Archive for Innovations & Discoveries

| May 2, 2012
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Israel’s top 10 advances in asthma

Millions of asthma sufferers can breathe a bit easier thanks to research and products coming out of Israel. ISRAEL21c brings the top 10 advances in the field.

girl at picnic

May 1 marks the annual World Asthma Day. In keeping with this year’s theme, “You Can Control Your Asthma,” ISRAEL21c presents the top 10 Israeli innovations making that goal more attainable for the approximately 250 million to 300 million people suffering from the inflammatory lung condition.

Asthma is the world’s most common chronic disease among children. In the United States alone, 13 million school days are missed each year due to asthma, and asthma accounts for about 10.1 million missed work days for adults every year. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries |
| May 1, 2012
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First full artificial heart transplant in Israel

Doctors at Beilinson give 63-year-old man who suffered from severe cardiac insufficiency and developed organ failure artificial heart.

 

For the first time in Israel, an artificial heart has been permanently implanted into the chest of a cardiac patient; until now, mechanical hearts of plastic and metal had been used here to boost pumping action of faulty hearts.
Dr. Benny Medallion with the heart patient - Photo by Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus
Dr. Benny Medallion with the heart patient – Photo by Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus

The operation was reported on Sunday by the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva. The recipient is a 63-year-old man who suffered from severe cardiac insufficiency and developed organ failure.

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| May 1, 2012
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‘Matanyahu’ Seal Found near Solomon’s Temple

Seal with name similar to Prime Minister’s found in the physically closest structure to King Solomon’s Temple ever unearthed.

Another amazing find on the Temple Mount: Archeologists digging under Robinson’s Arch in the archeological garden next to the Kotel have found remains of a structure from the late First Temple period, under the base of the drainage ditch currently being exposed.

Matanyahu seal

Matanyahu seal - Israel Antiquities Authority

This is the physically closest structure to King Solomon’s Temple ever unearthed.

On the floor of the ancient structure, the diggers discovered an ancient Hebrew seal from the late First Temple period. It is made of semiprecious stone and bears the name of the owner of the seal: “To Matanyahu Son of Ho…” (the rest of the name is not legible). Continue Reading »

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| May 1, 2012
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Solar system may have evolved faster than thought

Scientists say solar system came into being 4.5 billion years after Big Bang, but formation took shorter time.

 

The vast solar system that contains Earth is not older than scientists had thought, but it apparently developed faster than they surmised, according to an international team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and universities and laboratories in the US and Japan.

The astronomical team, who published their findings in a recent issue of the prestigious journal Science, said that the solar system indeed came into being some 4.5 billion years after the Big Bang, but its formation took a shorter time than researchers had thought.

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| April 30, 2012
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Apple’s Israeli hiring goes into high gear

High-tech workers, update your CVs: In the coming weeks, Apple’s Israeli headquarters will be posting dozens of positions to be filled

Preparations for Apple‘s Israeli research and development center have kicked into high gear. Mamon has learned that in the next few weeks, Apple will be launching a major hiring campaign. Dozens of personnel ads are expected to be posted for positions in the R&D center, which will be located in Haifa’s Scientific Industries Center (MATAM)

Apple is due to post dozens of job listings Photo: shutterstock

Apple is due to post dozens of job listings - Photo by shutterstock

At the end of March, Apple’s international site was already running four ads for engineering positions in Israel. Continue Reading »

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| April 26, 2012
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The enzyme that sharpens memory

Rats in an Israeli lab were able to form stronger memories after receiving a certain enzyme. In the future, this may have applications for humans.

 

Imagine never forgetting a single detail of your life — what you got for your 14th birthday, or the phone numbers of every one of your romantic interests. New science from Israel shows that this might be in the realm of possibility. The big question is: Would it be good for us?

The breakthrough Israeli-US research project, for the first time anywhere, has found a compound in the brain to enhance memory. Whether the enzyme responsible could ever be made into a “super pill” (like the one imagined in the science-fiction flick Limitless to boost brainpower) is quite speculative, says Reut Shema from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries |
| April 26, 2012
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New IDF Rifle has Double Barrel

First Israeli twin-barrel assault rifle has greater fire power and effectiveness, uses regular ammunition.

A new Israeli assault rifle features a twin barrel – the first such gun to be made in Israel, writes Israel Defense.

Double barreled assault rifle

Double barreled assault rifle - Israel Defense

Silver Shadow, the firm that manufactures the Gilboa assault rifle, will soon unveil a new member of the Gilboa family with a double barrel, meaningfully increasing fire power and enhancing the effect of a hit on target.

The gun uses standard ammunition.

The new weapon will be presented by the company at the Eurosatory 2012 weapons trade show, to be held in June in Paris. Continue Reading »

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| April 24, 2012
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New Technology Turns Any Mirror Into a 3D Display

Microsoft Israel Innovation Labs invents Alice, which creates a compelling and interactive three-dimensional effect.

Arutz Sheva attended Microsoft Israel R&D Center’s fourth annual Think Next 2012 conference in Tel Aviv and met the (Innovation Labs) iLabs team, which has developed a new technology.

The technology, called Alice, creates a compelling and interactive three-dimensional effect using a screen and a Kinect camera.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall – are These Virtual Elements or Physical?

Mirror Mirror on the Wall - are These Virtual Elements or Physical?

 

According to Rotem Bennet of Innovation Labs, the technology allows for any mirror to become a three-dimensional display.

The technology can be used for window shopping, he added, since any window has some reflective material. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries |
| April 20, 2012
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Israelis taking over online advertising

In recent years, digital advertising in Israel has quietly grown to $500M a year industry

The growing prevalence of the Internet in all areas of life is changing the map of advertising as well, with advertisers and agencies allocating more and more funds to digital advertising.

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

This trend has seen Israel quietly turning into a hub for digital advertising optimization. Between 2007 and 2011 the industry doubled its revenues, according to Yankee Group, a research and advisory firm. Although TV advertising still draws larger budges than its digital counterpart, the gap is expected to narrow in the next few years, according to digital marketing consulting firm eMarketer. Continue Reading »

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| April 20, 2012
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Israeli Volunteers Provide Free Surgery to Thousands in Ethiopia

The Israeli volunteer organization Eye from Zion is providing free cataract surgery to thousands of people in Ethiopia.

The Israeli volunteer organization Eye from Zion is providing free cataract surgery to thousands of patients in Ethiopia, according to a press release issue by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

When the delegation of volunteers first arrived in Ethiopia in February, they were expecting to treat dozens of patients. Instead, they were confronted with thousands of people in need of medical care, who were on the verge of being blinded by cataracts.

“They told us 70, and when we arrived there were 1,400 waiting for us,” said Nati Marcus, Founder of Eye from Zion. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags:
| April 18, 2012
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Jerusalem hospital shows off vaccine that destroys cancer in 2 shots.

Early human test results suggest a vaccine can train cancer patients’ bodies to seek out and destroy tumour cells.

The therapy, which targets a molecule found in 90 per cent of cancers, eventually could provide an injection that would allow patients’ immune systems to fight off common cancers including breast and prostate cancer.

The first results of trials in people, at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, suggest the vaccine can reduce levels of disease. The human work is so preliminary it has yet to be published in a scientific journal.The scientists behind the vaccine hope to conduct more extensive trials to prove it can be effective

against a range of cancers. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News |
| April 18, 2012
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Israeli universities received NIS 1.5b. for R&D

2008-2009 figure rose over 5 percent from the previous year, according to Central Bureau of Statistics.

Psychology building in Bar-Ilan University

Psychology building in Bar-Ilan University - Photo by Avishai Teicher

Research expenditures at the universities granted by outside sources and intra-university grants – excluding funding from the universities’ budgets – totaled NIS 1.5 billion shekels during the last recorded 2008-2009 academic year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The CBS relied on data from the Science and Technology Minister’s National Council for Research and Development.

Announced on Tuesday, the figure rose over 5 percent from the previous year, in which research using “special financing” reached NIS 1.45 billion.

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Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags:
| April 18, 2012
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Semiconductors from human proteins?

It’s weird, but it works: Award-winning Israeli research uses blood, milk and mucus proteins to build next-generation technology.

Grad students Netta Hendler, Elad Mentovich and Bogdan Belgorodsky with their invention. - Photo courtesy of Tel Aviv University
Grad students Netta Hendler, Elad Mentovich and Bogdan Belgorodsky with their invention. – Photo courtesy of Tel Aviv University

Making a silicon semi-conductor involves carving a sheet of the element silicon, kind of like carving a sculpture out of rock. It’s the most common method of making transistors for everything from cellular phones to computers. But silicon is expensive, inflexible and environmentally problematic.

What if it were possible to make transistors from ordinary materials simply by coating them with readily available proteins — for instance, human blood, milk or mucus?

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| April 6, 2012
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Wind energy industry gets policy boost

National Zoning Board approves first-ever policy paper detailing guidelines for future wind turbines farms

Israel’s National Planning and Building Board approved the first-ever policy paper on wind turbines farms in Israel.

(Illustration) Photo: Index Open

(Illustration) Photo: Index Open

The policy paper aims to promote the production of 800 megawatts of electricity and the board’s approval is considered a breakthrough for Israel’s wind energy industry.

According to EnergiaNews, the paper – complied by the Interior Ministry’s planning administration – dismissed the idea of erecting offshore wind turbines and recommends forming wind turbines farms in the periphery and as part of industrial zones.

While wind energy is considered very environmentally friendly, the planning administration noted several concerns as to the turbines’ environmental impact, especially on the migration paths of birds. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags:
| April 5, 2012
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Introducing the invisible keyboard

Jerusalem-based SnapKeys is bringing smart phone users a whole new way to type, for a free mobile experience.

Unlike the QWERTY keyboard, SnapKeys arranged letters by primary shape.

It’s always easy to see who chose typing class at high school when watching grownups in the boardroom. Those who didn’t learn how to type properly stumble over laptop keyboards with two fingers or thumbs.

Today’s smart phones have made most of us just as awkward whether we learned QWERTY or not. Our fingers feel like big fat sausages as we aim for the tiny letters. Could there be another way?

An Israeli company called SnapKeys has introduced an invisible keyboard that is based on letter shapes rather than frequency of letter use, frees up screen space and lets a smart phone user communicate better.

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