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.
Yael Hallak starts her day at 5 A.M. at home in Tenafly, New Jersey. She writes or reads for two distraction-free hours without a cellphone, laptop or desktop. Just pen and paper by her side.
February 24, 2020
In October 2019, Google announced that its quantum computer, Sycamore, had done a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would have taken the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years. “Quantum supremacy,” Google claimed for itself. We now have a quantum computer, it was saying, capable of performing calculations that no regular, “classical” computer is capable of doing in a reasonable time.
February 24, 2020
For 86-year-old Prof. Ruth Arnon, nothing compares to waking up in the morning and going to work in the laboratory.
February 24, 2020
Jerusalem, January 27, 2020 — The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (IASH) announced today the 2020 Laureates of the third annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel. The Blavatnik Awards recognize outstanding, innovative scientists at the early stages of their careers for both their extraordinary achievements and their promise for future discoveries. The prizes are awarded to researchers aged 42 and younger for their groundbreaking work in the disciplines of Life Sciences, Chemistry, and Physical Sciences & Engineering.
February 05, 2020
The 2,000m² building is the largest performance hall on the Weizmann Institute campus and the existing auditorium is a prime example of Modernism, designed more than 50 years ago by Israeli architects Arieh Sharon and Benjamin Idelson.
HQ Architects undertook the renovation and extension of the building where its facades and contour of the building cannot be modified due to preservation rules. However, the ambition for the new Michael Sela Auditorium was to double the area of the existing lobby, and add a new social space suitable to accommodate different activities that go beyond the standard use of foyer as a waiting space. The concept is based on the observation that the exchange of opinions and ideas occurs very often around an event and not always during the event. With this in mind, HQ Architects designed a foyer that resembles a living room, an informal and inviting gathering space.
February 04, 2020
Dr. Emmanuel Levy, one of three winners of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists
(photo credit: BLAVATNIK AWARDS)
The winners of the third annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel, a prize run by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in collaboration with the New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, were announced on Monday.
These prizes are awarded to scientists under the age of 42, who have already made significant achievements and show promise for future innovations in the fields of life sciences, chemistry and physical sciences and engineering.
February 04, 2020
Prof. Rivka Dikstein, left, and Dr. Anat Bahat found a molecule that might help treat Huntington's disease. Photo courtesy of Weizmann Institute
When Weizmann Institute of Science Prof. Rivka Dikstein set out to study a gene regulating inflammation, she had no idea she’d find a promising route to developing a drug for Huntington’s disease.
Dikstein’s biomolecular sciences team focused on a gene called Spt5, which regulates how DNA is copied for manufacturing proteins. The scientists discovered that Spt5 plays a key role in inflammation.
January 27, 2020
Jet streams encircling giant gas planets don't reach deep, according to this study. //Yohai Kaspi
Similar to the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, their smaller cousins, Uranus and Neptune, have long been known to harbor swirling clouds and violent winds churning up their atmospheres. Massive bands of jet streams encircling the entire planet have been observed in each case.
But given that Uranus’ atmosphere is believed to be thick enough to swallow Earth entirely, it was not known just how far the weather perturbations reach into the planet’s interior.
Israeli scientists have discovered the effect of a gene in causing epilepsy and autism, which may lead to new therapies, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) reported Thursday.
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the WIS researchers examined a non-coding gene, which is not translated into protein but replicated into control molecules.
The researchers found that by releasing the grip of this gene from another gene that produces proteins, the genetic defect responsible for these diseases can be corrected.
January 22, 2020
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