This Weeks Sanity Report from Israel! Jews from all over the world, including Israel, at a Birthright event in Jerusalem. (Photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90) North American students are working at Israeli firms to learn business and experience the country, ‘Taglit style’
This Weeks Sanity Report from Israel highlights include:
- Israeli researchers have discovered a protein that triggers Alzheimer’s.
- The Israeli Embassy in Kenya has renovated a Nairobi hospital’s cancer ward.
- It’s official – Israel is the world’s top country for clean technology.
- An Israeli scientist has developed a packaging to keep fruit and vegetables fresh.
- A turnaround? – Two Israeli hi-tech companies have taken over US firms.
- A Jewish family living in war-torn Syria has been rescued and brought to Israel.
Thanks to our friend Michael Ordman-goodnewsfromisrael
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Non-invasive test for artery function. Israel’s Itamar Medical manufactures the EndoPAT diagnostic device that measures how well your arteries are working. Japan’s Nihon Kohden will market EndoPAT to 100,000 doctors in Japan as its flagship product for monitoring the heart and blood vessels.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-itamar-medical-signs-distribution-agreement-in-japan-1000947940
Tiny propellers can steer to the cells. Nano-sized propellers have been developed by researchers at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. They have the potential to deliver cancer-killing chemicals directly to tumors without harming healthy cells.
Kidney cells can regenerate. Until recently, scientists believed that the liver was the only internal organ that could regenerate. Now researchers at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv University and Stanford University have traced cell growth in the kidney. By speeding up growth they may in the future cure Chronic Kidney Disease.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/discovery-could-spare-patients-from-kidney-transplant/
Molecules responsible for depression. Weizmann scientists have identified a microRNA molecule miR135 that controls the levels of serotonin in the brain. Patients suffering from depression have unusually low miR135 levels in their blood. A treatment and diagnostic test are to be developed by miCure Therapeutics.
Positive results in Type 1 diabetes treatment study. Israel’s Redhill Biopharma announced preliminary positive data from a pre-clinical study with RHB-104 for the treatment of Type 1 diabetes. Trials of RHB-104 for treating Crohn’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis are on going and are planned for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140626-905884.html
Researchers find major clue toward Alzheimer’s cure. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered one of the reasons for the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. A molecular mechanism involving amyloid precursor protein (APP) elevates brain neuron function and “short-circuits” brain communications.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/researchers-find-major-clue-toward-alzheimers-cure/
ReWalk gets US FDA approval. US health regulators have approved the ReWalk exoskeleton system developed by Israel’s Argo Medical. ReWalk’s leg braces, motion sensors and motorized joints respond to subtle changes in upper-body movement and shifts in balance, allowing paraplegics to stand and walk.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-regulators-okay-israeli-made-robotic-legs/
Doctors remove 8 objects swallowed by infant. Specialists at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah extracted 8 various foreign bodies from the esophagus of a 14-month-old infant. Gastroenterologists, nutritionists and otolaryngologists extracted pumpkin seeds, orange pits, humous balls and various pebbles.
http://www.schneider.org.il/Eng/Index.asp?ArticleID=918&CategoryID=119&Page=1
A clinic to help diabetics age better. The Center for Successful Aging with Diabetes at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer is a model for how diabetes can be managed. Patients get a five-hour physical and cognitive checkup plus a plan of how to manage diabetes and avoid complications such as dementia.
http://www.israel21c.org/health/how-to-age-successfully-with-diabetes/
http://eng.sheba.co.il/Sheba_News/411.htm
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Israel is a gateway to the Arab world. Due to the Syrian conflict, numbers of trucks crossing between Israel and Jordan has risen 300 percent since 2011, to 10,589 trucks a year. Exports from Turkey via Israel for passage on to other countries were 77,337 tonnes in 2013 (17,882 in 2010). There are major plans for further expansion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/us-israel-trade-insight-idUSKBN0F63DF20140701
Israel renovates cancer ward in Kenya. (Thanks to Uri) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman inaugurated a pediatric oncology ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, renovated by the Embassy of Israel in Kenya. Israel’s MASHAV will facilitate specialized training for the medical personnel.
Israel finds Allies in the Balkans. An Albanian delegation visited the Jewish State along with its Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati who pointed out that relations with Israel began before the creation of the Jewish State. Now Israel’s entrepreneurs, natural gas and water management systems are cementing that friendship.
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63597653
North American students get business skills in Israeli companies. In the Birthright Israel Excel Business Leadership Program program’s fourth year, 40 students from top universities in the US and Canada, are interning in Israel with companies including Citi, Amdocs, General Motors, Microsoft, Tnuva and Wix.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/birthright-tech-intern-program-begins-fourth-year/
Israel is the number 1 CleanTech country. Israel came top of the 2014 Global Cleantech Innovation Index of The Cleantech Group and World Wildlife Fund. It stated Israel “generates the culture, education and ‘chutzpah’ necessary to breed innovation, plus it has the survival instincts to manage a resource-constrained geography.”
http://israelnewtech.com/2014/07/israel-best-place-planet-clean-tech-entrepreneurs-according-cleantech-group-wwf/ http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/cleantechrepsm.pdf
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Perion protects Lenovo browsers. Israel’s Perion has developed the Lenovo Browser Guard that will be pre-installed on Lenovo laptops, PCs and tablets. It stops Internet sites from installing unwanted software on your computer. It also prevents unauthorized changes to the computer’s default browser and settings.
http://mail.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=855374
Electronic nose can smell bombs. Tel Aviv-based Tracense Systems has developed the world’s first nanotech-based “electronic nose” to sniff out security threats like bombs, biological warfare agents, and toxic liquids. The ‘laboratory-on-a-chip’ sensors even outperform “sniffer” dogs.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-nanotech-innovation-can-smell-bombs/
Another top-quality Israeli mobile camera. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s LinX Imaging has developed miniature multi-aperture cameras for mobile devices. Twin sensors provide far better quality than standard single sensors. Functionality includes 3D face recognition and ability to refocus even after capture.
Israel’s first thermo-solar power plant. Israel is set to enter the thermo-solar arena by constructing the first thermo-solar field in Israel, at Ashelim in the Negev. The NIS 2.9 billion ($850 million) sun tower will generate 121MW of electric power (sufficient for a medium size Israeli city), which will be fed into the Israeli grid.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-ashelim-thermo-solar-project-obtains-nis-235b-finance-1000950074
UK Guardian “discovers” Israeli chemical scanner. I always like to highlight when anti-Israel media feature an Israeli innovation. It took the UK Guardian newspaper 2 months to report on Consumer Physics’ SCIO sensor. I wonder what the sensor indicates when Guardian reporters test it on their brains.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11423841
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/05/01/scio-game-changing-consumer-product/
Nano-crystals to illuminate your display. (Thanks to Israel21c) Israel’s Qlight has won the Best Nanotech Company of the Year award at Nanotech Israel 2014. Its nano-crystals enhance the quality and colors of LCD TV screens and LED lights while reducing energy consumption. Qlight is 50% owned by Merck.
http://www.israel21c.org/environment/the-colors-on-your-tv-and-phone-are-about-to-pop/
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw-rQc_ndWI&w=520&h=315]
Molecule that disrupts bacteria in food packaging. Graduate student Michael Brandwein from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has incorporated a new module TZD into cardboard packaging for agricultural produce. TZD was synthesized at the HUJ, which is working with Kibbutz Beit Guvrin to commercialize the process.
http://new.huji.ac.il/en/article/21899
Develop your website with Webydo. Israel’s Webydo is one of the fastest growing designer communities in the world and has raised $7 million in investment for its website-creation cloud platform. With it, designers can create, manage, and host innovative websites, without writing code or hiring developers.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
20 Israeli ICT companies showcase at Communicasia 2014. Twenty innovative Israeli Information and Communications Technology companies exhibited under the Israel National Pavilion at Asia’s most established ICT, broadcast and digital multimedia trade event. 50,000 people attended the four-day event in Singapore.
http://itrade.gov.il/singapore/2014/06/27/successful-communicasia-2014/
Israel to fund applied engineering research.Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space plans to establish a new NIS 150 million a year fund (NIS 500,000-750,000 per project) to support applied research in engineering. The initiative is designed to alleviate Israel’s current shortage of engineers.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-govt-to-invest-nis-150m-in-engineering-research-fund-1000947650
New agro-tech factory for Georgia USA. Israel’s Haifa Group, manufacturer of fertilizers for agriculture and chemicals for the food industry, is to build a new controlled-release fertilizer manufacturing facility in Savanah, Georgia. The company will invest a reported $12 million and create about twenty new jobs.
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/06/29/israeli-group-to-open-new-plant-in-georgia/
Perion grows by acquiring Grow Mobile. Israel’s Perion is to buy US company Grow Mobile for its mobile advertising platform. Perion’s advanced technology and solutions monetize the application or content of online publishers and app developers and expand their reach to larger audiences.
EZchip acquires Tilera. Another Israeli takeover of a US company. Israeli microchip maker EZchip Semiconductor is to buy USA’s Tilera Corporation for $130 million. Tilera develops high-performance multi-core processors and intelligent network interface cards. The purchase will double EZchip’s market.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-ezchip-acquires-tilera-for-130m-1000950681
The best-designed handbag of 2014. From over 1,500 applicants, the 2014 Bernina Best Handmade Handbag award went to Tel Aviv-based, two-woman design team, MeDusa. The Independent Handbag Designer Awards were founded in 2007 to celebrate handbag design and creativity from around the world.
http://www.israel21c.org/news/israeli-mini-clutch-wins-intl-handbag-award/
http://thehandbagawards.com/finalists/2014/Gili%20Rozin%20Tamam
TowerJazz opens sales & support office in Japan. Israeli integrated circuit manufacturer TowerJazz will open a new office in Kyoto, Japan to support its venture with Panasonic. TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Company already has 3 factories in Japan.
http://www.towerjazz.com/prs/2014/0701.html
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Do you pass the Israel test? Non-Jew, George Gilder has produced a 5-minute video summary of his classic book “The Israel Test”. How do you view success? Do you envy it because it somehow diminishes you? Or do you admire it and try to emulate it? The book is an excellent educational and inspirational read.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfN2IvnIA4M&w=520&h=315]
This Weeks Sanity Report from Israel
Ester Rada chosen for World Music Expo. Israeli ethio-soul singer Ester Rada has been chosen to feature at the highly prestigious WOMEX (World Music Expo) festival in Spain in October. Organizers received over 850 showcase proposals and Rada was among the first 10 acts to be selected of the 60 to be spotlighted.
http://israel21c.org/news/womex-selects-ester-rada/
66 top things to do in Israel this summer for FREE. (Thanks to Israel21c) Traveling around Israel doesn’t have to be pricey. In fact you can experience, see, taste, tour and get a feel of Israel on a tight budget!
http://tracks.roojoom.com/u/israel21c,1213/66-top-things-to-do-in-israel-this-summer-for-free,7160
The world’s largest social soccer news website. (Thanks to Nocamels.com) Founded in 2011 by four Israeli entrepreneurs, the world’s largest fan-generated soccer website FTBpro has over 2,000 passionate “fan writers”. They write thousands of articles each month in nine languages for an audience of more than 10 million readers.
This Weeks Sanity Report from Israel
THE JEWISH STATE
Someone must be looking out for him. Yaron Shadadi was walking with his dog near a Sderot paint factory when it went up in flames after a rocket attack from Gaza. Shadadi was lightly wounded and treated in Ashkelon hospital. In Nov 2012, Shadadi’s home suffered a direct hit from a Gaza rocket but he was unhurt.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4535914,00.html
Syrian-Jewish family smuggled to Israel. A family, which reportedly includes both Muslim and Jewish members has fled civil war-torn Syria and is now living in a government absorption center near Tel Aviv. The NGO Israel Flying Aid and an Israeli-American businessman orchestrated their escape.
http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2014/7/3/syrian-jewish-family-smuggled-to-israel#.U7W3FECKhD0
This Weeks Sanity Report from Israel
