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.
Feb 24, 2020... Think about the last time you had a cold. Think how weird it felt to not be able to smell or taste anything just because your nose was clogged up. That is, to an extent, the life of people with anosmia: the term for not being able to smell. Some patients are born with it. For others, it is the result of a neurological diseases, and for others still, it comes from a surgery that removed or damaged the olfactory bulb (OB). For a long time, it was believed that without an OB, a person would not be able to smell, but a team of researchers in Israel found patients who might prove that notion wrong.
Sep 05, 2017... September is World Alzheimer’s Month – a fact that highlights the disease’s unfortunate status as a major, ongoing, global health crisis. There are many intersecting reasons that Alzheimer’s disease is on the rise; ironically, most of them are also advances, such as better healthcare, prevention, nutrition, safety, and the like, all of which lead to increased longevity. And while Alzheimer’s is a disease of the aging brain, there is also a significant genetic component to this devastating illness. As of now, despite many years and many billions of dollars, there is no truly effective treatment, much less a cure.
Mar 17, 2019...
Taking a deep breath in through the nose appears to help the human brain create a laser-like focus on visuospatial tasks, according to a new study by a team of researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. This paper, “Human Non-Olfactory Cognition Phase-Locked with Inhalation,” was published March 11 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
As the title of this electroencephalography-based study suggests, the researchers found that breathing in through the nose—without the intention of sniffing a scent or catching a whiff of something based on the olfactory-based sense of smell—synchronized EEG brain activity on a wavelength that helped to optimize visuospatial acuity. In many situations, survival of the fittest requires a perfect blend of nasal inhalations, laser-like mental focus, and quick thinking.
May 26, 2016...
A receptor related to stress turns out to be related to eating - in female mice. Credit: Reuters
Studying a protein in the brain that is related to stress may have led to insight on why women are more prone than men to eating disorders.
Granted, the findings at the Weizmann Institute of Science were made on mice, among whom anorexia isn't usually a problem. But the serendipitous discovery may well apply to all mammals.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/noses-agree-when-genes-see-eye-to-eye/
Jun 29, 2015... Two decades ago, Swiss researchers had women smell the tee shirts that various men had slept in for two nights. Turned out that if women liked the aroma of a particular shirt, the guy who’d worn it was likely to have genetically coded immunity that was unlike the woman’s. Well the effect isn't just limited to sweaty shirts. Turns out we all smell things a little differently – you pick up a note of cloves, say, where I smell something more soapy – and that too gives clues to our degree of genetic similarity.
Jan 15, 2017...
Credit: akindo via iStock
How do humans and other animals find their way from A to B? This apparently simple question has no easy answer. But after decades of extensive research, a picture of how the brain encodes space and enables us to navigate through it is beginning to emerge. Earlier, neuroscientists had found that the mammalian brain contains at least three different cell types, which cooperate to encode neural representations of an animal’s location and movements.
Apr 07, 2016... The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now states that about 1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and that ASDs are five times more common in boys (1 in 42) than girls (1 in 189). ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities characterized by impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and ability to relate to others. The condition’s cause or causes are still unclear, and seem to be multiply determined – for example, a combination of genetic and environmental factors could be to blame.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-november-2011/
Nov 11, 2011... Twenty-six science teachers have completed advanced studies in the Rothschild-Weizmann Program for Excellence in Science Teaching and will be awarded MSc degrees in science teaching from the Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science. This unique program, the first of its kind in Israel, is designed for high-school science teachers. In the upcoming year, about 100 will be enrolled in the two-year program.
Jun 17, 2013...
How does a social animal — mouse or human — gain dominance over his or her fellow creatures? A unique experiment conducted by Dr. Tali Kimchi and her team in the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Neurobiology provides some unusual insight into the social behavior that enables a social hierarchy, complete with a head honcho, to form.
Dr. Kimchi and her research team, Aharon Weissbrod, Genady Wasserman, and Alex Shapiro, together with Dr. Ofer Feinerman of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems, developed a system that enabled them to observe a large group of animals living together in semi-natural conditions. This setup was a sort of mouse version of the television show Big Brother. Different strains of mice were placed in the “house” — a four-meter-square pen — and allowed to go about their lives with no intervention from the human team. To automatically track the mice day and night, each mouse was implanted with an ID chip similar to those used in pet cats and dogs, and video cameras were placed strategically around the area, with infrared lighting that enabled nighttime filming. With the combined chip reporting and continuous video footage, the system could automatically keep tabs on each individual mouse, knowing its precise location down to the half centimeter, in measurements that were recorded 30 times a second for days — and sometimes even months — on end.
May 12, 2010...
Neuroscientists have found that the mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, responds normally in individuals with autism. Their findings counter theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties exhibited by individuals with autism. Photo © iStockphoto/ktaylorg.
A team of neuroscientists has found that the mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, responds normally in individuals with autism. Their findings, reported in the journal Neuron, counter theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties exhibited by individuals with autism.
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