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.
Dec 11, 2012... Despite advances in agriculture, the numbers of the world’s hungry are increasing. The World Health Organization has stated that lack of food is the world’s number one health risk. About 170 million children in impoverished countries are underweight because of lack of food. The “green revolution” of the last century, dependent on pesticides and chemical fertilizers, bypassed many of the world’s poorest farmers — the very people that needed it most. In addition, the pressures on land and water resources created by growing populations in some of the planet’s least-developed regions contribute to the crisis.
Mar 10, 2013...
The commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science has signed an agreement with an agrochemicals firm to commercialize a new technology that impedes the permeation of toxic pesticides into groundwater, the companies have announced.
As enormous amounts of pesticides continue to be used around the world in an effort to increase the global demand for food, the durable toxic chemicals can often seep into the soil and remain there for years, thereby contaminating the groundwater, the firms explained. Aiming to reduce the risks of such environmental contamination, Prof. Brian Berkowitz and Dr. Ishai Dror developed a system at the Rehovot school’s department of environmental sciences and energy research that is designed to safely eradicate the toxins.
May 17, 2017... Water, Water Everywhere: Prof. Brian Berkowitz on Protecting a Precious Resource
Jul 16, 2015...
Image Credit: Moscow traffic, Foter.com / CC BY-SA
Even just a single, sub-clinical exposure to extracts of particulate matter taken from the side of a roadway is enough to induce transient pulmonary stress (via oxidative and inflammatory pathways), according to new work from an international team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Sep 01, 2019... Among the many ongoing changes inflicted on our climate and atmosphere, the increase in CO2 level has been the most consistent, with about 1.5-2 ppm annual increase. CO2 is the substrate for plant photosynthesis, and hence the expectation that the more CO2 we emit to the air, the more CO2 is available for plant growth. Indeed, CO2 fertilization has been used successfully to increase yields in greenhouses. Yet, in the majority of scenarios outside the greenhouse, plant growth is limited by other factors, such as light, water, and nutrients. Therefore, so far, global crop yields have not benefitted from surplus CO2.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/visualizing-algae-eating-viruses-from-space/
Aug 23, 2014...
Emiliania huxleyi, up close and personal. Alison R. Taylor, CC BY
Algae isn’t just found in your garden pond or local river. Sometimes it explodes into vast “blooms” far out to sea, that can be the size of a small country. Such algal blooms can match even a rainforest at taking carbon out of the air. And then, in just a week or two, they are gone – sometimes consumed by viruses.
Given the scale of blooms and their vital role in both marine ecology and climate regulation we must know more about these viruses. Research conducted with our Weizmann Institute colleague Yoav Lehahn and others and published in the journal Current Biology, is the first attempt to quantify the affect of viruses on large scale algal blooms.
May 21, 2018...
A cattle farm in Mato Grosso, Brazil. 60% of all mammals on Earth are livestock. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace
Humankind is revealed as simultaneously insignificant and utterly dominant in the grand scheme of life on Earth by a groundbreaking new assessment of all life on the planet.
The world’s 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things, according to the study. Yet since the dawn of civilisation, humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, while livestock kept by humans abounds.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/matthew-modine-it-s-easy-being-green/
Feb 04, 2014...
Matthew Modine
Safe to say Matthew Modine chooses paper over plastic at the checkout counter. The soft-spoken actor, who grew up in front of our eyes in such ’80s classics as Baby It’s You, Private School and Vision Quest, is a big-time environmentalist now. A few years ago the California native literally set the wheels in motion by launching Bicycle for A Day, encouraging people out of their gas-powered cars.
Mar 26, 2018...
It takes much more land to produce edible protein from pigs, cattle and chickens than it does to grow it from plants, according to new research. (Chuck Liddy / TNS)
More than 41 million Americans find themselves at risk of going hungry at some point during the year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. New research suggests the country could feed all 327 million Americans — plus roughly 390 million more — by focusing on plants
Oct 22, 2018...
Dead tree in Heletz Forest, Negev Desert Credit: Eliahu Hershkovitz
Israel’s forests have been declining for years, and now a groundbreaking study has found a correlation between increasing tree mortality and the mounting incidence of drought.
During arid periods, the study pointed out, not only are forest fires more frequent: the trees are also more vulnerable to harmful insects.
The study, “A nationwide analysis of tree mortality under climate change” was published in the Elsevier journal Forest Ecology and Management. The research was conducted Dr. Tamir Klein of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, with members of the Jewish National Fund and Prof. Gabriel Schiller of the Volcani Institute for Agricultural Research.
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