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Israelis solve breast cancer puzzle. Dr Gera Neufeld from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, has found that a particular protein -- lysyl-oxidase-related protein 1 (LOR-1) -- causes tumours to spread and induces the deposition of large amounts of collagen fibres, which is characteristic of deadly breast cancers. Learning how the protein behaves solves a big puzzle in breast cancer studies. The team believes that their discovery could lead to the development of drugs that block or inhibit LOR-1 and prevent the spread of cancer. Israeli Good Research on Good Cholesterol. Doctors may be able to save many lives by trying to boost levels of 'good' cholesterol rather than reduce bad cholesterol, according to a study. Deaths from heart disease fall significantly when patients are given drugs to increase high-density lipoprotein, (HDL), the healthy fat found in blood. Traditionally doctors have concentrated on cutting down either total cholesterol levels, or the proportion of low-density lipoprotein, (LDL), the harmful cholesterol that damages arteries and causes heart disease. But the latest findings, presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago, suggest some patients may fare better if HDL levels are increased. New Israeli rechargeable batteries to run electric cars Israeli researchers have developed a new type of non-toxic, rechargeable battery that soon may be used to run electric cars, thus eventually replace lead-acid and nickel-cadmium packs.. The new technique generates the same energy as a nickel-cadmium battery but can be discharged and recharged many times without losing much power capacity, according to a report in Nature. Magnesium is safe and is the seventh most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. Technion-CERN scientists predict supernova. A team of theoretical physicists, Shlomo Dado and Arnon Dar at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and Europe's CERN has developed a theory to account for the mysterious gamma ray bursts that come from the depths of the Universe. According to the theory, gamma ray bursts are linked to supernovae, the cataclysmic explosions of massive stars at the end of their lives. When a new gamma ray burst was seen on March 29 2003, the CERN-Technion team immediately predicted that light from a supernova would first become clearly visible on Earth from the same direction on April 8. And so it did. This is the first time that physicists have predicted the exact day of observation of a supernova. Until now, astronomers could not predict the supernova explosion time to an accuracy better than a million years! Israeli brain power studies brain power. Israeli Eshel Ben-Jacob and fellow researchers at the University of Tel-Aviv have now shown for the first time that neurons can self-organize themselves into electrically active clusters of cells in the laboratory. The clusters are linked together by bundles of axons. The researchers grew cultures of neurones and found that the initially uniform network separates by the creation of 'borders' that break it into separate 'basins'. Each basin then collapses into a cluster, which remains intact until it degrades 3 to 4 weeks later. Their results might provide important clues towards understanding self-organization in the central nervous system and the brain itself. Israeli Chess Win. At last weekend's Foxwoods Open, played in Connecticut, Israeli Grand Master Ilya Smirin took first place with a 6-1 score in the event, which featured 21 grandmasters in the 128-player Open section. Israeli/Iraqi Peace? A peace treaty with Israel will be "top of the agenda" for a new Iraqi government, according to the Observer. The paper quotes US State Department sources, saying the Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi, who is favored by the Pentagon to lead a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, "is known to have discussed Iraq's recognition of the State of Israel." There is also talk of reopening the oil pipeline between Iraq and Israel that has been inactive since 1948. Down's Syndrome Linked to Neural-Tube Defects. A team from Israel, Ukraine and Britain have discovered a link between the genetic disorder Down's syndrome and birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. This is the first time these two disorders have been associated with each other and opens the possibility of preventative therapy. The researchers studied 493 families from Israel who were at high risk of NTD, and 516 families from Ukraine with a history of Down's syndrome. Their findings are reported in The Lancet medical journal. Israeli Archaeologists Find Rare Coins. Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have found nine rare silver coins believed to date back to the Shimon Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans in the second century. Of particular rarity is the largest Jewish coin ever issued, a half-ounce silver coin known as the Petra Drachma -- one side of the coin shows the Second Temple, while the other shows the four species used for Sukkot. The coins will be displayed to the public at Jerusalem's Israel Museum. Israeli research predicts gender of authors. Computer scientists Moshe Koppel and Shlomo Argamon of Bar-Ilan University have designed a computer program which determines if the author of text is a man or a woman, about five times out of six. The new findings will be released this week in Literary and Linguistic Computing, a journal published by Oxford University Press. The pair used machine learning to have the computer learn for itself how to distinguish between them based on statistical regularities it finds in the examples. One potential application of these findings is for researchers or law enforcement investigators trying to identify the author of anonymous documents. Israeli professor wins `Nobel' prize of the computing world. Prof. Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Science is one of the three recipients of the 2003 Turing Award, the most prestigious international awards in Computing Science. He was awared the prize for his contribution to the development of a method of encoding information that enables the transfer of coded messages and their decryption, even though parties to the message may have never met each other. He is the third Israeli to win the award. Israeli researchers: Super-freezing tells age of lead artifacts. Until now, scientists had no way of determining the age of archaeological finds made of stable metals, including lead. But Israeli researchers have found a new technique to measure the age of ancient metal artifacts by turning lead into a superconductor by super-freezing the metal, then looking at the level of oxidization -- rust -- made distinct by the process, could provide a new way to peer into the past. Lead was one of the first metals used. 94% of Israeli Jews to go to seder tonight. According to a poll by Gesher, a secular-religious dialogue group, approximately 94 percent of Jewish Israelis will be attending a seder tonight. The Tel Aviv municipality handed out approximately 3,760 meals to the elderly and needy, and will hold seder dinners for those in need. Passover services to be held throughout Russia. Around 50,000 people will participate in the seder in 150 cities throughout Russia. Some 200 students of U.S. and Israeli religious academies traveled to Russia to help organize the seder. Israeli and US Researchers Test Lasers as Defense to Enemy Shells and Missiles. Last year the U.S. and Israeli armies field-tested a chemical laser that successfully knocked out 100 mm rockets and artillery shells. What needs to be seen is whether the system can be made light and mobile enough. Azerbaijan will legalize Jewish School. In a meeting with Jewish leaders who flew from Israel to Azerbaijan (former Soviet republic) to express their concern over the matter, the nation's president, Heydar Aliyev, promised last week that the school will be granted the license. The decision will allow Or Avner Jewish Day School to officially open with an enrollment of about 100 kids, in Baku, the country's capital. Azerbaijan is home to an estimated 20,000 Jews among its 8 million overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslims. Five Israeli VC funds make Forbes' list. Five Israeli Venture Capital firms made Forbes magazine's list of the 50 most active venture capital funds in the world - Jerusalem Venture Partners, Apax Israel, Vertex Israel, Benchmark Israel and Walden International. Last year there were four Israel firms on the list. Israeli research on bipolar illness. Israeli researchers conducted a study that added omega-3 supplements to the antidepressant regimen in patients who were not getting any better. Within three weeks, those patients reported significant benefits. In another study, 70 percent of patients reduced their symptoms by half. The brain is 60 percent fat, and fatty acids are important for a brain health. Israel researchers conduct solar surgery. Israeli researchers led by Jeffrey Gordon at Ben-Gurion University in Israel have used highly concentrated sunlight instead of laser to conduct surgery on live animals, according to the journal of Applied Physics. The compact solar fibre-optic "concentrators" provide the same power levels and densities as laser optic fibres, but is hundreds of times less expensive. Israeli scientists identify shyness gene. Dr Richard Ebstein from the S Herzog Memorial Hospital in Jerusalem, in the American Journal of Psychiatry, reported a significant association between the long form of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and shyness among seven and eight-year olds, particularly among boys. Israeli breakthrough drug proven effective against Parkinson's disease. Israeli drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals recently announced a breakthrough drug proven effective against Parkinson's disease. Rasagiline, a drug developed at the Technion in Haifa, has been proven significantly effective in treating patients in the disease's advanced stage. Israel scientist wins environmental Tyler Prize. Israel scientist Yoel Margalith of Ben-Gurion University was awarded the 2003 Tyler Prize for environmental achievement, for his discovery of a natural microbial agent that is lethal to all species of mosquitos and black flies. The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is administered by the University of Southern California. Israeli Ormat Corporation has quadrupled Nicaragua's clean energy from an existing power plant. The new Geothermal Binary Power Plant now produces electricity at a strength of 35 megawatts, a vast improvement over its former 8 MW output. The President of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolanos Geyer, recently said that the inauguration ceremony, “We are very enthusiastic and optimistic today at the inauguration of the new Ormat Energy Converter Plant, which produces clean energy using the steam arising from the depths of the volcano." Israeli experts have found a biological clock in plants. Scientists in Israel and the U.S. Agriculture Department have discovered that plants, like animals, have a 24-hour biological clock. Like the body clock that tells humans to wake up, plants have one that tells them to prepare for the sun. The clock controls an enzyme critical for photosynthesis, the process whereby plants extract light and convert it to food. The discovery, published in the journal Plant Physiology, could lead to producing more food. New Israeli robotic mower and vaccuum. Robomower, a robotic lawnmower built by Israeli company Friendly Robotics, is being sold by Hoover, and hopes to have a robotic vaccuum cleaner soon. The mower will be available in Hoover stores this month, ranging from $699 to $999. U.S. Military Deployes Israeli UAVs in Iraq. The United States has deployed at least two Israeli unmanned air vehicles in any war against Iraq. The army has deployed the Hunter UAV, and the marines the Pioneer. Israel one of 5 nations to have teraflop supercomputers. Currently United States, Japan, India, China, and Israel can boast of having supercomputers with a processing speed of one teraflop or one trillion calculations per second. Hebrew University research brings higher peanut yields. Researchers at the Hebrew University Faculty have succeeded in regulating the flowering of the peanut plant, with a resulting four-fold increase in the yield of large peanut pods at harvest time. Larger peanut pods are worth almost 50% more than smaller ones and can have a significant consequences for the farmer. Hip-Hop Artists Wu-Tang Clan on solidarity tour of Israel. Though dates and venues are yet to be confirmed, they will play shows in Tel Aviv, Beersheva, Haifa, Eilat and Jerusalem in May. "As Americans and hip-hop artists, we want to show solidarity with the people of Israel," they explained in a recent statement. Israeli Medical Center discovers hair loss breakthrough. Israeli Researchers searching for a way to heal difficult wounds have discovered a new way to treat hair loss that has been confirmed by a double blind study recently published in the Online Dermatology Journal |
Facts about the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population. |