While it has long been known that embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any kind of tissue-specific cells, the exact mechanism as to how this occurs has heretofore not been demonstrated. Now, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and elsewhere have succeeded in graphically revealing this process, resolving a long-standing question as to whether the stem cells achieve their development through selective activation or selective repression of genes.

The collaborative research group, which included Dr. Eran Meshorer of the Department of Genetics at the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has revealed that the embryonic stem (ES) cells express large proportions of their genome “promiscuously.” This permissive expression includes lineage-specific and tissue-specific genes, non-coding regions of the genome that are normally “silent,” and repetitive sequences in the genome, which comprise the majority of the mammalian genome but are also normally not expressed.

A few young Israelis get creative and take to the streets in Tel Aviv for a unique experiment! With dozens of balloons attached, they send a video camera into the sky to take aerial footage of Tel Aviv, then bring it back to earth. Watch this video to see the entire process!

One of the biggest challenges that stands in the way of solar energy is the large spaces needed to set up arrays of solar collectors. Now, researchers at the Technion in Haifa have come up with a way around that barrier–by making solar collection balloons! These contraptions could hover at a height of a few hundred meters and could provide as much energy as a much larger solar panel. Check out the full details of this bright idea on Reuters.

Here some news to flex our envirofinanceexportaqua muscles…

From HAARETZ:

Hi-tech Israeli water companies shoot for world market

After decades of developing water technologies aiming to “make the desert bloom”, Israel has shifted focus to selling its products abroad with a goal of doubling exports in the sector to e2 billion by 2010.

From ultra-violet light technology to purify water to a recycling system using millions of small, plastic rings to breed bacteria and break down organic waste, Israeli innovations are finding buyers abroad. If a United Nations goal of improving sanitation by 2015 is to be achieved, the global market would be worth about e10 billion a year.

Daniel Wild, senior analyst at Zurich-based Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), an independent asset management group managing 8.5 billion Swiss francs (e8.3 billion) in assets, said Israeli technology is leading in two main segments — irrigation and desalination — because it was one of the first countries to develop efficient technologies.

“When it comes to water scarcity, Israel had to have a closer look very early,” Wild said.

About two-thirds of Israel is desert, spurring it to become one of the world’s leaders in water recycling. Seventy-five percent of waste water in Israel is re-used, mostly for agriculture, said Oded Distell, director of international investments at the Industry and Trade Ministry.

Soon after Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared in the 1950s that the future of the Jewish state depended on “making the desert bloom”, engineer Simcha Blass teamed up with a kibbutz farming collective in the Negev desert to form Netafim, a company that introduced to the world a water-sparing process known as drip irrigation.

Thought Angelina and Oprah were the only ones saving the world?

Check out our latest video about MASHAV - Israel’s Centre for International Cooperation, which has trained more than 200,000 people from 140 countries in agriculture, public health and medical programs, community development, integrated rural regional development and other areas.

Way to go!

The “road coloring conjecture” — a problem that was thought up in 1970 and has plagued mathematicians the world over for 38 years — has been solved by an Israeli immigrant from the former Soviet Union.

Professor Avraham Trahtman immigrated to Israel 15 years ago and found work as a security guard and custodian, a common first step for even the most highly qualified FSU immigrants. He later joined the mathematics faculty at Bar Ilan University.

Say, maybe we could make a movie out of this…

Read the full article here.

We can’t believe it has been 5 years since that awful day when Israel’s first astronaut along with the entire Columbia space shuttle crew were lost. Let us not forget those great individuals.

From Ynet:

Science fair marks 5th year of Ilan Ramon’s death

Family, friends of Israeli astronaut gather at World ORT Education Society’s Kiryat Yam science fair to mark the fifth anniversary of Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Ahiya Raved

“Ilan Ramon was an important man, not only in the history of Israel, but for the entire Space Program… I’m proud to continue Ilan Ramon’s work, his study and legacy,” said astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who is visiting a space and science fair in Kiryat Yam, marking the fifth anniversary of Israel’s first astronaut’s death.

The event, sponsored by the World ORT Education Society, was held in commemoration of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Lopez later added that holding the fair in Israel had special meaning.

To know early
By Dudi Goldberg (translated from Yedioth Aharonoth, 18 December 2007)

Professor Hadassah Dagani has developed a revolutionary non-invasive method for early detection of beast cancer and prostate cancer.

The sad truth is that the most effective tool in the fight against cancer is early detection; thus the best treatment is—as banal as it sounds—prevention or, regrettably, early detection.

In a large number of cancer cases, no matter the type (excepting a few types of leukemia where the cure is almost certain), by the time metastatic tumors are discovered, the chances for a cure are not high. This is the background necessary to understand the importance of the discoveries by Professor Hadassah Dagani of the Department of Biological Regulation at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Professor Dagani and her research team developed a very precise yet non-invasive method to detect cancerous growths, even of a small size, using magnetic resonance. The revolutionary method, which has gained FDA approval, is already implemented in several major medical centers in the United States. Besides being very precise, this method reduces the pain associated with an invasive biopsy.

The method even permits assessing the success rates of different cancer treatments at halting tumor development.

Professor Dagani, how does your method work?
The method is based on injecting contrast (a substance that “colors” organs so they can be seen in an MRI) into the patient’s blood stream, and then we follow the contrast with an MRI machine. The rate and pattern of the contrast’s diffusion differs between tumor cells and normal tissue. This method also gives us specific information about microscopic blood vessels that begin to develop in the area of the tumor. This information can also help us forecast the rate of tumor development since the development of blood vessels, which feed the tumor nutrients and oxygen, is necessary for tumor development. Without these “supply lines,” tumor development will slow to a standstill.

How do the blood cells in a tumor differ from blood vessels in normal tissue?
In general, blood vessels in malignant tumors grow in a disorganized fashion and are “leakier” than normal cells; in other words, nutrients enter a tumor at a much higher rate than a normal tissue, so following its progression is clear. An area that the contrast enters much more quickly than other areas is where cancer cells are hiding. By the way, the blood cells of a cyst are leakier than a normal cell but not as leaky as cancer cells.

By: Dudi Goldman

The technique developed by Professors Avigdor Shurtz and Yoram Salomon utilizes photosynthesis to destroy cancer cells.

Professor Avigdor Schurtz of the Department of Plant Sceinces at the Weizmann Institute of Science has studied photosynthesis for years. As you learned in high school, that refers to the phenomenon by which nature converts solar energy to electrical and chemical energy.

The chlorophyll molecule is a dye molecule that drives the photosynthetic process in plants. It takes in solar energy, converts it to electrical energy, and this sets in motion a chain of biochemical processes that result in the production of sugars and oxygen in plants.

Cancer in a family member led Professor Schurtz to think of using chlorophyll molecules to treat cancerous tumors. As with all success stories, chance played its part when Schurtz met a friend and colleague, Professor Yoram Salomon, a biochemist, in the halls of Weizmann. The two decided to join forces to develop a novel approach to treating cancer.

“I researched how bacterial chlorophyll gather light energy and translate it into electrical energy and I thought it might be possible to use this to destroy cancerous tissues,” says Professor Schurtz. “There were already papers regarding this technique, called photodynamic therapy, but they did not produce good results and we thought we could improve upon them.”