Category: Science and Health

One of the first courses I took in graduate school was called “Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion.” A course common across religious studies programs, the version I took had us reading a lot of 19th and early 20th century texts which have become “classics” in the field. One of those texts was […]

Sourasky surgeons performed the transplant of a replacement liver that had been disqualified from being donated to others for the first time this week. Hagai Vyacheslav, a 45-year-old divorced father of two small children, thought he was doomed. He started suffering from severe stomach pains two years ago, and because of that, he reached the […]

Popular anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, once also falsely touted as a possible COVID-19 cure, may actually have another secret and game-changing use: Killing bed bugs, according to a recent study. While ivermectin is not effective in curing the deadly coronavirus that has spread throughout the world since 2020, it may be able to help tackle another […]

More than one biblical story pivots on the occurrence of a significant dream, or a vision of the night. The Talmud takes dreams seriously, although it understands their limitations: “even a dream that will be fulfilled contains some nonsense.” (Berakhot 55a) Maimonides writes that the Patriarchs experience prophesy only in dreams. This statement leads to an objection […]

Bronchiolitis is a common chest infection that affects babies and children under the age of two years, especially in the autumn and winter and causes the accumulation of mucus and phlegm in the small airways (bronchioles), resulting in partial blockage. It is the leading cause in the Western world for hospitalizations of babies before their […]

A significant new function of the mammalian sperm protein IZUMO1 that may ultimately lead to more targeted diagnoses and treatment of human fertility problems and promote the development of more sophisticated forms of contraception has been discovered by researchers at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and two Japanese universities.  They found that the protein IZUMO1, […]

Israeli Consul-General in Shanghai Eddie Shapira was held in a medical facility for 10 days, as part of China’s zero-COVID policy, he wrote on Facebook over the weekend. Shapira said the “conditions are reminiscent of a prison,” and that he experienced “the 10 most bizarre days that I could imagine.” The diplomat caught COVID-19 with […]

A woman with a nut allergy was in for a sickening surprise when she found out that the very allergy she’s lived with and grown accustomed to was to blame for some serious discomfort she had in her nether regions. The 28-year-old woman had a history of anaphylaxis caused by the presence of antibodies called […]

Just learning to play a musical instrument – and playing the piano – has a positive impact on the brain’s ability to process sights and sounds and can even help to lift a “blue” mood.  Music involves different senses and is emotional in nature, and musicians show enhanced detection of audio-visual temporal discrepancies and emotion […]

Every winter, seasonal varieties of diseases such as the flu arrive in Israel, creating many waves of illness. Right now it seems like many people are sick, with runny noses, deep coughs and a general bad feeling, and we might also get sick.  Yet some people easily get through the winter easily, and they don’t […]