“In February, Arava was granted the first-ever license for a solar project in the Bedouin community; it is being funded by the U.S. government.”
“The prognosis for these patients could improve drastically if a compound developed by Israel’s Tiltan Pharma continues to succeed in clinical trials. The compound, dubbed TL-118, comes from the labs of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It’s now undergoing its second phase of tests after proving effective against pancreatic tumors first in mice and then in more than 100 humans.”
The treatment denies tumor cells blood and with chemo treatments, tumors are destroyed.
“Albert Einstein’s complete archives – from personal correspondence with half a dozen lovers to notebooks scribbled with his groundbreaking research – are going online for the first time.”
The archives can be found here. 2,000 documents have been added so far for a total of 7,000 pages; this includes his handwritten summary of his famous theory of relativism, E = mc². His complete documents will be added gradually to this archives by the Hebrew University.
“In order to maintain Israel’s energy security for the foreseeable future, the government must refrain from exporting its newfound natural gas supply, as well as ensure that these reserves are not the country’s sole source of electricity, experts said at a forum on Sunday.”
“In an extraordinary act of regional cooperation, Israel, Iran, Jordan and Turkey are to jointly provide funds for a particle accelerator as part of their commitment to a UNESCO-sponsored scientific project, it was announced on Wednesday. Each of the four countries has pledged $5 million toward the SESAME facility, which is being built near Amman. SESAME stands for Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East. According to the UNESCO website, the project aims to ‘foster scientific and technological excellence in the Middle East and neighboring countries (and prevent or reverse brain drain) by enabling world-class research,’ and to ‘build scientific and cultural bridges between neighboring countries.’”
“Although there is no data on the percentage of Israeli citizens with postsecondary education dating back to 1999, the numbers going back to 2002 show that growth is slowing dramatically compared to other countries. In fact, in 2006, 46% of adults ages 25 to 64 had a tertiary education. In 2007 this number fell to 44%. Only 78% of funds spent on educational institutions in Israel are public funds. The country is also only one of three — the other two being Ireland and Sweden — where expenditure on educational institutions as a proportion of GDP decreased from 2000 to 2008. Israel also had the largest increase in overall population, approximately 19% from 2000 to 2009.”
“An American team that includes a Tel Aviv University astrophysicist has discovered two distant planets, each of which revolves around a double sun. Prof. Tsevi Mazeh was among the scientists who based their findings on exact measurements carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kepler spacecraft, which was sent to discover new Earth-like planets in distant solar systems.”
“Professor Vainstein and his graduate student Moran Farhi have developed genetically engineered tobacco plants carrying genes encoding the entire biochemical pathway necessary for producing artemisinin. In light of tobacco’s high biomass and rapid growth, this invention will enable a cheap production of large quantities of the drug, paving the way for the development of a sustainable plant-based platform for the commercial production of an anti-malarial drug.”
Artemisinin is the main active ingredient in current malaria treatments and drugs.
“Stanford University abruptly dropped out of the intense international competition to build an innovative science graduate school in New York City, releasing its decision on Friday afternoon. A short time later, its main rival in the contest, Cornell, announced a $350 million gift — the largest in its history — to underwrite its bid.”
Technion and Cornell put in a joint-bid as partners for the tech center.
The Center for Science and Technologies Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands ranked Weizmann Institute of Science from Rehovot, Israel 25th in the world for science and technology studies.
“An sustainable eco-farm for the Negev Beduin community that has been in the works for four years will finally get under way next week, after the government recently committed to spend approximately NIS 10 million on the project. Project Wadi Attir aims to create an ecological community that combines Beduin traditional values with modern renewable energy technology and farming techniques.”
“Receiving Israel’s 10th Nobel Prize on Saturday night for his discovery of quasicrystal patterns of atoms, Technion-Institute of Technology Prof. Dan Shechtman noted that ‘science is the ultimate tool to reveal the laws of nature, and the one word written on its banner is truth.’”
