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/deadly-floods-will-be-the-new-normal/
Nov 13, 2017...
Global warming will bring deadly storms to Britain and the United States by 2100, a study has found. In warming climates, mid-latitude storms will travel further toward the poles before they reach their maximum intensity
Global warming will bring deadly storms to Britain and the United States by 2100, a study has found.
In warming climates, mid-latitude storms will travel further toward the poles before they reach their maximum intensity - and this, scientists say, will be the ‘new normal’.
Feb 25, 2019...
Source: © Shutterstock
‘Since I work on rubisco I’m always giving talks saying that it is the most abundant protein on Earth. Sometimes my audience will ask “Are you really sure?” I can now say “Yes I am”.’ This is how Manajit Hayer-Hartl from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany sums up her thoughts on a new analysis that the global abundance of plants’ carbon dioxide converting enzyme is an order of magnitude higher than thought.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/weizmann-scientist-stresses-value-of-eureka-moments/
Jan 07, 2015...
Brian Berkowitz is a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science and head of its Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Photo courtesy of the Weizmann Institute
Ask Brian Berkowitz about the fruits of his research – say, an environmentally friendly way to remove pollutants from contaminated water – and he’ll stop you.
“OK. I have to go back a little bit,” he tells me. “I’m at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and the mandate is basic research, basic, curiosity-driven scientific research. So rather than try to solve a particular problem and directing research, we do the basics, understand basic phenomena and once you understand them, then we end up inevitably coming up with various solutions.”
Jul 07, 2017... In Israel’s earliest days, Weizmann Institute scientists invented a method for waxing oranges so they could be shipped, which was a major boon for the country’s then-fledgling, agriculture-based economy. Since those days, the Weizmann Institute of Science hasn’t stopped working toward improving food security — not just for Israel, but for the world. But today the task is more daunting than ever: by the mid-21st century there will be nine billion mouths to feed; and climate change is expected to have an impact on agriculture, possibly a considerably negative impact.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/fueling-the-future/
Feb 01, 2007... It is time for the world to take alternative fuel sources seriously, say Weizmann Institute scientists. Energy consumption—both in the Western world and especially in newly industrialized countries—is growing so fast that carbon dioxide (CO2) and other combustion-related particles in the air are affecting our weather and increasing health risks. Add rising oil prices and the fact that easily recoverable oil supplies are dwindling, and the stage is set for a number of undesirable scenarios.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/israeli-tech-seeks-to-undo-the-damage-of-pesticides/
Apr 21, 2013...
A Lite-Trac four-wheeled self-propelled crop sprayer spraying pesticide on a field. photo credit: Lite-Trac/Wikipedia Commons
The Green Revolution may have saved a billion people from starvation, according to common wisdom, but the expansion of agricultural technology came at a price: A sharp increase in the use of pesticides and chemicals. These technologies have made it possible for farmers to grow the food needed for an ever-growing population, but they have wreaked havoc on the environment, with chemicals seeping into the groundwater and entering the food chain — setting off who-knows-what consequences in the long-term.
Nov 14, 2017...
Storm. (photo credit:ILAN SHOCHAT)
For decades, the Earth’s climate zones have shifted toward the poles due to global warming – and they will continue to do so.
This according to researchers at Rehovot’s Weizmann Institute of Science, who recently published their findings in Nature Geoscience.
Under global climate change, the dry, semi-arid regions are expanding into higher latitudes while the temperate, rainy regions are migrating towards the North and South Poles.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/israel-s-solar-star-jacob-karni/
Nov 25, 2012...
Israeli solar energy expert Jacob Karni.
Israeli solar energy pioneer Prof. Jacob Karni was born just two years after Israel became a state, in 1950. Already back then, the country’s leaders were tangibly aware that Israel needed to develop its human resources in order to build a country that was severely lacking in energy and water.
Unlike some kids who have their goals set early, Karni didn’t know he would be an engineer, let alone work with the sun. He grew up in the Polish Zionist Kibbutz Beit Alpha in northern Israel, where he slept in a children’s house like all kibbutz kids back then, and his mom before him. He went on to become an officer in a tank unit and served in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/california-drought-what-would-israel-do/
May 14, 2015...
At Tze’elim reservoir in the Negev, Israeli startup Neotop tests new technology that reduces surface temperatures, algae and evaporation.
From a distance, the reservoir appears topped by a flotilla of rubber duckies.
On closer inspection, the water’s surface is packed with thousands of free-floating, 13-inch plastic balls, clustered to form an undulating cover.
Developed by the Israeli startup Neotop (formerly known as Top-It-Up), the mass of balls serves as a floating cooling tower, reducing surface temperatures, algae and evaporation up to 95 percent. It’s one of many potential water-saving solutions to come out of Israel’s high-tech dream factory.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/climate-scientist-digs-up-data-by-mining-the-news/
Feb 07, 2011... In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius theorized that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning coal would create a “greenhouse effect” and raise the planet’s average temperature. Most scientists scoffed. How could the puny actions of humans ever seriously alter the natural climate cycles? It wasn’t until 1958 that measurements began to show levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rising and temperatures shifting.
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