The Israel Cancer Research Fund has some lofty goals, and the group is more than up to the challenge. Founded by a group of passionate individuals, ICRF is the only charitable group in the US committed to furthering cancer research in the Jewish state. “We were founded in 1975 by a group of American and Canadian doctors and lay people who wanted to combat cancer,” said Donna Ostrower, executive director of ICRF. “They were determined to harness Israel’s scientific and medical …More

Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Haifa’s Technion recently made an interesting observation while studying the coral outside the resort city of Eilat. For one half an hour each day, the coral colonies appear to nap. “During the day the coral uses the photosynthesis to generate its food, and during the night it goes through respiration like other animals,” said Uri Shavit, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Technion. “Just before sunset when the level …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News The era of robots learning and reacting the same way humans do may still be in the realm of science fiction, but a young Israeli researcher is making impressive advances in the way computers understand and interact with humans. Dr. Ya’akov (Kobi) Gal from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev‘s research focuses on designing “intelligent agents” – algorithms that run on computers, robots and smart phones – and interact with other …More

Just months before arriving in Israel for Shimon Peres’ “Facing Tomorrow” conference, renowned physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking has predicted the end of humanity on this planet. “We must continue to go into space for humanity. We won’t survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet,” Hawking told the audience of scientists and scholars. At a lecture held this week in Los Angeles, Hawkings also touted the so-called M-theory, which suggests that there …More

When Jewish researcher Jonas Salk first invented his vaccine for polio, he was heralded by the international community as a miracle worker. Salk’s rise to esteem was an unlikely one, however. Born to Jewish parents in New York City, Salk stood out among classmates not only for his astute mind, but for the nominal education his parents had received as children themselves. Upon completing his undergraduate studies at City College in New York when just a teenager, Salk enrolled in medical school at New York …More

Israeli scientist Dr. Osnat Penn—a postdoctoral researcher in computational biology at Tel Aviv University whose work examines the genetic origins of autism—has been awarded a 2013 UNESCO-L’Oréal International Fellowship for promising young female scientists, Israel Hayom reported. Penn, 32, and 14 other researchers worldwide were awarded the prestigious fellowships out of hundreds of candidates. The fellowships are given to female scientists “whose promising research projects have …More

Israeli and US scientists will team up on renewable technology, thanks to a partnering between two leading universities in the field. Ben-Gurion University and the University of Michigan have each pledged $1 million for a three-year joining for research to develop renewable technologies. “We live in a global economy. Universities need to globalize their activities because we need to solve problems that are larger than one country can manage alone,” said Stephen Forrest, vice president for research at …More

A group of scientists from Israel, Canada and the United States have helped to unravel the mystery of how some plants and animals can survive in freezing temperatures and icy conditions. Their research, which focused on the yellow mealworm, helped pinpoint how natural antifreeze proteins work to prevent ice production. According to Viva Sarah Press of Israel 21c, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem team, led by Dr. Ido Braslavsky, “biochemically created a fluorescent marker version of the AFP that allowed …More

Palestinian and Israeli scientists have banded together to study the potential health impact of water re-use on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian border. The study hopes to shed light on how the increased amount of chemicals resulting for water re-use may impact the health of both people and farm animals. The large-scale research effort, which was recently awarded a three-year grant of $560,000 by USAID’s Middle East Regional Cooperation is, according to Dr. Alon Tal, the first time chemicals due to …More

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope used in carbon dating to determine the age of fossils and ancient antiquities. The isotope itself was discovered by a pair of UC Berkley scientists with two major things in common—a passion for chemistry, and Judaism. Martin Kamen was born in 1913 in Toronto and showed an early love of science. After earning his PhD in chemistry he joined the staff at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkley, working without pay for six months just to secure the …More

A crew of Israeli scientists is aiming to make the Jewish state the third nation to land a craft on the moon. Team SpaceIL is currently competing in a global quest set forth by Google, which guarantees a $30 million Lunar X Prize to the next team that successfully lands a robot on the moon and sends imagery back by 2015. Twenty-five teams around the world are currently working on the project, and the Israeli squad said it hopes to donate the winnings to educational pursuits should it take top …More

Anouk Lorie, NoCamels - Israel Innovation News A new study from Tel Aviv University may have found a way to reverse severe brain damage with a relatively simple oxygen therapy. Brain damage can occur for many reasons, such as strokes, traumatic injuries, and metabolic disorders. In turn this damage often leads to permanent disabilities, including motor dysfunction, psychological disorders and memory loss. The new method of treatment, developed by Dr. Shai Efrati of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of …More