https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/getting-grasp-memory
April 2, 2011
Long-term memory is a slippery thing. Just how slippery it can be was demonstrated a few years ago by Weizmann Institute scientists, who erased entire memories in rats just by blocking a certain protein in the brain. In other words, memory – even the part we imagine to conta...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/new-insight-aha-memories
April 2, 2011
When we suddenly get the answer to a riddle or understand the solution to a problem, we can practically feel the light bulb click on in our head. But what happens after the “Aha!” moment? Why do the things we learn through sudden insight tend to stick in our memory? “Mu...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/space-physics/biological-molecules-select-their-spin
April 2, 2011
New findings could help build better biomedical devices Do the principles of quantum mechanics apply to biological systems? Until now, says Prof. Ron Naaman of the Institute’s Chemical Physics Department (Faculty of Chemistry), both biologists and physicists have consider...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/space-physics/new-data-xenon100-narrows-possible-range-dark-matter
April 14, 2011
An International team of scientists in the XENON collaboration, including several from the Weizmann Institute, announced on Thursday the results of their search for the elusive component of our universe known as dark matter. This search was conducted with greater sensitivity...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/protein-contributes-obesity
May 4, 2011
Weizmann Institute scientists have added another piece to the obesity puzzle, showing how and why a certain protein that is active in a small part of the brain contributes to weight gain. This research appeared today in Cell Metabolism. Prof. Ari Elson and his team i...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/weizmann-institute-scientists-show-how-adversity-dulls-our-perceptions
May 11, 2011
Adversity, we are told, heightens our senses, imprinting sights and sounds precisely in our memories. But new Weizmann Institute research, which appeared in Nature Neuroscience this week, suggests the exact opposite may be the case: Perceptions learned in an aversive context...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/space-physics/listening-one-atom
May 25, 2011
The lab, though it may seem quiet and insulated, can be as full of background noise as a crowded train station when we’re trying to catch the announcements. Our brains can filter out the noise and focus on the message up to a certain point, but turning up the volume on the...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/immune-system-release-valve
May 25, 2011
The molecular machines that defend our body against infection don’t huff and puff, but some of them apparently operate on the same principle as a steam engine. Weizmann Institute scientists have discovered a mechanism that controls inflammation similarly to a steam-engine...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/eight-hours-resistance
May 25, 2011
Temptations to exceed the speed limit are always plentiful, but only reckless drivers give in to such impulses. Likewise, numerous growth factors always abound in our bodies, but only cancerous cells are quickly “tempted” by these chemicals to divide again and again. Healthy...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/space-physics/weizmann-institute-observatory-captures-images-new-supernova
June 6, 2011
Exploding stars are the "factories" that produce all the heavy elements found, among other places, in our bodies. In this sense, we are all stardust. These exploding stars – supernovae – are highly energetic events that can occasionally light up the night sky. Such an explos...