July 9, 2010 | 1:19 pm

Alicia Silverstone tells NASA to back off

Posted by Mikaela Gilbert-Lurie

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Not so Clueless anymore! Alicia Silverstone, actress, author and PETA spokesperson, is doing her part to earn her title as an animal rights activist.  Workers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, centered in Long Island, were the recipients of a phone message from Silverstone, trying to dissuade them from electing to take on a “really cruel project” sponsored by NASA.  The venture would require that 30 squirrel monkeys be inundated with a potentially lethal dose of gamma radiation, in order to recreate an environment like that which an astronaut would experience on a single round trip journey to Mars.  NASA has supposedly pledged up to 1.75 million dollars of tax payer money to allow the project to go forward.

Here is Alicia’s message (received by an estimated 1,000 workers) from longisland.about.com:

Hi, this is Alicia Silverstone. I’m sure that you were as disturbed as I was to learn that Brookhaven is considering blasting monkeys with radiation in a really cruel project funded by NASA. These bright but scared to death animals will be locked up for life and may suffer from brain damage, cancer, and blindness before dying in their barren steel cages.

Brookhaven’s reputation as a cutting-edge scientific organization is ruined if this cruel study happens. NASA’s European counterpart—the European Space Agency—has publicly condemned such experiments on monkeys.

At the end of the day, both parties appear well intentioned, although I have had a tendency to think PETA is somewhat of a joke after they got up in arms about President Obama swatting a fly on national television.  It was a fly, relax! Monkeys are a different story though.  However it turns out, I will stand by one thing indefinitely: Clueless was an amazing movie.

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July 8, 2010 | 10:09 am

Israeli student wins physics gold

Posted by Adam Wills

Eli Goudinevsky, a 12th-grader from Amit High School in Beer Sheva, learned today that he was one of five students who won gold in a global high school physics competition called the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics. Three other students from Israel—Evelyn Jenis from Beersheba, Daniel Achdut from Netanya and Dorin Yerhi from Arad—took silver during the contest organized by the Institute of Physics-Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, which draws participants from 75 countries.

From YNet:

The winning research was conducted by Goudinevsky in the laboratory of Prof. Nathan Kleeorin at Ben-Gurion University.

“My physics teacher at school and the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center at Ben-Gurion University gave me the tools and helped me realize by potential,” Goudinevsky said.

The Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center plays a large role in the success of students from the south in this competition. For instance, Hadas Tzaban from Netivot won the gold medal last year.

This year’s contestants were mentored by Prof. Victor Malamud, a physics teacher at Amit High School in Beersheba and the head of the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center.

“This is a big achievement,” said Prof. Malamud on Thursday. “These young scientists are the future of the country.”

Dr. Amnon Eldar said that the Israeli winners would be awarded prizes in recognition of their outstanding achievements. “These students are a symbol of excellence,” he said.

As part of his prize, Goudinevsky will work alongside research fellows at the Institute of Physics during an upcoming four-week enrichment program.

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July 2, 2010 | 2:23 pm

Welcome to Science Schmooze

Posted by Adam Wills

Welcome to Science Schmooze, JewishJournal.com’s blog featuring science news that interests Jews (or at least those of us who blog here).

Jews account for about a quarter of all Nobel Prize winners in science categories. Mention names like Einstein, Salk, Feynman and Sagan and how can we not beam with pride?

In his 1902 Zionist novel, “Old New Land,” Theodor Herzl envisioned a new Jewish society that would use science and technology to develop Israel. Today, sci/tech is one of the most developed sectors in Israel, a country with seven research universities that’s ranked fourth in the world in scientific activity.

Jews in the United States, Israel and around the world are behind advances in agriculture, medicine, computer science, nanotechnology and solar energy, to name just a few fields we hope to cover.

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