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 future of humanity.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-june-2015/
Jun 29, 2015...
Normal human colonic crypts. SMOC-2 expression (red) in the colonic stem cells demonstrates that these cells are localized in the bottoms of the crypts. Bars represent 100 micrometers (left) and 50 micrometers (right)
Recent Weizmann Institute studies are revealing a complex picture of cancer progression in which certain genes that drive tumor growth in the earlier stages get suppressed in later stages – taking a step back to move forward. Published in Oncogene, current research from the lab of Prof. Avri Ben-Ze’ev of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology suggests that the tumor cells at the invasive front of later-stage human colorectal cancer may take an even bigger step back: Some of their gene expression patterns are shared with those of healthy intestinal stem cells.
May 21, 2014...
A brilliant supernova (right) explodes in the galaxy UGC 9379, located about 360 million light-years from Earth, in this before-and-after view. The left image was taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, while the right image was obtained with a 60-inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory. Credit: Avishay Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science
The most massive and luminous stars were long suspected to explode when they die, and astronomers now have the most direct evidence yet that these cosmic behemoths go out with a bang.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-august-2007/
Aug 28, 2007...
A Computer Simulation Shows How Evolution May Have Speeded Up
Is heading straight for a goal the quickest way there? If the name of the game is evolution, suggests new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the pace might speed up if the goals themselves change continuously.
Nadav Kashtan, Elad Noor, and Prof. Uri Alon of the Institute’s Molecular Cell Biology and Physics of Complex Systems Departments create computer simulations that mimic natural evolution, allowing them to investigate processes that, in nature, take place over millions of years. In these simulations, a population of digital genomes evolves over time towards a given goal: to maximize fitness under certain conditions. Like living organisms, genomes that are better adapted to their environment may survive to the next generation or reproduce more prolifically. But such computer simulations, though sophisticated, don’t yet have all the answers. Achieving even simple goals may take thousands of generations, raising the question of whether the three-or-so billion years since life first appeared on the planet is long enough to evolve the diversity and complexity that exist today.
Mar 14, 2012...
IRVINE, Calif. and TEL AVIV, Israel, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ —
News Highlights
Broadcom Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), today announced it will donate $100,000 to the Weizmann Institute of Science in support of SpaceIL, an Israel-based non-profit mounting a submission for Google’s $30 million Lunar X Prize contest. This project was selected by Broadcom Foundation for its use of the competition as a platform to promote excitement for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among Israeli youth. As the only non-profit team in the contest, SpaceIL has pledged to donate all winning proceeds to STEM education for middle school children. Join the SpaceIL conversation at www.facebook.com/TeamSpaceIL.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/a-black-hole-where/
Mar 02, 2017...
A hole may be an empty space, but a black hole – the heart of darkness – is anything but.
Appearing in a variety of science fiction stories and usually surrounded by an aura of mystery, myths and surprising theories – black holes have engaged the imagination since the idea of their existence arose in the 18th century. Here we take a look at what actually creates a black hole, what effects are created near black holes, what types of black holes exist in the universe, and what other rumors, theories and myths revolve around them.
Jun 27, 2017... This computer-simulated image shows a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The black region in the center represents the black holes event horizon, where no light can escape the massive objects gravitational grip. The black hole’s powerful gravity distorts space around it like a funhouse mirror. Light from background stars is stretched and smeared as the stars skim by the black hole. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe, J. Anderson, and R. van der Marel (STScI)
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/earth-mass-planet-right-next-door/
Aug 26, 2016...
Artist’s impression of the newly-discovered planet, Proxima Centauri b. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 26,2016—An international team announced in Nature that a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth has been observed orbiting the star Proxima Centauri – the closest star to our Sun, just over four light years (about 40 trillion km) away. The project, known as the “Pale Red Dot,” involves scientists from nine countries; led by Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escudé of the Queen Mary University of London, the collaboration includes the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Dr. Aviv Ofir, who is in the group of Prof. Oded Aharonson in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Dec 15, 2016...
In just the right conditions, the destruction of a star in a black hole’s gravitational tide should produce an unusual flash of light
When astronomers and astrophysicists observe flashes of light in the dark sky, they assume they have seen a supernova. Possibly a star has burnt up its supply of nuclear fuel and collapsed, throwing off its outer layers into space; or maybe a dense white dwarf siphoned off material from a companion star until it exploded from excess weight. But a flash of light observed on June 14, 2015 did not fit any of the usual models.
Nov 12, 2015...
Physicists suspect that dark matter, whatever it is, makes up most of the universe, including most of the Veil Nebula, seen herein thanks to the Hubble telescope. Credit: NASA, Reuters
What is dark matter? We don't know, for all that physicists think there's about five times more of it than "normal" matter, which is mostly the atoms we all know and love. Now a new international collaboration in which European, Israeli, American and Arab scientists are taking part, XENON1T, is starting in the hope of tracking down and proving the existence of the mysterious beast.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/the-many-moons-theory/
Jan 09, 2017...
Our planet may once have had dozens of small moonlets, which welded together over the millennia into the object that’s visible today. PHOTOGRAPH BY THE PRINT COLLECTOR / GETTY
Unbeknownst to most earthlings, the moon is experiencing a crisis. Geophysicists will tell you that it’s a “compositional” crisis—a crisis regarding the stuff of which the moon is composed. But it’s also an identity crisis, as much for the scientists as for the object they study.
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