News Releases
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Improving Health & Medicine
Stress on Every Cell: Mapping the Stress Axis in Detail
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 27, 2021—Chronic stress could be the prevailing condition of our time. In the short term, our jaws or stomachs may clench; in the long term, stress can lead to metabolic disease and speed up diseases of aging, as well as leading to more serious psychological disorders. The physical manifestations of stress originate in the brain, and they move along a so-called “stress axis” that ends in the adrenal glands. These glands then produce the hormone cortisol. When the stress axis is continually activated, changes occur in the cells and organs along the way, and the continual production of cortisol then substantially contributes to the symptoms of chronic stress.
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Improving Health & Medicine
A Brain Mechanism Underlying “Vision” in the Blind is Revealed
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 7, 2021—Some people lose their eyesight, yet continue to “see.” This phenomenon, a kind of vivid visual hallucination, is named after Swiss doctor Charles Bonnet, who described in 1769 how his completely blind grandfather experienced intense, detailed visions of people, animals, and objects.
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Protecting Our Planet
Plastic is Blowing in the Wind
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 23, 2020—As the plastic in our oceans breaks up into smaller and smaller bits without breaking down chemically, the resulting microplastics are becoming a serious ecological problem. A new study by the Weizmann Institute of Science...
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Fighting Cancer
How Cancers Hurt Themselves to Hurt Immune Cells More
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 16, 2020—Cancers like melanoma are hard to treat, not least because they have a varied bag of tricks for defeating or evading treatments. Now, a combined research effort by the Weizmann Institute of Science...
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Protecting Our Planet
The Mass of Human-Made Materials Now Equals the Planet’s Biomass
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 9, 2020—The mass of all human-produced materials – concrete, steel, plastics, asphalt, etc. – has now grown to equal the mass of all life on the planet, its biomass.
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Advancing Technology
A Measure of Smell
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 11, 2020—Fragrances – promising mystery and intrigue – are blended by master perfumers, their recipes kept secret. In a new study on the sense of smell, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have managed to strip much of the mystery from even complex blends of odorants...
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Culture & Community
Weizmann Institute of Science Ranked Eighth in the World for Research Quality
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 9, 2020—The Weizmann Institute of Science has been ranked eighth globally for research quality in a weighted (proportional) ranking conducted by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University, the Netherlands.
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Improving Health & Medicine
Mystery Molecule in Bacteria is Revealed To Be a Guard
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 5, 2020—Peculiar hybrid structures called retrons that are half RNA, half single-strand DNA are found in many species of bacteria. Since their discovery around 35 years ago, researchers have learned how to use retrons for producing single strands of DNA in the lab...
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Improving Health & Medicine
Surprising Players in Acute Liver Failure Point to Potential Treatment
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 27, 2020—Acute liver failure is a devastating, rapidly progressing disease that results in death in 80% of cases, unless an emergency liver transplant is performed. In the developed world, its leading cause is a substantial overdose of acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol.
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Exploring the Physical World
Ancient Hominins Used Fire to Make Stone Tools
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 5, 2020—Our ancestors not only knew how to use fire, they also developed sophisticated technologies for making tools. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science recently employed cutting-edge technologies of their own to take a fresh look at a collection of stone tools.
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Improving Health & Medicine
Repeated Pregnancy Loss May Be Tied to the Olfactory System
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 29, 2020—The odors we give off are a sort of body language – one that may affect our relationships more than we realize. New research from the lab of Prof. Noam Sobel at the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests that this “chemical communication” may extend to human reproduction as well.
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Coronavirus
Bacteria Could Provide Us With the Next Antivirals
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 16, 2020—By tracking the evolution of what may be our oldest means of fighting off viral infection, a group at the Weizmann Institute of Science has uncovered a gold mine of antiviral substances that may lead to the development of highly effective antiviral drugs.
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Culture & Community
The Weizmann Institute of Science and Mohamed bin Zayed University in the UAE to Collaborate on Artificial Intelligence Research
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 13, 2020—A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) in the United Arab Emirates was signed on September 12.
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Coronavirus
Profiling the COVID-19 Coronavirus
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 9, 2020—“Contact tracing” inside infected cells is providing new clues into the workings of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A research team at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Institute for Biological Research...
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Enriching Education
The Weizmann Institute of Science is Offering Emergency Fellowships for Israeli Postdocs Affected by COVID-19
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 20, 2020—The Weizmann Institute of Science has initiated an emergency program to award grants to postdoctoral fellows whose research has been curtailed by restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The plan is to assist those who have completed doctorates in Israel and now must postpone their postdoctoral research abroad, as well as those who have begun postdocs abroad but have to return to Israel prematurely.
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Improving Health & Medicine
Targeting a Chronic Pain Gateway Could Bring Relief
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 14, 2020—Something like a quarter of the world’s population suffers from chronic pain at some point. As opposed to acute pain – for example, that feeling after hitting your finger with a hammer – chronic pain may not even have a clear cause, and it can linger for years or lifetimes.
