Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of California at Berkeley have now discovered that there is indeed such a link, and knowing the molecular structure of a substance can help predict whether we will find its smell heavenly or malodorous.
May 11, 2011... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 11, 2011—Adversity, we are told, heightens our senses, imprinting sights and sounds precisely in our memories. But new Weizmann Institute research, which appeared in Nature Neuroscience this week, suggests the exact opposite may be the case: Perceptions learned in an aversive context are not as sharp as those learned in other circumstances. The findings, which hint that this tendency is rooted in our species’ evolution, may help to explain how post-traumatic stress syndrome and other anxiety disorders develop in some people.
Oct 07, 2015... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 7, 2015—Most female mammals give birth and care for their offspring, while the males often breed with multiple partners and play little role in parenting once the mating is over. Yet researchers have had a hard time pinpointing where, exactly, in the brain these differences between the sexes are located and how they translate into behavior. The extent of “hardwired parental behavior” is hotly disputed.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/new-hope-for-gaucher-patients/
Jan 21, 2014... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 19, 2014—What causes brain damage and inflammation in severe cases of Gaucher disease? Little is known about the events that lead to brain pathology in some forms of the disease, and there is currently no treatment available — a bleak outlook for sufferers and their families. Now, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new cellular pathway implicated in Gaucher disease. Their findings, published today in Nature Medicine, may offer a new therapeutic target for the management of this disease, as well as other related disorders.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/nature-s-cure-for-alzheimer-s/
Jan 31, 2018...
From ancient paper to luxurious clothing and parachutes, humans have been capitalising on the extreme strength, lightness and softness of silk for thousands of years.
Now, scientists are on the verge of harnessing its unique properties in a completely different way – for the treatment of illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have found that the structure of the silk fibrils in spider webs and silkworm cocoons is very similar to that of the cell-destroying protein clumps, or amyloids, that form in the brains of Alzheimer’s suffers.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/scientists-identify-the-signature-of-an-aging-brain/
Nov 01, 2014...
A scientist looks through a microscope. (photo credit:INGIMAGE)
How the brain ages is still largely an open question – in part because this most important organ is mostly insulated from direct contact with other systems in the body, including the blood and immune systems. In research that was recently published in the journal Science, Weizmann Institute researchers Prof. Michal Schwartz of the neurobiology department and Dr. Ido Amit of the immunology department found evidence of a unique “signature” that may be the “missing link” between cognitive decline and aging. The scientists believe that this discovery may lead in the future to treatments that can slow or reverse cognitive decline in older people.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/not-to-be-sniffed-at/
Dec 09, 2010...
For those people who have no other means of communication, sniffing could provide liberation
To suffer from locked-in syndrome—to be mentally alert but physically paralysed—is one of the worst fates imaginable. Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute, in Israel, may have found a way to make this fate slightly more bearable.
He starts from the observation that even those who are otherwise paralysed can sniff. Sniffing is regulated by the soft palate, a flap of tissue in the back of the throat that directs the flow of air through the mouth and nose. The soft palate is controlled by cranial nerves—in other words, nerves that do not pass through the spinal cord. So spinal damage, a common cause of paralysis, does not affect these nerves. Nor does brain damage, unless it is to the exact part of the brain that controls the soft palate.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/brain-in-a-box/
Feb 22, 2012...
D. BALIBOUSE/REUTERS
Henry Markram wants €1 billion to model the entire human brain. Sceptics don't think he should get it.
It wasn't quite the lynching that Henry Markram had expected. But the barrage of sceptical comments from his fellow neuroscientists — "It's crap," said one — definitely made the day feel like a tribunal.
Officially, the Swiss Academy of Sciences meeting in Bern on 20 January was an overview of large-scale computer modelling in neuroscience. Unofficially, it was neuroscientists' first real chance to get answers about Markram's controversial proposal for the Human Brain Project (HBP) — an effort to build a supercomputer simulation that integrates everything known about the human brain, from the structures of ion channels in neural cell membranes up to mechanisms behind conscious decision-making.
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