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Weizmann: Adding Math to List of Security Threats
by John Markoff
  One of the world’s most prominent cryptographers issued a warning on Friday about a hypothetical incident in which a math error in a widely used computing chip places the security of the global electronic commerce system at risk. Adi Shamir, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, circulated a research note about the problem to a small group of colleagues. He wrote that the increasing complexity of modern microprocessor chips is almost certain to lead to undetected errors. Mr. Shamir wrote that if an intelligence organization discovered a math error in a widely used chip, then security software on a PC with that chip could be “trivially broken with a single chosen message.” (New York Times)
Tel Aviv: Carefully Plug in to the Electric Car Revolution
by Dan Rabinowitz
  Getting the most out of the technological breakthrough produced by Shai Agassi and his partners will therefore require comprehensive, system-wide thought about transportation and energy. A net increase in the number of cars, on top of the enormous number already traveling Israel's roads, would produce a net increase in carbon emissions and merely contribute to the global warming crisis. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that cheap electric cars come in place of conventional cars, not in addition to them. It is also necessary to ensure that families capable of affording such automobiles will not be tempted to buy a third or fourth car, just because it is cheap and seems convenient. The writer is a Tel Aviv University professor. (Israel21c)
Efi Arazi School of Computer Science: 'Seam Carving' Photo Resizing Now for Video
by Stephen Shankland
In August, researchers unveiled a new way of shrinking or expanding photos called seam carving. Now it turns out the technique applies to video, too. Ariel Shamir, a senior lecturer at the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science in Israel and a visiting scientist with Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, showed off the technique at the 6sight digital-imaging conference here last week. (Adobe Systems has hired another seam carving researcher, Shai Avidan.) The technology analyzes a picture for vertical or horizontal "seams" - the term the researchers use to describe a path traversing the photo where pixels are most like their neighbors and therefore least likely to be missed. (CNet News)
Israeli Architects Move One Step Closer to Dew-Harvesting Device
A portable dew-harvesting kit developed by Israeli architects for use in areas where clean water is scarce is now being commercialized by a Dutch company. The kit, which was the winning entry in a competition held by UK engineering firm Arup and WaterAid earlier this year, was developed by Joseph Cory, founder of Geotectura, and Eyal Malka of Malka Architects. The two men were inspired after seeing drops of water caught on spider webs in the desert first thing in the morning. Their design, WatAir, consists of an inverted pyramic of sheet material that collects dew and funnels it into a collector and filtration unit. The architects have now built and tested a 10 meter square prototype made of canvas and attached by rope to trees. The device can collect more than 20 liters of water a day. The architects are now developing an improved, portable version that snaps together easily with a Dutch company. About one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean or safe water. (Israel21c)
Ben-Gurion: Building a Nano-Future in the Negev
by Hanan Sher
  Ron Folman has spent a considerable part of his 45 years breaking barriers. As an Israel Air Force pilot it was the sound barrier, then educational barriers for himself and for young people from the neglected Negev town of Yeroham, and then emotional barriers between Israelis and Germans. Now a professor at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, he is trying to tear down the invisible wall that restricts scientific research, and the high tech industry that goes with it, to a limited geographical area in the center of the country. Folman has made several other stops along the way to becoming an internationally known physicist who has taught at prestigious scientific institutions in Europe and the Americas and head of BGU's Atom Chip Group. Those side trips include stints as an avid hiker and desert-lover, a lecturer in the philosophy of creativity at the Jerusalem-based Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Israel's leading art school, and a social activist who served as head of the Israeli branch of Amnesty International. (Israel21c)
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Intel-Israel Helps Make Coolest Computer Chip Ever
by Gil Ronen
  Global computer company Intel unveiled the latest addition to its processor family this week: a new chipset temporarily named "Penryn." The innovative processor is based on hafnium, a metal that is used in transistor production as well as in nuclear plant control rods. It reduces electricity loss through the use of third-generation silicon materials, and also does away with the need to incorporate eco-unfriendly lead and halogen in the production process. "These are the biggest transistor advancements in 40 years," Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said. The latest Penryn innovation drew upon expertise and experience accumulated during the Israeli development of the Centrino processor, company spokesman Koby Bahar said. (Israel National News)
Tel Aviv: Israeli Researchers Aim to Develop "Neuromemory" Chip
by Amir Ben-Artzi
Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel are aiming to create a hybrid biological-solid state memory that could be linked to conventional computer hardware to create cyborg machines. The possibility of growing biological memory on silicon or glass substrates and making electrical connection to wires has been demonstrated before. The Israeli team has now demonstrated that networks of neurons cultured outside the brain can be imprinted with multiple rudimentary memories that persist for days without interfering with or wiping out others. At present the electrical connections to the biological network are used for observation and measurement but a next stage could be to develop functioning biological networks that could interact with a conventional computer. "The main achievement was the fact that we used the inhibition of the inhibitory neurons to stimulate the memory patterns," said physicist Eshel Ben-Jacob, senior author of a paper on the findings published in the May issue of Physical Review. "We probably made [the cell culture] trigger the collective mode of activity that...[is]...possible." (EETimes)
NYU and Technion: Evolution Is Deterministic, Biologists Conclude From Multi-Species Study
  A multi-national team of biologists has concluded that developmental evolution is deterministic and orderly, rather than random, based on a study of different species of roundworms. The researchers were interested in how development evolves in organs which themselves do not change. To do so, they examined the vulva - the female's copulatory and egg-laying organ - in nearly 50 species of roundworms. Because the vulva does not significantly change across species, one might predict that there would be little variation in vulva development. However, the researchers found an astonishing amount of developmental variation. They then reasoned that this variation, since it did not affect the final adult vulva, should have evolved in a stochastic, or random, fashion. The leading author is Karin Kiontke, a post-doctoral fellow in New York University's Department of Biology. The research team included NYU Biology Professor David Fitch as well as researchers from the University of Paris, the Israel Institute of Technology, and the Max-Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany. (Science Daily)
Berkeley: Students from Ben-Gurion University Win Second Prize for Microalgae Growth Technology
 A team of four Honors MBA students from Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev won second place in the Intel Education and University of California Berkeley 3rd Annual Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge last week at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The competition is designed to showcase global business opportunities that exhibit the greatest potential for positive change in society. Teams were judged on products and services that could make a significant global impact. This is the first year an Israeli team participated in the event. The $10,000 prize was awarded to Negev Renewable Green Fuels (NRG Fuels). NRG develops innovative microalgae growth technology for biodiesel production. According to the student's plan, NRG's closed system for microalgae growth can reduce biodiesel production costs by up to 40 percent. NRG Fuels' system has an output capacity per area of land nearly 15 times higher than the best agricultural feedstock. The NRG Fuels plan was based on the work of Prof. Shosh Arad, a leading researcher in algae applications at BGU and included four students - Avi Avidan, Daniel Eisen, Noga Bar-El, and Roee Arbel - from the University's Guilford Glazer School for Business and Management. (Israel21c)
Israel Launches Anti-Hijack Pilot ID System
by Dan Williams
 Israeli authorities plan to issue a new anti-hijack identification system to incoming aircraft which they say is foolproof, but some experts are not convinced it will plug all the security holes on the horizon. Starting next year, Israel will require pilots who fly to its airports to use the Security Code System (SCS), a local invention designed to ensure planes that have been commandeered for al Qaeda-style attacks are spotted in time. Israel plans a trial run for the system, using a credit card-sized keypad, next month, in cooperation with five airlines from the United States, Europe and Africa. About 10,000 of the units will ultimately be issued, with Israel bearing the cost. Pilots who fail the authentication test when they approach Israeli airspace will be denied entry. Should a plane go ahead, ignoring further warnings, Israel will consider it hostile and scramble fighter planes for an interception. (Reuters/Guardian-UK)
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