Israel Active

Israel’s Rosetta Green, which produces special genes that are developed and modified to improve crop production, has signed a deal with international seed manufacturer Bayer CropScience AG to produce seeds to improve cotton yields for farmers.

Apple‘s new development centre in Haifa is looking for hi-tech engineers to expand its operations in Israel. The recent recruiting follows last month’s Apple’s advertisements for workers for Anobit, the Israeli flash memory start-up that Apple bought out in January.

Guy Bar-Nahum’s journey took him from being a Yemenite boy at a Bat Yam yeshiva school, to the IDF’s prestigious Talpiot program; then to Philips, Apple and finally to Samsung. On the way, he assembled Apple’s team that put “1000 songs in your pocket”.

The Weizmann Institute ran another session of its popular lectures in Tel Aviv bars. Topics ranged from alternate realities; the fate of the universe; genetic engineering; and even on how quantum physics works in a glass of beer.

Thanks to a $3million donation, Ben Gurion University will start building a new atom chip and quantum optics research and development facility. It will contain advanced nanotechnology equipment, including sophisticated optics and lasers, high level computing capabilities and complex electronics.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Researchers from Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have developed a cheap, non-toxic solution, which disrupts the DNA of resistant bacteria and renders them susceptible to antibiotics.

A new Israeli app, iOnRoad, is encouraging hundreds of thousands of drivers to drive more safely and avoid collisions. It’s advanced algorithms turn the phone into an intelligent road safety system, with warning facilities and links to other iOnRoad users to exchange details of road hazards.

(Thanks to Herb) For once, the New York Times has published a positive article about Israel, so I’ve just got to include it.

Microsoft revealed the extent of its adoption of Israeli technology at the tech giant’s Think Next event in Tel Aviv. Visitors got a peek at no fewer than 40 new projects being developed at Microsoft’s labs and development centres in Israel.

The Innovation Labs (iLabs) team at Microsoft Israel have developed a technology (called “Alice”) that allows for any mirror or reflective surface to become a three-dimensional display.