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/blog/fight-climate-change-plant-a-tree/
Mar 02, 2020...
Our new world order is particularly brutal for trees. Between climate change and economic greed, these lifegiving – and lifesaving – plants are not doing so well.
Besides well-known, large-scale devastations such as wildfires and deforestation (particularly of the Amazon, whose mighty forests are the reason the region is called – for now, anyway – the lungs of the planet), incremental changes are wreaking quieter, though no less devastating, impacts; for example, species native to the American South can no longer survive the warmer climate and so are spreading into cooler Northern climes. Behind them comes desertification.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/a-world-without-coral-damages-us-all/
Jun 20, 2018...
This is not a hoax: climate change is real, and it is killing coral. These Great Barrier Reef before-and-after photos show the degree of devastation that can take place in just a few months. Credit: XL Catlin Seaview Survey
The Curiosity Review remembers when we heard a distressing report last year: over nine months in 2016, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – one of the world’s largest living entities, so tremendous that it’s visible from space – underwent the largest coral bleaching event in its history. And in April of this year, we heard such a report again when shocked scientists reported that a second huge event took place in 2017.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/are-these-ocean-dwellers-the-future-shape-of-humankind/
Jun 01, 2018...
The life aquatic with the Bajau: The islanders have evolved to remain underwater, at depth, for extended periods – even walking on the sea floor. Credit: BBCone
How long can you hold your breath underwater? If you’re untrained, it’s about 30 seconds. With practice: a minute, maybe two. But you’ll never be a Bajau.
A new study shows that these Southeast Asian ocean-dwelling people have changed genetically, enabling them to easily hold their breath for up to 15 minutes at a time as they drop to the ocean floor to dive, spearfish, or collect shellfish. Quoted in The Atlantic, researcher Dr. Melissa Ilardo says: “Underwater, the Bajau are as comfortable as most people are on land. They walk on the seafloor. They have complete control of their breath and body.”
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/cloud-spotting/
May 31, 2019... The first time The Curiosity Review saw a picture of the new cloud type asperitas, it looked so much like the definition of “forbidding” that we thought it had to be fake. It was spring 2017, and there was news of a citizen-science group’s success in convincing the World Meteorological Organization to add asperitas to the august International Cloud Atlas. Ten other new cloud types were also added – the first since 1975 – in large part due to the efforts of that group, the Cloud Appreciation Society.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/storm-trackers/
Jul 29, 2019...
The Earth breaks its fever: After a historic heat wave, violent rainstorms flooded New York, including Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on July 22 (Screenshot: Adrienne Zhou)
No matter where in the world you are right now, odds are you’ve recently experienced severe storms. And if you feel like they’re becoming more common, you are correct: more frequent, more severe storms are one of the many devastating effects of global warming. This makes sense, given that storms are how the earth gets rid of heat.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/day-zero-what-happens-when-the-tap-goes-dry/
Mar 29, 2018...
Cape Town, South Africa, may very well become the first city in modern times to run out of water. The day they expect the taps to run dry is called Day Zero, the scarily named first day of an unwanted new era.
Most of us modern sapiens have never had to truly manage our water; we take daily showers, leave it running while we brush our teeth, we dump gallons of it down the drain without a second thought.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/science-hope/
Jan 18, 2018...
Even if you feel that things might be a little bleak right now, the start of any new year is a time to be optimistic. And the best, most realistic place to look for hope is science.
After all, science is universal and unifying and knows no boundaries. In every corner of the world, scientists of every stripe are taking on today’s problems. Tomorrow’s, too. Here are just a few rays of sunshine that gave us hope:
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/first-oceans-may-have-been-acidic/
Mar 15, 2017...
Drs. Itay Halevy and Aviv Bachan reveal the earliest effects of atmosphere and weathering on the ocean
One way to understand how ocean acidity can change – for example, in response to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels – is to look to the history of seawater acidity. Dr. Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute of Science has looked to the distant past – all the way back to Earth’s earliest oceans, in fact. The model he developed, together with Dr. Aviv Bachan of Stanford University, suggests that the early oceans, right around the time that life originated, were somewhat acidic, and that they gradually became alkaline. The study, published in Science, sheds light on how levels of ocean acidity in the past were controlled by CO2 in the atmosphere, an important process for understanding the effects of climate change.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/plant-power-algae-as-alternative-energy/
Jan 04, 2011... Prof. Avihai Danon of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Department of Plant Sciences has been working with algae—simple, photosynthetic life forms that can be found all over the world—for more than 20 years. Algae are diverse, having many thousands of species, and adaptive, thriving in a variety of conditions; these attributes can teach scientists a lot and make algae, as Prof. Danon says, "a great model system to study." For example, in his research focusing on how they adapt to sunlight, Prof. Danon found that there is a very sophisticated level of regulation inside algae. "On the one hand, the plant utilizes sunlight for energy production through photosynthesis," a process that, while beneficial, must be very carefully calibrated because "on the other hand, it can kill the plant in seconds," he says. He likes to compare a plant's ability to perform photosynthesis to having an atomic reactor in your stomach: the reactor can provide you with free energy, but if it's not tightly controlled, then it can explode.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-october-2014/
Oct 21, 2014... When we talk about global carbon fixation – pumping carbon out of the atmosphere and “fixing” it into organic molecules by photosynthesis – proper measurement is key to understanding the process. By some estimates, almost half of the world’s organic carbon is fixed by marine organisms called phytoplankton – single-celled photosynthetic organisms that account for less than one percent of the total photosynthetic biomass on Earth.
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