Israel Active

(Thanks to Hazel) A new article about the Optophone, developed by Israeli Professor Zev Zalevsky of Bar Ilan University. It can pick up conversations, heartbeats, even blood pressure and blood glucose levels from hundreds of feet away, without a microphone, using a laser beam with a camera.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Ein Yahav agriculturists have honored singer Justin Timberlake with a melon named for him. They say the Justin fruit – a cantaloupe-like melon – shares the singer’s sweetness and performance power. It has a long shelf life of three weeks.

After its driest winter on record, desalination and recycling means Israel has no water shortage. “We have all the water we need, even in the year that was the worst year ever regarding precipitation,” said Avraham Tenne of Israel’s Water Authority. “This is a huge revolution.”

(Thanks to Uri) When Israelis Nitzan Shafat & Aviv Rozenfeld graduated from the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design they devised the TWEAK. It keeps the kitchen sink draining smoothly, and solves the problem of scooping cold leftovers out of the sink with your bare fingers.

Israeli industrial designer Yoav Mazar has developed the Doona – for those families with infants that want to avoid packing the car with both a car seat and a stroller / buggy. You don’t even need to detach the wheels. It is soon to be launched in Europe.

Israeli renewable energy investment company Sunflower is purchasing licenses to construct up to five wind farms in Finland each producing 20 megawatts of power. The wind farms are expected to be ready within the next two years.

Cisco Systems recently declared the ASR 9000 to be its most successful high-end router in a decade. Good news for Israel’s EZchip, which makes the processor that powers it.

Israeli 12th graders returned from the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) 2014 with two silver medals, three bronze medals and three honorable mentions. Each of the delegation's eight members came home with an award. 27 countries competed.

Three Israeli students from Ben Gurion University won second place at the International Cultural and Academic Meeting of Engineering Students conference (ICAMES), a worldwide engineering project competition organized by the Bogazici University in Istanbul.

Nurit Greenger meets the Israeli companies Cornerstone On Demand, BreezoMeter, NSL.comm., PICO, App-To-Eat and SalientEye that came to Los Angeles to celebrate Israel’s 66th birthday. Also US-Israeli organizations IAC, TAMID at UCLA and SCICC - plus 20,000 people.