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.
Jul 27, 2010...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 27, 2010—A unique device based on sniffing—inhaling and exhaling through the nose—might enable numerous disabled people to navigate wheelchairs or communicate with their loved ones. Sniffing technology might even be used in the future to create a sort of "third hand" to assist healthy surgeons or pilots.
Developed by Prof. Noam Sobel, electronics engineers Dr. Anton Plotkin and Aharon Weissbrod, and research student Lee Sela in the Weizmann Institute of Science's Department of Neurobiology, the new system identifies changes in air pressure inside the nostrils and translates these into electrical signals. The device was tested on healthy volunteers as well as quadriplegics, and the results showed that the method is easily mastered. Users were able to navigate a wheelchair around a complex path or play a computer game with nearly the speed and accuracy of a mouse or joystick.
Mar 25, 2020... In just one week, Profs. Ido Amit and Eran Elinav, both of the Department of Immunology, have built one of the highest-tech labs in the world. They developed a new type of PCR testing that is tremendously fast: if current capabilities test one patient at a time, the new method can test all of Israel simultaneously. The scientists intend to make their method available to anyone who needs it.
Dec 19, 2017... The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, today announced the installation of the Biospec® 15.2 Tesla USR™ preclinical ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument from Bruker. The new instrument is installed in the Daniel Wolf building of the Department of Chemical Research, and is used by the MRI Biosensors laboratory, led by Dr. Bar-Shir, and the laboratory of Professor Neeman, to open new frontiers in molecular and microscopic imaging, adding to the team’s existing world-class MRI instruments.
Nov 05, 2019...
Photo via Shutterstock.com
Stinky cars — everyone knows them. We’ve all stepped inside vehicles with a lingering scent of cigarette smoke, a forgotten banana peel or other olfactory nastiness.
Car dealers and rental agencies typically spray perfume or air freshener to mask offending smells. But about 30% of people don’t like the smell of perfume. Many others are allergic to various scents.
Sep 04, 2015...
Dr Rafal Klajn of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Organic Chemistry has developed a method for coaxing nanoparticles to self-assemble by focusing on the medium in which the particles are suspended.
The existing method of self-assembly requires nanoparticles to be coated with light-sensitive molecules; these then switch the particles’ state when light is shined on them.
However the new research indicates uncoated nanoparticles placed into a light-sensitive medium would be simpler, as the resulting system is more efficient and durable than existing methods. Possible applications range from rewritable paper (paper that does not use ink but instead uses dyes that respond to ultraviolet light), water decontamination, and the controlled delivery of drugs.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/arineta-gets-fda-nod-for-cardiology-ct-device/
Aug 16, 2016... Arineta has obtained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the new cardiac mapping CT device it has developed. $13.5 million has been invested in the company since it was founded in 2006, mostly by private investors, including the Richter family, owners of Medinol and Dr. Shmuel Levinger, owner of the Eynaim chain of eye clinics.. Arineta has signed a strategic agreement with GE Healthcare, which will market Arineta's product. GE Healthcare, the global CT devices leader, markets equipment to cardiology clinics, a booming market segment of interest to the company, in addition to marketing to hospitals.
Feb 24, 2020...
Yael Hallak starts her day at 5 A.M. at home in Tenafly, New Jersey. She writes or reads for two distraction-free hours without a cellphone, laptop or desktop. Just pen and paper by her side.
For that stretch she limits herself to a single task – to delve deeply, to understand, to make progress. Ideas that arise or things that need clarifying make the list she jots down. Hallak is a researcher in the lab of Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University and the author of “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.” Hallak's research focuses on changing one’s habits.
Nov 04, 2010...
A fragrance that sends one woman into a pleasure-swoon might make another hold her nose. What creates the perfect match is a stroke of alchemical luck.
We may be drawn to a perfume for many reasons: because it reminds us of a garden—or a person—we once loved; because we hope it will reduce all men who cross our path to helpless, love-struck fools. It’s difficult to imagine reaching for a scent thinking, Here is a fragrance that will put people off. Yet a quick glance at the discussion boards on juice-junkie sites such as Nstperfume.com or Basenotes.net will verify that a perfume that sends one person into raptures of delight is practically guaranteed to be someone else’s eau no. Just as some will linger in the wake of a cigar with noses aloft while others flee its acrid aftermath, we all experience scent differently.
May 14, 2018...
Students at Israel’s Hakfar Hayarok International School preparing bacteria experiments. Photo courtesy of Weizmann Institute of Science
The 6,000 miles between them made no difference when 200 students in Israel and in the Boston area jointly created evolution in test tubes. The 10-day science experiment helped them understand how antibiotic-resistant bacterial “superbugs” evolve.
The teens designed their experiments on Google Sheets, and these instructions were automatically carried out by a robot in a lab at the University of Massachusetts.
May 28, 2017...
This artist’s concept shows the pole-to-pole orbits of NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
Less than a year into its planned three-year study of the planet Jupiter, NASA’s Juno research spacecraft already has revealed or confirmed facts that the Juno Science Team – including Yohai Kaspi of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science – could only guess at previously.