Category: Science and Health

I’ve taken a lot of students on tours of Israel. One of the highlights has always been a trip to the Dead Sea. I can’t count the number of times I’ve stood on the shore, watching my students float on the salty water, while I hold a bag with cellphones in one hand and a […]

The feast of dairy products – Shavuot – is almost upon us, which for many people spells trouble for their stomachs. In the eighth episode of Walla’s “Nutrition on the agenda” podcast, Gil Avidor-Aloni hosted Roni Baruch, a senior dietitian in the nutrition unit and the unit for functional diseases of the digestive system at […]

Last week’s Torah reading was a climactic high point in the Exodus story. God appeared before the entire Jewish people at Mt. Sinai and spoke the Ten Commandments. With deafening peals of thunder, bright flashes of lightning, a smoking mountain and the ground trembling beneath the Israelites’ feet, God’s revelation of those iconic tablets was […]

A smart necklace that tracks heat signatures from lit cigarettes in real-time, how much smokers inhale and the time between puffs could help you stop smoking. Researchers at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago developed such a device that resembles a lapis blue pendant and detects users’ smoking habits much more reliably than previous systems.  Called SmokeMon, […]

The World Health Organization is increasing its epidemiological surveillance in Equatorial Guinea after the country confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a WHO official said on Tuesday. The small Central African country has so far reported nine deaths as well as 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus disease, with symptoms including fever, fatigue […]

A baby girl was born with a tail covered in skin and hair that was 5.7 centimeters long. Her birth stunned doctors at the rural Mexican hospital who delivered her via C-section with no discernable health problems or abnormalities – apart from a tail containing muscles and nerves.  The baby had seemingly no history of […]

Judaism values study — that is no surprise. But it also values engagement in the world. In the Talmud, (Berakhot 35b) there is a classic dispute: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai says one should spend all of one’s time in Torah study, and Rabbi Yishmael says one should combine study with a worldly occupation. A later sage, Abaye, laconically […]

Most pregnant women experience symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, back pain, swelling, etc. and each woman feels differently when pregnant. One well-known problem during pregnancy, especially towards the end, is severe muscle cramps. It happens mainly at night during deep sleep when sharp pain originating in the calves of the legs pierces the body. Nurit […]

Up to two percent of adults in Europe, North America and Israel are likely have heart failure, which carries a high risk of additional serious complications and death. This high prevalence, linked health risks and costs warrant urgent action, said researchers in the Academy of Medical Sciences. The new estimates were based on digital health […]

In a powerful earthquake in Israel, each region in danger such as the northern Kinneret could have injured [and dead] numbered in each from a few thousand to close to 25,000, according to experts speaking at the Knesset Health Committee on Monday.  The patients in Israel are at full occupancy even on a daily basis. […]