This week, 25 open water swimmers endured seven hours paddling throught the hypersaline waters of the Dead Sea to draw world attention to the environmental degradation of that three million year old lake. Equipped with facemasks and snorkels specifically designed to protect them from the mineral-rich water, they dove in on the Jordan shoreline, and emerged in […]
Israel! You are so good at so many things beyond technology. And food, as locals and tourists know is becoming Israel’s rising star. With hyper-local fresh food production capabilities, Israelis from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem enjoy traditional Mediterranean food, hybridized with any international trend. It makes complete sense in a country that’s into food, and […]
The sheer horror of it was understandable when the first photos of deformed infants began appearing in local and international news reports. Perhaps not as deadly as Ebola, which was considered to be “out of control” in parts of West Africa in 2014, the Zika virus, said to be carried by a once common mosquito, Aedes aegypti (photo […]
The world’s increasingly polluted seas and oceans, as well as rising sea levels, are now becoming a sad reality as Mankind’s contribution is becoming increasingly evident. Whether this causes massive fish die-offs, or other ecological catastrophes like toxic coast pollution, more and more of the world’s environmental problems are being linked to human caused abuse of natural resources. Israel’s long […]
It’s all the rage. Eating Paleo, or like Paleolithic man has benefits, adherents to the New Age diet claim (here are 5 steps to going on a Paleo Diet). But while Paleo people cite red meat as part of the mainstay of their diet (eating what ancient Paleolithic man was supposed to eat), I have […]
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads!” Fans of the 1985 film “Back to the Future” watched the year 2015 slip from a promising future into a disappointing past with no sign of time travel, Mr. Fusion or flying cars. And while hoverboards came surprisingly close to reality, even these require roads (of solid […]
There’s a movie called 27 Dresses about a woman who finds love and finally gets to wear a wedding dress after serving as a bridesmaid, 27 times. You might think that “24 shirts” refers to a similar movie about a 24-time groomsman – but not so. It actually describes a recent fashion innovation by Israeli […]
Prehistoric cave men are thought of as club-wielding brutes who roast animals on logs, but the latest findings about pre-historic man suggests that he loved beans, fava beans in particular. Does this mean the world’s oldest ful and hummous actually comes from modern-day Israel? Jokes aside, the findings are significant because they give us a […]
Most visitors to Israel concentrate on exploring the many biblical, cultural, and historical sites that abound Israel. And rightfully so! Israel has been the hub of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history for centuries. These sites are fundamentally important as they inspire a connection with one’s faith as well as a deeper historical understanding. But there […]
As I strolled through the aisles of a large supermarket chain recently, I was overwhelmed by the quantity of mass-produced, industrialized food products lining the shelves. Stacks and stacks of processed food items, replete with refined, nutrient-devoid, artificially preserved, chemically altered and/or genetically modified ingredients, as well as produce grown using environmentally and biologically hazardous […]
The flux team, one of the featured companies at the Innovation Pavillion at the annual Agritech Conference. Agrivest for investors kicked off the week of “agmania”. Steve Rhodes the CEO and co-Founder of the Trendlines Group opened this year’s Agrivest conference in Israel showing some interesting trends. Last year 2014 saw a steady increase to $2.36 […]
What’s the social value of a new app that connects me to the best pizza in town? Or a gadget that can help me talk to a fellow gamer in China? Maybe the answer is zero, but maybe not. There is a new investment trend in town and it’s called Impact Investing. While the East and West Coasts […]
Drones, those small, unmanned remote controlled airplanes with cameras can now be ordered by anyone online. They freak some people out. Not everyone loves the idea of a drone honing in on you in your backyard, but in agriculture, forestry and even in conservation they are the hot topic of the year. How can we […]
Israel and Jordan have signed a historic deal to press ahead with a plan to save the Dead Sea. The ‘Red-Dead’ project will build a plant near the Jordanian tourist resort of Aqaba that will desalinate water to be shared by Israelis and Palestinians. The brine left over from the desalination process will be channeled […]
Solar energy is a pretty hot topic right now. It’s cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable than traditional energy sources. But the problem has remained of how to use solar energy without any sun – when it gets dark! An Israeli company thinks it might have found the answer. Brenmiller Energy, an alternative energy company, has […]
Food Tech, on the surface of things, sounds like something you might not want to bite into, especially if you practice permaculture and organic gardening. But dig deeper as guests from Israel and France learned last week in Jaffa during the So French, So Food week, which hosted 20 top French chefs visiting Israel. They […]
We don’t often hear good news coming from Palestine, but solar energy advances for Palestinian households are something to celebrate. The Dead Sea Photovoltaic Generating Plant offers drastically reduced prices for Palestinians struggling to pay their energy bills and its first phase is now open and underway. Traditionally Palestinians have had to rely on Israel […]
Finding ways to augment supplies of fresh drinking water have been around for years. These ideas vary from basic “low tech” ones like a Yemenite funnel water cone to extract fresh water from saltwater to using water created by aircon units. Purifying sewage systems to create safe, drinkable fresh water are also being tried; and have received visible […]
Everything is coming up green in Israel. At least that’s how it seems in the medical cannabis space. We’ve recently interviewed Dr. Alan Shackelford (Charlotte’s Web) then there is Canna Tech next week. Just in: Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, just announced that it will work with PhytoTech Medical […]
There’s plenty of cold weather still to come if you live in the Middle East, but the University of Haifa is preparing for the sun, with a new study that examines whether solar electricity panels and green roofs can work well in tandem. It is basically the question can 1+1=3? The Kadas Green Roofs Ecology […]
Since humankind has discovered healing properties of herbs like cannabis, inhalation through smoke has been the delivery method of choice. Smoking cannabis makes the molecules go straight to the blood and brain. It’s great for some people, but for those using cannabis medicinally –– and want to work, drive and tend to their children –– […]
It’s a dream for some and a reality that can come true if you plan in visiting Israel this year. The country some say is an open archeology site. You can literally find ruins everywhere. But let’s say you want to participate in a formal dig and even possibly earn school credit. If this tickles […]
Oil spills are bad enough themselves. When they occur in fragile ecological regions like Israel’s Arava desert, they can be catastrophic. Such is the case of the recent Negev Arava oil spill, which occurred as a result of a break in a large oil pipeline during renovation work. This spill, occurring in early December, caused an estimated […]
Israel’s worst environmental accident, possibly worse than the devastating Carmel fires of 2010, happened yesterday morning. An estimated 600,000 gallons of crude oil (3 million liters) is causing severe damage to the southern port city area of Eilat, endangering also those close to the Eilat border, media outlets confirm. The damage was caused by a […]
Research and development focused on the aerospace industry has spawned dozens of designs useful in everyday life. Now LifeBeam, an Israeli company that designs high-end gadgets worn by jet pilots and astronauts, has designed a “smart” cycling helmet fitted with sensors that can track your heart rate, gait, and associated calorie burn. Not a cyclist? Then check […]
