Science

Genetic disorders awareness camapign

By Robyn Rosen, September 16, 2010

The wife of a lawyer with a rare condition has set up a charity to raise awareness of genetic disorders which are more prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews.

Katrina Sarig, 38, founded Jewish Genetic Disorders UK after struggling to discover information about her husband's neuromuscular condition.

Now 40, Ro'i Sarig was diagnosed with Torsion Dystonia when he was 15. But it was five years ago when the couple began planning a family that they came to appreciate the difficulty in gathering information.

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Israel fights to stop science brain drain

By Nathan Jeffay, September 16, 2010

Israel has begun to implement a £250 million plan to win its best and brightest scientists back from abroad and slow its "brain drain".

A decade after the state slashed funding for university research, new posts for young academics are few and far between. The result is that most are going abroad to find a "post doctoral" research position - and increasingly they are staying abroad.

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Lord Sacks ponders issues of faith

By Simon Rocker, September 2, 2010

The Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks says he has put his faith "on the line" for his annual Rosh Hashanah broadcast this year when it goes out on BBC1 onSunday night.

Entitled The Case for God? the programme features him in conversation with four of Britain's "cleverest" critics of religion - as he calls them.

Three are Jewish - Howard Jacobson, Alain de Botton and Lisa Jardine. The fourth, neurobiologist Colin Blakemore, argues that science has made religion irrelevant.

At one point, the Chief Rabbi is asked by Howard Jacobson whether he is sure there is a God.

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Scientists hear how gays can be 'cured'

By Paul Berger, August 5, 2010

An Orthodox scientific group has sparked controversy by giving a platform to a Jewish organisation that believes homosexuality can be cured.

The Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists invited Arthur Goldberg to speak at its annual convention in Connecticut last month.

Mr Goldberg is a proponent of reparative therapy, which seeks to transform gays and bisexuals into heterosexuals through therapy.

In 1999, he co-founded JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality). Opponents claim such therapies are ineffective and even harmful.

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Jews share a 'genetic signature'

By Paul Berger, June 17, 2010

Jewishness is not just in your heart or in your soul, it's also in your genes.

A new study carried out by geneticists in New York and Tel Aviv suggests that Jews have a particular genetic signature.

Geneticist Harry Ostrer, of New York University, said that within specific communities, such as Ashkenazim or Sephardim, Jews are as closely related as fourth or fifth cousins.

Furthermore, Dr Ostrer, lead author of the study titled Abraham's Children in the Genome Era, said all Jews have a common Middle Eastern ancestry.

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Ofer Lahav wants to share his secrets about space with you

By Candice Krieger, June 3, 2010

Did you know that 75 per cent of the universe could be made up of a mysterious substance known as dark energy?

Professor Ofer Lahav, head of Astrophysics at University College London, will talk about this, and other cosmological phenomenon, at a joint conference with the Weizmann Institute later this month.

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Government science advisor rejects evolution

By Anshel Pfeffer, March 4, 2010

The Chief scientific adviser of the Israeli Education Ministry may be forced to resign after he rejected evolution and the connection between human activity and global warming.

Doctor Gabi Avital, an expert in rocket science from the Technion and a veteran Likud Party member, was posted to the education ministry three months ago. Accusations of political cronyism soon followed as in the past the post was held by experts in the field of education.

The adviser's responsibilities include reviewing the national science school curriculum.

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Academic 'copied my thesis' claims student

By Robyn Rosen, February 25, 2010

A senior academic is under investigation for allegedly plagiarising the dissertation of one of his students.

Dr Remco Polman, a 'practitioner psychologist', is facing a conduct and competence hearing at the Health Professionals Council (HPC) next week, over allegations that he plagiarised a dissertation by Jeannette Cohen. He denies the allegations.

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Zionist Federation may sue David Bellamy over talk pull-out

By Marcus Dysch, February 18, 2010

The British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (Bricup) has claimed its campaign led TV botanist David Bellamy to pull out of a Zionist Federation science event.

Prof Bellamy was scheduled to be guest speaker at the Israel Blue White and Green event last week, but withdrew offering no explanation for his absence.

The JC understands that the ZF is now considering taking legal action against Prof Bellamy for breach of contract.

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