Israel Active

Israel has developed several delicious varieties of the Vietnamese Dragon Fruit. Full of anti-oxidants and vitamins, the Bilu, Venus and Desert King pitaya have a reddish or purple flesh and are sweeter than the original Dragon Fruit. They also have a longer shelf life. Enjoy!

Israeli farmers near the Dead Sea use and modify sophisticated water sensors to ensure their tomatoes and peppers received the optimum benefits from a miniscule water supply.

Tel Aviv researchers have developed protein-based semi-conductors from organic materials found in the human body. They could replace silicon to become the basis of a new generation of nano-sized technologies that are both flexible and biodegradable.

Andrea Morandi from Tel Aviv University is a member of one of the two teams of astronomers using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes to map the distribution of dark matter in galaxy cluster Abell 383, located about 2.3 billion light years from Earth.

Israel’s Weizmann Institute has a new centre that will research Physical Anthropology alongside the Timing of Cultural Change. The centre will make use of a new Mass Spectrometry Accelerator that can detect Carbon 14 isotope in minute quantities and perform more accurate carbon dating.

(Thanks to NoCamels) Why stay up all night filtering and formatting the information for your essay? Israeli startup Skills & Knowledge has launched a free app called “sCoolWork” (great name!) to save hours so you can spend more useful time learning about your subject.

The Hebrew University has launched a permanent photo exhibition “Innovators Way” showcasing 27 Hebrew University researchers whose work led to commercial products in fields such as health, safety, environment and nutrition. Their inventions are a microcosm of those of the Start-up Nation.

Popular micro-blog Twitter has finally launched a Hebrew version. The interface joins other new language versions, including Arabic and Farsi. Over 13,000 volunteers contributed to the localization project, including Israelis, Iranians, a Saudi and an Egyptian. Twitter's blog said, "Some of these volunteers live in regions where Twitter is officially blocked". No access problems in Israel, of course!

Dr. Samuel Gan-Mor has developed a blend of edible oils that can be sprayed once a week to keep insects and fungi from munching on tomatoes, zucchini peppers, and grains. Dr Gan-Mor works at the Israel Ministry of Agriculture’s research centre at the Volcani Institute.

Avishai Katko and Maya Braun of Sharett High School have developed a system using solar rays to disinfect and clean water supplies so they are suitable for drinking. The idea won the Intel-Israel 15th Annual Young Scientists Competition.