As we approach the Jewish
New Year it is appropriate to highlight Israelis and Israeli innovations that
are likely to make a huge impact on our lives in the next few years. Here are
some examples from the latest news stories to help people see the Jewish State
in its true light.
It is hard to see the
future when suffering from poor or non-existent eyesight. So imagine the
foresight that Bar-Ilan Professor Zeev
Zalevsky must have had to invent a bionic contact
lens for the blind that receives the electrical signals from an image
and transmits them to the wearer’s cornea.
From there, the
image is translated, by sensory areas of the brain, into a tactile
sensation that the wearer can interpret visually via the fingertips and the
tongue. Now checkout the other
futuristic innovations that Professor Zalevsky is working on.
Israel’s EyeYon Medical has two
solutions for corneal edema, which afflicts two million new patients
every year. First, a patented contact
lens uses osmosis to release the dangerous fluid build-up. Then a polymer film implant prevents the
fluid forming in the future.
Half of the victims of one of the deadliest
categories of stroke previously never
got to see the future. Now,
thanks to the revolutionary Ventritek105 device from
Tel Aviv’s Biosan Medical, more than 90 per
cent of Intra Ventricular Hemorrhage sufferers who are treated using the device
will survive. Eli
Beer certainly saw the future when he decided to set up United Hatzalah
and its lifesaving ambu-cycles. Eli was
unwilling
to see people die just because ambulances were unable to get through
traffic. United Hatzalah’s two-wheeler
paramedics get to emergencies in 3 minutes. “It’s about saving people,”
says Eli.
I keep urging people to see at how tiny the
State of Israel is on the map of the Middle East. So it is appropriate that some Israeli hi-tech research,
innovations and discoveries involve technologies that you cannot even see with
the naked eye. The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem has just founded the Quantum Information Science
Center to advance computing and communications. Just imagine the size
of the components inside the powerful 5.3 inch by 3.9 inch
Utilite computer from Israel’s CompuLab. And another Israeli computer “giant”
TowerJazz has just announced a major breakthrough in magnetic
technology.
Israeli cleantech is already helping urban
communities around the world to reduce levels of smog and see their environment
more clearly. The latest development
Israel’s SDE Energy is a 100MW sea
wave power plant along the coastline of Conakry – the capital of
Guinea. It is good to see that we
Israelis will also benefit soon from new electric
trains and buses
and power
stations running on natural
gas.
Several of the subscribers to my weekly
newsletter have asked me whether I can see any future emerging from the current
peace talks between Israel and the PA.
I make no comment other than to hope for more of the kind of
co-existence stories that I publicize.
For example, a
partnership between Israeli and Palestinian Arab companies to produce
eco-friendly salt seasoning from the Dead Sea. Or the new industrial park
near Bethlehem, being built with support from France, the PA and Israel.
We also desperately need to see more people
such as the pro-Israel Arab Christians of Nazareth who are trying to convince
more young Arabs to join the army. Their reasoning is “We live in a Jewish
state, which is democratic and free. As Israeli Christians we
see ourselves as part of this state and not as part of those who oppose
it”. And just
look at Ahmed Inaim – a Bedouin Muslim from Nazareth - who enlisted in
the Israel Defense Forces, despite losing one brother who fell in military
service and having seen another brother severely wounded by terrorists in the
same raid that captured Gilad Shalit.
Here, he explains why he chose to extend his service in the IDF.
Finally, we should all be inspired by young
Aviva Krainess from Bet Shemesh, who founded Aviva Productions despite suffering
from Lupus and losing nearly all her eyesight.
Aviva wanted others who are visually impaired to be able to enjoy
entertaining plays and has just finished producing “The Emperor’s Secret” – a
unique production for “The Theatre of the Mind”.
My New Year wish is that with Israeli
ingenuity and positive attitudes we will all see a brighter future.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
