https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/cancer’s-ins-and-outs
October 1, 2009
Cancer cells are notoriously versatile survivors that exploit normal cellular machinery to their advantage. Weizmann Institute scientists have recently identified a clever “trick” employed by these cells: Apparently, in m...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/math-computer-science/math-survival
October 1, 2008
Cancer can disappear, only to return at a later date – often in a more aggressive form. Scientists now believe this is due to the survival of small numbers of cancer stem cells – self-renewing cells that can jumpstart new can...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/science-teachingcampus/fluent-science
October 1, 2008
Like any language, the lingo of scientific literature is understood by its readers and writers but unintelligible to nearly everyone outside the select group of those working and thinking in the field. To outsiders who know h...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/space-physics/spinning-dice-revolving-doors
October 1, 2009
“God doesn’t play dice with the world,” remarked Albert Einstein, referring to one of the pillars of quantum theory – randomness. In the quantum world, this property can take a unique twist: Two separate events may be random, yet perfectly linked. It’s as though dice rol...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/earth-sciences/shedding-light
October 1, 2008
If “older is wiser,” then photosynthetic organisms, including plants, algae and various types of bacteria, must be wise indeed – at least when it comes to efficiently con...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/combining-minds
October 1, 2009
The scope of the brain’s activities presents scientists with a seemingly impossible challenge: Each of its 100 billion nerve cells – neurons – is in contact with about 10,000 others. They communic...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/earth-sciences/paint-power
October 1, 2008
Alternative energy promises a bright future thanks, in part, to dark paint. Our buildings, cars, ships and airplanes could one day be powered by a thin coat of special paint that will convert solar energy to electricity or fu...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/right-target
October 1, 2008
It’s an electrical engineer’s nightmare: a complex “wiring system” of nerve fibers that connects more than 100 billion nerve cells in the brain to one another and to the rest of the nervous system. These nerve f...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/safety-catch
October 1, 2008
Sensations like pain or heat travel in a fraction of a second along the extensions – the axons – of nerve cells, an impressive feat considering that axons such as those that run from the base of the spine a...
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/good-migrations
October 1, 2008
One of the most fascinating aspects of embryonic development is the formation of the brain: Billions of newborn brain cells migrate to precise locations, where they begin sending out extensions and establishing connections – e...