RUTHFULLY YOURS

Ruthie Blum is the editor of Voice of Israel radio (voiceofisrael.com).
A few days ago, Jerusalem Post Managing Editor David Brinn posed a tongue-in-cheek challenge to his friends on Facebook, daring us to engage in a 24-hour moratorium on the words “Obama” and “Netanyahu.”

I have decided to take him up on it, though I suppose that what I am about to say could be considered indirectly connected to both.

I am referring to the brouhaha surrounding an article by Lena Dunham in the current issue of The New Yorker, which set social media on fire with charges of anti-Semitism.

The piece, called “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz,” is literally and figuratively nothing to write home about — or to write at all, for that matter. And had it not been penned by the celebrity actress-producer-director, who became famous for her TV series “Girls,” it would never have made it past the editor’s slush pile.

It consists of a list of 35 descriptions of the man with whom Dunham shares an apartment and a bed. Because Dunham’s mother is a Jew, she has no qualms about making fun of what she claims are her boyfriend’s Jewish traits. Among these are not leaving tips in restaurants, never bringing his wallet anywhere, having asthma and a sensitive stomach, being judgmental about the food he is served and expecting to be waited on hand and foot.

‘Everyone in Vanuatu Loves Israel’ Israeli aid workers went to remote islands to help locals in aftermath of Cyclone Pam, and made a surprising find: they love Israel.

An IsraAID disaster assistance team recently ended its first visit to the remote islands of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, where they helped locals recover from the massive damage caused by Cyclone Pam. While there they learned something surprising – the islanders love Israel.

The Israeli team, together with Tongoa parliament representative MP John Amos and a team of local volunteers, distributed over 40 tons of rice, flour and drinking water to residents of the Tongoa and Mataso islands in Vanuatu.

Israeli and UK academics to combat global cyber security threats.Francis Maude has announced joint working between Israeli and UK academics to combat global cyber security threats.£1.2 million of joint funding will be used to fund a bilateral cyber research programme through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The successful joint UK and Israeli academic partnerships are:

University of Bristol / Bar Ilan University
University College London / Bar Ilan University
The University of Kent / University of Haifa
All 3 UK academic institutions are part of the UK”s Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research programme which celebrates excellence in research in this field.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Brain disease mechanism discovered. Researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University and the University of California have discovered a new molecular mechanism in a mutant gene that governs how ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) attacks motor neurons. They have also identified that the protein MIF inhibits this mechanism. The discovery is also relevant to other neuro-degenerative diseases.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Health/BGU-and-University-of-California-researchers-discover-new-mechanism-in-Lou-Gehrigs-disease-394714

BrainTech 2015. (TY Michelle) Here is a roundup by “neurotech entrepreneur” Yannick Roy of the first day of Israel Brain Technologies’ BrainTech 2015 Conference in Tel Aviv. The speakers focused on the main joint ‘brain initiatives’ being conducted around the world.
http://neurogadget.com/2015/03/12/braintech-2015-day-1-roundup/11046

Israeli nanotechnology explained. TY Israel21c for a fascinating discussion of how Israeli scientists are engineering the tiniest parts of matter to make life better for millions of people around the world. Applications include a tiny robot transporting drugs to a cancer cell in your body; or artificial retina to restore lost sight.
http://www.israel21c.org/headlines/turning-science-fiction-into-fact-audio/

A study, not to be sniffed at. (TY Nocamels.com) One of the more unusual studies by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute has uncovered that humans imitate one of the habits of dogs; by sniffing the odor of someone they meet. They do this by subconsciously sniffing their own hand after shaking the other person’s.
http://nocamels.com/2015/03/why-humans-sniff-hands-after-handshaking/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r91sFUTezE

Device to prevent heart failure. (TY Michelle) Israel’s Vectorious Medical has raised $5 million to take its miniature wireless hemodynamic monitoring sensory implant into human trials. The device measures and reports left atria pressure – a reliable early indication of cardiac deterioration, which medication can treat.
http://www.thetower.org/1800oc-israeli-company-gets-5-million-financing-to-develop-heart-monitoring-implant/

An even bigger heart. Israel’s SHL Telemedicine specializes in providing remote diagnosis and monitoring services for patients suffering from chronic heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Its second German acquisition in two years is GPH, which monitors 10,000 heart patients.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-shl-telemedicine-buys-german-co-gph-1001021356

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The world leader in cyber security. (TY Michelle) To coincide with CyberTech 2015 in Tel Aviv, here is a link to the inside story of how the best and brightest Israelis go from the army’s elite cyber security unit to launch innovative startup companies. And this article explains why Israeli cyber security will continue to be a driving force in the Israeli hi-tech ecosystem. Even Chinese on-line shopping giant Alibaba is investing in it.

Cyber security for Portugal. Israel’s CyberGym has signed a NIS 45 million deal with the Portuguese electricity company Energias de Portugal (EDP) to plan, build, and maintain a cyber-defense training facility. CyberGym is jointly owned by the Israel Electric Company and Israeli IT company Liacom Systems.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-cybergym-signs-nis-45m-portuguese-cyber-defense-deal-1001021506

UK announces 3 joint Israeli cyber Uni ventures. (TY Michelle) Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office responsible for cyber security, announced 3 UK-Israel academic collaboration ventures that will receive cyber research funding. They link UK’s universities of Bristol, Kent and UCL with Israel’s Bar Ilan and Haifa.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/israeli-and-uk-academics-to-combat-global-cyber-security-threats

12 young science geniuses. Twelve teenagers won the top prizes in the Intel-Israel Young Scientists Competition in Jerusalem. Their projects covered medicine, mathematics, linguistics, music, anthropology and satellite technology. The twelve will travel to finals in Pittsburgh and Milan and receive academic scholarships.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Tech/Nine-teenage-geniuses-take-top-three-prizes-in-Intel-Israel-Young-Scientists-Competition-393500

Hundreds of schools in tech contest. Hundreds of Israeli middle and high schools are participating in the biggest programming contest in Israeli history, with prizes totaling NIS 100,000. Israel’s Center for Educational Technology wants students to learn to write code, using CodeMonkey – an Israeli interactive computer game.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Tech/Tech-Talk-Student-code-contest-395050

Brainihack 2015. The winning project at this year’s Brainihack in Tel Aviv, Emochat, used a Neurosteer Brain Computer Interface device to interpret another person’s emotions based on their brain activity. So no need anymore to see facial expression or hear voice tone.
http://neurogadget.com/2015/03/23/brainihack-2015-hackathon-roundup/11198

Microsoft’s opens new Haifa R&D center. 24 years after selecting Haifa for its first Research & Development center outside the US, Microsoft is inaugurating a new R&D center in the city. The new building will cover 7,500 sq.m, houses 150 engineers and allows Microsoft to expand by hiring dozens more.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-microsoft-inaugurates-new-haifa-rd-center-1001022151

Multinational cooperation week. The Israeli R&D centers of Motorola, Microsoft, Marvell Technology, Deutsche Telekom, Citibank, Kodak, and GE are holding their third Weekathon in three years to develop new products together. Each company is sending up to 5 senior programmers to develop “the next big thing”.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-7-israeli-rd-centers-of-multinationals-to-cooperate-1001021588

The most popular national pavilion. (TY Michelle) The crowds flocked to the Israel pavilion at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Here is a roundup of some of the innovative Israeli products and apps on show.
http://www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=9607

Magisto revolutionizes Facebook. Magisto, an Israeli video storytelling platform with more than 55 million registered users, is a key part of Facebook’s newly launched Messenger Platform. Using Magisto’s patented AI technology, EmotionSense, text and photos are transformed into a video with music, motion and special effects.
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2015/03/25/facebook-messenger-platform-revolutionized-with-israeli-magisto-shot-video-editing-app/

Real-time road-traffic information. (TY Michelle) Israel’s Decell Technologies provides historical and predictive road-traffic information captured from smartphones and GPS-enabled car systems in Tel Aviv, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw and Bratislava. Decell has just been acquired by US-based AirSage.
http://georgiaceo.com/news/2015/03/airsage-acquires-israeli-based-decell-technologies/

Transforming the forestry industry. Israel’s Intelescope Solutions utilizes drone and satellite imagery to produce an accurate inventory of a forest. Forestry companies in the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, India, and China utilize services from Intelescope, which just raised $8.3 million of funds.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-forest-big-data-co-intelescope-solutions-raises-83m-1001022541

Where to go next with your smartphone? (TY Michelle) Israel’s Deeplink.me has launched AppWords – a mobile search and ad platform that uses keywords to trigger relevant content between one app and another. E.g. after finishing booking with a theatre tickets app, you receive “bids” for your custom from your restaurant apps.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/24/deeplink-moves-into-google-territory-with-appwords-a-deep-link-mobile-search-and-ad-platform/

Citi launches tech challenge in Jerusalem. (TY David Levy) International banking giant Citi has launched the Citi Mobile Challenge in Europe (London & Warsaw), The Middle East (Jerusalem) and Africa (Nairobi). Developers can win $100,000 and Citi support by building innovative solutions based on Citi’s digital platform.
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/news/2015/150223a.htm

Israeli scientists calculate Saturn’s “day”. (TY Geoff) Scientists at at Tel Aviv University have solved the mystery of Saturn’s days, determining that one day on the planet lasts 10 hours and a little more than 32 minutes – seven minutes shorter than originally calculated.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4641248,00.html