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Exploring the Physical World
Lucky Break Leads to Controversial Supernova Discovery
Quanta Magazine
It was not a slow death — it lasted a few hours at most. The casualty was a star in a spiral galaxy some 160 million light-years away. Its core collapsed in on itself, triggering a supernova explosion as bright as 100 billion suns. On a cosmic scale, this star was rather ordinary, probably a red supergiant some 10 times more massive than our sun. But on October 6, 2013, when the light from the explosion finally reached Earth, its death made history. The glow from SN 2013fs, as it’s now called, hit the right robotic witness, and then astronomers caught a cosmically lucky break.
July 05, 2017
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Exploring the Physical World
A Possible Explanation for Why No Intermediate Sized Black Holes Have Been Found
Phys.org
A pair of researchers, one with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel the other with Princeton University in the U.S. has come up with a possible explanation for the inability of space scientists to find any intermediate-sized black holes. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, Tal Alexander and Ben Bar-Or offer an outline of current theories regarding how black holes in general are believed to develop, theories about the early universe, and finally, their ideas on how current theories may lead to an explanation for the dearth of intermediate sized black holes.
June 27, 2017
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Exploring the Physical World
Carbon Dating Undermines Biblical Narrative for Ancient Jerusalem Tower
The Times of Israel
A new Weizmann Institute study has discovered radiocarbon-dating evidence of the First Temple period under a tower in Jerusalem’s City of David that was previously dated to the Canaanite period. The findings, based on soil samples taken from under a seven-meter thick walled tower, shave nearly a thousand years from previous archaeological dating of the structure, which placed it c. 1700 BCE — and contradict a presumed biblical linkage to the site. Downhill from the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, the Gihon Spring guard tower was discovered in 2004 by archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron. Based on pottery and architectural signifiers, the heavily fortified structure — and the rest of the Spring Citadel protecting Jerusalem’s precious water source — were dated to Canaanite construction (Middle Bronze II period).
June 19, 2017
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Advancing Technology
Algo-Vision: A Glimpse Into the Future
Mega
For humans, seeing really is believing. That’s probably because sight is the most sophisticated of all the senses. So sophisticated, in fact, that 40 per cent of our brain is devoted to processing visual data.
If scientists could find a way to create artificial seeing systems with human-like capabilities, it would represent a major technological breakthrough. Computers would be able to replace human eyes, both in the performance of labour-intensive tasks and in more complex processes such as identifying individual cancer cells among normal tissue. Such systems could even help visually-impaired people to “see.”June 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Here’s Why You’re Not a Bad Aunt if You Make their PB&J with White Bread
Savvy Auntie
Being a Savvy Auntie means being savvy about an extensive range of topics, including nutrition. After all, haven’t we all been responsible at some point for feeding our nieces and nephews? And while we occasionally look the other way when it comes to the ice cream, chocolates, and candy that kids love, we also want to ensure that our nieces and nephews develop healthy eating habits. However, being savvy about nutrition may not be as easy as we thought, as some of our traditional assumptions about food are now being challenged. You’re about to make a sandwich. Do your reach for the freshly stone-milled whole-grain wheat flour, sourdough leavening, superior ingredients baked in a stone-hearth oven to create a picture-perfect, super-healthy loaf of artisanal bread.? Or, white bread -- the industrial kind made from white flour.
June 14, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Believe It or Not, White Bread Might Actually Be “Better” For Some of Us
Food & Wine
When it comes to bread, we’ve known for a long time now that it’s better to pick the brown, whole-grain-y stuff over ultra-processed white bread. Right? Well, maybe not, according to a new study published in Cell Metabolism and reported on by Science Daily. Apparently, we should be focusing less on the bread itself and more on who’s eating it. Here’s how the study went down: Researchers at the Weizmann Institute conducted a randomized trial with 20 healthy subjects in order to figure out how processed white bread and “artisanal whole wheat sourdough” might affect the human body in different ways. Half of the participants were asked to eat more white bread for one week than they normally did, and the other half was assigned to eat more whole wheat sourdough. Then, there was a controlled 2-week period with no bread, after which time the two groups swapped diets. The half that had originally consumed the white bread switched over to whole wheat, and vice versa.
June 09, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Is Wheat or White Bread Healthier? Listen to Your Gut, Study Says
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s the ultimate health-conscious grocer’s dilemma: Is wheat bread really healthier than white? While people have been told for years that wheat bread is hands-down the healthier choice, new research proves otherwise. A team of Israeli scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science conducted a small study in which 20 participants consumed either processed white bread or artisanal whole wheat sourdough. Prior to the study, the participants consumed the same amount of both white and non-white bread for several days. And during the study, the groups consumed at least 100 grams of bread (three to four slices) per day for one week before a two-week break when they switched bread types and repeated the weeklong consumption.
June 09, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
White Bread is Just as Healthy as Wholemeal, Claim Experts
Cosmopolitan
Most people would agree taste-wise, white bread is bae. The thing is, it's had a bad rap for a while health-wise, with many of us believing that wholemeal loaves are simply better for you... But are they? Well, according to new research, it turns out white might be alright after all. We hate to break it to you, but if you've been forcing yourself to eat wholemeal then it might have been a total waste of time. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered that opting for wholemeal over white bread made practically no difference to a person's health, the Evening Standard reports.
June 08, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Maya Schuldiner Receives EMBO Gold Medal 2017
EMBO
Heidelberg, 8 June 2017 – Maya Schuldiner from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel is the recipient of the 2017 EMBO Gold Medal. She receives the award for significantly advancing the understanding of protein synthesis, trafficking and quality control. The EMBO Gold Medal is awarded annually and recognizes outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe by young independent group leaders.
June 08, 2017