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 benefit of humanity.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/your-sense-of-smell-is-actually-pretty-amazing/
Apr 27, 2017...
Our sense of smell is incredibly fine tuned. Pixabay
The following is an excerpt from FLAVOR: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense by Bob Holmes:
Our noses are a much more powerful tool than most of us realize—more sensitive, in many cases, than the most expensive piece of laboratory equipment.
Case in point: If you had happened to cross the University of California at Berkeley campus in the early 2000s, you might have noticed an undergraduate—blindfolded, earplugged, and wearing coveralls, knee pads, and heavy gloves—crawling across the lawn with nose to ground, zigzagging slightly back and forth. Was he rolling a peanut across the campus with his nose as punishment for some arbitrary offense during a fraternity initiation? Was he groveling before more senior fraternity brothers? No. He was following a scent trail laid down by a chocolate-soaked string—and doing it almost perfectly.
Jul 16, 2015...
Image Credit: Moscow traffic, Foter.com / CC BY-SA
Even just a single, sub-clinical exposure to extracts of particulate matter taken from the side of a roadway is enough to induce transient pulmonary stress (via oxidative and inflammatory pathways), according to new work from an international team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/good-for-skin-bad-for-fertility/
Jan 27, 2011...
Antioxidants touted as an anti-aging remedy and added to food and cosmetics may hinder ovulation, Israeli scientists have discovered.
Consumers have been told for years that antioxidants added to food, drink and facial cosmetics are a natural way to combat cell damage and slow down the aging process.
But according to a study by Prof. Nava Dekel of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, these additives could be causing female fertility problems.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-september-2015/
Sep 01, 2015...
Tiny sea sapphires’ iridescence, created by a regular array of thin, transparent crystal plates, is also the secret of their “disappearance”
Tiny ocean creatures known as sea sapphires perform a sort of magic trick as they swim: One second they appear in splendid iridescent shades of blue, purple, or green, and the next they may turn invisible (at least the blue ones turn completely transparent). How do they get their bright colors and what enables them to “disappear?” New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science has solved the mystery of these colorful, vanishing creatures, which are known scientifically as Sapphirinidae. The findings, which recently appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could inspire the development of new optical technologies.
Jul 02, 2015...
It may be possible to diagnose autism by giving children a sniff test, a new study suggests.
Most people instinctively take a big whiff when they encounter a pleasant smell and limit their breathing when they encounter a foul smell.
Children with autism spectrum disorder do not make this natural adjustment, said Liron Rozenkrantz, a neuroscientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and one of the researchers involved with the study.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/dr-michal-leskes-energizing-the-future/
Jan 13, 2016...
Dr. Michal Leskes
Batteries now power everything from tiny pacemakers wired to the human heart to the engines of zero-emission cars and light trucks. Just about everything electrical that is not plugged into the wall is run by a battery. We take them for granted, but the innards of batteries are somewhat complex. Enhancing their performance – their ability to “keep going” for longer and store energy from different sources – is a research niche that a growing number of basic scientists around the world are starting to focus on. One of them is Dr. Michal Leskes, who joined the Department of Materials and Interfaces at the Weizmann Institute in July. She focuses on rechargeable batteries such as the lithium-ion batteries that power a wide range of consumer electronics ranging from laptops and cellphones to hybrid and all-electric cars.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/scientists-reveal-new-way-to-hide-secret-messages/
May 04, 2016...
This might sound like something from a Bond movie. But a team from Israel has used some rather nifty chemistry to come up with a way to use common chemicals such as cola as the encryption key to code and decode hidden messages
Next time you see someone spilling a drink in a bar, you could actually be witnessing a spy secretly decoding an encrypted message.
This might sound like something from a Bond movie.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/sky-blue-dye-could-help-repair-damaged-heart-tissue/
Jan 13, 2020...
A non-toxic blue dye commonly used in biology labs helps repair damaged heart tissue in mice, say researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
As described in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, a dye molecule called Chicago Sky Blue reduced scar size and improved heart function of adult mice following induced myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Once damaged, heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) can never regenerate. But when research student Oren Yifa and his team injected Chicago Sky Blue into the post-heart attack mice in the molecular cell biology lab of Prof. Eldad Tzahor, the mice’s heart function improved.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/the-science-of-crying/
Mar 16, 2016...
Michael Trimble, a behavioral neurologist with the unusual distinction of being one of the world’s leading experts on crying, was about to be interviewed on a BBC radio show when an assistant asked him a strange question: How come some people don’t cry at all?
The staffer went on to explain that a colleague of hers insisted he never cries. She’d even taken him to see Les Misérables, certain it would jerk a tear or two, but his eyes stayed dry. Trimble was stumped. He and the handful of other scientists who study human crying tend to focus their research on wet eyes, not dry ones, so before the broadcast began, he set up an email address – nocrying10@gmail.com – and on the air asked listeners who never cry to contact him. Within a few hours, Trimble had received hundreds of messages.
Feb 07, 2016...
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who accepted the recommendation of the Israel Prize jury, headed by Prof. Itamar Willner. Credit: Alex Kolomoisky
The Israel Prize laureates in chemistry and physics for 2016 are Prof. Meir Lahav and Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The announcement was made last Thursday by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who accepted the recommendation of the prize jury, headed by Prof. Itamar Willner.
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