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Somewhere along the evolutionary history of these bees, juvenile hormone stopped doing one job, and started doing a different job, says Dr. Adam Siegel, a Fulbright postdoctoral research fellow in the Hebrew University lab of Dr. Guy Bloch. Fulbright is the US government’s most prestigious and widely-known academic exchange program. The US–Israel Educational Foundation is responsible for the management of Israeli participation in the program.

Scientists are interested in juvenile hormone. One way to work on this question is to study the hormone in a bee that demonstrates some characteristics of solitary bees and some characteristics of highly social bees.

Bumblebees to the rescue

Bumblebee (Photo: Loyna)

The bumblebee is a perfect bee for this type of study, as they live in groups and have an egg-laying queen bee and worker bees. But the groups are small compared to honey bee groups, and worker bees have very similar bodies to the queen bee. The workers will also start laying eggs as the colony gets old. Additionally, the worker bees have a much less organized system of division of labor. Worker bees will switch from inside jobs to outside jobs and back again throughout their lives.

Like the honey bee, the bumblebee is also a very important pollinator of food crops. Very little is known about what juvenile hormone does in these bees, which demonstrate an intermediate level of social behavior. The Bloch lab team is working to figure out what some of the functions of the hormone are in the bumblebee. “This will help us to understand how this important hormone has taken on new functions in social systems,” said Siegel. In addition, this work has very important implications for people.

Many pest insects also use the hormone to produce eggs. Because the hormone has to be present at very specific concentrations to work correctly, farmers can spray pesticides on plants that include chemicals that work in the same way as the hormone. These pesticides overload the hormone system in the pest insects and stop them from laying eggs.

In honey bees, these hormone-like chemicals will not stop the bees from pollinating crops. However, says Siegel, “we do not know what effects juvenile hormone has on bumblebee pollination. Like honey bees, bumblebees are a very important crop pollinator. They are especially useful in greenhouses, because unlike honey bees, bumblebees can work in an enclosed space.”
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Via The Jerusalem Post
Photo by Tie Guy II

A delegation from Ben Gurion University in Israel, led by Professor Ariel Novoplansky, has toured the Galapagos Islands – an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the Equator in the Pacific Ocean - and signed a cooperation agreement with the local Directorate of the National Park to promote the conservation of the endangered biological diversity of the islands.

Although the Galapagos biodiversity is neither greater nor more unique than that of other archipelagos, such as the Hawaiian or the Canary Islands, what makes these islands unique is their recent history.

Galapagos

Contrary to other islands across the world the Galapagos were only settled for the first time about 100 years ago, so their ecosystem has sustained considerably little damage.

However, in spite of over 50 years of dedicated management and conservation of the area and its surrounding waters by the authorities of the Galapagos National Park,  conservation policies need urgent change.

“In spite of excellent management and meticulous policing of ecotourism, a full-blown ecological disaster is unfolding before our eyes, inflicted by the devastating effects of invasive species,” says Novoplansky of Ben Gurion University’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research (BIDR).

Fending off the eco-invasion

A Sally Lightfoot crab found in the Galapagos Islands

Rising demand is pushing for ever-increasing development of the local tourism industry, which encourages greater imports of various goods, food and fresh agriculture produce from the mainland. Without any external intervention, labor and production costs on the islands are much higher than on the mainland, dictating the abandonment of most of the island’s farms and the transition of most of the islands’ workforce to the tourism industry, according to Novoplansky.

These processes expose the unique and sensitive biodiversity of the islands to the extremely destructive effects of invasive species such as feral domestic animals, aggressive weedy plants, various insect pests and alien marine organisms.

Novoplansky explains that increasing numbers of such organisms arrive to the islands through the delivery routes from the mainland and multiply with great vigor in both natural ecosystems and abandoned farms, harming the local fauna and flora and changing entire ecosystems existing nowhere else in the world.

Israeli Experts Travel To Galapagos Islands To Help Preserve Ecosystem

Upon the invitation of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment and the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park, a delegation from the Center of International Conventions of the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research visited the Galapagos for work meetings and field excursions with managers, rangers, policy-makers, farmers and conservation experts.

The visit ended with the signing of a cooperation agreement to find the best ways to minimize the detrimental effects of invasive species to the biodiversity, natural habitats and agricultural areas of the archipelago. The project will be conducted by joint Ecuadorian-Israeli teams, pursuing novel nature management schemes that will help rehabilitate natural ecosystems by developing agricultural methodologies and water technologies to increase local agricultural production and reduce the dependency of the islands on the imports of fresh produce from the mainland.

Using agriculture to preserve the ecosystem

Competing for the same natural resources, agriculture and nature conservation are usually considered competing and antagonistic forces, but not so in the Galapagos. “The current project is based on a new premise, whereby agricultural developmental is not necessarily used as a powerful toolbox for increasing food production, fighting poverty and improving standard of living. In fragile places like the Galapagos, sensible conservation strategies may take advantage of carefully-crafted agricultural practices to combat and prevent the destructive effects of invasive species to unique ecosystems and endangered biodiversity, the fate of which we are all so anxious about,” says Novoplansky.

The Ecuadorian ambassador to Israel will be visiting the BIDR at the beginning of May in the context of this collaboration.

In addition to Novoplansky, the delegation included Professor Uriel Safriel, who heads the Center of International Conventions at BIDR, Doctor Alon Ben-Gal, a desert agriculture expert from the Volcani Center of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, Professor Aliza Fleischer, an agricultural economist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Noam Weisbrod of the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, BIDR. Novoplansky is a member of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, BIDR.

Photos by ippei + janine and jenny ayala

The Israeli research team was chosen by the European Center, which belongs to the European Union, to lead the research.

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West Nile Virus, spread by mosquitoes that bite infected birds and can affect man, killed 10 Israelis and infected over 120 others several years ago, but has not caused fatalities here since. It is now considered to be endemic in Africa, Asia, Australia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and in the US, which in 2012 went through one of its worst outbreaks.

Higher temperatures around the world have a major influence on the spread of the disease in Europe and other neighboring areas, according to University of Haifa researcher Dr. Shulamit Paz, who headed the team that just published its study in PLoS One. She said the evidence on how warmer weather influences the spread of West Nile virus is becoming more clear all the time.

The infection can cause irreversible brain damage through encephalitis or meningitis in humans, and the elderly and people with weak immune systems are most susceptible.

The Haifa team said that humidity, in addition to warm weather, was involved in increasing mosquito populations in Europe, neighboring countries and Israel, along with the rest of the Middle East. “We used statistical tools and found that as a result of heat waves, a dramatic increase in the number of cases resulted from increased activity of the virus and a growth of the mosquito population,” Paz wrote.

The researcher is now conducting a continuing study on the subject for the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the French research center, CIRAD, with the aim of looking for additional influences on the spread of the disease.
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Via The Jerusalem Post
Photo by lrargerich

Using the company’s technology, Genome Compiler will synthesize the DNA of an Arabidopsis plant with genes from a firefly that cause natural luminosity. Project manager Anthony Evans calls the project a “first step in creating sustainable natural lighting.”

The company set a goal of $65,000 on crowdfunding website Kickstarter and reached it a mere three days after launch. Since then, the project has raised close to a quarter of a million dollars, with more than a month left in the campaign.

From seed to plant

Sponsors who pledge $40 to the campaign will receive seeds that grow into glowing plants. Backers who invest $10,000 will get any 30-letter message they choose encoded into the plant’s DNA. According to the campaign page, the first plants should be ready within a year.

Genome Compiler was founded in 2011, by biochemist Omri Amirav-Drory, joined by Nir Ben Moshe, Yogev Debbi and Roy Nevo, who previously worked for Intel’s Israeli R&D center in Haifa. The company created a product which is like a “Photoshop for geneticists,” allowing synthetic biologists to engineer and print DNA sequences.

The Kickstarter project was created by Evans, who is part of the company’s San-Francisco HQ.

Previously, Genome Compiler told NoCamels: “Genome Compiler is built on the idea that biology is information technology. We can design and program living things the same way that we design computer code. Genetic designers today are still writing in 1s and 0s – they lack the missing tools to design, debug, and compile the biological code into new living things.

“At Genome Compiler, we’ve built just that – a simplified solution for designing DNA.”

The company has raised $2.5 million to date, from private investors and design software giant AutoDesk.

Photo: Glowingplant.com

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“About 97 percent of the world’s water is saltwater or polluted water,” says Shimmy Zimels, CEO of Jerusalem-based SunDwater. That is why some 750 million people in 45 countries need to drill expensive wells, buy bottled water or even use contaminated water despite the huge health risks.

SunDwater’s solar-powered distiller, about to hit the market, is targeted at these populations — particularly in Africa, South America and parts of Asia. It’s a “green,” low-cost, low-maintenance system that converts dirty or salty water into potable water without any need for infrastructure or an external energy source.

The water is pumped into the unit, which is outfitted with a four-square-meter (43-square-foot) round photovoltaic dish that concentrates the sunbeams for fast evaporation. The water vapor flows into a cylinder where it gets condensed back into freshwater.
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Via ISRAEL21c
Photo by kiki99

“Automated milking systems that are on the market are not really appropriate for large dairy farms,” MiRobot’s CFO David Rubin told The Times of Israel. “The robots that are available can only handle about 70 cows a day — considered small in the dairy business — and they cost between $150,000 and $200,000. But for large farms, where there are 3,000 cows at 100 milking stations, the automation is spottier, and you need a staff to connect the cows to the milking equipment.”

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That costs money, and those costs are passed on to the consumers, said Rubin. The dairy business is one of low margins and profits, and in order to maximize income, farmers will try to maximize output, running the farms 24 hours a day and adding more cows. “But there’s a limit to cow productivity, and even if you try to get milk out of cow more often you still have to pay staff to do the work,” said Rubin — and that’s providing you can even find the needed workers. Especially in Western countries, finding workers willing to wade through the muck of a milking stall and physically attach a cow’s teat to a milking machine isn’t easy.

Better results for less

That’s why the idea of a robot for large farms — one that can handle hundreds of cows quickly and efficiently — makes sense, said Rubin, and the MiRobot system enables farmers to make sure their cows are “covered” any time of day or not – automatically, without the need for human workers to prepare the cow for milking. “The robot does all the tasks involved in getting the cow to the milking machine, whether it’s cleaning the milking mechanism, attaching cups to the teats, or ensuring that the milking mechanism is secure.” MiRobot’s system is a lot cheaper, too; on a cost per milking basis for the 8-10 years the system can be expected to last, the system will save farmers significant amounts of money.

MiRobot is set to cost only $12,000 — far less than the cost of any milking robot system — so obviously there must be differences between the system and other robots. Rubin said that the system sacrifices exacting accuracy, with parts and algorithms approximating the areas that the robot arms have to target in order to get the work done. But that’s fine for a milking station, said Rubin. “We are not talking about a machine shop, where a variation of a tenth of millimeter is going to throw off the entire manufacturing process. The cow’s teat — and the cow itself — is large enough that if the cup is positioned a few millimeters to the left or right, the milking process will be able to continue without a problem.”

Instead of working on precise actions, MiRobot’s main technology boost is in its patented imaging system, which directs the robot to the right area that it needs to target. Thus, when a cow walks into the milking stall, the robot, which is stationary, will sort of wrap its arms around the teat, attaching an already cleaned cup and proceeding with the milking operation (the cow is meanwhile busy eating, so it doesn’t mind that it’s being manipulated). If the cow does get upset, though, it won’t be able to do too much damage to the robot, as it is made of flexible plastics, rubber, and other material that will bounce right back if a cow (they’re usually pretty hefty) steps on it or kicks it.

MiRobot is an early stage firm, a part of the Trendlines Group Mofet accelerator, where it is working on getting funding to complete its prototype (Rubin said that the company will be ready for a working demo at a farm in Israel by the end of the year). The company will be traveling to the US at the end of the month to raise money from investors, as part of a roadshow sponsored by Trendlines. The company has already raised about a half million dollars, and is seeking several million more to go into full production.
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Via The Times of Israel
Photo: Courtesy

Phinergy’s air batteries made up of 50 aluminum plates can give EVs a range of up to 1,000 miles, according to Gizmag, with each plate providing enough energy for 20 miles. Weighing a total of 55 pounds, this fuel cell could be used in tandem with existing lithium-ion batteries, according to the developers, but the technology is far from ideal.

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Gizmag notes that several companies have been trying to come up with mostly lithium-air batteries that have a longer range, in order to make electric vehicles more attractive to a wider audience.

A disposable solution

“These batteries offer significantly increased capacity in a more compact form factor by replacing bulky conventional cathodes, which contain the oxidizer within the battery itself, with lighter “air cathodes” that instead draw oxygen from the surrounding air,” writes Darren Quick.

But Phinergy has taken a different approach “with an air electrode with a silver-based catalyst and structure that lets oxygen enter the cell, but blocks out CO2. The result is an air electrode that Phinergy says has an operational lifespan of thousands of hours.”

Problem is, once the 1,000 miles of energy has been exhausted, the battery can’t be recharged. It’s a disposable solution, though Phinergy does note that aluminum is easily recyclable.
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Via Green Prophet
Photo by Phinergy

For many, other methods of personal transportation, such as bicycles and Segways, have become preferred solutions. Taking easy transportation into a new direction, Israeli-native Amir Zaid invented a personal transportation vehicle called MUVe that picks up where the Segway and the electric scooter left off.

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The MUVe is basically a scooter that can fold into a trolley, making it an optimal vehicle for urban transport.

Built for urban transport

Using smaller vehicles to make room in the big city

Zaid began thinking about altering personal transportation while he studied and worked as an automobile designer in Italy. Living in Milan and working in Turin for big names like Ferrari, Fiat and Pininfarina, Zaid commuted a total of seven hours every day, with most of his time spent stuck in big-city traffic. Despite his love for cars, and nice ones at that, Zaid realized that personal and portable methods of transportation could possibly eliminate the need for large vehicles in the urban setting, taking the traffic jams with them.

Fast forward one year, and Ziad was creating a prototype for MUVe with familiar tools from the automobile industry. “Traveling inside highly-populated urban areas is very difficult and complicated, wasting lots of time and money. Basically, I wanted to create a simple method of transportation that people can carry with them from place to place,” Ziad tells NoCamels.

MUVe’s potential edge over other personal transportation methods would be its portability factor. Segways, at 50 kg, are rather bulky and not cheap, “nearly the price of a small car”, as Zaid put it, while electric bicycles and scooters are also heavy and can only be awkwardly folded into cartable forms.

A finalized produc by the end of the year

The MUVe can be folded into a trolley, with a foldable third back wheel for added stability and will weigh between 12-15 kg. Zaid says the MUVe will cost about $2,000- $3,000 once it hits the market. The battery pack will be fitted with a standard 110- or 220-volt plug, depending on the country where it’s sold.

Currently, there is a prototype for a basic model with a personalized exterior and battery power (according to Zaid, urban travelers only really need enough for 15 kilometers a day), but an updated vehicle, with a cellular controlled mechanism is already in the works.

“Cars are irrelevant”

Zaid’s goal for MUVe is to change the way people move and get around cities, “I love cars, and I studied car design, but today in big cities, cars are irrelevant and they are not suitable for urban transportation.” Although the most obvious use is for commuter transportation, Zaid believes that even mailmen, factory and airport workers will be able to use the MUVevehicle to whiz around on their jobs. Zaid says there is also an off-road version of the vehicle already in the works.

Over the past year and a half, the dream of MUVe has quickly become a reality, and Zaid believes that the basic prototype will be up and running in two weeks’ time. The vehicle will be tested on the streets of Israel’s cities, but Zaid hopes that it will quickly move to the United States, Europe and South America. muvE’s challenges are considerable, however and will include having to pass the personal transportation safety standards in every country.

A finalized product by the end of 2013

Unlike Segway, Zaid does not see himself opening up exclusive retail outlets in every market, but rather encouraging the assembly of the MUVe vehicles in the country. As Zaid puts it, “we do not intend to be a manufacturing firm, we do not want to invest in factories and direct sales. We intend to focus only on research and development, and have the vehicles assembled in every market.”

The funding for MUVe’s venture currently comes mostly out of Zaid and other employees’ pockets, but they are  looking for the right partners to finalize their products by the end of 2013.

Photos: courtesy

Soon to market his clean-tech product through two major manufacturers in Europe, Shaltiel says his new e-shower invention doesn’t only help hotel owners improve their bottom line while guests are washing theirs. It also helps quell the risk of Legionnaire’s disease, and offers a greener way to get clean.

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In essence, SmarTap gives new meaning to the expression “power shower.”

Shaltiel explains: “My sister gave birth to twins and I noticed all the complicated logistics of taking care of them. The temperature had to be just right. So this idea of creating a smart shower device is because of my sister. I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to turn on the shower and automatically fill the babies’ tub with 20 liters [five gallons] of water at 37 degrees C [98.6 F] exactly?”

Instead of using a thermometer and having to guess, Shaltiel’s sister could just press a preset button and the bath would be exactly right for her twins. “That’s how I began the company,” the father of a six-year-old tells ISRAEL21c.

Headed to hotels and homes

Shaltiel was an engineer from Intel where he helped design Sandy Bridge microprocessors. He linked up with an engineering partner, and since the end of 2009 has enlisted several other former co-workers to build his clean-tech company.

Funded by the Jerusalem-based Terra Venture Partners, SmarTap’s six employees are building the company as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer). They aim to get their smart shower engine box at the heart of chain hotels via manufacturing partners.

They also plan to win over consumers with the shower device, expected to cost about $500.

The SmarTap engine, which can control temperature and flow rate, and prevent scalding, does not need to sit beside the shower. Rather, the showerhead is fitted with a Wi-Fi communication device, and this pairs with a digital control to transmit information back to the showerhead brains in another location.

From the digital controller, one can program the ultimate shower experience or easily adjust flow and temperature. For hotel owners, the programmability of the SmarTap solution lets a resource manager reduce flow rate during peak demand, or use it to save several liters of water every minute.

“If the flow was reduced from 20 liters a minute to 17 or 18, the person taking a shower wouldn’t notice,” says Shaltiel.

But the accounts manager would. For hotel chains, Shaltiel can assure a return on investment (ROI) from one to three years depending on how the system is fitted. If it’s to replace worn-out equipment or installed at the beginning of construction, the ROI is one year. The cost to replace a well-functioning system would yield an ROI of three years, Shaltiel estimates. After that, the savings starts.

By June he hopes to have real data from a pilot program at two Tel Aviv hotels, the Dan Panorama and the David Intercontinental. About six showers in each hotel will be fitted with the SmarTap e-shower device for patrons to try.

If you do try it, take note: The shower might start “dry” at first. It doesn’t actually heat water but diverts cold water to a holding tank until the temperature is just right. Then the flow begins.

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Via ISRAEL21c
Photo by stevendepolo

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AfiMilk, a local company specializing in dairy herd management and situated in the Jordan valley kibbutz Afikim, has built a goat-milking parlor at Mariposa Dairy in Ontario, Canada. Mariposa Dairy has 1,500 goats that produce goat cheese for supermarkets in North America and was looking for a solution to increase productivity.

Shlomi Azran, AfiMilk’s sales manager, proudly takes us around the dairy farms of kibbutz Afikim, built in 1932, on the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. He tells NoCamels about AfiMilk’s latest project in Canada: “The parlor has 30 positions on each side, so it can milk 60 animals at each time. In one hour, it can milk 600 animals. We also built intricate automatic gates that guide the movement of the goats”

Grinning broadly, he adds:  “The farmer in Canada has told us that with our system, he is producing more milk with less goats.”

AfiMilk’s project in Canada is not its first international business coup. In 2010, AfiMilk announced its partnership in a half-billion-dollar milk production project in Vietnam. The project involved establishing a dairy farm of 30,000 cows to supply 500,000 liters of milk a day, about 40 percent of Vietnam’s present milk consumption. AfiMilk was responsible for all stages of the enterprise, including breeding and preparing the land for crops that will be used as feed.

Using hardware and software to produce milk more efficiently

The crown jewel in AfiMilk’s system for the Canada project is the milk meter that has been customized for goat-milking. The meter is one of only a handful that has been approved for goat-milking by the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR). AfiMilk’s system makes use of electrodes to measure the quality and quantity of the milk.

A milking parlour on Kibbutz Revivim in Israel

Besides the milk meter, AfiMilk also has leg tags on each animal to collect data on the movement of the animal. According to Azran, the leg tag can tell whether a goat is standing or lying down, for example. The farmer would then be alerted when an animal is spending too much lying down, which can be a sign of illness.

Azran says the data can also be used to choose the next generation of goats for the farm. “Let’s say you have space for 100 animals. You want the best 100 animals. So every year, farmers decide on the kids (baby goats) based on the mother goat’s health records,” Azran explains.

Adjusting cow-milking techniques to goats

The system for the goat-milking parlor is derived from what Afimilk has been doing with cow-milking. However, Azran is keen to stress that important modifications had to be made to optimise a system for goats.

“It’s a different kind of milk. The raw material is different. And then there’s the amount. If cows give you 10 liters per milking, the goat gives you 1 liter or 1.5. The amount is very small. So to be precise, you need to use specific equipment. You can milk a goat with cow equipment, but your results are not precise. And for us it is very important to get the right information.”

The Israeli Advantage

The average Israeli cow produces an impressive 12,000 litres of milk a year. By comparison, the average United States dairy cow produces 9,000 litres of milk a year. What accounts for the massive difference? According to Azran, it all boils down to the management of the animals, and that is where Israel’s technology stands out.

So how did Israel’s technological advantage come about? According to Ornit Sade-Benkin, the General Marketing Manager at SCR Dairy, another Israeli herd management specialist, it’s a result of several factors.

Firstly, 60 percent of the country’s cows are located on farms in kibbutzim – Israel’s famous socialist collective communes where inhabitants mutually own means of production and divide among themselves the social and economic responsibilities, Sade-Benkin explains. An example of mutual cooperation is the cooperative ownership and management of “Hachaklait,” a veterinary organization that works closely with the communes.  Each farm pays an annual fixed rate per animal and in turn is visited two to three times per week.  Each cow receives several routine visits per lactation to ensure she is producing at maximum potential. Such cooperation creates a less competitive environment where knowledge and best practices are shared among farmers.

Secondly, says Sade-Benkin, “Israel is one of the biggest hi-tech centers in the world. The eco system provides a good ground for start-ups and entrepreneurship. Startups like SCR Dairy are able to look at what the farmer needs and provide a suitable solution.”

She adds: “SCR Dairy, for example, moved from being an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for the dairy industry to developing a breakthrough technology it calls FreeFlow. FreeFlow uses infrared technology to measure the quality and quantity of flowing milk. Today, it is the biggest manufacturer of milk meters, and has expanded to produce other equipment used in milking cows.”

“It looks like Israel will continue to be the leader in the field of dairy herd management for some time to come,” Sade-Benkin concludes.

Photo by AfiMilk