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Improving Health & Medicine
The Brain’s Rejuvenating Cells
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease manifested by various neuronal pathological processes and a significant decline in brain function. Aggregates of beta-amyloid protein (“plaques”) accumulate within and between brain cells. Due to both structural changes and the weakening of chemical communication pathways, the junctions of neuronal networks (synapses) are lost. In addition, the cytoskeletal proteins of the axons lose their normal structure, impairing their function and causing massive neuronal death.
June 08, 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
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Improving Health & Medicine
Young at Heart: Restoring Cardiac Function with a Matrix Molecule
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, yet the few available treatments are still mostly unsuccessful once the heart tissue has suffered damage. Mammalian hearts are actually able to regenerate themselves and repair damage – but only up to around the time of birth. Afterward, that ability disappears, seemingly forever.
June 05, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Stressed Out from Birth: Mice Exposed to Prenatal Stress Are Predisposed to Eating Disorders Later in Life
Stress affects the body and can trigger illness – from psychiatric disorders to heart disease. Humans are exposed to stress at different intensities throughout life: as children, in adolescence, and in old age. But when is the impact of stress on our systems most powerful? Many researchers maintain that the critical effect occurs prenatally, inside the womb. This hypothesis was, until recently, based mainly on statistical data indicating a correlation between stress during pregnancy and susceptibility to disease.
June 01, 2017
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Exploring the Physical World
Evolution Not Only About Natural Selection but Also Improvisation, Says Israeli Scientist
Haaretz
Prof. Yoav Soen sounds almost angry when he talks about the evolutionary concept of natural selection – or, more precisely, its total acceptance – suggesting it blinds people to thinking more broadly. Instead, they simply embrace the theory of evolution developed more than 150 years ago by Charles Darwin. The blind allegiance to natural selection is a worldwide phenomenon, which is reflected in how research is conducted and scientific questions are explained, says the biomolecular scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot.
June 01, 2017
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Exploring the Physical World
Israeli Scientist Helps Discover “A Whole New Jupiter”
Israel21c
Less than a year into its planned three-year study of the planet Jupiter, NASA’s Juno research spacecraft already has revealed or confirmed facts that the Juno Science Team – including Yohai Kaspi of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science – could only guess at previously. Less than a year into its planned three-year study of the planet Jupiter, NASA’s Juno research spacecraft already has revealed or confirmed facts that the Juno Science Team – including Yohai Kaspi of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science – could only guess at previously.
May 28, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Israel Start-Up Preparing for a Post-Antibiotics World
The Jerusalem Post
Israeli startup BiomX, which is developing a treatment that selectively kills specific bacteria, last week completed a $24 million financing round. The company was founded in 2015 on the basis of research by two Weizmann Institute scientists: Dr. Eran Elinav, a specialist in microbiome – the mix of bacteria in the human body (he is also known from DayTwo, which developed an app for nutritional consultation according to a person's individual composition of bacteria), and Professor Rotem Sorek, an expert in genetic engineering and bacterial genetics. The third founder is MIT Professor Timothy K. Lu, who specializes in genetic engineering of anti-bacterial viruses.
May 25, 2017
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Fighting Cancer
Prof. Yardena Samuels: Breakthroughs in Cancer Diagnosis Research
May 25, 2017