When the physician and scientist Emil Lou was an oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center about a decade ago, he was regularly troubled by the sight of something small but unidentifiable in his cancer-cell cultures. Looking through the microscope, he said, he “kept finding these long, thin translucent lines,” about 50 nanometers wide and 150 to 200 microns long, extending between cells in the culture. He called on the world-class cell biologists in his building to explain these observations, but nobody was sure what they were looking at. Finally, after delving into the literature, Lou realized that the lines matched what Hans-Hermann Gerdes’ group at the University of Heidelberg had described as “nanotubular highways” or “tunneling nanotubes” (TNTs) in a 2004 paper in Science.
April 23, 2018
The Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Adi Shamir, along with Ron Rivest (the S and R in “RSA”) and an international panel of cryptographers, discuss the state of cryptography today.
April 18, 2018
The Davidson Institute of Science Education’s International Physics Tournament challenges teams of high school students from around the world to design impenetrable safes. Each spring, the teams travel to the Weizmann campus in Israel, where they compete to unlock one another’s safes by solving the underlying physics riddles. On March 20-21, 2018, six teams—hailing from the Atlanta Jewish Academy in Atlanta, GA; Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, NJ; Green Valley High School in Henderson, NV; the Gregory School in Tucson, AZ; the Emery/Weiner School in Houston, TX; and Rancho High School in Las Vegas, NV—represented the United States at the 23rd annual competition. The American students joined other teams from countries such as England, Argentina, Romania, Canada, and Angola.
The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science celebrated the return of its Washington, D.C. and Mid-Atlantic Office with a special event at the Embassy of Israel. The evening attracted about 65 local supporters of the Weizmann Institute, one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary research institutions located in Rehovot, Israel. After opening remarks by American Committee CEO Marshall S. Levin, National Chair Ellen Merlo discussed the significance of reestablishing the organization’s Mid-Atlantic Region. Reuven Azar, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Israel, then welcomed guests, and illustrated the power of scientific cooperation to build bridges between Israel and other nations.
April 16, 2018
On April 11, 2018, American Committee supporters from across the country heard from CEO Marshall S. Levin during his most recent conference call focused on “Science at the Leading Edge: Latest Breakthroughs from the Weizmann Institute of Science.”
Until a decade ago, scientists were not aware that bacteria had complex immune systems that could keep up with the pace of evolution in viruses called phages that infect bacteria. That changed with the discovery of what is now the most famous bacterial immune mechanism: CRISPR. This is a natural gene editor that has revolutionized the world of biological research in thousands of labs around the world. Researchers now understand that most microorganisms have sophisticated immune systems of which CRISPR is just one element; but there has been no good way to identify these systems.
April 08, 2018
A New York Times op-ed looks at the work of scientists – including Profs. Eran Elinav and Eran Segal – who are revealing the negative health effects of artificial sweeteners, such as those in diet soda.
April 06, 2018
Israel21c reports on Israel’s ongoing plans to launch a lunar module, despite the expiration of the Google Lunar X prize. Weizmann’s Prof. Oded Aharonson is mission scientist.
April 02, 2018
Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam searches the skies for exploding stars that contain the elements necessary for life, and is working with NASA and others on a UV-wavelength satellite.
©2018 American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
