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.
Sep 29, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 29, 2020—The odors we give off are a sort of body language – one that may affect our relationships more than we realize. New research from the lab of Prof. Noam Sobel at the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests that this “chemical communication” may extend to human reproduction as well. The study, which was published in eLife, found that women who suffer from a condition known as unexplained repeated pregnancy loss (uRPL) process messages concerning male body odor – especially their husband’s – in a different way than other women. These findings may point to new directions in the search for causes and prevention of this poorly understood disorder.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/a-measure-of-smell/
Nov 11, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 11, 2020—Fragrances – promising mystery and intrigue – are blended by master perfumers, their recipes kept secret. In a new study on the sense of smell, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have managed to strip much of the mystery from even complex blends of odorants, not by uncovering their secret ingredients, but by recording and mapping how they are perceived. The scientists can now predict how any complex odorant will smell from its molecular structure alone. This study may not only revolutionize the world of perfumery, but eventually lead to the ability to digitize and reproduce smells on command. A proposed framework for odors, created by neurobiologists, computer scientists, and a master perfumer and funded by a European Commission initiative called Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Open, was published in Nature.
Nov 11, 2020...
Israeli scientists say they have made a breakthrough that could pave the way for smellovision TVs, scented digital photos that have a whiff of vacation, and technology that can “print” any odor.
A Weizmann Institute team claims to have created a “smell map” that can determine how any odor will smell to humans based just on an examination of its molecular structure.
The researchers say this provides the theoretical framework to record the qualities of the smell as a set of numbers which can be used to recreate it by means of an electronic device that could be embedded in cellphones, computers, and elsewhere. They believe that a range of just 200 molecules is enough to recreate almost any smell on earth.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/does-the-nose-talk-to-the-womb/
Dec 08, 2020... To be an expectant mother, or the anxious partner of one, is to be keenly, even agonizingly aware of how chemicals affect a developing life. The basic advice is well known, and obsessively followed: Alcohol in strict moderation, and no nicotine at all. Don’t mess with mercury. Folic acid is your friend. More protein and less caffeine. Stay away from BPA, PBCs and PFA, and generally make an enemy of the unpronounceable.
Nov 25, 2020...
Stripping down fragrances to their molecular structure, researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have opened the door to a future where any scent could be digitized and reproduced on demand by a computer.
The group of neurobiologists, computer scientists and a master-perfumer wrote about their achievement in Nature.
Enabling computers to digitize and reproduce smells is a long-held goal of the study’s co-author, Prof. David Harel of the Weizmann’s computer and applied mathematics department.
Jan 07, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 7, 2021—Some people lose their eyesight, yet continue to “see.” This phenomenon, a kind of vivid visual hallucination, is named after Swiss doctor Charles Bonnet, who described in 1769 how his completely blind grandfather experienced intense, detailed visions of people, animals, and objects. Charles Bonnet syndrome was investigated in a study led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The findings, published in Brain, suggest a mechanism by which normal, spontaneous activity in the visual centers of the brain can trigger visual hallucinations in the blind.
Jan 09, 2021...
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have found what they say might be the cause of "Charles Bonnet syndrome," a phenomenon in which blind people continue to "see" due to vivid visual hallucinations. The research also indicated that the same visual system that humans use to see is active when humans hallucinate or even imagine.
The findings, published in the journal Brain, show a mechanism which may enable normal activity in the brain's vision centers to trigger the hallucinations in the blind. Researchers revealed a connection between resting-state brain fluctuations - mysterious but common brain occurrences which happen when humans are not conscious - and visual hallucinations in the blind.
Jan 28, 2021... Danielle Reed stopped counting after the 156th email arrived in a single afternoon. It was late March, and her laboratory at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia had abruptly gone into Covid-19 lockdown. For weeks, there had been little to do. Reed, who is famous in her field for helping to discover a new family of receptors that perceive bitter flavors, had spent years studying the way human genetics affect the way we experience smell and taste. It was important but niche science that seemingly had little to do with a dangerous respiratory virus spreading around the globe.
May 27, 2021...
The Bat-Tunnel: A Unique Setup for the Study of the Neural Basis of Navigation
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 27, 2021—The brain is often likened to a computer: neurons organized in complex circuits serving as its hardware; its software a plethora of codes that govern the neurons’ behavior. But sometimes the brain performs exceptionally well even when its hardware seems inadequate for the task; for example, the puzzle of how we and other mammals manage to navigate large-scale environments even though the brain’s spatial perception circuits are seemingly suited to representing much smaller areas. A team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky of the Department of Neurobiology, tackled this riddle by thinking outside the experimental box. By combining an unusual research model – fruit bats – with an unusual setting – a 200-meter-long (about one-eighth of a mile) Bat-Tunnel – the team successfully revealed a novel neuronal code for spatial perception. The finding was reported in Science.
Jun 24, 2022... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 23, 2022—Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have found that people may have a tendency to form friendships with individuals who have a similar body odor. The researchers were even able to predict the quality of social interactions between complete strangers by first “smelling” them with a device known as an electronic nose, or eNose. These findings, published today in Science Advances, suggest that the sense of smell may play a larger role in human social interactions than previously thought.
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