Thankfully Israel’s recent cold weather
storm has subsided, leaving the country to get back to normal -
whatever “normal” means. Because no
amount of snow
and ice can put a freeze on the latest deluge of the Jewish State’s
medical, scientific and social achievements.
Scientists at Hadassah Medical Center can
now perform lightning
fast checks on women worried about the risk of genetic breast
cancer. They have developed a simple
blood test for the presence of gene mutations BRCA1 and BRCA2 that involves
gene expression profiling – far quicker, cheaper and more accurate than the
previous method of full gene sequencing.
Meanwhile, Israel Technion scientists have discovered that waves of low-power
laser light produce a much faster analysis of an individual’s genome.
Israeli research into brain disease has the
potential to rescue the world from an impending avalanche
of dementia sufferers. This debilitating condition is set to treble
globally by 2050, which is why Israeli scientists were invited to attend the G8 Dementia Summit in London.
The G8 has also established a taskforce on Social Impact Investment, to which
the Israeli organization Social Finance Israel presented an initiative for
tackling type-2 diabetes. It
comprises Social Impact Bonds that invest in companies tackling social or
medical issues and then governments pay dividends based on results.
The Jewish State was rewarded for its flood
of international scientific research contributions when Israel became the first
and only non-Euro member to be elected to the prestigious CERN European nuclear
physics council. Now, if they wish, Israeli scientists can conduct research into
electrical storms using the longest subatomic particle accelerator in
the world. In comparison, the
Israeli-developed Objet30 OrthoDesk 3D printer is tiny, but the torrent
of digital dentistry products that can flow from it is simply jaw
dropping. Small dental labs can now
produce stone models, orthodontic appliances, delivery and positioning trays,
retainers and surgical guides, which previously could only be manufactured by
large laboratories.
There is a constant ebb and flow in
diplomatic contacts between Israel and the Arab world. There was a moderate thaw
in relations when the Jordan-based SESAME scientific research project
chose Professor Eliezer Rabinovici of Jerusalem's Hebrew University as its new
vice president. The media then
positively gushed
with delight when Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority agreed
to build a pipeline from the Red
Sea to the Dead Sea. The initiative will produce millions of cubic
meters of drinking water for the region, replenish the critically dwindling
Dead Sea and generate hydroelectric power.
There was another upsurge in relations when Israel’s Technion received a
cascade of applications from thousands of students from Arab countries,
wanting to enroll in its new online nanotechnology course.
Predicting the weather is extremely
difficult. Israel, however, has some unique knowledge about other high-pressure
systems. Israeli start-up GreenSpense’s “no-gas” eco-friendly
aerosol won 1st place in the Chemistry & Advanced Materials category
at the International Cleantech Open Ideas Competition in San Francisco, the
“Oscar” of clean-technology awards. Meanwhile, the UK Daily Mail’s travel
editor praised El Al’s method of dealing
with the pressure to get airline passengers checked quickly and
securely onto flights. “Maybe it's time
to ditch the security scanner and actually talk to people at airports...it
works for El Al”, he wrote. The
following video also sums it up cold and crisply.
The wind is certainly back in the sails of
Israeli air travelers. Weekly flights between
Tel Aviv and Beijing have just been increased from three to fourteen to
cater for the surge in business demand.
Tourists and commercial fliers will appreciate the news that UK
low-cost airline easyJet is introducing three new
routes to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. They are London Gatwick, Milan Malpensa and
Berlin.
Now that the snowstorm has abated, Israel
can offer a warm welcome to its winter visitors. The International
Winter Soccer Tournament for Youths will be held at Netanya’s new
13,800-capacity stadium. Teams from Serbia, Germany, Moldova and (of course)
Israel will participate and entrance is free of charge. And as the sun comes out again, Israelis can
look forward to the return of Canada’s Cirque du Soleil to warm their
hearts this August or maybe “blow them away” with its award-winning
production "Quidam".
Finally, 11-year-old Uriel Wang from
Jerusalem has been under the weather following two bone marrow transplants to
try to cure his leukemia. The sun came
out for him, however, thanks to the Jerusalem Big Blue Lions football team, who
gave Uriel the opportunity of achieving his dream to play for the team. Just
watch as he thunders in like a tornado to score a
blizzard of a touchdown - with just a little help from both sides.
Hopefully only blue skies from now on.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
