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.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/sea-change-climate-change/
Oct 28, 2014...
Talking to a group of sailors, John F. Kennedy said, "we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean."
Unfortunately, for many of us inhabitants of this watery planet, the ocean is something we get to experience only on occasion. But now, thanks to climate change, the way we think about the sea has to change; as The New York Times stated on Sunday, October 26, "In the next four decades ... sea levels are expected to rise by as much as 30 inches." That's two and a half feet. That's a lot. Fortunately, the Weizmann Institute of Science is on the case, studying the stormy relationship between Earth's oceans and its climate.
Mar 19, 2020... Dr. Noam Stern-Ginossar of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Molecular Genetics provides an overview – complete with helpful cartoons – of basic questions: what is a virus? Why is coronavirus worse than the flu? (One reason – it’s new and so we have no immunity.) What are the issues related to developing a vaccine? (Mostly it’s time; otherwise, we know what to do, she reassures us.)
Mar 24, 2020... “Vaccination is life.” Weizmann scientists give us a quick history lesson on the vaccine. Dr. Ziv Shulman, Prof Ruth Arnon, and Prof. Ido Amit explain humankind’s long knowledge of the immune system, Edward Jenner’s discovery of the vaccine, and the public-health implications of vaccination.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/decoy-molecule-neutralizes-a-range-of-viruses/
Jan 07, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 7, 2020—A host of disease-causing viruses called arenaviruses lurk in animal populations in various parts of the world, sometimes crossing over into humans. When they do cross over, they can be lethal, and only very few treatments exist. Researchers led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have now devised a clever decoy for these viruses that may keep them from spreading in the body.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/a-plankton-virus-affects-cloud-formation/
Aug 16, 2018...
The phytoplankton species Emiliana huxleyi, coming soon to a cloud near you. Citation: Emiliania huxleyi. Young & Westbroek, 1991
A species of marine phytoplankton that explodes after contracting a virus may play a role in regulating Earth’s climate, a new study finds.
Emiliania huxleyi is a type of single-celled plant-like organism called a coccolithophore that occurs ubiquitously in the world’s oceans. Under the right conditions, it multiplies rapidly to form giant aggregations, known as blooms, up to several thousand square kilometres in size.
Jun 01, 2020...
A joint project by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Weizmann Institute of Science and healthcare provider Clalit has been to teach the best practices in the fight against coronavirus to Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, communities and medical staffs abroad.
As the peak of the outbreak seems to have come and gone in most of the Western world, the general opinion is that Israel stood the test well. Specifically, the number of deaths was minimized compared to many other countries: as reported by the AFP, with 284 patients who succumbed to COVID-19, the Israel has registered a number of victims equivalent to 31 per million inhabitants, compared with around 310 deaths per million (10 times as many) in the US, about 560 in the UK and 427 in France.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/a-in-digital-science-education/
Apr 24, 2020... Experts from the Department of Science Teaching are the creators of a learning technology platform called PeTeL (short for Personalized Teaching and Learning). Used in hundreds of science classrooms in Israel’s Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking educational sectors, PeTeL gathers real-time data from individual students about what they know and do not know, analyzes student performance using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, then offers students targeted follow-up assignments, in accordance with teacher-defined goals.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/a-sniff-test-for-coronavirus/
May 04, 2020... Prof. Noam Sobel, of the Department of Neurobiology, is a leading authority on how olfaction affects human behavior and health. Data emerging from the coronavirus pandemic show that many patients experience a temporary loss of their sense of smell. So dramatic is this loss that, in some countries, patients who report a sudden loss of olfactory acuity are declared to be coronavirus patients, even without further testing. The CDC recently added olfactory loss as a formal symptom of COVID-19.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/navigating-the-new-normal/
May 06, 2020... To roll back this calamitous cascade of events, we need exit strategies— integrated sets of policies that will enable a responsible re-boot of productivity while minimizing the risk of COVID-19 resurgence. One component within such a broad strategy, recently proposed by the Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Uri Alon and Prof. Ron Milo, rests on a novel mathematical model for public health involving a cyclic schedule of lockdown and free movement.
Apr 02, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—April 2, 2020—Along with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, many COVID-19 patients report a temporary loss of sense of smell. It appears that olfactory loss is significantly greater in coronavirus patients compared to the loss often experienced during a cold and, less commonly, in influenza (non-COVID-19) patients. In some countries, such as France, a patient who claims to have sudden onset of olfactory loss will be diagnosed as a coronavirus patient – without even being tested. A similar approach is being considered in the U.K. Based on this data, Weizmann Institute of Science investigators, in collaboration with Israel’s Edith Wolfson Medical Center, developed SmellTracker – an online platform that enables self-monitoring of one’s sense of smell – in order to detect early signs of COVID-19, or in the absence of other symptoms.
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