Israel Active

The Palestinian Authority in a 2005 land swap deal rejected the Halutzah sand dunes, saying nothing could grow in this desert sand. Now skilled Israeli agriculturalists grow peppers and zucchini in massive greenhouses, and in huge fields carrots and potatoes are harvested for export.

Even the top security people are afraid of the cloud – using business services over the Internet. Israel's Dome9 helps companies secure their cloud servers and has released what is says is the first comprehensive study of security on the cloud.

Established in 1933, Israel’s Frutatom manufactures and markets 20,000 products in 120 countries, comprising high quality flavours and fine ingredients for the food, beverage and cosmetic industries. Its latest acquisition is the UK’s Savoury Flavours, which specialises in savoury taste for convenience foods.

Bezeq International’s new undersea cables linking Israel to Italy’s Internet hub will dramatically improve performance and reduce consumer prices. Tamares Telecom has begun laying a third cable, which will connect Israel to Cyprus, and from there to an international cable network.

A brilliant proposal has been made to build a massive 2,400 MW seawater hydro project using the Mediterranean Sea, and the Dead Sea, which is below sea level. The Dead Sea Power Project would use the ocean to make hydropower, in a world first.

Israel's national water company signed a financing agreement to build a desalination plant, which officials said could allow drought-ridden Israel to export water to its neighbors upon completion in 2013.

My cousin’s Kibbutz Amiad develops products for wastewater treatment. Recently a delegation of Israeli water companies, including Amiad visited Chile, where mining requires large quantities of water. Amiad’s systems help countries like Chile make better use of their water. They were even on the BBC.

(Thanks to NoCamels.com) Israel’s IDE Technologies has developed a transportable clean-tech method of producing up to 10,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day. The reverse osmosis system uses bio-filters rather than chemicals and is ideal for use in disaster areas.

Dr Eran Ofek of the Weizmann Institute of Science, is working as part of an international effort to study supernovae. His results point to a likely scenario in which a medium range star supplies a white dwarf with the extra material needed to turn it into a supernova.

The two million square feet New York City institute on Roosevelt Island will accommodate nearly 2,000 graduate students and 250 faculty staff. Cornell University and the Israel Technion will collaborate in teaching, educating and advising students.