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/feature-stories/plant-power-algae-as-alternative-energy/
Jan 04, 2011... Prof. Avihai Danon of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Department of Plant Sciences has been working with algae—simple, photosynthetic life forms that can be found all over the world—for more than 20 years. Algae are diverse, having many thousands of species, and adaptive, thriving in a variety of conditions; these attributes can teach scientists a lot and make algae, as Prof. Danon says, "a great model system to study." For example, in his research focusing on how they adapt to sunlight, Prof. Danon found that there is a very sophisticated level of regulation inside algae. "On the one hand, the plant utilizes sunlight for energy production through photosynthesis," a process that, while beneficial, must be very carefully calibrated because "on the other hand, it can kill the plant in seconds," he says. He likes to compare a plant's ability to perform photosynthesis to having an atomic reactor in your stomach: the reactor can provide you with free energy, but if it's not tightly controlled, then it can explode.
Jan 28, 2013...
Chaim Weizmann. He foresaw the energy crisis and proposed an economical way of making fuel. Photo by Weizmann Institute of Science
Chaim Weizmann is primarily known as a leader of the Zionist movement and the first president of the State of Israel. However, before his success in statesmanship and politics, Weizmann became famous during World War II for inventing a new method of producing acetone, which was needed for manufacturing explosives.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/new-grant-to-fuel-solar-energy-research/
Oct 24, 2012...
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced a gift of $15 million over three years to fund joint research in solar energy and biofuels between the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.
The Helmsley program, which will involve dozens of researchers from the two institutions, is unique in several ways. For one, scientists in fields ranging from genetics and plant sciences to chemistry, physics and engineering will be working together toward the common goal of providing renewable energy options to Israel and the world. For another, the researchers anticipate that wedding the basic research approach of the Weizmann Institute to the advanced technical-engineering emphasis of the Technion teams will provide the synergy needed to accelerate discovery and development of innovative energy options that can be the basis for future technologies.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/ethiopia-adopts-israeli-day-night-power-system/
Dec 02, 2014...
An AORA Tulip System (Photo credit: Courtesy)
Solar energy is an ideal solution for the power needs of the developing world – except for one problem: It stops working when the sun goes down, at precisely the time power is needed to turn the lights on. The solution, according to Zev Rosenzweig, CEO of Israeli energy technology company AORA, is a hybrid system – one that utilizes solar to the fullest, and supplements it with a “backup” system to keep the power flowing when the sun is not high in the sky, using scant resources, with an operating cost of next to nothing.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/trained-bacteria-can-lead-to-better-biofuels/
Jun 05, 2009... Bacteria are not dumb. Israeli researchers have proven that these pathogens can anticipate a future event and prepare for it. The discovery - just published in the prestigious journal Nature - is not merely a curiosity. The scientists believe that if bacteria gain the genetic ability to prepare themselves for the next step in a process, the conditioned response could be used for fermenting plant materials and producing more efficient biofuels.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/israeli-scientists-show-bacteria-can-plan-ahead/
Jun 17, 2009... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 17, 2009—Bacteria can anticipate a future event and prepare for it, according to new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In a paper that appeared in the June 17, 2009 issue of Nature, Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel, doctoral student Amir Mitchell, and research associate Dr. Orna Dahan of the Institute’s Department of Molecular Genetics, together with Prof. Martin Kupiec and Gal Romano of Tel Aviv University, examined microorganisms living in environments that change in predictable ways. Their findings show that these microorganisms’ genetic networks are hard-wired to “foresee” what comes next in the sequence of events and begin responding to the new state of affairs before its onset.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/better-energy-for-a-brighter-future/
Mar 23, 2016... Population growth and rising standards of living worldwide are driving a rapid increase in demand for energy. In fact, says Prof. David Cahen of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Materials and Interfaces, “the prediction is that 25 years from now we’ll need double the amount of energy we currently need.” However, he adds, “dearth of funding had, by 2006, created a situation of several decades of few new ideas in basic research that would help address this energy issue.”
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