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The Hidden Cost of Entrepreneurship on Parenting

The AHA! Team — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 05:05:15 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – New survey reveals CEOs have it hard, CTOs find the balance, and surprise, surprise, it’s the toughest of all for women. Racheli Kogan is a partner at the Symbol VC fund. Her husband, Ohad Bobrov of Palo Alto Networks, is a serial entrepreneur with several successful exits to his credit. This Israeli power couple has two daughters, ages 10 and eight. “In the first years of Ohad’s entrepreneurship, we definitely had a lot of difficulties and disagreements” regarding parenting, Kogan tells ISRAEL21c. Kogan surveyed 98 founder parents Curious about how other entrepreneurs balance family responsibilities, especially in wartime, Kogan surveyed 98 founder parents – men and women, CEOs and non CEOs, early and later stages – to gain a nuanced understanding of the intersection of parenting and entrepreneurship. “Founders sometimes talk about their startup as if it were a child they are raising, which is not surprising given the intensity involved,” says Kogan, who always worked outside the home and currently puts in eight to nine hours per day. “We also know that for many, this intensity is a cause for worry when thinking about raising actual children – will they have time? Will they be able to balance the two? How do others do it?” The survey emerged from research at Symbol on women’s entrepreneurship. “I’ve been busy for some time trying to understand why there are so few women entrepreneurs and how we can increase this number. We saw that many of their stories were intertwined with family considerations,” Kogan says. “So we wanted to understand more deeply the experience of male entrepreneurs who are fathers. We were also very interested in what differences there are between female entrepreneurs who are mothers and male entrepreneurs who are fathers. I couldn’t find any data on this topic — absolutely zero. This was surprising specially in Israel, a country where parenting is such a central thing.” Some of the questions Kogan sought to answer: Is working as an entrepreneur really the most demanding job that requires more hours than any other senior position? Do you improve over time in your ability to juggle between the children and the startup? To what extent is parenting really affected, both in subjective feelings and in calculating the number of hours you spend with the children? “We felt that providing data and detailed information about what is actually happening might help those who are considering embarking on the entrepreneurial path but are concerned that it is difficult to combine it with a family,” says Kogan. She hoped this data “would also provide some normalization for the entrepreneurs who filled out the survey.” CTOs vs. CEOs Perhaps the clearest message from the survey results is that chief technology officers (CTOs) seem to have more balanced lives than do chief executive officers (CEOs). CTOs are more satisfied with their work-life balance than CEOs, with 43% saying that they were very or extremely satisfied compared to 32% of CEOs. No CTOs reported that their work-life balance juggle had gotten worse since founding their startup, compared to 18% of CEOs who felt that way. CTOs are more likely to say that their time with kids stayed the same or increased since becoming a founder (43% vs. 19% for CEOs). CTOs (57%) are more likely than CEOs (45%) to pick up their children from daycare or school at least twice a week. Picking up from gan & school While most founders of both sexes say they make sure to attend their kids’ events (64% get to almost every event; 30% go to around half), 51% of CEOs go to almost every event compared with 71% of CTOs. Whereas 43% of CEO who are parents cited guilt feelings as a challenge, only 29% of CTOs did so. One-third of CTOs reported very little impact of work pressure on their relationship with the kids and none reported that they experienced an extreme impact. In contrast, 25% of CEOs cited the highest level of impact. Men vs. women “There are definitely differences by gender,” says Kogan. “Women are more likely to report feeling guilt about their dual role and pick up the children from school/gan significantly more often. Men are more likely than women to try and avoid late nights and business travel and to worry about time management with their children. Perhaps this is a different version of guilt.” Business trips & late nights While most founders are part of the pickup schedule for their kids, it varies by gender: 60% of female founders pick their kids up at least twice a week vs. 45% of male founders; and 39% of female founders vs. 9% of male founders pick up from school three times a week. Only 14% of females and 23% of males don’t pick up their kids at all, though this may be because their children are older. Women are more likely to prioritize work commitments than their male counterparts (25% of women vs. 4% of men). Among female founder parents, 61% cite guilt as their main challenge and time management as their second-place challenge (43%). For men, the greatest challenge is time management (63%) and tensions with partners is in second place with 41% (women cite this factor 29% of the time). Parent-founder challenges While 65% of male founders reported success in improving their ability to juggle work and family, only 29% of women felt they’d managed an improvement. Only 29% of respondents report dissatisfaction with their work-life balance. However, 36% of female respondents chose the lowest ratings on a five-point scale as compared to 26% of men. Male vs. female findings Kogan says the male vs. female finding that most surprised her was that although entrepreneurial mothers consider themselves “maximally committed to children and also maximally committed to the startup,” their answers revealed that “they would almost always give up things related to children and would not postpone work trips or meetings for things related to children, much more than men.” This might be due to the need many women have to prove their commitment to being a founder, Kogan speculates. Other key findings Founder parents of both sexes are more likely to report a decrease in time spent with their kids since becoming a founder (68%) vs. an increase in time spent (13%). Twenty percent report that their time with their kids didn’t change since becoming a founder. Earlier stage founders (pre seed and seed) are somewhat more likely to take late night calls and go on business trips (19% vs. 29%). The majority of respondents reported that the pressure of being a founder impacted their connection with their kids to some extent. Around 4% of both genders report an extreme negative impact on their relationship with their children and around 30% of each group reported a relatively low impact. Only 19% of respondents feel that they are able to mostly disconnect from work when they are with their kids. Most respondents – 76% – report that they are only able to disconnect a little or somewhat and 11% are not able to disconnect at all. Most respondents report an improvement in their ability to juggle startup and family life over time, with 61% saying it has either somewhat or significantly improved. For 20% there has been no improvement and another 15% report that their ability to juggle has gotten worse since founding their startup. Kogan’s takeaways “The data made me happy and pleasantly surprised to see that more than 50 percent of the entrepreneurs collect their children more than twice a week and also do not give up on significant events for the children,” says Kogan. At the same time, “there is broad agreement that the founder role is more demanding than other executive roles. This holds largely true across roles — CEO vs. CTO — and when analyzed by gender.” To read the original article click here.

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Prenatal Stress Impacts Babies, Especially Girls, Later On

The AHA! Team — Fri, 30 May 2025 05:24:33 +0000

John Jeffay via Israel21c – Study finds that even before babies take their first breath, the stress their mothers experience can shape how their own bodies will manage stress. Experts believe mothers who report high stress levels during pregnancy are more likely to have babies who will suffer neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions in later life. A team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says perceived prenatal stress (PPS) actually reprograms key molecular pathways in the baby’s body – and has a far more significant effect on girls than boys. PPS alters the expression of RNA – the tiny molecules that helps make proteins — in the blood of newborn babies, especially girls. That, in turn, affects key enzymes in the brain’s stress-regulation system. “We found that even before babies take their first breath, the stress their mothers experience can shape how their bodies manage stress themselves,” said Prof. Hermona Soreq, who jointly led the study with PhD student Shani Vaknine Treidel at the university’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center of Brain Science. The research team says these changes may explain why some children are more vulnerable to developmental or psychiatric challenges – and point to new possibilities for early diagnosis and interventions targeting stress-related health risks. “This study provides a powerful glimpse into how the maternal environment can leave a lasting biological imprint on the next generation,” said Vaknine Treidel. “It also underscores the importance of recognizing and supporting mental health during pregnancy — not just for the mother, but for the lifelong health of the child.” The team used a standard questionnaire to measure perceived stress among women in their third trimester at Klinikum Rechts der Isar Hospital, part of the Technical University of Munich, Germany. They then analyzed blood from the umbilical of babies born to 120 mothers aged 28 to 45 who recorded some of the highest scores. The changes they detected in the RNA molecules were sex-specific, they said, and showed more dramatic shifts among newborn girls than boys — which could explain why children exposed to high maternal stress during pregnancy may be more vulnerable to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions later in life. Using machine learning techniques, the researchers were also able to accurately determine whether or not newborn girls had been exposed to maternal stress based on profiles of small RNA molecules (or tRNA fragments) that govern a neurotransmitter essential for brain function. This opens the door to new diagnostic tools for detecting prenatal stress effects and possibly even early interventions, the team said. The research paper was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. To read the original article click here.

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Strawberries Bloom Once Again Near the Gaza Border

The AHA! Team — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:32:14 +0000

Zachy Hennessey via Israel21c – Owner of Uri Tutim farm says it will take the region’s agriculture a long time to recover, but its very existence is nothing short of a miracle. “Let me take you down ’cause I’m going to strawberry fields.” This line from the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” was ringing in my ears as I made my way to Uri Tutim (Uri’s Strawberries) farm in Moshav Yesha near the Gaza border. The strawberry fields the Beatles sang about were actually a reference to Salvation Army Homes. Meanwhile, I was heading to a farm located in the Western Negev that was among many others that were ravaged by the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. “Even before October 7, there were rocket hits in our greenhouses; an American woman was killed inside the moshav by a rocket once,” the farm’s owner, Uri Patkin, tells ISRAEL21c. From high-tech to farming Patkin, 55, grew up in Yesha, helping his father run the family farm. Eventually he moved to the center of the country, where he worked in high-tech for nearly a decade. “At the age of 35, I left my job and I told my parents I was coming back to the Negev to become a farmer. My dad told me I was crazy,” he says with a laugh. “But by that time I was already married and had children. I thought it would be better to raise a family in a moshav than in the city, closer to the land and nature.” At first, he worked at his father’s prominent flower farm. Shortly afterwards, however, he decided to start cultivating strawberries and business took off. For years, Uri’s Strawberries exported most of its produce to the biggest supermarket chains in Europe. When it became more financially lucrative for Europeans to import produce from countries like Egypt and Morocco, Patkin didn’t scale back; he just redirected the goods to the local market. Special technique One of the main reasons for Patkin’s success was the introduction of a special growing technique that not many Israeli farms were using at the time: planting in containers or baskets suspended from the top of the greenhouse. “The results of the method are high-quality berries with a shelf life that’s longer than what is customary for strawberries,” notes Patkin. Avoiding direct contact with the soil leads to less fungi and mold, requires fewer pesticides and makes picking easier for farm workers. “We also pluck out the bottom leaves, so that way the strawberry is always ventilated by dry air, free of invaders.” Although this method requires infrastructure and larger investments per unit area, he says, it also yields much more produce per unit. ‘The worst day of my life’ Patkin says that even before the October 7 attacks, there were constant “rounds of violence” launched by Gaza terrorist groups toward Israel. “It used to discourage people from coming to work or live here because every few weeks, sometimes every few days, missiles can start falling from the sky,” notes Patkin. But nothing could have prepared Patkin or other residents of the area for that Black Saturday. “It was the worst day of my life; people were being killed all around me,” he recalls. Five of the six were killed in the fighting Yesha was among the very few communities in the area that managed to fight off the invading terrorists thanks to six members of moshav’s emergency squad. However, five of the six were killed in the fighting: Lior Ben Yaakov, Gil Avital, Itai Nachmias, Tal Maban and Dan Assulin. And as they retreated from the moshav, the surviving terrorists kidnapped or killed foreign workers from Thailand. “The foreign workers are not part of this conflict between Palestinians and Israel, and they found themselves on the battlefield. I feel a lot of personal responsibility over that,” Patkin tells ISRAEL21c. Patkin himself was out helping the few IDF soldiers who finally reach the moshav in the afternoon hours. “I had to accompany the army, while taking care of the dead and the wounded, something I don’t recommend anyone go through in their life,” he says. A long time for full rehabilitation By October 8, nearly all Yesha residents were evacuated, except for the replacement emergency squad. A day later, all foreign workers followed. Patkin was among the few residents who never left the moshav, even when his entire family was evacuated. “We were ready to give up on agriculture. We thought, ‘At least we’re alive and healthy.’ But three days later, waves upon waves of volunteers from all over the country showed up, telling us they’re here to save agriculture,” Patkin recalls. He says that for the first three to four months after the attack, agriculture at the moshav was kept going by volunteers, who ultimately saved it. “Our type of agriculture is intense; it’s not like wheat that you plant and it just grows. Every day you have to do agrotechnical work and supervision.” Eventually, Israel began recruiting new agricultural workers from around the world to help rehabilitate the region. “This is what got the farms back on their feet, but still not to the scale they were before October 7,” he says. “I personally revived only about 50% of my farm; it will take a long time for it to fully rehabilitate.” By now, 90 percent of Yesha residents have come back to the moshav. Uri Tutim welcomes tourists to visit and pick strawberries by hand for a small admission fee. These visits help support not only the farm, but the entire region that is still hurting from what it endured. For more information, click here. To read the original article click here.

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New Israeli Tech Doubles IVF Success Rates

The AHA! Team — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 05:03:06 +0000

Zachy Hennessey via Israel21c – The new method accurately identifying high-quality sperm cells without using potentially harmful chemical dyes. A recent Israeli advancement in fertility science may hold the key to combating the ongoing global decline in fertility rates, by nearly doubling the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The new technology, developed in the lab of Tel Aviv University Prof. Natan T. Shaked, takes advantage of the light-conducting properties of cells, allowing embryologists to visualize and analyze the internal structure of live sperm cells with extreme accuracy. Researchers can now peek into the microscopic world of reproductive cells with unprecedented detail By using advanced imaging techniques that map cellular structures without invasive procedures, researchers can now peek into the microscopic world of reproductive cells with unprecedented detail. This allows for measurements of previously unattainable parameters like cell mass, volume and structural integrity. Until now, embryologists have had to rely on subjective criteria when evaluating the viability of a given sperm sample — the cells’ external appearance or motility. One commonly used method involves the use of chemical dyes, which better enable the inspection of sperm cells but risks damaging the cells in the process. “Currently, about 90 percent of sperm cells that appear suitable to embryologists actually fail to meet internal morphological criteria,” explained Shaked. “Our technology changes that, offering a new tool to significantly improve IVF outcomes.” The result is an increase in IVF success rates from 34% to 65% — nearly twice the amount. In a clinical trial at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, the technology resulted in 20 pregnancies out of 31 embryo transfers, compared to just 14 pregnancies out of 41 transfers in the control group. The technology is currently being implemented in clinics throughout Israel (in Ashkelon, Kfar Saba, Ramat HaHayal, Afula and Nahariya), as well as internationally in California and Japan. Dozens of couples have enrolled in clinical trials. Shaked describes it as providing “a new and essential tool to identify sperm cells that meet the World Health Organization criteria for IVF labs.” A description of the new method was published in the journals PNAS, Advanced Science, and Fertility and Sterility. No better time to boost births Fertility rates in developed countries have been declining for decades. According to United Nations statistics, the average global total fertility rate has dropped from 4.8 births per woman in 1970 to 2.2 in 2024. This demographic shift threatens to impact economic stability, social structures and the long-term sustainability of many developed nations. “Fertility issues are becoming increasingly critical: one in six couples faces fertility problems, with male-related issues accounting for half of the cases,” explained Dr. Bozhena Saar-Ryss from Barzilai Medical Center. “Over the past few decades, sperm counts in young, healthy men have dropped by approximately 50%. “Additionally, in certain countries like Japan, Korea and Spain, dramatic declines in birth rates are leading to population shrinkage. The causes for this are diverse and include societal trends like career prioritization and delayed marriages, as well as health issues potentially caused by environmental pollutants,” Saar-Rhys added. These statistics highlight the need for innovative reproductive technologies like the one developed at Tel Aviv University. Selecting the best swimmers Backed by Tel Aviv University’s investment fund and technology transfer company Ramot, the technology is being commercialized through QART Medical, a startup that aims to bring this solution to fertility clinics worldwide. Following the initial success of their research, Shaked and his team are currently developing an additional method to detect DNA fragmentation in sperm cells. “Our goal is to provide embryologists with a technology that enables individual sperm selection based on three essential criteria: motility, internal structure and unfragmented DNA,” says Shaked. “This will allow embryologists to select the best sperm cell for fertilization and dramatically improve success rates in this vital procedure.” To read the original article click here.

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The AI Tech That Can Spot Serious Illness Before the Doctor

The AHA! Team — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 06:16:00 +0000

John Jeffay via Israel21c – Lavaa Health’s platform can identify disease and hard-to-diagnose illnesses at the earliest stage, allowing doctors to quickly draw up efficient treatment plans. Meet your GP’s new best friend – artificial intelligence (AI). Lavaa Health, an Israeli startup, watches over all patient data, ready to spot early signs of potential health issues, and uses its vast medical database to identify hard-to-diagnose or rare illnesses. It’s a virtual assistant that works in the background to offer help and alerts, but leaves the physician very much in the driver’s seat, from making the diagnosis to drawing up a treatment plan. The company was founded after a family tragedy. Adam Amitai, Lavaa’s CEO, watched helplessly as his 55-year-old mother-in-law succumbed to ovarian cancer. It had taken a year for the doctors to correctly diagnose her, by which time it was too late. She died eight months later. Amitai doesn’t blame the physicians and says they provided excellent care. But he realized they weren’t exploiting the power of AI to get quicker and more accurate insights. And so he interviewed 200 physicians in the United States, to fully understand how AI could best help them. And he drew on his seven years’ experience as an “offensive cyber officer” in the IDF – where a key challenge was sifting vital details from masses of data. Amitai had also continued to work in intelligence afterwards and had set up an automated trading platform for institutional investors. So, he wasn’t from the world of healthcare, but he recognized that it could benefit from advanced systems that had been developed elsewhere. Handling data more efficiently “I understood there was a big problem with data handling in the healthcare industry,” he tells ISRAEL21c. He saw it when each of his three children were born. Every time, the doctor asked for the family’s medical history. And he saw it with the death of his mother-in-law. He believes AI would have suggested ovarian cancer as a diagnosis much sooner. The main problem is in primary care, the people who are in charge of your health on a daily basis “It’s not the physician’s fault, it’s not the care team fault, they’re doing their best, but they just don’t have the tools,” he says. “The main problem is in primary care, the people who are in charge of your health on a daily basis. They’re reactive instead of proactive. They’re trying to solve a single problem, not your whole health.” And they generally lack the resources to understand what the problem is and to diagnose it correctly. Lavaa’s AI-powered Preventive Care Engine Platform assists the physician by offering evidence-based insights. “We are not allowing the computer to try to automatically detect the conditions. We’re using the accepted worldwide care protocols, but we’re using AI to extract the data,” says Amitai. “Physicians cannot go through all of this data by themselves in the amount of time that they have. It’s just impossible, so this is giving them a huge backup. “The number of parameters for a physician to check and the number of possible diseases is infinite, and time is limited. But computers are really good at matching parameters to diseases. “I realized that technology from the intelligence world already did this, so it was a question of applying it to healthcare.” Prevention, intervention Lavaa is all about prevention and early intervention. Its AI platform can generate questions for a particular patient based on what it sees in their records. It may, for example, ask if a female patient remembers the age at which she had her first period – something that’s relevant for breast cancer, but is never recorded in an EMR (electronic medical record). Or it may send targeted messages, questionnaires, or notifications. It acts as an early warning system, designed to prevent the development of chronic or psychological diseases, and cancer. Lavaa currently looks after over 700,000 patients, all in the US, though the company has plans to expand globally. Amitai estimates the technology has so far saved 1,500 lives. “These are people who had a condition that could have been terminal but caught it on time and we managed to alert the physician, which meant the patients got either the right or better drugs, and better treatment, or a referral to the right place,” he says. Lavaa is not the only such AI solution, but Amitai says the healthcare market is big enough for everybody. Some other companies use AI to both inform and to diagnose – unlike Lavaa – or as a “black box” providing a diagnosis but no explanation of its “thinking.” The company has 12 staff members at its offices in Ra’anana, central Israel, and a team working in the US. Lavaa was founded in 2021, has attracted $5 million in investments. A Series A funding round will be launched later this year. “We want to go global,” Amitai says. “Our solution can work anywhere, and we believe it can improve healthcare around the world.” For more information, click here. To read the original article click here.

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Pioneering Method Determines if Tomatoes are Ready to Pick

The AHA! Team — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 06:39:18 +0000

Yulia Karra via Israel21c – This new machine learning technology could help farmers optimize harvest timing and improve the quality of the produce. Researchers recently developed a machine learning model that helps assess the quality of tomatoes before harvest. The pioneering method could make tomato harvest easier, more cost efficient and sustainable. In a study recently published in the Computers and Electronics in Agriculture scientific journal, scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) said their model recognizes the key parameters of tomato quality with exceptional accuracy. Why tomatoes? The coauthors explain that the tomato is “one of the most substantial crops grown worldwide, with significant economic and nutritional values.” In 2020, the global gross production of tomatoes was 189 million tons. Tomatoes are nutritionally rich, offering sugars, organic acids, lycopene, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and may even reduce the risk of several cancers, cardiovascular conditions, and age-related macular degeneration. However, traditional methods of determining the quality of tomato crops happen only after harvest and have many drawbacks. The HUJI researchers, in collaboration with researchers from Bar-Ilan University and the government’s Volcani Center Agricultural Research Organization, employed hyperspectral imaging to develop a machine learning model for pre-harvest assessment. Hyperspectral images of specific ranges of light wavelengths, known as spectral bands, are used to study the properties of objects based on how they reflect light. The scientists used a handheld hyperspectral camera to collect data from 567 tomato fruits across five cultivars. They then employed machine learning algorithms to predict seven critical tomato quality parameters: weight, firmness, total soluble solids, citric acid, ascorbic acid, lycopene, and pH. The model demonstrated high prediction accuracy. The researchers said the study highlights potential for integration of the method into agricultural practices to evaluate produce quality during ripening stages, optimizing harvest timing, as well in supermarkets at later stages. “Our research aims to bridge the gap between advanced imaging technology, AI, and practical agricultural applications,” said David Helman from HUJI’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, who led the study. “This work has the potential to revolutionize quality monitoring not only in tomatoes but also in other crops. Our next step is to build a low-cost device — ToMAI-SENS — based on our model that will be used across the fruit value chain, from farms to consumers,” he added. To read the original article click here.

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6 Things You Didn’t Know About the Science of Smell

The AHA! Team — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 06:36:45 +0000

Zachy Hennessey via Israel21c – Here are some of the coolest things Israeli researchers have sniffed out about the underappreciated sense of smell. You may not think it’s so important, but scientific research has done a lot to prove that your sense of smell has a lot of value besides checking if that two-week old cream cheese is starting to go bad (it is). We here at ISRAEL21c have been covering breakthroughs in smell research for over a decade; below are seven of the more incredible olfactory discoveries over the last few years that are sure to pique your interest — and your nose. 1. Like ‘white noise,’ there’s ‘white smell’ In 2012, a team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science (led by the noted olfactory researcher Prof. Noam Sobel) discovered that it’s possible to make a smell that our brains perceive as completely neutral — a so-called “white smell.” Just like white noise and the color white itself are blends of audio frequencies and light waves, respectively, white smell can be created by taking an amalgamation of about 30 different points across the scent spectrum and blending them together. They even invented a fancy name for the new smell: Laurax. That’s going right to the top of my “names for obscure smells” list, right above “Petrichor” (the smell that comes after a long-awaited rain), and right below “Yuckamolis” (my four-year-old’s description of the smell of my feet). 2. If you can’t smell, you’ll die faster Bad news if your sniffer’s out of commission: According to research published this year in Nature Communications, people who don’t have a sense of smell have a reduced life expectancy. Researchers at Weizmann found that people who don’t have a functioning olfactory sense have unique breathing patterns that could be linked to depression, anxiety and other negative health outcomes which, all in all, add up to a minus on life’s upper limits. A bit off our topic, but nonetheless fascinating, the same paper reveals the critical importance of sighing to good health. The researchers explain that “to maintain life, patients need not only to breathe rhythmically, but also sigh every 5 min[utes] or so, as this is critical for preventing collapse of alveoli in the lungs.” 3. Your nose has spots for different smells You may have heard that different parts of your tongue can taste different flavors. Well, the same goes for your nose. Back in 2011, Sobel and a group of Weizmann researchers found that there are specific areas in your nose dedicated to processing pleasant and unpleasant smells. This means that there are objective ways to measure whether an odor is actually bad and not a matter of personal taste: if the “yucky” sensors are the ones that process the smell of rotten fish, for example, then it’s a safe bet that rotten fish is definitively a bad smell. “We uncovered a clear correlation between the pattern of nerve reaction to various smells and the pleasantness of those smells. As in sight and hearing, the receptors for our sense of smell are spatially organized in a way that reflects the nature of the sensory experience,” Sobel noted. 4. Our friends smell like us Research conducted by — you guessed it — the Weizmann Institute in 2022 discovered that we tend to be friendlier with people who smell like we do. Using a fancy electronic nose, researchers discovered that close friends often share similar body odor patterns, a finding that goes beyond mere coincidence. The team put this theory to the test with both existing friends and strangers, finding they could predict with 71 percent accuracy which people would form social bonds based on smell similarity alone. 5. The smell of women’s tears makes men less aggressive Weizmann scientists also discovered that women’s tears contain chemicals that significantly reduce aggressive behavior in men. In the experiments, men who sniffed women’s tears (without knowing what they were smelling) showed 44% less aggressive behavior in a revenge-based game compared to when they sniffed saline. As we all (definitely) know, a similar phenomenon has been observed in other animal populations, like mice. The crazy thing is, humans don’t even have the biological parts necessary to detect the signals that lady tears give off — our noses just pick up on the odorless chemicals and our brains know what to do in response. Considering this discovery, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more sports bars having a spray bottle of woman tears on hand to cool off rowdy patrons. 6. Your nose could keep you on life support If you’re in a coma — first of all, I’m impressed that you’re reading this, but also — your nose may be able to communicate with the doctors around you. Scientists at (drumroll please…) the Weizmann Institute and Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital discovered that, by measuring changes in patients’ nasal airflow when exposed to different odors (like fragrant shampoo or rotten fish), those who showed even slight reactions to smells had a 100% rate of regaining consciousness during the four-year study period. The test also predicted with 92% accuracy which patients would survive for at least three years. This discovery is a big deal because current methods of diagnosing consciousness in brain-injured patients can be wrong up to 40% of the time, which affects critical decisions about life support and pain management. The new “sniff test” is simple, inexpensive and can be done at a patient’s bedside. The bad news is that this seriously amplifies the negative effects of entry No. 2 on this list. There’s truly no rest for the smell bereft. To read the original article click here.

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Breakthrough Prenatal Test Detects 250 Diseases at 9 Weeks

The AHA! Team — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 06:36:28 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – Israeli startup Identifai develops first maternal blood test to identify risk of 250 genetic diseases as early as 9th week of pregnancy, matching the results of riskier and later amniocentesis. Of the 140 million babies born worldwide each year, 6-8% are at risk for hereditary genetic diseases. Amniocentesis is considered the gold standard for detecting fetal genetic risks with high accuracy, but it is invasive, has some risks for mother and baby, and cannot be done until at least 15 weeks into the pregnancy. The only alternative until now has been non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), but it can assess risk for only about 10 percent of known genetic disorders, including Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy. A breakthrough blood test developed in Israel is poised to make prenatal genetic testing available earlier, noninvasively and comprehensively: It can detect the risk of 250 diseases with high accuracy. Identifai was founded in 2021 based on the research of Tel Aviv University Prof. Noam Shomron, a world expert in genetics and bioinformatics. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Identifai’s technology requires nothing more than a maternal blood sample. After isolating fetal DNA from maternal DNA, it does a full, rapid fetal genetic sequencing starting from just nine weeks’ gestation. The technology can detect mutations even in a single DNA base among billions, making it capable of identifying a wide range of hereditary genetic conditions. “This is a tremendous step forward,” Identifai CEO Eyal Miller tells ISRAEL21c. “If the mother is a carrier [of a genetic disease], we can do the whole genome sequencing for the fetus and provide a clinical report with a negative predictive value of more than 99%,” he explains. “This means that if results are negative, the likelihood of the fetus having [a genetic disease] is close to zero. And that gives immediate relief to the parents. On the other hand, if the results are positive, the parents know exactly what they’re dealing with,” Miller adds. “That dramatically changes the whole ecosystem from the point of view of parents, clinicians and genetic counselors. This is why we shine.” Gamechanger The Israeli technology, expected to be commercialized in the second half of 2025 following additional clinical trials in Israel and the United States, has already gained international recognition through the publication of a study conducted at Israel’s Beilinson and Meir hospitals. Chosen as the cover story of the global journal Prenatal Diagnosis last August, the study involved 18 cases where both parents were carriers of genetic diseases. Identifai’s system analyzed the mothers’ blood samples and predicted fetal risks with 100% accuracy, matching the results from amniocentesis. Identifai will soon release results from a larger study at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. “At Columbia, we came across parents who carry a rare genetic disease and they were amazed that we can provide a very simple solution very early in the process in order to give them certainty about the status of the fetus as soon as possible,” Miller says. The couple wrote to Identifai: “Our reproductive journey has been hugely impacted by the knowledge of being carriers and we hope that this kind of non-invasive testing becomes available one day in the future for families like us.” The benefits of knowing Identifai generates a report for parents and their healthcare provider, detailing the probability of the fetus carrying or developing specific genetic conditions and how they might manifest if the pregnancy continues. “Couples are aware very early if the fetus has some type of disease, which means they can make a decision about what lies ahead,” says Miller. “If you’ve decided to maintain the pregnancy, there are specific hospitals in the United States that can treat the newborn immediately once a clear diagnosis is in place.” Furthermore, Identifai needs only maternal blood for analysis, which is helpful in the many cases where the father is unavailable or unknown. “If the mother is a carrier and you can’t find the father, the only thing to do until now has been to keep your fingers crossed and pray and then do invasive amnio,” says Miller. In addition to the medical advantages of the test, Miller adds, there’s an emotional and psychological advantage because amniocentesis “causes enormous anxiety and stress” and many expectant couples don’t want it. A $6 billion market Miller says the prenatal testing market is currently valued at $6 billion annually, with NIPT tests making up half of that amount. This market is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2030. “Our ability to detect fetal risk for hundreds of genetic conditions will expand this market to hundreds of billions, including early in-utero surgeries and detection of late-stage conditions where amniocentesis is no longer an option,” he says. “Furthermore, this solution, which does not require FDA approval, will be accessible, convenient, and effective for populations worldwide who avoid amniocentesis for cultural reasons, for millions of pregnancies where the father’s identity is unknown, and in response to new US legislation limiting abortions and amniocentesis tests that might justify terminations.” Identifai has received grants from the Israel Innovation Authority and raised $6.5 million from investors including Shizim as well as eHealth Ventures, which supports early-stage digital health companies from the initial stages of R&D through capital raising, business development, commercialization, and market entry. Identifai employs 15 people in its Tel Aviv offices. Miller says a US office will be established to support clinical, marketing and operational activities in that target market. For more information, click here. To read the original article click here.

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Can an Ancient Farming Method Improve Sustainability?

The AHA! Team — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 06:14:38 +0000

John Jeffay via Israel21c – Researchers say plot-and-berm method could address current challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity, especially in arid areas. An ancient farming method that made the deserts of the Middle East bloom 1,000 years ago should be revived today, say experts in Israel. The “plot-and-berm” system, developed in the early Islamic period along the Mediterranean coast, used innovative water-harvesting and soil-enrichment technologies to grow vegetables, watermelons, dates, and grapes. Plots were dug in places where the water table was high, and farmers added urban waste to the sand to improve its fertility. Berms were the sand barriers built to stop the sand/waste mix from being blown away by wind or washed away by water. Experts at Bar-Ilan University, University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority say an updated form of plot-and-berm could work effectively as a sustainable, modern-day alternative to existing forms of agriculture in hot, sandy parts of the world. They’ve been studying what they call SGHAS (traditional sunken groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems) in sandy areas of Israel, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Gaza and the Atlantic coast of Iberia. They used a combination of geospatial analysis, archeological findings, and historical documentation. Their conclusion is that this early Islamic farming method was way ahead of its time in terms of agricultural knowhow. But plot-and-berms were largely abandoned after the 12th century Crusader conquest. The method was adopted elsewhere, in the Middle Ages and again in the early 20th century, but not in Israel or many other parts of the region. The research team says plot-and-berm has much to offer and neatly addresses current challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity, especially in arid areas. “The reappearance in the Middle Ages … and early 20th century in Iberia suggests that this type of agriculture is adaptable to varying economic and cultural settings and therefore may possess potential for certain, current socio-agronomic scenarios,” said Prof. Joel Roskin from Bar-Ilan’s Department of Environment, Planning and Sustainability. His team’s research on plot-and-berms, which was funded by the Israel Science Foundation, has been published in the journal Environmental Archaeology, entitled “Character and Evolution of Sunken Groundwater-Harvesting Agroecosystems in Aeolian Sand since Early Islamic Times, between Iran and Iberia.” The paper explains how modern agriculture often relies on intensive water usage and practices that deplete soil quality, while traditional systems like plot-and-berm are low-impact and more sustainable. Farmers living in hot, dry and sandy conditions between the ninth and 12th centuries made the most of the limited assets they had — shallow groundwater and a ready supply of organic waste from nearby towns and cities. To read the original article click here.

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