Archive for Innovations & Discoveries

| September 30, 2012
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UNICEF uses Israel-made water purification tablets in Syria

Israel Chemicals given special authorization to sell water purification tables to UN to rehabilitate Syria’s water sources

By Avital Lahav

Israel Chemicals (ICL) was given a special authorization Sunday to have one of its European subsidiaries sell water purification tablets to UNICEF with the knowledge that they will be used in the agency’s relief mission in Syria.

Syria In ruins. – Photo: Reuters

UNICEF is overseeing a project meant to rehabilitate Syria’s water sources, which have suffered significant damage during the 18-months revolt against President Bashar Assad.

The deal will be carried out by ICL’s Ireland-based subsidiary, Medentech. The company needed government approval for the deal since it involved the delivery of Israeli products to an enemy state. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 28, 2012
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Kibbutz dairy firm wins lucrative Belarusian tender

AfiMilk lands 12 million-euro tender to provide its advanced milking parlors throughout Belarus.

 

The Israeli dairy herd management firm AfiMilk has won a 12 million-euro tender with the Belarus government to provide its advanced milking parlors to locations around the Eastern European country.

Belarusian milking parlor

Belarusian milking parlor – Photo: Courtesy AfiMilk

In light of a recent Russian decision to largely cease purchasing Belarusian dairy products, the smaller country’s government decided that its dairy products needed to expand outside of the Russian market – which accounted for 95 percent of its dairy exports – and bring its dairy systems up to European standards, according to AfiMilk.
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| September 23, 2012
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Israel is Revolutionizing Liver Disease Treatment

Israeli scientists are developing a revolutionary treatment for liver disease.

Reported by Joseph Sherman

 

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a  “silent” liver disease which affects two to five percent of Americans – approximately six to fifteen million people.  Another ten to twenty percent of Americans, thirteen to twenty three million people, have fat in their livers but have not yet developed NASH.  Tens of millions of people around the world also are at risk of suffering from NASH.

Dr. Rachamim at NasVax’s lab in Ness Ziona, Israel

The US National Institutes of Health explains:  ”It resembles alcoholic liver disease, but occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol.  Continue Reading »

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| September 21, 2012
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Israeli Physics Students Take Quantum Leap at Int’l Competition in Warsaw

Israel student takes 1st place for his research into energy in unique gases found in charcoal fibers.

By Yael Branovsky

 

Israeli high school students have won first prize at the 20th annual First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics competition, held in Warsaw. It is the first time an Israeli delegation has won the top prize at the international competition.

The Israeli team at the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center at Ben Gurion University. – Photo: Alberto Dankberg

The competition, held at the Warsaw Institute of Physics in the Polish Academy of Sciences, requires high school students from across the globe to submit research papers in the fields of physics and high-technology. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags:
| September 19, 2012
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The Israeli who saved a Turkish mountaineer’s life plants Israel’s flag on Mt. Kazbek

Nadav Ben Yehuda, who, on  Mt. Everest saved an injured Turkish climber instead of moving on to become the youngest Israeli to reach the peak, scales Mt. Kazbek in Georgia & plants a flag there that he received from President Shimon Peres.

Yori Yalon

 

Israeli mountain climber Nadav Ben Yehuda, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor in June for saving an injured Turkish climber on Mt. Everest instead of pushing ahead and becoming the youngest Israeli to reach the peak, has scaled the Kazbek mountain in Georgia over the weekend and planted an Israeli flag there that was given to him by President Shimon Peres.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags:
| September 19, 2012
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Massachusetts scholar: Jesus talks about wife in ancient papyrus script

Harvard prof. unveils 4th century papyrus fragment containing text quoting Jesus referring to having wife whom he identifies as Mary; leading  Hebrew University experts says ‘no evidence of forgery’

Associated Press

A Harvard University professor on Tuesday unveiled a fourth-century fragment of papyrus she said is the only existing ancient text quoting Jesus explicitly referring to having a wife.

Karen King, an expert in the history of Christianity, said the text contains a dialogue in which Jesus refers to “my wife,” whom he identifies as Mary. King says the fragment of Coptic script is a copy of a gospel, probably written in Greek in the second century. Continue Reading »

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| September 17, 2012
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Israel and UK unite in regenerative medicine projects

Gov’ts will jointly fund 5 major research projects, & British Ambassador calls program “one of the most ambitious ever”

 

The British and Israeli governments will jointly fund five major research projects in regenerative medicine – the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function in diseased ones.

Medical researcher - Photo: REUTERS

Medical researcher – Photo: REUTERS

The technique encourages the body’s own repair systems to heal tissues or organs that previously could not be fixed. Regenerative medicine also focuses on creating new tissues and organs in the lab and implanting them in the body.British
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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: ,
| September 17, 2012
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Ingenious Israeli tactic makes deadly viruses commit suicide

 

Vecoy Nanomedicines has a unique approach: a virus ‘decoy’ to outmaneuver the world’s worst enemy before it can do any damage

By 

 

There’s the West Nile Virus forging a deadly path in North America, and a new round of Ebola in Africa. Then there’s bird flu, SARS and a handful of other rampant and unusually evil viruses circling the globe. Any new super virus out of control could be far worse than the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, which killed 40 million people in just two years, says Israeli biologist Erez Livneh, CEO and founder of a new biotech company Vecoy Nanomedicines.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries |
| September 12, 2012
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Israel ranked by OECD as second most educated country

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s report, 46% of Israelis have higher education degrees, while in Canada the figure stands at 51%

By Israel Hayom Staff

Among OECD countries, Israel boasts the second-highest percentage of adults (ages 25-64) with academic degrees, with only Canada ranked higher. According to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2012 Education at a Glance, 46 percent of Israelis have higher education degrees, while in Canada the figure stands at 51%.

American students, as opposed to their foreign peers, are less likely to get a higher education than their parents.

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| August 29, 2012
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Here’s the top 10 Facebook apps from Israel

 

If you can purchase gifts, share referrals, play games, & recognize friends through Facebook, it’s probably due to an Israeli startup. ISRAEL21c brings you the top 10 apps.

When Facebook acquired Israeli facial recognition app maker Face.com for an estimated $100 million in June, it highlighted a growing category of made-in-Israel apps specifically built for the Facebook ecosystem.

Face.com already powered Facebook’s own photo-tagging suggestions functionality, and made two of Facebook’s must-have apps – Photo Finder, which helps people find untagged pictures of themselves and their friends, and Photo Tagger for quickly assigning tags to group photos. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags:
| August 29, 2012
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Stone Age Figurine Unearthed In Jerusalem Highway Work

Prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, Israeli Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines in excavations carried out prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.

Stone Age figurine found near Jerusalem highway

Stone Age figurine found near Jerusalem highway – Photo: Yael Yolovitch, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Two figurines, which experts claim are 9,500 years old, were found in the Tel Motza area less than five miles south of Jerusalem. They are images of a ram and a wild bovine and point to the existence of a cultic belief in the region in the New Stone Age, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

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| August 28, 2012
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Israel among the world’s top arms exporters & importers

Ranked 8th among worlds largest arms suppliers, Israel’s arms transfer agreements are worth $12.9 billion.

By GLOBES

 

Israel is one of the world’s top arms exporters, and most of its customers are developing countries. Israel is also one of the world’s biggest arms buyers, according to a report, Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2004-2011, by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress. The report was sent to Congress on Friday.

Uzi model submachine gun - Photo: Reuters

Uzi model submachine gun – Photo: Reuters

In 2004-11, Israel signed arms transfer agreements worth $12.9 billion, putting it in eighth place among the world’s eleven biggest arms suppliers (behind the US, Russia, France, the UK, Germany, China, and Italy). Continue Reading »

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| August 28, 2012
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Israel’s Solar Power Struggles Against Gov’t Red Tape

Recognizing solar power’s potential, the Israeli gov’t set up an incentive in 2008, which pays the developers higher-than-retail prices for the unused solar energy that’s fed back into the national power grid.

By BLAKE SOBCZAK The Associated Press
KVUTZAT YAVNE, (AP)

 

Israel has developed some of the world’s most advanced solar energy equipment and enjoys a nearly endless supply of sunshine, but when it comes to deploying large-scale solar technology at home, the country remains in the dark ages.

solar technology at home

Solar power provides just a tiny percentage of Israel’s energy needs, leaving it far behind colder, cloudier counterparts in Europe.

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| August 27, 2012
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First innovative bullet-proof grenade developed by the IDF

A unique grenade developed following an incident on the Gaza border in March 2010 in which 2 IDF soldiers were killed when a bullet detonated 1 of their grenades

By Lilach Shoval

 

The Israel Defense Forces have developed a first-of-its-kind grenade that doesn’t explode when struck by a bullet.

The bullet-proof grenade was developed following a March 2010 incident on the Gaza Strip border in which two IDF soldiers were killed when a bullet hit a grenade lodged in the vest of one of the soldiers, causing it to detonate.

New grenade developed by IDF won’t explode when hit by a bullet.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags:
| August 27, 2012
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Scientists in Israel Have Determined Sleep Learning is Possible

In a new study, Weizmann Institute scientists proved it’s possible to learn while you’re asleep.

By Hana Levi Julian, MSW, LCSW-R

 

A new study by Weizmann Institute scientists has proven it’s possible to learn in your sleep.

The findings of the study, published today in Nature Neuroscience, state that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone – even when no odor is present – both during sleep and later, when awake.

In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconsciously modify their waking behavior. Continue Reading »

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