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.
Jan 04, 2011...
In his 20 years as a firefighter and paramedic in Colorado Springs, Bruce Monson, 43, has had his little fist-bumps with death: a burning roof collapsing on top of him, toxic fumes nearly suffocating him.
Yet far more terrifying than any personal threats are what Mr. Monson describes as the "bad kid calls," like the one from a mother who had put her 18-month-old son down in his crib right next to a window with a Venetian blind and its old-fashioned cord.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/can-you-learn-while-you-re-asleep/
Aug 28, 2012...
Research suggests basic forms of learning are possible while snoozing. iStockphoto.com
If you’re a student, you may have harbored the fantasy of learning lessons while you sleep. Who wouldn’t want to stick on a pair of headphones, grab some shut-eye with a lesson about, say, Chinese history playing in his ears — and wake up with newly acquired knowledge of the Ming Dynasty?
Sadly, it doesn’t work. The history lesson either keeps you from going to sleep, or it doesn’t — in which case you don’t learn it.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/bats-remember-directions/
Jan 12, 2017...
Egyptian fruit bat. In a new issue of Science, Prof. Sarel et al. report on a new functional class of hippocampal neurons in bats, which encode the direction and distance to spatial goals – suggesting a novel neural mechanism for goal-directed navigation.
Navigating to a destination, whether you are a human or a bat, requires a complex set of calculations and interactions among brain cells. Weizmann Institute of Science researchers, working with bats, have now revealed the network of cells that encode the direction of one’s destination. Among other things, their findings may help explain how memory loss and “getting lost” tend to go together in Alzheimer’s patients.
Nov 23, 2012...
Light of all colors or wavelengths combines to form white light. Similarly, sounds of all different frequencies mix to produce white noise. A group of scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel decided to find out whether this phenomenon applied to smell as well.
The researchers discovered that a white odor does, in fact, exist. They described how they arrived at the indescribably bland scent, which they coined “olfactory white,” in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov. 19.
Nov 27, 2017...
ISTOCK MRKORNFLAKES
While humans aren’t as smell-dependent as many other animals, studies have shown we respond differently to others when they’re emitting certain olfactory signals—even if we can’t consciously detect them. In a study published today in Nature Neuroscience, researchers find that men with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), researchers find that men with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) sometimes respond differently to these chemical cues in human sweat than do people without the disorder, indicating that such responses may partly explain the disorder’s symptoms.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/the-brain-s-rejuvenating-cells/
Jun 08, 2017... Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease manifested by various neuronal pathological processes and a significant decline in brain function. Aggregates of beta-amyloid protein (“plaques”) accumulate within and between brain cells. Due to both structural changes and the weakening of chemical communication pathways, the junctions of neuronal networks (synapses) are lost. In addition, the cytoskeletal proteins of the axons lose their normal structure, impairing their function and causing massive neuronal death.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/an-end-to-the-winter-blues/
Mar 09, 2015...
Are you feeling down? Want to sleep more than usual? Is spending your evenings at home in front of the television with comfort food more appealing than going out with friends? If so, you – like 11 million other Americans – may be suffering from the winter blues.
Also aptly called SAD – for seasonal affective disorder – winter depression is thought to be linked to lack of sunlight; thus, existing treatments include sitting under a special type of lamp that mimics the sun’s rays. However, this therapy does not help vast numbers of sufferers. And even if you don’t have SAD yourself, odds are you know someone who does. The disorder tends to run in families, with women four times more likely to have it than men.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-january-2010/
Jan 14, 2010...
How do the visual images we experience, which have no tangible existence, arise out of physical processes in the brain? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science provides evidence, for the first time, that an “ignition” of intense neural activity underlies the experience of seeing.
In research recently published in the journal Neuron, Prof. Rafael Malach and research student Lior Fisch of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Neurobiology worked with a neurosurgeon, Dr. Itzhak Fried of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, a distinguished team of medical doctors from the Center, and Weizmann Institute students. They asked a group of epileptic patients who had had electrodes clinically implanted into their brains in preparation for surgery to volunteer for some perceptual awareness tasks. The subjects looked at a computer screen, which briefly presented a “target” image—a face, house, or man-made object. This image was followed by a “mask”—a meaningless picture for distraction—at different time intervals after the target image had been presented. This allowed the experimenter to control the visibility of the images—the patients sometimes recognized the targets and sometimes failed to do so. By comparing the electrode recordings to the patients’ reports of whether they had correctly recognized the image or not, the scientists were able to pinpoint what was happening—and when and where—in the brain as transitions in perceptual awareness took place.
Jun 26, 2013...
The brain image at the back presents spontaneous (resting state) patterns before a fMRI-based neurofeedback training session. The front brain image presents spontaneous (resting state) patterns a day after the training session. Photo credit: Weizmann Institute of Science
New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science shows that scientists can explore the brain, like archaeologists, and uncover the history of past experiences. The research shows that spontaneous waves of neuronal activity in the brain bear the imprints of earlier events for at least 24 hours after the experience has taken place.
Aug 12, 2011...
As I learn about the latest discovery by the Weizmann Institute, I smile thinking that life is about to become sweeter for the paralyzed human beings whose lives have so far been, literally, entrapped by their bodies.
Usually, such patients have disabilities that range from quadriplegia to “locked–in syndrome” –where a person is completely paralyzed, save for eye blinks– but retain the ability to sniff with precision.
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