Category: Science and Health

Lessons learned from three years of managing the COVID-19 pandemic in the country should ensure Israel is more prepared for the next public health emergency, whatever that may be, said coronavirus coordinator Prof. Salman Zarka. “We need to formalize the processes we developed for managing coronavirus, so we can roll them out again,” he said […]

A new study, from the University of Helsinki in Finland, has suggested that altering your dog’s diet can help protect them against stomach disorders when they age.  The study, published earlier this month in Scientific Reports found that giving puppies non-processed meats and dog-safe table scraps can do wonders for their health. The altered diet, at 6-18 […]

Nanoparticles of the toxic rare earth metal gandolinium can potentially infiltrate kidney cells, causing serious health complications, a team of researchers at the University of New Mexico found in a new study. The peer-reviewed study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports earlier this month, found that in some cases, gadolinium can cause nephrogenic […]

A new peer-reviewed study, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, has found that humans experience longer REM sleep in the winter.  REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement and is a stage of sleep associated with dreaming and memory consolidation, according to sleepfoundation.org.  During this sleep stage, the body’s heart rate speeds up and breathing can become […]

Many of my readers know I devote a fair amount of my professional time to trauma work, as I am quite concerned about its psychological impact on both adults and children. Between terrorism, Iranian threats, long power outages, civic discord, and being in an earthquake zone, I sometimes think that as a country, we are […]

Being pregnant is exciting, yet it requires a lot of resources from the body to create this new life and develop the fetus. Among many women before becoming pregnant, the question arises as to how and if it’s possible to work with one’s body to provide a safe environment for the baby to grow.  This […]

On today’s daf, we encounter a beraita that brings the following case: A person was obligated to bring a sin-offering and they also said, “It is incumbent upon me to bring a burnt offering,” and they separated money and said, “These (coins) are hereby for my obligatory offering”: If they wish to (purchase and) offer […]

I was a big fan of the board game Clue growing up. As macabre as it might be, I enjoyed moving my token around the two-dimensional mansion trying to figure out who had murdered Mr. Boddy, where the murder had taken place and what manner of death was visited upon him.   Today’s daf also tackles […]

Cattle are a major agricultural source of greenhouse gases worldwide – responsible for 50% to 60% of them – due to their diet of hay and grass, which causes flatulence. Methane is about 30 times more potent at heating up the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Each year, a single cow will belch about 100 kilograms […]

Next week, the world will mark a grim milestone: one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. For those of us living in Europe, the sense of crisis has long since passed. The initial flood of refugees has slowed to a trickle, and many Ukrainians living abroad have found ways to head back home for periods — to […]