February 23, 2009 | 6:12 pm

‘Matrix’-style brain socket on the way?

Posted by Adam Wills

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Weizmann Advances Wetware With Nerve Networks (JPost)
A researcher with the Weizmann Institute’s Physics of Complex Systems department, along with some of his former students, have created circuits and logic gates made of live nerves grown in the lab, which in the future could be used to link the human brain to computers.

Global Crisis Has Cost Israeli Universities $225M (Forbes/AP)
The public body overseeing funding of Israeli universities and colleges says the global financial crisis has so far cost them about $225 million in lost revenues.

Microsoft Plans to Lay Off 50 in Israel (TradingMarkets.com)
Microsoft, which last Thursday announced that it would fire 5,000 employees worldwide, will lay off about 50 employees at its Israel R&D center in Herzliya.

Chip Maker Freescale to Lay Off 100 in Israel (Globes)
Freescale Semiconductor Inc will lay off 18 percent of its workforce at its Israeli subsidiary after consolidating its R&D activity last week.

Sex-Changing Sea Coral Found in Japan (ScienceDaily)
Trees do it. Bees do it. Even environmentally stressed fish do it. But professor Yossi Loya from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Zoology is the first in the world to discover that Japanese sea corals engage in “sex switching” too.

Earth’s Cracks May Contribute to Global Warming (Discovery Channel)
A Ben Gurion University of the Negev study hasfound that cracks in the earth exhale large quantities of gas, perhaps enough to affect global warming.

Can the Cedars of Lebanon Survive Climate Change? (Green Prophet)
A recent article in the Lebanese Daily Star emphasized the dangers of climate change and global warming to Lebanon’s remaining cedar groves, which have been a historic national symbol in the country since its founding.

Turning Stem Cells Into Blood Vessels (JHU Gazette)
Technion grad at Johns Hopkins is trying to coax human stem cells to turn into networks of new blood vessels that could someday be used to replace damaged tissue in people with heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.

Caltech Professor Honored With Dan David Prize (Contra Costa Times)
Andrew Lange of the California Institute of Technology and Paul Richards of the University of California, Berkeley, were honored with the Dan David Prize for their discoveries providing the first undisputed evidence that the universe has a flat geometry.

Nanotech in Israel Jumps 150 Percent in 3 Years (Globes)
Israel National Nanotech Initiative (INNI) director Dan Vilenski reports that the number of research teams in nanotech has increased from 210 to 325 over the past three years.

Abu Dhabi to Subscribe to Israeli Satellite Service (YNet)
United Arab Emirates state said to sign contract with Israel’s ImageSat International giving it access to images taken by Eros-B satellite. Deal estimated at $20 million per year.