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.
Dec 11, 2012... Despite advances in agriculture, the numbers of the world’s hungry are increasing. The World Health Organization has stated that lack of food is the world’s number one health risk. About 170 million children in impoverished countries are underweight because of lack of food. The “green revolution” of the last century, dependent on pesticides and chemical fertilizers, bypassed many of the world’s poorest farmers — the very people that needed it most. In addition, the pressures on land and water resources created by growing populations in some of the planet’s least-developed regions contribute to the crisis.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/new-worlds-veggies-also-have-cholesterol/
Apr 30, 2017...
Vegetables: cucumbers and tomatoes. (photo credit:AMY SPIRO)
Many people eat green vegetables to lower their cholesterol levels, but contrary to common belief, most plants are not cholesterol-free. As reported recently in Nature Plants, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have now deciphered the biochemical reactions responsible for the plants’ cholesterol production. These findings may make it possible to engineer plant species so as to obtain biochemical compounds that are derived from cholesterol.
Sep 01, 2019... Among the many ongoing changes inflicted on our climate and atmosphere, the increase in CO2 level has been the most consistent, with about 1.5-2 ppm annual increase. CO2 is the substrate for plant photosynthesis, and hence the expectation that the more CO2 we emit to the air, the more CO2 is available for plant growth. Indeed, CO2 fertilization has been used successfully to increase yields in greenhouses. Yet, in the majority of scenarios outside the greenhouse, plant growth is limited by other factors, such as light, water, and nutrients. Therefore, so far, global crop yields have not benefitted from surplus CO2.
Aug 10, 2012...
An archaeological dig in Tel Tzafit, the hometown of biblical giant Goliath. Photo by Richard Whiskin
Gath, the capital city of the Bible's bad guys as well as the hometown of Goliath, is known today as Tel Tzafit. Not far from Kiryat Gat, Tel Tzafit has been excavated for 16 years now by Prof. Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University.
But while thousands of artifacts and vessels have been unearthed, including a four-horned altar, as well as just this year, huge fortifications, doctoral candidate Yotam Asher of the Weizmann Institute is concentrating on a few faded white patches of rock.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/visualizing-algae-eating-viruses-from-space/
Aug 23, 2014...
Emiliania huxleyi, up close and personal. Alison R. Taylor, CC BY
Algae isn’t just found in your garden pond or local river. Sometimes it explodes into vast “blooms” far out to sea, that can be the size of a small country. Such algal blooms can match even a rainforest at taking carbon out of the air. And then, in just a week or two, they are gone – sometimes consumed by viruses.
Given the scale of blooms and their vital role in both marine ecology and climate regulation we must know more about these viruses. Research conducted with our Weizmann Institute colleague Yoav Lehahn and others and published in the journal Current Biology, is the first attempt to quantify the affect of viruses on large scale algal blooms.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/science-seeks-to-unlock-marijuana-s-secrets/
May 29, 2015...
There’s nothing new about cannabis, of course. It’s been around humankind pretty much forever.
In Siberia charred seeds have been found inside burial mounds dating back to 3000 B.C. The Chinese were using cannabis as a medicine thousands of years ago. Marijuana is deeply American too – as American as George Washington, who grew hemp at Mount Vernon. For most of the country’s history, cannabis was legal, commonly found in tinctures and extracts.
Mar 26, 2018...
It takes much more land to produce edible protein from pigs, cattle and chickens than it does to grow it from plants, according to new research. (Chuck Liddy / TNS)
More than 41 million Americans find themselves at risk of going hungry at some point during the year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. New research suggests the country could feed all 327 million Americans — plus roughly 390 million more — by focusing on plants
Oct 22, 2018...
Dead tree in Heletz Forest, Negev Desert Credit: Eliahu Hershkovitz
Israel’s forests have been declining for years, and now a groundbreaking study has found a correlation between increasing tree mortality and the mounting incidence of drought.
During arid periods, the study pointed out, not only are forest fires more frequent: the trees are also more vulnerable to harmful insects.
The study, “A nationwide analysis of tree mortality under climate change” was published in the Elsevier journal Forest Ecology and Management. The research was conducted Dr. Tamir Klein of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, with members of the Jewish National Fund and Prof. Gabriel Schiller of the Volcani Institute for Agricultural Research.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-october-2015/
Oct 26, 2015... Of the hundreds of genes that can be mutated in a single case of melanoma, only a handful may be true “drivers” of cancer. In research that recently appeared in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has now revealed one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas that is seeing a rise in new cases. This gene is a newly identified member of a group of genes called tumor suppressor genes, and is mutated in some 5.4% of melanomas. Furthermore, its expression was found to be lost in over 30% of human melanomas; this loss, according to the research, was associated with reduced patient survival. The discovery might open new doors to understanding how this cancer grows and spreads, and may lead in the future to new directions in treatment.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/in-search-of-the-wild-fava-bean/
Dec 07, 2016...
14,000-year-old faba seeds contain clues to the timing of the plants’ domestication.
Like all food crops, the faba, or fava, bean – a nutritious part of the diets of many cultures – had a wild ancestor. Wild faba is presumed to be extinct, but Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have now identified 14,000-year-old remains of seeds that offer important clues as to the time and place that this plant grew naturally. Understanding the ecology of the wild plants’ environment and the evolution they underwent in the course of domestication is crucial to improving the biodiversity of the modern crop. The findings were reported in Scientific Reports.
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