About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
What’s one of the first things you do when you get to the ocean? It’s probably to take a deep breath, inhaling the instantly familiar smell that inspires calm, evokes memories, and lets you know exactly where you are.
Every other breath you take is provided by the ocean, which supplies half of the entire planet’s oxygen. It is Earth’s life support system: it regulates our climate, feeds us and innumerable other species, and its health and well-being are critical to maintaining our own – yet we do not behave as though it is.
Despite decades of research, we don’t know much about the brain. It is as strange as the deep sea, as complex as a computer, as mysterious as the universe – and it makes us who we are, as humans and individuals.
Understanding this most complex of organs is more important now than ever: lifespans are increasing and, thus, so are age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s; awareness of mental illness is rising, as is the need for effective treatments; rates of autism are still going up. Fortunately, technological advances over the past several years are, for the first time, allowing scientists to study the brain at a level of detail never before possible.
To mark their 65th anniversary, Rosa and Harris Weinstein made a gift to Weizmann in honor of Dewey Stone, who brought Rosa’s family out of Vienna in 1939.
May 24, 2021
This summer, after more than a year of pandemic shutdowns, we are more excited than ever to get outside. But we can’t let down our guard when it comes to sun exposure, which is the primary cause of the most common cancer in the world: skin cancer. In fact, the Skin Cancer Foundation says that over 85% of melanomas are linked to UV radiation, and having more than five sunburns doubles your risk of developing this deadliest form of skin cancer.
While Earth Day is 51 years old this year, the Earth is 4.54 billion years old – “plus or minus about 50 million years,” says the National Geographic Society. And yet in less than 200 years, the blink of an eye, humankind has thrown a wrench into our small planet’s carefully tuned systems.
Since the Industrial Age, our remarkable advances have had a flip side: chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fossil fuels, and the like have fouled our water, land, and climate. We have increased Earth’s temperature, causing mass extinctions, stronger storms, devastating wildfires, flooding, and food shortages – consequences that will only increase. And while we can all take personal steps, there is ultimately one hope for mitigating human impacts on the planet: science.
A year into Covid-related shutdowns, we are seeing a host of devastating impacts unrelated to the illness itself. One of these is hunger.
Food insecurity – lack of consistent access to sufficient, nutritious food – was a major public-health concern before the pandemic. Climate change’s extended droughts, destructive fires and storms, and rising waters are wiping out resources in many areas, notably India and Africa. Poverty is another contributing factor, particularly in cities with “food deserts” where it is hard to find fresh fruit and vegetables and other healthy options. (Interestingly, the World Bank reports that “children who are properly nourished during the first 1,000 days of their lives are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults.”)
Covid-19 is now, by some measures, the leading cause of death in the U.S., surpassing heart disease. Yet not only is heart disease not going away, its rates are expected to increase due to Covid; as the American Heart Association recently reported, Covid’s influence “will directly and indirectly impact rates of cardiovascular disease prevalence and deaths for years to come.”
While coronavirus research at the Weizmann Institute of Science continues full speed ahead, so does critical work on heart disease. February is American Heart Month, so we’d like to share current Weizmann Institute research on this most celebrated organ.
The start of a new year is always a time of optimism, yet more so than ever as we begin 2021. Science has offered hope for some of the world’s most devastating problems, particularly COVID-19 – but in order to continue its forward progress, science needs new researchers to take up the mantle and introduce fresh ideas and approaches.
That’s why we are also finding hope in the form of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s newest members: brilliant young investigators in fields from antibiotics to astrophysics. The Institute recruits only a handful of new scientists each year, searching worldwide for the most talented thinkers, the ones who will take Weizmann – and science – into the future. Here are a few of these remarkable researchers.
As we draw to the close of a year in which humanity faced unprecedented difficulties ranging from COVID-19 to climate change-related fires and storms, we look forward to the new year with hope – an optimism that is fueled by a belief in science and its power to heal the world.
But before we put 2020 behind us, it is worthwhile and inspiring to review the many advances made by Weizmann Institute scientists.
©2021 American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science