As if expecting women don’t have enough to worry about, a new scientific study indicates a direct correlation between traffic noise and ambient air pollution and the health of pregnant women and their birth outcomes. Specifically, these environmental influences are proving to increase the incidences of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and low birth weights.
Could woman’s best friend be the missing link in the diagnoses of agressive breast cancer types? Researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel have conducted research proving that specially trained dogs can differentiate the smell of breast cancer cells from non-cancerous cells in cell cultures. The concept of using the sniffing ability of dogs to […]
Israeli archaeologists are baffled by a giant cone-shaped structure submerged beneath the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Twice the diameter of Stonehenge and weighing more than ten elephants, a mysterious cone-shaped structure on the bottom of the Sea of Galilee is challenging archaeologists to determine its purpose and age. The mound was first detected […]
Dubai is prone to frequent dust storms. A new solar panel dust particle remover made in Israel boosts power and cleans off dust at the same time Solar voltaic panels, which at their best only have about 25 percent efficiency for converting direct sunlight into electricity, have even less efficiency than this when dust and […]
Ancient farmers used indigenous knowledge to sustain communities at Avdat in the central Negev as many as seven thousand years ago. That wisom may hold the key to the future according to specialists. I visited Avdat this August on one of the hottest days of the year when temperatures soared well above 40 degrees. Then, atop the […]
The NATO Science for Peace Program and the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) recently awarded grants to researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev to continue working on a novel desalination method. In a region where potable water sources are so scarce, these methods are crucial to water independence and reducing reliance upon […]
As a geography Master’s student at Beer Sheva’s Ben-Gurion University, this semester I took a class in environmental law and policy with Alon Tal (we profiled him here). Our final project was to work on a green plan for Rahat, an Israeli Bedouin city that suffers from serious issues of garbage control, shade, green spaces […]
While in the center of the country, the concern is to improve food quality, public transportation and vehicle efficiency, in the periphery Israel’s decision-makers worry about building a satisfying enough environment to attract and keep young people who otherwise flee to Tel Aviv. This reality was clear at a conference this morning on industry in […]
(ZenithSolar’s Jetson-style sunshine-collecting DPV – concentrating photovoltaic – dishes in the Negev Desert) As the old saying goes: necessity is the mother of invention. And nothing appears to be truer than in the field of alternative forms of energy, especially solar energy. An Israeli company, Zenith Solar, has announced the invention of a new type of […]
For those of you familiar with the typical American college student spring break, you know that it generally entails transporting an Animal House environment to exotic locations such as Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, the Bahamas, or the Carribean. However there has been a movement in recent years to offer students an alternative to these stereotypical spring […]
Israeli Researcher Finds Earth Cracks May Contribute to Global Warming “Fractures breathe, and this process has direct relevance to the question of global warming,” says Dr. Noam Weisbrod –– With the ever increasing shortage in the world’s water resources and dire warning of Israel’s own ongoing drought, research to reduce contamination of existing water resources while […]
With everything going on over the past month, many of our thoughts have been turned towards the southern area of Israel and the Negev. At more than 60% of the country’s land mass, however, the Negev desert should really be part of the Israeli consciousness more often. Community based NGO Shvuat ha-Adamah/Earth’s Promise, based in […]
As a Green Prophet studying at Ben Gurion University, for the last two weeks I have been out of school due to rockets on Beer Sheva. Earlier this week I took advantage of BGU’s location in the desert to hike away from the sirens and remember the beauty of being outside in the undeveloped areas […]
Events and frenetic discussion, both academic and activist in nature, have continued apace here at the 2nd Drylands and Desertification Conference here in Sde Boker, and I’ve taken an afternoon off to process the previous days proceedings. (You can see yesterday’s recap of the conference here.) The theme of day 2 was titled ‘the role […]
Israel's pioneering Desert University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), is currently hosting the 2nd biannual 'Drylands, Deserts and Desertification' conference at their deep desert outpost at the Sde Boker Campus.