By Lee Golan

Judging by a recent national plan, approved by the government, Israel is planning to become one of the most advanced research and industry centers in the field of oil substitutes for transportation.

While eating fish is considered healthy, the effects of mercury - a metal which accumulates in the body - are not and can include damage to the nervous system and liver functions. A new Israeli study shows where all this mercury comes from.

Israel's top golf club is always thinking of new ways to save water. The club even imported a type of grass from beaches on South Africa's and Australia's borders, with grass roots that can grow strong even when sprinkled with salt water.

A hotel for orchids recently opened in Israel, with all the accommodations and pampering treatments this flower loves. The stay costs approximately $0.60 per night, leaving the flower owners feeling confident when they go away on holiday.

An Israeli cleantech company will be providing water purifying systems to Peru and is in talks to do the same in England and South Africa after it invented a unique floating device.

Three Israeli innovators are among 80 people worldwide to be awarded a scholarship to a prestigious NASA graduate program, which will assist the students in executing initiatives aimed at dealing with the pressing world challenges.

Researches from a design school in Israel claim they have succeeded in solving a problem that has been preoccupying airlines for years and has even caused aircraft accidents: accumulation of ice on airplanes. And it's all from analyzing the lotus flower.

In the fields of the Galilee in Israel, big and healthy seeds are grown which some claim could alter the world hunger crisis and shortage of fuel, no less. Kaiima, an Israeli agricultural start-up, is multiplying the genome of plants and making them bigger, stronger and more fertile.

The world's first agricultural "cloud" system will help farmers around the world with pest control; pricing; international regulations, all according to their individual needs.

The Israeli military and the Israel Nature and National Parks Authority are cooperating on a new project that will teach soldiers how to preserve nature while on duty. Every paratrooper will get a pocket guide, teaching them how to collect garbage left around in national parks; which animals are protected and how to deal with civilians stealing endangered plants.

Israel and Germany have agreed on a combined project for rehabilitating Lake Victoria in Kenya, which suffers from pollution and serious ecological problems.