Archive for Innovations & Discoveries

| July 14, 2014
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Israel’s Leviathan gas field reported 16% larger than previous estimate

Shares in Leviathan partner companies rallied Sunday in Tel Aviv trading upon release of report. Field worth $2.9 billion – $4.4 billion more.

By and Reuters

 

The size of natural gas reserves in Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural-gas field is 16.4% bigger than previously estimated, partners in the field said on Sunday.

Drilling platform of the Leviathan natural gas field.

Drilling platform of the Leviathan natural gas field. – Photo: Albatross

Based on an updated analysis by consultant Netherland Sewall & Associates, the reserves’ “best estimate” was increased to 21.93 trillion cubic feet (620 billion cubic meters) from 18.91 tcf. The high estimate was raised by 10% to 26.52 tcf, while the low estimate was increased by 11% to 16.58 tcf.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: , ,
| July 11, 2014
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Israel’s cellphone towers go into the service of meteorology scientists

 

Israeli scientists refined a method of using cellular towers to measure rainfall, snow & even detect fog.

By Iddo Genuth

 

Serendipity or a happy accidental discovery, has been a well documented part of the development of science and technology throughout recorded history. From Penicillin to Viagra, x-rays to the cosmic background radiation (the ancient hum left by the Big Bang), chance was there to help those who had an open mind.

Missouri Judge Blocks Laws on Cell Phone Towers. August 29, 2013 ( Thomas Coex/AFP )

Cell Phone Towers. – Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP

Professor Hagit Messer from Tel Aviv University had a small help from lady luck when she realized about 10 years ago that it is possible to dramatically improve the accuracy of environmental monitoring using an unexpected tool – cellular towers – such as the ones found in and around any modern city. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| July 7, 2014
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Israel’s MobileOCT Detects Cancer With a Mobile Phone

MobileOCT is a biophotonics company developing point-of-care solutions so that every person will be able to save their own life or the life of their loved one using accessible technologies.

 

When Apple founder Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone’s mobile app store with a catchphrase promising that whatever need one might have, “there’s an app for that,” he probably wasn’t thinking about screening for cervical cancer.

MobileOCT - Screenshot

MobileOCT – Screenshot

Although it’s the leading cause of cancer death among women in low-resource settings, cervical cancer can be easily treated on the spot with freezing gas if it’s caught in the first five years. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: ,
| July 6, 2014
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Yo: 25 Israeli startups Forbes says are changing healthcare, media & finance industries

‘Innovation continues and a new crop of hot new Israeli tech startups are on their way up,’ says Forbes report.

By TheMarker

 

Forbes has listed 25 Israeli startups it says are changing industries. “Israel’s dynamic tech startup scene is no secret,” Forbes contributor Ilya Pozin writes.

“Innovation continues and a new crop of Israeli tech startups are on their way up, transforming healthcare, entertainment, finance, media and a myriad of other industries.”

Topping Pozin’s list is mobile printer developer Zuta Labs, which boasts a four-by-five-inch printer that will be available in January. Then comes open-source video platform developer Kaltura, and Yevvo, which bills itself as “the Twitter of live streaming,” Pozin writes.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: , ,
| June 26, 2014
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Hebrew University historian concludes: Jews are not descendants of Khazars

New study by professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem finds no evidence that European Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of Khazars, nor that Khazar subjects in the medieval kingdom converted to Judaism en masse. Past conclusions to the contrary, have no foundations in history.

 

The claim that today’s Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars who converted in the Middle Ages is a myth, according to new research by a Hebrew University historian.

Khazars - AP

The ruins of an 11th-12th century house in Itil, a Silk Road city that served as the Khazar capital, in July 2005.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| June 25, 2014
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Israel Aerospace Industries to build world’s 1st elevated rapid-transit line in Israel

A pilot network will be built at the IAI campus in central Israel & if successful, will be followed by a fully operational rapid-transit system in Tel Aviv.

By Ari Rabinovitch

 

REUTERS – California-based skyTran has teamed up with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to construct the world’s first public pilot project for skyTran’s elevated transit network.

An illustration of the Skytran transit system.

An illustration of the Skytran transit system. – Photo: www.skytran.us

A number of skyTran projects are being planned globally, including in India and the United States, pending the success of the pilot in Israel.

The pilot will be a 400-500 meter (yard) loop built at IAI’s campus in central Israel and, if successful, will be followed by a commercial network in Tel Aviv in the coming years, skyTran CEO Jerry Sanders told Reuters, without disclosing the cost.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: , ,
| June 24, 2014
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Israelis do it again: The Development of ‘NaNose’ That Detects Lung Cancer

 

Professors from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Technion produced the NaNose: a Breathalyzer test that ‘smells’ lung cancer in its early stages of development.

By NoCamels Team

 

Lung cancer is considered the deadliest of all cancers, the culprit for over 27 percent of all cancer deaths in the U.S. annually. However, the reason for this worrisome statistic derives not from the fact that it is more common, but from the challenges of detecting its deadly progression. Lung cancer attacks without leaving any fingerprints, quietly afflicting its victims and metastasizing uncontrollably — to the point of no return. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: , , ,
| June 21, 2014
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Israel’s nanosatellite will locate lost travelers despite no cellular reception

Israeli high-school students designed a ‘mini’ satellite that can precisely identify travelers’ location in global areas where there’s no cellphone reception.

 

Good things come in nano-packages: Israeli high-school students launched on Thursday night Israel’s first nanosatellite, which will aid stranded travelers worldwide to pinpoint their location, JNS reported.

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite

Duchifat-1 nanosatellite – Photo: Royroy903

The satellite, an 860-gram cube measuring 10 centimeters in each dimension, was designed and built by teens studying at the Herzliya Science Center, sponsored by the Israel Space Agency and the Herzliya Municipality.

Wikicommons

Duchifat (Hoopoe): Israel’s national bird – Photo: Wikicommons

Called Duchifat-1, after Israel’s petite national bird, the device was launched into space from the Yasny Airbase in Russia. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: , , ,
| June 17, 2014
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New emergency app being developed in Israel to help tackle kidnapping

In light of recent kidnapping, smart-phone technology reportedly being engineered to enable emergency distress button to alert authorities, without having to place call.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

A new smartphone app to help people from getting kidnapped is currently being developed in Israel, Channel 2 reported Monday.

smartphone

Smartphone. – Photo: REUTERS

As Israeli police and security forces search for three missing Israeli teenagers, believed to be kidnapped in the West Bank – the Shomron Regional Council is working on an app that will enable people in danger to report their location to authorities, without actually picking up the phone and placing a call. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: , , ,
| June 15, 2014
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Discovery of Europe’s oldest mikvah revived Sicily’s ancient Jewish communities

The discovery of this mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) was as revealing as it was serendipitous for the Jews in Syracuse. Forgotten for too long, they are coming back home.

 

An attractive island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has been a hub of migration routes for millennia. Jews are thought to have been part of the patchwork at least as early as the 1st century, after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse (Amalia Daniele di Bagni)

The ancient mikveh baths uncovered in Syracuse, possibly the oldest in Europe. – Photo: Amalia Daniele di Bagni

At the end of the 15th century, Spain, which ruled in Sicily, expelled the Jews from its entire domain.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| June 15, 2014
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Israeli 7th-Graders’ Water-Filtering Breakthrough Wanted by National Water Authority

 

Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, is studying the 13 yr-old students’ technique as a water-filtering solution for developing countries.

By Dan Lavie

 

A group of seventh-grade students from a school in central Israel has made a unique breakthrough in water-filtering technology by using tire crumbs, ground pieces of rubber made from scrap car and truck tires.

The Harel School students

The 13-year-old students from the Harel School in Lod have registered their patent in the U.S., and now Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, is interested in their innovative technique as a water-filtering solution for developing countries.

“Tire crumbs are surprisingly effective in their role as a filter,” one of the students said.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: , ,
| June 4, 2014
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New procedures now identify date rape drug for evidence

 

To this day, not a single indictment has been filed in Israel against someone suspected of using the drug since it left the body to quickly to be identified.

By

 

The women’s stories are always similar: They report waking up in hotel rooms, strange apartments or even in public bathrooms after an evening encounter that clearly ended in rape, but can remember absolutely nothing of what had transpired.

Tel Aviv nightclub

For an unknown number of victims, a night out in a Tel Aviv nightclub ended in rape – and total memory loss. – Photo: David Bachar

They are victims of what are commonly called “date-rape drugs” that were added to their food or drink without their knowledge.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| June 3, 2014
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VIDEO: Watch IDF’s newest all-terrain Armored Personal Carrier

 

Combat Guard can travel with up to 8 equipped soldiers at high-speeds & offers them a multipurpose fighting vehicle which can shift from launching mortars to a mobile command center.

By Yoav Zitun

 

Meet the IDF’s future combat vehicle, the Combat Guard, which was developed by the Israel Military Industries, has now successfully passed final testing and is ready to be presented for the first time in a Paris arms show in some two weeks.

IDF's APC combatguard - Screenshot

IDF’s new APC combatguard – Screenshot

The car, dubbed the ‘bodyguard’ in Hebrew, is one of the deadliest, fastest and most protected armored military transporters developed in Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags:
| May 31, 2014
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Israel’s Desalination Plants Makes it the Best-Hydrated Mideast Country

 

Israel has 4 operating desalination plants, with a 5th set to go online later in 2014. Over 1/3 of Israel’s drinking-quality water comes from desalination, with the number expected to exceed 40% by 2015 and hit 70% in 2050.

By Associated Press

 

After experiencing its driest winter on record, Israel is responding as never before — by doing nothing.

The Sorek desalination plant in Rishon Lezion – Photo: AP

While previous droughts have been accompanied by impassioned public service advertisements to conserve, this time around it has been greeted with a shrug — thanks in large part to an aggressive desalination program that has transformed this perennially parched land into perhaps the most well-hydrated country in the region.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Video's worth Viewing | Tags: ,
| May 29, 2014
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Archaeologists in Jordan uncover Roman inscription about Bar Kochba Revolt

Roman Fort found in southern Jordan housed garrison to vanquish the Jews during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), in the Judea Province.

By

 

Four years after starting to dig up an ancient Roman outpost in southern Jordan, a team of archaeologists from Tennessee found a unique, and well-preserved, inscription on a rock – revealing that the site is the previously unknown base of a Roman infantry unit involved in crushing the Bar-Kochba rebellion.

The 'Ayn Gharandal inscription (Robert Darby)

The Ayn Gharandal inscription, above the collapsed gate to the Roman fort. – Photo: Robert Darby

The outpost, ‘Ayn Gharandal, lies beneath the dunes around 70 km north of present-day Aqaba, the Jordanian resort city on the Red Sea, and 40 km southwest of the ancient Nabataean city of Petra.

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