Israel Active

The WSCI 2015 World Science Conference Israel in Jerusalem not only had 15 Nobel Prize winners under one roof, it also featured Magic, Science, Technology and lots of inspiration.

It took Israel’s NRGene just 3 months to map out the genome for wild Emmer wheat – a task that had eluded dozens of scientists from 55 countries. It will now be easier to develop hardy varieties of wheat that will thrive in drier, hotter climates and help relieve world hunger. And related article by Sharon.

Enlight Renewable Energy (part of Israel’s Eurocom Group) has just closed a deal worth 24 million Euros to build a 14MW windfarm in Ireland and more are planned. Ireland is aiming to generate 40pc of all its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Israel releases a new stamp on Oct 10 to celebrate the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Israel’s Arieh Warshel, one of the joint laureates for Computational Chemistry, was the key researcher who deciphered the role of the protein rhodopsin - the biological pigment in retina cells.

Only in Israel would a startup develop an app that connects people who want help with those who wish to give help. Angels Nearby uses a search engine to connect people based on the type of help needed, “trust level” (everyone, Facebook friends only, friends of friends), and location.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have used the Israeli developed app Polly to park their cars in Tel Aviv. It is now being expanded to Jerusalem. Polly uses GPS, crowdsourcing, municipal information and its own algorithm to guide drivers to streets where spaces are more likely to be available.

Israel’s Salt of the Earth has successfully reduced the sodium content of canned tuna by 35% with its new Umami Essence ingredient - a proprietary, natural liquid formula derived from vegetables and sea salt. In trials, the taste was indistinguishable from ordinary tuna in brine.

Three members of Team Israel won bronze medals at the oldest (and perhaps toughest) high school competition - the International Chemistry Olympiad, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Teams used chemicals to synthesize material and identify unknown elements.

For the first time in Israel, a Clean Air Zone will be enacted, banning polluting diesel-powered vehicles from areas of Haifa, as part of a five-year plan announced by the Environmental Protection Ministry to reduce air pollution and environmental hazards in the Haifa Bay area.

Israeli Eylon Porat has built an accessory for his daughter’s computer. It comprises an exercise bike that she has to pedal in order to unlock games on the computer for a certain time period. When she run out of credits the computer locks again until she pedals enough “credits” to unlock it.