Archive for Innovations & Discoveries

| November 1, 2013
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Weizmann molecular biologist: ‘We have found the fountain of youth’

 

Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science have made a significant breakthrough in harnessing stem cells to create transplant organs. In an interview, the lead researcher went as far as positing that the breakthrough could open doors to the regeneration of human cells.

By Amir Mizroch

 

Scientists from the Weizmann Institute have made a significant breakthrough in harnessing stem cells to create transplant organs “made to order”, the institute reported on Thursday. And in an interview, the lead researcher went as far as positing that the breakthrough could open doors to the regeneration of human cells, sperm creation, gene therapy research, as well as genetic engineering and cross-species DNA melding.

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| October 29, 2013
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Jerusalem Unveils the Gabriel Stone a Mysterious Hebrew Tablet

Israel Museum curators say only 40% of the 87 lines are legible, many of those only barely. The interpretation of the text featured in the Israel Museum’s exhibit is just 1 of 5 readings put forth by scholars.

By DANIEL ESTRIN AP

 

JERUSALEM — An ancient limestone tablet covered with a mysterious Hebrew text that features the archangel Gabriel is at the center of a new exhibit in Jerusalem, even as scholars continue to argue about what it means.

The Gabriel Stone, An ancient stone with mysterious Hebrew writing and featuring the archangel Gabriel is being displayed in Israel, even as scholars continue to argue about what the inscription means. - AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

The Gabriel Stone, An ancient stone with mysterious Hebrew writing and featuring the archangel Gabriel is being displayed in Israel. – AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

The so-called Gabriel Stone, a meter (three-foot)-tall tablet said to have been found 13 years ago on the banks of the Dead Sea, features 87 lines of an unknown prophetic text dated as early as the first century BC, at the time of the Second Jewish Temple. Continue Reading »

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| October 13, 2013
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Pentagon adopts Israel’s Elbit & Rockwell Collins’ helmet for F-35 jets

 

The helmet projects all vital information the F-35 pilots need to know onto the helmet’s visor.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
 

 

Israel’s Elbit Systems and US defense firm Rockwell Collins welcomed on Saturday a decision by the Pentagon to go wit their jointly developed helmet mounted display system (HMDS) and include it with all future F-35 fighter jets.

Helmet mounted display system. – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In a statement, Kelly Ortberg, Chief Executive Officer and President of Rockwell Collins, said that the decision “validates the significant achievement” by the development team that produced the helmet, which she said “provides unprecedented situational awareness capabilities in support of the F-35 program.”

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News, Video's worth Viewing | Tags: , ,
| October 11, 2013
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Israeli scientists say proto-men recycled, half a million years ago

Tel Aviv University archaeologist says evidence shows that not only humans, but Neanderthals & Homo erectus, used broken flint & bone tools to create new utensils.

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If you thought recycling was just a modern phenomenon championed by environmentalists— think again. There is mounting evidence that hundreds of thousands of years ago, our prehistoric ancestors recycled objects they used in their daily lives, say researchers gathered at an international conference in Israel.

A stone age recycling site cave next to Zichron Yaakov.

A Stone Age recycling site cave next to Zichron Yaakov. – Photo by AP

“For the first time we are revealing the extent of this phenomenon, both in terms of the amount of recycling that went on and the different methods used,” said Ran Barkai, an archaeologist and one of the organizers of the four-day gathering at Tel Aviv University that ended Thursday. Continue Reading »

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| October 11, 2013
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18th century Haggadah found in Manchester garage

The handwritten manuscript, painted on goat skin, was found in a cardboard soup box at a Bury garage. The Jewish couple who had lived there had just recently died.

By JTA

 

A handwritten 18th century Haggadah found at a home being cleared out in England is expected to fetch more than $200,000.

Handwritten 18th century Haggadah - BBC screenshot

Handwritten 18th century Haggadah – BBC screenshot

The Haggadah, which dates to 1726 and is written on goat skin, was discovered in a cardboard box in a garage in Bury, a town in Greater Manchester, the BBC reported this week. A Jewish couple had lived in the home. Continue Reading »

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| October 10, 2013
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iOS 7’s newest look is Israeli

Startup Any.do is the Israeli app that inspired Apple chief of design Jony Ive with its popular task-management app, the Verge reported online.

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The new look of the iOS 7, Apple’s newest mobile operating system, is being hotly debated all over the Internet and is attracting plenty of criticism, including claims that it overly resembles the Android operating system and that some of its special effects make users nauseated. But there is no doubt that the operating system’s new configuration constitutes a revolution in Apple’s traditional approach to design.

Screenshots of the iOS7.


Screenshots of the iOS7. – Photo: Reuters

Earlier this week, The Verge, an online tech magazine, revealed that the Israeli firm Any.do Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: , ,
| October 4, 2013
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Beth Shalom in Surabaya, Java’s one and only synagogue, demolished

‘It was designated a heritage site by the Surabaya Heritage Society in 2009. It should’ve been protected,’ the director said.

By Camelia Pasandaran

 

 

The last vestige of one Indonesia’s oldest and largest Jewish communities is now just a pile of rubble.

A view of the synagogue in Surabaya before it was demolished. - JG Photo/Christyandi Tri Syandi

A view of the synagogue in Surabaya before it was demolished. – JG Photo/Christyandi Tri Syandi

Beth Shalom in Surabaya — Java’s one and only synagogue — was demolished in May after being sealed off by Islamic hard-liners in 2009.

“It’s not clear when exactly it was demolished and who did it,” Freddy Istanto, the director of the Surabaya Heritage Society (SHS), told the Jakarta Globe. Continue Reading »

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| October 1, 2013
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Survey of American Jews: Rapid assimilation, soaring intermarriage

22% of U.S. Jews describe themselves as having no religion, & the survey finds they are much less connected to Jewish organizations &much less likely to be raising their children Jewish.

NEW YORK (JTA) — There are a lot more Jews in America than you may have thought — an estimated 6.8 million, according to a new study. But a growing proportion of them are unlikely to raise their children Jewish or connect with Jewish institutions.

The proportion of Jews who say they have no religion and are Jewish only on the basis of ancestry, ethnicity or culture is growing rapidly, and two-thirds of them are not raising their children Jewish at all.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags:
| September 29, 2013
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9th Century Jewish Prayer Book Unveiled

 

A Jewish parchment that has been dated by scientists to the 9th century may be the oldest existing prayer book . The book offers a crucial tie between modern Jewish practice & Biblical times.

By Menachem Wecker

 

Austin, Tex. — A 1,200-year-old parchment Jewish prayer book that is billed as the oldest in existence was introduced Sept. 27 by a prominent private collector of Biblical artifacts.

9th-Century Parchment Artifact Offers Link to Ancient Jews. – Photo: Green Collection

 

The complete 50-page book with original 13-by-10 centimeter binding features early Babylonian vowels, which are a precursor to modern Hebrew vowels. Continue Reading »

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| September 27, 2013
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4 Jews Among MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award Recipients

Four Jewish doctors & scientists among the 13 men & 11 women picked by the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation for the annual Honorees for 2013.

By Anne Cohen, With Reuters

 

Four Jews are among 24 of America’s most creative and original thinkers who will each get $625,000 “genius” grants this year.

Genius Jews: Jeffrey Brenner (above),primary care physician in Camden, is among the 24 recipients of the MacArthur “Genius” Awards

Genius Jews: Jeffrey Brenner (above),primary care physician in Camden, is among the 24 recipients of the MacArthur “Genius” Awards

Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, 44, Sheila Nirenberg, a New York City neuroscientist, Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carl Haber, a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are among the 13 men and 11 women picked by the John D. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Jewish News | Tags: ,
| September 23, 2013
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French town unveils Torah scroll from 1592 & other Jewish treasures

The French town Dambach-la-Ville unveiled dozens of Judaica items hidden before the Holocaust & discovered during the renovation of a former synagogue.

By JTA

 

A town near Strasbourg unveiled dozens of Judaica items hidden before the Holocaust and discovered during the renovation of a former synagogue.

Jean-Camille Bloch showing the ceiling of the old synagogue in Dambach-la-Ville, that became theater The discovery was up there. - Photo Jean-Marc Loos

Jean-Camille Bloch showing the ceiling of the old synagogue in Dambach-la-Ville, that became theater, “The discovery was up there.” – Photo: Jean-Marc Loos/L’Alsace

The recently discovered items were presented to the public on Sunday. They had been hidden at what is now the new cultural center of Dambach-la-Ville, a town of 2,000 in eastern France, the L’Alsace daily reported Saturday.

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| September 22, 2013
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Israeli app acquired for Google Glass

 

Users will now be able to record a reminder on Any.Do by speaking to Google Glass & watch reminders from the application on the glasses’ screen.

By Sagi Cohen

Google has chosen an Israeli application as one of the first in the world to work with Google Glass – the search engine giant’s new wearable technology.

google glass

Users will be able to record a reminder on Any.Do by speaking to Google Glass (archives)

Any.do, considered one of the most popular Israeli applications, has won quite a lot of praise in the past. The application is available for Android phones and iPhones and allows users to write tasks and reminders and organize them easily. Continue Reading »

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| September 18, 2013
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“Going up to the foot” of ancient Israelite kings

 

The controversy over the Israelite nation’s birth stems partially from sparse archaeological discoveries & artifacts, but archaeologist Adam Zertal’s discoveries are changing that.

By Dror Eydar

 

 

The call went out among the hill tribes: Go back to Gilgal to hold another coronation ceremony for the new king. The people were not accustomed to having a king or institutions of government when the first king, Saul son of Kish, was crowned. Many of them doubted his ability to rule. During the first ceremony, the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot to provide the first king. Within the tribe, the family of the Matrites was chosen, and among that family, the lot fell upon Saul son of Kish, as if Heaven and the people had chosen him to rule over Israel (as told in 1 Samuel 10).

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| September 17, 2013
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Did Israeli Archaeologists discover God’s wife?

Although, Israel is touted as the birthplace of monotheism, there exists evidence suggesting the Israelites & later the Judahites, much like their neighbors – worshiped a pantheon.

By

 

“You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make.” Deuteronomy 16:21.

 

The Old Testament is rife with the admonishment of errant kings and queens worshiping ‘false gods’, with the much of the blame falling on the Kingdom of Israel and that of Ahab and his infamous queen Jezebel.

Neolithic female figurine, Yarmukian Culture.

Female worship goes back millennia: A female figurine from Neolithic times, about 9,000 years ago, found in the present-day Golan Heights.

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| September 13, 2013
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New Version of Israel’s Arrow Missile is Being Developed

Israel Aerospace Industries is developing a newer version of the “Arrow- 3” missile that will be able to intercept ballistic missiles at higher altitudes, far beyond the borders of Israel.

By Elad Benari

 

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is developing a new version of the “Arrow” missile that will be quicker and more accurate than its predecessors, an official said Thursday, according to Kol Yisrael radio.

Arrow 3 – Photo courtesy: IDF

Speaking at a program as part of the annual Researchers’ Night at Tel Aviv University, the director of the Arrow 3 program at the IAI, Inbal Kreis, said that the new missile system will be able to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitudes, far beyond the borders of Israel. Continue Reading »

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