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.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/the-exquisite-precision-of-you/
Dec 01, 2017... You know that you have a circadian clock, or rhythm, that keeps you in time with the Earth’s 24-hour day-night cycle. Well, roughly in time, anyway; some of us are early birds, some are night owls, most are in between – and it’s very difficult for us night owls to change and go get that worm. Now we know why: studies in fruit flies show that these traits aren’t proof of superior moral fibre or laziness, but innate. That’s the way our circadian clocks are naturally set.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/weizmann-scientist-s-paper-makes-year-end-top-10-list/
Jan 03, 2019...
It’s that time of year: the roundup. The best movies! Music! Books! And, yes – scientific papers.
2018 was perhaps not the happiest year in a number of ways, and the good and bad news is that many of our major problems are reflected in the research. It’s bad because reading about these issues is not uplifting, to say the least. It’s good because science – and the knowledge, clarity, and facts it provides – is what will guide us through.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/meet-steve-the-purple-atmospheric-phenomenon/
Jul 06, 2018...
Hello, My Name Is Steve, a purple ribbon of hot ionized gas, manifests farther south than most auroras. Photo courtesy Vanexus Photography
The universe is big. While that’s a ridiculously oversized understatement, such vastness means that there’s much to see and learn – and scientists can’t be everywhere. Enter citizen scientists: knowledgeable amateurs who contribute to research by looking for new phenomena, species, etc.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/new-year-of-the-trees/
Feb 05, 2018...
Just one view of the mighty and diverse trees on the Weizmann Institute campus. Credit: Matthew Roberts
All species of holidays get absorbed into the culture at large – and one that you might want to start celebrating is the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat: New Year of the Trees.
After all, what would life be without trees? Besides likely nonexistent, since we need them for food, wood, climate regulation, ecosystem creation and maintenance, etc., it would be awfully bleak. Who hasn’t gone dreamy in drifts of cherry blossoms, or been grateful for the shade of an oak in August, or gained perspective among giant redwoods, or realized that an apple straight from the tree was the best thing you’ve ever tasted?
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/kilauea-and-keck-the-volcano-and-the-telescopes/
May 11, 2018...
The 6.9-magnitude earthquake that freed Kilauea’s lava also damaged the island’s telescopes. Is volcano goddess Pele angry about the construction of a massive new telescope? Credit: USGS
You have likely seen the stunning images of Kilauea erupting on Hawaii’s Big Island – the 2,000-plus-degree lava inexorably consuming everything in its path, the mighty expulsions of fire and matter.
But there’s another reason to keep an eye on the eruption: the island’s telescopes. The Big Island’s mean elevation of 3,030 feet and its crystalline skies – typically calm, dry, and free of light pollution – make Hawaii prized by astronomers, including those at the Weizmann Institute. Indeed, some of the world’s most busiest, most powerful telescopes live on the Big Island, not far from the erupting Kilauea, with the W.M. Keck Observatory perhaps the most famous.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/medications-good-for-you-bad-for-the-rest-of-the-world/
Feb 25, 2019...
Everything is connected: pharmaceuticals can be found throughout the environment. Fish seem particularly susceptible. Plus, we eat them – and, thus, consume whatever drugs are in their bodies.
Billions of us take medications on a regular basis, and while they help manage common conditions like viruses, depression, pain, menopause, thyroid disease, and the like, they are not so good for the environment.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/followed-by-a-moonshadow-the-great-american-solar-eclipse/
Aug 17, 2017...
This map shows the path the Moon’s dark inner shadow will take August 21, 2017. Source: Astronomy: Richard Talcott and Roen Kelly
What will you be doing on August 21? If you’re like millions of other Americans, you’ll be watching the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse since 1908.
Over 12 million of us are lucky enough to live within the 70-mile-wide band of “totality” – when the moon will cover 100 percent of the sun – which will cut a diagonal swath across the continent, beginning a bit south of Portland, Oregon, then sweeping across the country before heading out to sea from the South Carolina coast.
https://curiosity.weizmann-usa.org/the-sahara-s-gritty-superpower/
Apr 11, 2018...
An unearthly scene is, quite literally, of this Earth. Orange snow and sky at a ski resort in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, on March 23, 2018. Credit: Sergey Tsaun/Shutterstock
We are growing accustomed to the phenomena that our wild weather sometimes produces, but here’s one that struck us as particularly curious.
In late March, photos began to circulate that appeared to be taken with a sepia filter, but were, in fact, accurate, unadulterated images of … orange snow.
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/news-releases/making-larvae-count/
Dec 18, 2017...
This emperor angelfish looks nothing like the tiny larva it started out as
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 18, 2017— Almost all the wildly varied, colorful fish that populate coral reefs start life as tiny, colorless, tadpole-like larvae. Telling one from the other is nearly impossible – even for experts – and this presents a difficult challenge to those who study the ecology of the reefs. Prof. Rotem Sorek of the Weizmann Institute of Science; Prof. Roi Holzman of the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University; and Dr. Moshe Kiflawi of Ben Gurion University have now produced a way to understand precisely which species of larvae are present in the water around reefs. Their study, which involved genetic “barcoding” of nearly all the fish species in the gulf between Eilat and Aqaba, not only showed which larvae were in the gulf, but how many of each were swimming around, at what time of year, and at what depths. This study was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
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