Why Birds Love Professor Reuven Yosef

(Image: Prof. Reuven Yosef, director of the IBRCE, Credit: IBRCE)



Update (7/2): Listen to this post via audio!

Imagine you are a bird, an amazing creature gifted with the ability of flight. Guided by nothing more than instinct and a "bio compass," you seek out nesting grounds you may have never seen in the hopes of expanding your species for another generation.



Unfortunately for you, there are very few "rest stops" along the way, thanks mainly to a two legged creature who has destroyed them in the name of convenience, which means that some of your flock may not be able to make the long, treacherous journey in the sky.



This was a situation facing many birds migrating over the middle east/Mediterranean area--that is until Professor Reuven Yosef (director of the International Birding and Research Center in Eilat) got involved.

(Israel 21^st Century) In 1994, Yosef acquired a 64-hectare strip of wasteland garbage dump east of the expanding town. Begging soil from local earthmoving contractors to bury the tip, he built a salt lake stocked with brine shrimp and fed by nutrient-rich effluent from the local sewage works. Fresh water was piped from the city's desalination plant for a freshwater lake, and the native plants that thrived in the original salt marsh were re-seeded with help from the Jewish National Fund.



Only eight percent the area of the original marshes, the IBRCE sanctuary has slowly transformed into an irrigated ornithological paradise supporting a high density of plants and plenty of food for the birds during their temporary roost - the only food for hundreds of miles in any direction.



"Half a billion birds pass through the area every season. In the spring, they have to stop here to refuel, or may perish," Yosef explains.

The International Birding and Research Center in Eilat (or IBRCE) seems to have helped a variety of birds ranging from Arctic Terns to Grey Herons, to even the Short-toed Eagle.



Note: Hopefully IBRCE can secure more donations as more preserves like this are needed in the region (not to mention the world).

Israel: Curing Heroin, Opiate Addiction Within 36 Hours?

Update (7/3): Listen to this post, courtesy of Bnarrator!

(Image Credit: Karin Kloosterman, via Israel 21^st Century)





Regardless whether its a friend, co-worker or family member, drug addiction can be one of the most devastating things to happen to any relationship.



For those affected by their addictions, their "drug of choice" can easily warp their worldview, and coming clean from their addiction may not only be hard on the body, but often time consuming as well (which can drive up the cost of treatment).



Fortunately it seems as if Dr. Waismann (aka "Dr. Wash"), a doctor hailing from Israel is pioneering a unique way to help addicts of not only prescription opiates, but even heroin and methadone as well.

(Israel 21^st Century) Supervised by Israel's Ministry of Health, Dr. Waismann is a surgeon and intensive care doctor by training. "I use more than medicine," he says. "Heroine [sic] addiction withdrawal symptoms lead to vomiting and are terribly painful," he says. To rapidly overcome the pain aspect, Dr. Waismann puts his patients under general anesthesia for four hours and during this time he washes opiates out of their brain.



He then gives the patient a cocktail of medically approved drugs, to block the opiate receptors in the brain. The whole treatment from start to finish takes 36 hours.



Called the ANR Method for (Accelerated Neuroregulation), Dr. Waismann is at the same time able to reverse both the opiate dependency and its symptoms. The treatment works on heroine [sic], methadone, subutex and prescription opiates. While the cost of treatment is high at 8,600 Euros, Dr. Waismann also treats people with medical insurance in Israel, such as wounded soldiers who have become addicted to painkillers.

While there are rumors that Dr. Waismann is treating patients ranging from average people to celebrities (such as Amy Winehouse), Waismann is refusing to confirm the identities of the patients (to the sorrow of the paparazzi), guaranteeing privacy to individuals seeking help.

Israeli Science: Growing Your Own Playground?

Update (7/3): Listen to this post, courtesy of Bnarrator!

While most playgrounds on planet Earth are built for the amusement of kids, a few Israeli's are planning on creating one grown to help bring a greener awareness towards future generations.

(Israel 21^st Century) Plantware's CEO Gorden Glazer sees the first home prototype ready in about 10 years. Currently the company has taken its patented methods and built park benches, playgrounds, streetlamps and gates - all from trees.

"We are not artists looking for fame," says Glazer, who is motivated mainly by environmental concerns. He tells ISRAEL21c: "We want to create a message that's accessible to as many people as possible." [...]

They understood that they had found a way for growing soft roots, roots that could be eventually manipulated into becoming specific structures.

Today with a patent on the process, Plantware, in operation since 2002, is the first company in the world to take on the challenge of designing furniture, park benches, bus stops and even city dwellings from living trees.

The idea of "growing structures" was originally conceived by Axel Erlandson, who envisioned shaping plants into weird and odd shapes.

While Plantware has been successful in creating small items such as benches, their overall goal seems to be creating playgrounds--and if successful, we may see people demanding "organic houses" in the (mid-distant) future.

Video Highlights Of Israeli Tech (And Health)

Update (7/3): Listen to this post, courtesy of Bnarrator!

It looks as if Israel 21^st Century has created a video highlighting some of Israel's top start ups emerging out of the country--with some of them having the potential to revolutionize our planet (at least within their respective fields).







Companies featured are:

• Oramed (which could bring about oral insulin)
• iMedix (a social network making it easier to find/share health information)
• Millenium Solar (inexpensive efficient solar technology--enough said!)
• Argo-Housing (which could help make houses greener)
• Mobileye (using digital technology to improve road safety)
• ICS Motors (fuel efficient greener motors--that may be cheaper than current models)
• Nanomaterials (producing strong material at the molecular level)
• C-True Imaging (uses your face as a secure login)

More companies can be seen over here.

Harlem Celebrates 60 Years Of Israel

Update (7/3): Listen to this post, courtesy of Bnarrator!

(Hat Tip: IsRealli)







(Image: African American choir celebration Israel's 60^th birthday. Credit: Shachar Azran via Ynet News)



While the neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan is generally known for its celebration of African American culture, it looks as if the folks from Harlem decided to show their thanks for the Jewish state by celebrating the nation's 60^th birthday.

(Ynet News) The Israeli Consulate in New York staged a unique performance at the city's Apollo Theater Tuesday, celebrating Israel's 60th birthday. The main event: A concert headed by Grammy Award winning hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari, who preformed with the Big Apple's most famous gospel choirs. [...]



Ben-Ari won a Grammy in 2004 for her collaboration with American rap artist Kanye West on the hit "Jesus Walks", thus becoming the first Israeli performer to be awarded the prestigious prize.

Miri Ben-Ari has been making the rounds within the R&B movement, and readers can check out a video of Miri's performance (as well as the Harlem celebration) over at Haaretz.com.

Belated: Google Founder Visits Israel

Update (7/3): Listen to this post, courtesy of Bnarrator!

(Image Credit: Haaretz)



Unless you are either from Israel or up-to-date in the world of "geek," you probably would have never realized that Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, visited the holy land recently as a delegate to Peres's Presidential Conference.



Upon arriving in Israel and glimpsing at some of its technology, the Google founder expressed nothing but praise for the Jewish state.

(Haaretz.com) Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Thursday lauded Israeli innovations in technology and environmental efforts, saying Israel "takes our climate challenges very seriously." [...]



He noted that Israel's leading efforts in the field of sustainable energy, saying: "Obviously in Israel they need to innovate with water and things like that. I was really intrigued to see drip irrigation. I just realized that came out of Israel."



Brin gave particular attention to Israel's work in environmentally friendly transportation.

Even though Brin is Jewish, he seems to realize what many government officials, business executives and "green geeks," have already discovered about Israel--that the Jewish state is serious when it comes to protecting its environment, without draining its economy.



Hopefully Israel will be able to export some of this technology overseas (such as hydrogen powered cars, fungus bio-fuel and eco-friendly houses), as it could do wonders in improving our planet.