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A Picture Worth 500 Words (or Less)
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on January 16, 2012 YEDA Research and Development Company LTD., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, today announced it has entered into a license agreement with Adobe Systems Incorporated related to a bidirectional similarity measure to summarize visual data. Here are some examples: Before: After: For more information, see our press release or Prof. Irani’s website.
Weizmann and Max Planck Join Forces in Hi-Tech Archaeology Center
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on January 11, 2012 Plaster from human dwellings or the signs of a long-abandoned animal enclosure? Tuesday’s New York Times describes the collaboration between a chemist – structural biologist Prof. Steve Weiner, who is head of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at the Weizmann Institute – and American archaeologists. From China to the nearby site…
Going into the Unknown, Together
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on January 9, 2012 The actors on the stage work their magic, turning a few disparate phrases – “challenge, giving birth, infinity, chaos, visiting a new country” – into a brief but charming improvised sketch, to the delight of the audience. But the viewers, filling a large auditorium at the Weizmann Institute of Science, expect more than to be…
Immunization against Autoimmunity
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on December 27, 2011 Often, simply identifying the structure of a potential drug target protein and designing a molecule to block it are not enough. Just ask Prof. Irit Sagi, a chemist turned biology researcher, who recently developed a clever technique for directing the body to design its own protein-blocking molecules. Sagi studies an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase 9…
No Need for Decryption
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on December 15, 2011 Is it possible to perform operations on encrypted data, while keeping it secure from all prying eyes (or circuits), even if that data is stored remotely, in the “cloud?” Will our end result still be encrypted, and when we decode it with our private decryption key, will our result be correct? To put it another…
Guest Post: Prof. Eilam Gross
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on December 13, 2011 The Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Eilam Gross is currently the ATLAS Higgs physics group convener. He originally wrote this piece in Hebrew for the Yediot Aharonot daily. The Best There Is – For Now “The God Particle,” as the Higgs boson is often called, comes from the title of the book by Nobel laureate Leon Lederman…
Quasicrystals on Tap
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on December 12, 2011 If you followed this year’s chemistry Nobel, you know about the quasicrystal design on the ties made for Prof. Dan Schechtman’s 70th birthday. Even the prime minister was seen sporting one last week. But did you know there is also a quasicrystal scarf? While Prof. Schechtman was getting his white tie and tails ready for…
The Physics of: Ants and Bats
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 29, 2011 This week’s new Weizmann science stories are on ants and bats. Two different models for investigating human behavior? Yes, but not exactly in the ways you might imagine, and so much more than that. Dr. Ofer Feinerman, the “ant scientist,” is a new member of the Physics Faculty. In his graduate research under Prof. Elisha…
The Funny Thing about Protein Folding
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 14, 2011 Proteins are strung together from amino acids attached in long chains, one after the other. But for most proteins, this is just the beginning – next they must fold. “Folding” is the general term for the way that a protein strand twists, coils, winds, pleats and creases into an intricate three-dimensional structure. Only then can…
Teachers Get an Education
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 2, 2011 In this country, as in much of the Western world, we are constantly bemoaning slipping scores in math and science. So here’s a bit of good news: The first 26 science teachers to participate in the Rothschild-Weizmann Program for Excellence in Science Teaching will be receiving their degrees in science education in a few weeks.…