GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL….SEE NOTE PLEASE
NO NATION THREATENED ON EVERY SIDE BY IMPLACABLE ENEMIES CONTINUES TO MAKE THESE INCREDIBLE, SCIENTIFIC, LIFE ALTERING AND HUMANITARIAN ADVANCES….BRAVO TO MY E-PAL MICHAEL ORDMAN WHO KEEPS ME PROUD AND OPTIMISTIC…..RSK
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
In the 5th August edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
· An Israeli surgeon restored the use of the hand of a young boy from Latvia.
· A young Israeli suffering from cerebral palsy has qualified as an IDF officer.
· Future computers can get much smaller thanks to an Israeli transistor made of 60 carbon atoms.
· An amazing Israeli material soaks up oil spills in eight minutes.
· A big scandal in Lebanon as they realise that they like Israeli cosmetic products.
· Tel Aviv is to be the first free “Wi-Fi” city and Israel is to have the first free “Social Wi-Fi”.
· This newsletter of Israel’s positive news makes news in San Diego.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Any cell you need. Scientists at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have identified the processes that turn human embryonic stem cells into any type of body cell. It could eventually lead to their use to implant healthy new cells into humans suffering from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
Why good cells go bad. A team led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute have discovered a link between cancer and changes external to the genetic code. Known as epigenetics, this little explored area of study could answer questions about how the body works, grows, gets sick, and cures itself.
A nano-sized drug delivery system. Israel is investing $11 million to develop nanometer-sized drug delivery systems for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. Eleven labs at several universities will try and create an “inter-body robot” – nano-sized particles that can direct medicine and imaging systems to any part of the body.
Israeli surgeon fixes hand of Latvian boy. 12-year-old Kyril suffered from brachial plexus palsy, a rare congenital defect making his right hand useless. Dr. Eidelman, of Rambam hospital in Haifa, rotated the boy’s wrist 65 degrees, moved his shoulder bone and applied an innovative locking plate. (See also next article.)
33 operations in 4 days. Rambam’s Dr Eidelman has just returned from performing a marathon series of orthopaedic operations in Ecuador, mostly on children, as organised by the voluntary California-based ‘Operation Rainbow’. At Rambam, surgeons perform a maximum of ten similar operations a week.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Ramadan Kareem. The IDF and the Civil Administration have facilitated the crossing of thousands of Palestinian Arabs to pray and hold family visits in Israel. Israeli medics are present at checkpoints and soldiers have been requested to refrain from smoking, eating and drinking in public – especially at crossing points.
Despite cerebral palsy he graduates as IDF officer. B.’s partial paralysis in all four limbs made him exempt from the Israeli Defence Forces. But B. volunteered and was assigned to a highly classified Intelligence unit. Now B. has graduated from the IDF officers training course, receiving the Brigade Commander Decoration.
A gem of a school. In the first part of this week’s “Walter’s World” with Walter Bingham on Israel National Radio, Walter visits the YVEL design centre of Orna and Isaac Levy. It has awarded scholarships to 21 young Ethiopian immigrants to train in jewellery manufacture and helps them find jobs in Israel.
A better future for senior citizens. Israel’s senior citizens reform program was launched in Gush Etzion, to extend to the whole country by 2014. Strategic plans will “improve the quality of life, so that its members can lead an active and vital life, while making a significant contribution to the community in which they live”.
Leading the teaching. 70 US educators are visiting Israel as part of a leadership development program. They are participating in the REALITY Israel program in partnership with Teach For America. In Israel, they will meet with their counterparts in Teach First Israel, which has 143 teachers working in 33 schools across Israel.
An inspiration for smaller nations. This is a very interesting article by Richard Marceau, about a group of Quebec nationalists (not usually pro-Israeli) visiting the Jewish State. They came to learn from the country that has had arguably the biggest success in nation building in the modern world. Their impression? “Inspiring”.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Memory chips too small to see. Tel Aviv University doctorate student Elad Mentovich has designed a molecular memory transistor, which can be as small as one nanometer. Using carbon molecules called C60, Mentovich has successfully built a sophisticated memory transistor that can both transfer and store energy.
Israelis get the most from their smartphones. Israelis lead the world in the usage of smartphone applications. The average Israeli smartphone owner spends 80 minutes a day running applications. Next comes Sweden (76 mins) and Singapore (75 mins). USA users spend only 38 minutes on their smartphone apps.
Report dangerous drivers. Another Israeli app can help make driving safer. Nirsham’s smartphone software allows a witness (pedestrian or driver) to take a series of high-speed photos that record an incident. The user states the vehicle’s license plate number, after which the record is automatically sent to Nirsham’s servers.
It’s only natural. O2a studio has designed Jerusalem’s Natural History Museum to blend into its surroundings. The subterranean facility preserves energy in summer and winter, whilst its green roof, glass backdrop, tree etchings and stone cladding merge with the public park where it is located.
What a way to clean up. (Thanks to NoCamels) Israeli CleanTech start-up EcoBasalt has developed SB-1, a sustainable material made of basalt fibres that can absorb oil spills faster and more efficiently than other solutions. After 15 minutes, 97% of the oil is absorbed and the oil and SB-1 can be recycled later.
Turtle gets plastic surgery. (Thanks to Israel21c) Dr. Morris Topaz, Head of the Plastic Surgery Unit at Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera, saved the life of a Caspian Turtle at Ramat Gan Safari Park with a huge crack in its shell. He applied a device normally used on victims of terror who have lost large areas of skin.
Saving the bluefin tuna. Israel has succeeded in breeding the endangered bluefin tuna in cages in the Mediterranean Sea. The species travels through Israel every year for about three weeks for its breeding season. Over fishing for the sushi market in Japan, Europe and the USA, has led to steep declines in their numbers.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Tel Aviv to get free Wi-Fi. Tel Aviv municipality’s finance committee has voted to allocate NIS 6 million to make free wireless Internet available all over the city. Tel Aviv will apparently be the first city to offer free Internet on such a broad scale.
The world’s first Social Wi-Fi. Bezeq has launched a scheme whereby customers donate part of their Internet service to support free wifi for other Bezeq customers. So you can surf the net away from home and others can surf when outside your home.
Cleaning up polluted Chinese wastewater. Israeli CleanTech start-up WateRevive has won a $40 million contract to purify water from the Leachate Landfill – one of China’s municipal waste heaps.
Pay as you drive – electrifying. Better Place Israel has announced the commercial launch of its Renault Fluence all-electric vehicles. It includes a low-usage package for about $150 per month. Now how do I persuade my wife that I need one?
EU’s links to the Start-up Nation. In a speech at Haifa University, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso singled out cooperation in education, research and innovation as “one of the biggest achievements of our partnership”. Israel is currently participating in over 800 EU funded projects.
Israeli caviar? (Thanks to Israel21c) A kibbutz fish farm with a kosher license is producing Russian caviar for the non-Jewish market. The export of caviar from endangered Caspian and Black Sea sturgeon was banned in 2006. At $107 for a 28gram tin, Kibbutz Dan exports over 4 tons of caviar to the USA, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore and Australia.
Lebanon uses Israeli cosmetic products. Campaigners to boycott Israel have exposed the “scandal” on the Arab media site Alakhbar. Israeli products include those from Syneron, Lumenis, Alma and Invasix. The EoZ site highlights that these products also remove disfigurations on children, and Lebanon uses many Israeli medicines and life-saving treatments. So they are “cutting off their nose to spite their face”. (English idiom)
ENTERTAINMENT, CULTURE & SPORT
Israeli fashion designer wins award in Italy. (Thanks to Israel21c) Fashion designer Mark Goldenberg is the winner of the first Avery Dennison Brand Innovation Award for his innovative apparel branding collection at International Talent Support (ITS) in Trieste, Italy. He also won the Vogue Talents Award for his accessories.
Hot events for August. Get the low-down on the best of the month’s events in Israel here.
THE JEWISH STATE
Seven years cycle of Talmudic study completed. 20,000 Jews celebrated together in Teddy Stadium Jerusalem (Israel’s capital city). Another 11,000 gathered in Tel Aviv. The occasion was the completion of the seven-year Daf Yomi cycle where hundreds of thousands study a page of Talmud every day.
(If you read this JPost article, please note my comment to the author).
Future Jewish leaders visit Israel. A guest blog from Samantha Friedman describing the 3-week visit by 120 Diller Teen Fellows from North America who have come to Israel in order to learn how to lead the next generation and inspire them to help repair the world.
350 US immigrants to join IDF. This summer, 350 young Americans have decided to make Aliya with Nefesh b’Nefesh in order to join the ranks of the Israel Defence Forces immediately. Most of the expected arrivals are setting their sights on elite or combat units.
Nobel laureate also makes jewellery. Technion Professor Dan Shechtman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals. But not a lot of people know that he is also a talented jewellery craftsman. He recently exhibited 15 unique pieces that he made for his wife Zippy.
Israel’s most powerful computer ever. The Technion’s new supercomputer is the most powerful computing cluster ever deployed for civilian use in Israel. The “Tamnun” (Hebrew for octopus) is an SGI Infiniband Cluster, consisting of 1260 processor cores, with 96 GB of RAM memory per node. Nerds like me just sigh.
Broadcasting the news. Thanks to Donald Harrison, editor of San Diego Jewish World, who has published a feature about the editor of the newsletter you are now reading. Please click on the following to read it.
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