Tapping particles of light: Scientists single out individual photons
At the Weizmann Institute of Science, researchers have managed to 'pluck' a single photon—one particle of light—out of a pulse of light. The findings of this research, which appeared this week in...
View ArticleRare disease is a lens on cancer
What can a rare genetic childhood disease teach us about cancer? Dr. Ayelet Erez of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department says: "A single-mutation disease can act as a 'lens.' If we...
View ArticleProteins better known as visual sensors play a role in the heat-seeking...
In their arduous journey to the egg, sperm 'feel' the heat of the fallopian tube and 'taste' the chemical signals of the ova. But a new Weizmann Institute study published in Scientific Reports shows...
View ArticleTOOKAD Soluble approved for prostate cancer therapy in Mexico
A therapy invented at the Weizmann Institute of Science and clinically developed in collaboration with Steba Biotech (Luxembourg) has been approved by Cofepris, Mexico's health authority, for the focal...
View ArticleYour symptoms? Evolution's way of telling you to stay home
When you have a fever, your nose is stuffed and your headache is spreading to your toes, your body is telling you to stay home in bed. Feeling sick is an evolutionary adaptation according to a...
View ArticleTiny 'flasks' speed up chemical reactions
Miniature self-assembling "flasks" created at the Weizmann Institute may prove a useful tool in research and industry. The nanoflasks, which have a span of several nanometers, or millionths of a...
View ArticleCalculating whiskers send precise information to the brain
As our sensory organs register objects and structures in the outside world, they are continually engaged in two-way communication with the brain. In research recently published in Nature Neuroscience,...
View ArticleGerms, humans and numbers: New estimate revises our microbiome numbers downwards
How many microbes inhabit our body on a regular basis? For the last few decades, the most commonly accepted estimate in the scientific world puts that number at around ten times as many bacterial as...
View ArticleCoral on a chip cracks coral mysteries
We know that human-induced environmental changes are responsible for coral bleaching, disease, and infertility. Loss of the world's stony coral reefs - up to 30% in the next 30 years, according to some...
View ArticleScientists find that our cells' power plants run on timers
When one eats may be as important as what one eats. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science and in Germany, which recently appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...
View ArticleTemporary disconnects shed light on long-term brain dysfunction
Will we ever be able to understand the cacophonous chatter taking place between the 80 million neurons in our brains? Dr. Ofer Yizhar and his group in the Weizmann Institute of Science's Neurobiology...
View ArticleStress receptor found to regulate metabolic responses to stressful situations...
In the face of stress, our body diverts metabolic resources to its emergency response. It has been thought that the sympathetic nervous system - the body's instinctive system for reacting to stress -...
View ArticleEating air, making fuel: Scientists engineer bacteria to create sugar from...
All life on the planet relies, in one way or another, on a process called carbon fixation: the ability of plants, algae and certain bacteria to "pump" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the environment, add...
View ArticleDisrupted immunity in the fetal brain is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders
Disrupted fetal immune system development, such as that caused by viral infection in the mother, may be a key factor in the later appearance of certain neurodevelopmental disorders. This finding...
View ArticleBowtie-shaped nanostructures may advance the development of quantum devices
Bowtie-shaped nanoparticles made of silver may help bring the dream of quantum computing and quantum information processing closer to reality. These nanostructures, created at the Weizmann Institute of...
View ArticleGut microbes contribute to recurrent 'yo-yo' obesity
Following a successful diet, many people are dismayed to find their weight rebounding – an all-too-common phenomenon termed "recurrent" or "yo-yo" obesity. Worse still, the vast majority of recurrently...
View ArticleHow do creatures like sea urchins take up the calcium they need to build hard...
Some sea creatures cover themselves with hard shells and spines, while vertebrates build skeletons out of the same minerals. How do these animals get the calcium they need to build these strong mineral...
View ArticleDouble whammy for triple negative breast cancer
A promising new combination therapy for a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer has been identified by Weizmann Institute scientists, as was recently reported in Cancer Research. The potential...
View ArticleWise plant analysis
Here's a reason not to peel tomatoes: A new method of plant analysis, developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, has identified healthful antioxidants in tomato skins. In fact, as reported...
View ArticleGene editing takes on new roles
What combinations of mutations help cancer cells survive? Which cells in the brain are involved in the onset of Alzheimer's? How do immune cells conduct their convoluted decision-making processes?...
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