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The High Holidays are approaching. Rosh HaShana begins a week from today, on Monday, September 22, and Yom Kippur follows soon after. To do some Jewish learning in preparation for these holidays, Dan welcomed back Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who helped Call me Back listeners navigate Pesach and Sukkot this past year. To support the Technion […]
Ari Sacher has spent more than three decades working at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel's premier developer of missile technology, where he played key roles in the creation of the Iron Dome and David's Sling missile defense systems. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Ari's journey took him from upstate New York and Toronto to Israel in 1982—and he never looked back. An electrical engineer educated at Israel's Technion (often called “Israel's MIT”), Ari has been at the forefront of developing systems that protect millions of lives, all while holding fast to his faith and deep love for family. In this episode of The Wow Factor, Brad sits down with Ari for a fascinating conversation about life in Israel, the realities of living under constant threat, and the powerful blend of faith, resilience, and technological ingenuity that keeps the country moving forward. Ari shares the story of his work on missile defense systems, the challenges of innovation in the face of failure, and how his faith has been a guiding force through wars, uncertainty, and the ever-present dangers his nation faces. From four generations of New York Giants fandom to raising children who now serve in the military, Ari's story is one of commitment—to his people, his work, and his God. “If you're unwilling to fail, then you will find yourself locked in a room and you will go wherever you are taken. If we want to lead, we have to be unafraid of failing.” – Ari Sacher “When I see Iron Dome working, then I see godliness. Everything I see is godliness.” – Ari Sacher “We are a country that lives with traumatic stress disorder—that's who we are, where we live, and our destiny.” – Ari Sacher This Week on The Wow Factor: Ari's early years in the U.S., his move to Israel for a “gap year,” and how he never returned home Studying electrical engineering at Technion and turning down prestigious U.S. and Canadian universities Joining Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in 1991 and contributing to two of Israel's most critical missile defense systems—Iron Dome and David's Sling The unique “intercept chain” process behind missile defense and why not every incoming rocket is destroyed How failure is embraced in Israeli innovation and why it's essential for breakthroughs The role of faith during high-threat moments—turning to Psalms in the middle of missile attacks Life in Israel during wartime, including cramming 15 family members and a dog into a 100-square-foot bomb shelter The spiritual parallels between God's protection and a missile defense “dome” Ari Sacher's Word of Wisdom: Live with an unwavering belief in God, and let that belief color how you see the world. When everything you see reinforces your faith, you gain comfort, strength, and a better way to lead your family through uncertainty. Connect with Ari Sacher: Ari's LinkedIn Connect with The Wow Factor: WOW Factor Website Brad Formsma on LinkedIn Brad Formsma on Instagram Brad Formsma on Facebook X (formerly Twitter)
Five presidents of Israel's leading academic institutions are calling on the Prime Minister to act immediately to solve the hunger problem in the Gaza Strip. In an open letter to Netanyahu, they state that along with a growing number of the country's residents, they are watching in shock at the footage coming from the Strip, including images of babies dying every day from hunger and disease. The letter to the Prime Minister was signed by the presidents of the Weizmann Institute, the Technion, and the presidents of Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University, and the Open University. Reporter Arieh O’Sullivan spoke with Prof. Leo Corry, the president of the Open University, about the letter and its effect. (photo: Abdel Kareen Hana/AP) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Elad Yifrach was growing up his art teacher mother would entertain he and his sisters by setting up art projects on their dining room table. It wasn’t long before his bedroom was home to stacks of magazines covered in sticky notes, and he was studying a unique architecture and interior design course at Technion, “kind of like the MIT of Israel”. Yifrach is the Founder and Creative Director of L’OBJET, where he’s been bringing collections of the highest quality artistic objects to life for 20 years. His work exceeds traditional craftsmanship. Through effort, imagination and genuine collaborations with exceptionally skilled and open-minded craftspeople his collections transcend. A telltale sign of what was to come, his first prototypes were picked up by Bergdorf Goodman. Listen in as Vince and Elad discuss studying at the same design school as Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, working with the Haas Brothers on making monsters, and the unbridled joy of bringing someone new into your creative practice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
En el episodio de hoy entrevisto a la gran MIRIAM BRUSILOVSKY. Miriam es Bachelor of Science y Master of Science. en Ingeniería Química, y tiene también una maestría en Administración de Empresas (MBA), todos del prestigioso Technion, Instituto de Tecnología de Israel y es la actual Technical Director en IDE Technologies Ltd y participa en la Israel Desalination Society.Para que nuestros oyentes se centren, IDE Technologies, fundada en 1965 en Israel, es líder mundial en soluciones de tratamiento de agua y desalinización. La empresa desarrolla, construye y opera plantas avanzadas para clientes municipales e industriales, enfrentando desafíos globales de escasez de agua con tecnologías innovadoras y sostenibles.La Israel Desalination Society (IDS) es una organización dedicada a promover y desarrollar tecnologías de desalinización en Israel y el mundo. La IDS lidera iniciativas para mejorar la sostenibilidad y eficiencia en el tratamiento del agua, contribuyendo significativamente a la resiliencia hídrica del país.Aquí te dejo el índice rápido a las distintas partes del podcast: Introducción Daniel Herrero1:48 Entrevista a Miriam Brusilovsky1:40:53 Despedida*Al final te dejo un índice detallado de todo lo que hablamos en la conversacionSi quieres contarme algo sobre el episodio o sobre lo que quieras puedes hacerlo en el siguiente mail: daniel.herrero.marin@gmail.com Puedes escuchar el episodio en todas las plataformas de podcast y también en la web aguasresiduales.info:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1avfelNYBWwOl1Tsd0Em5f?si=c1de893c190c43eaApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/el-podcast-del-agua/id1695017710Ivoox: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-podcast-del-agua_sq_f12076934_1.htmlEnlace aguas residuales.info: https://www.aguasresiduales.info/revista/podcasts Y si quieres formar parte de la comunidad de El Podcast del Agua este es enlace:Enlace a la
In this episode, we sit down with Rabbi Dr. Yohai Makbili—a true modern Renaissance man. With a background in engineering and groundbreaking work translating and elucidating the writings of the Rambam, Rabbi Makbili brings a rare combination of analytical precision and deep Torah scholarship. His influential Hebrew translations of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed and other philosophical works have reshaped contemporary access to the Rambam's thought. We explore key questions raised in his recent lecture, now presented in English for the first time. Rabbi Makbili shares how individuals can navigate the multiplicity of halakhic opinions, and why the Rambam's approach remains profoundly relevant today. We discuss the balance between rabbinic authority and personal responsibility, especially in a post-Sanhedrin era, and the dynamic tension between communal customs and broader halakhic norms. He also shares insights from his newest book on tumah v'taharah, and gives us a preview of future projects on the horizon. This conversation is for anyone who cares about halakha, thinks deeply about how we make decisions today, and wants to hear from someone who's bringing the Rambam's voice into the modern world. Rabbi Makbili doesn't just teach ideas—he lives them, challenges them, and helps others make sense of them.*This episode is dedicated to the refua shelema of our dear friend Yaakov ben Haya Sarah Malakh• Bio: Rabbi Dr. Yohai Makbili is the initiator of the "Mishneh Torah Project," dedicated to making Maimonides' works accessible to the general public. On a volunteer basis, he publishes editions of Maimonides' major works, Mishneh Torah and Guide for the Perplexed, accompanied by accessible commentaries, earning him awards for this initiative. He works professionally as an algorithm developer in the hi-tech industry at Johnson & Johnson and teaches "Jewish Political Philosophy" and "Philosophy of Maimonides" at the Technion. He lives in Kedumim and is married with seven children. Currently, he is engaged in the publication of the "Shira Hadasha" series—visually stunning and insightful books focused on the Jewish year cycle and lifecycle events.• Check out his classes here: https://www.youtube.com/@rambam4u• Welcome to JUDAISM DEMYSTIFIED: A PODCAST FOR THE PERPLEXED | Co-hosted by Benjy & Benzi | Thank you to...Super Patron: Jordan Karmily, Platinum Patron: Craig Gordon, Rod Ilian, Gold Patrons: Dovidchai Abramchayev, Lazer Cohen, Travis Krueger, Vasili Volkoff, Vasya, Silver Patrons: Ellen Fleischer, Daniel M., Rabbi Pinny Rosenthal, Fred & Antonio, Jeffrey Wasserman, and Jacob Winston! Please SUBSCRIBE to this YouTube Channel and hit the BELL so you can get alerted whenever new clips get posted, thank you for your support!
Vitaly Beckman, a Vancouver-based illusionist, recently accomplished something only four other performers have ever done: stump famed American magicians Penn and Teller with an illusion… for the third time. Beckman wowed the legendary duo in an episode of their long-running reality TV series, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, at the Las Vegas theatre bearing their name. They awarded him a trophy before inviting him back to perform on April 26 as the closing act for their own live show. Beckman has been pursing magic and illusion for nearly three decades, ever since he got hooked by watching David Copperfield on his parents' television while growing up in Haifa. But like many Jewish immigrant families, his Soviet-born parents wanted their son to go into a more stable and respectable profession, so Beckman did a mechanical engineering degree at the Technion, Israel's university specializing in science and engineering, before coming to Canada and pursuing his passion for fine art, painting and illusion. And after performances in Times Square and off-Broadway—including a benefit for Ukrainian Jewish orphans with Sylvester Stallone—Beckman is back home in Canada these days, testing out some new material. As he tells Ellin Bessner on The CJN Daily, illusion and magic may be just the thing to help heal divisions and strife during our turbulent times. Related links Watch the March 28, 2025 Penn & Teller: Fool Us episode where Vancouver's Vitaly Beckman won for the 3rd time in a decade. Check out Vitaly' Beckman's website for news and future tour dates, and bookings. Learn how two Toronto Jewish magicians Ben Train and Jonah Babins pivoted during the pandemic to entertain their audiences online, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)
Yuval Gonczarowski is the Founder and CEO of Akooda, an AI-powered operations intelligence platform that helps organizations unify and analyze internal data to drive faster, smarter decisions. Under his leadership, Akooda has secured $11 million in seed funding, used by Fortune 500 companies to streamline operations and unlock insights across digital workflows. A graduate of Harvard Business School with a MBA and the Technion from Israel Institute of Technology, Yuval previously served in Israel's elite Unit 8200 and held technical and leadership roles at Intel, Apple, McKinsey & Company, and Tomorrow.io. He brings a unique blend of engineering expertise and business acumen to the enterprise tech space. In this episode… Information overload and organizational silos pose significant challenges for growing companies. As teams scale, finding the right data, the right person, or simply understanding cross-functional collaboration becomes chaotic and time-consuming. How can leaders eliminate these inefficiencies without adding more complexity to their workflows? Yuval Gonczarowski, an expert in AI-powered enterprise intelligence and operational analytics, shares how companies can solve these challenges by leveraging their digital footprints. He explains the evolution from traditional organizational charts to dynamic knowledge graphs, enabling companies to map collaboration patterns in real-time. He emphasizes actionable insights like implementing topic-based search, integrating systems like Slack and Salesforce for unified visibility, and using anomaly detection to spot inefficiencies. Yuval also offers strategies for improving productivity without disrupting current workflows, such as Slack-based search commands and Chrome extensions that surface hidden insights. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Yuval Gonczarowski, CEO of Akooda, about optimizing enterprise operations through AI-driven insights. Yuval discusses how to eliminate information silos, speed up decision-making, and roll out enterprise tools with minimal disruption. He also shares the story of Akooda's first customer, explains the ROI of reducing information hunting, and details lessons from serving large-scale enterprise clients.
Software Engineering Radio - The Podcast for Professional Software Developers
Eran Yahav, Professor of Computer Science at Technion, Israel, and CTO of Tabnine, speaks with host Gregory M. Kapfhammer about the Tabnine AI coding assistant. They discuss how the design and implementation allows software engineers to use code completion and perform tasks such as automated code review while still maintaining developer privacy. Eran and Gregory also explore how research in the field of natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) has informed the features in Tabnine. Brought to you by IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine.
Megérkezett a Google Gemini 2.5 Pro, a "gondolkodó" modell ITBusiness 2025-03-27 04:35:38 Infotech Mesterséges intelligencia Google A Google újabb jelentős lépést tett a mesterséges intelligencia fejlődésében: ma bejelentette a Gemini 2.5 Pro (kísérleti) verzióját, amely elsősorban az előfizetők és fejlesztők számára érhető el. Az új modell egy évközi frissítésként érkezik, amely tovább növeli a rendszer teljesítményét és pontosságát. Tudjuk, hogy káros, mégis alig törődünk az óriás akkumulátorgyárak éjszakai fényözönével Helló Sajtó! 2025-03-27 09:35:00 Tudomány A fényszennyezés egyaránt káros hatással van az emberi szervezetre és az élővilágra, mégis úgy fest, kevés figyelem jut rá az új gigaberuházások kivitelezésénél. Éltető Andrea, a HUN-REN KRTK Világgazdasági Intézet kutatójának elemzéséből kiderül, hogyan lesznek világosabbak az éjszakáink, ahogy Magyarország akkunagyhatalommá válik. Megduplázódott a HR technológiák iránti kereslet mmonline.hu 2025-03-27 09:39:53 Mobiltech Egy év alatt megduplázódott a HR technológiák iránti kereslet nemcsak Magyarországon, hanem európai viszonylatban is. A jelenség ellentmondásosnak látszik, és könnyű mögé egyfajta elszemélytelenedést vizionálni, de a valóságban a megoldások éppen, hogy támogatják az egyenlő érdekérvényesítést és a jogokat, ráadásul segítségükkel lényegesen több fig Néhány kémcső helyettesítheti majd a szerverfarmokat? Mínuszos 2025-03-27 13:33:34 Tudomány Oktatás egyetem Izrael DNS Izraeli kutatók DNAformer néven új módszert fejlesztettek ki a DNS-en tárolt információk leolvasására, s ezzel jelentősen elősegíthetik az adattárolás új technológiájának fejlődését — jelentette a Technion haifai műszaki egyetem. A modern társadalmakban a digitális adattárolás egyszerre jelentősebb gazdasági és környezeti gondot jelent, amely a mes A Spiegel játszi könnyedséggel megtalálta a neten Trump nemzetbiztonsági tisztviselőinek személyes adatait Telex 2025-03-27 07:16:01 Tudomány USA Közigazgatás Nemzetbiztonság E-mail Az újságírók mobilszámokat, emailcímeket és még néhány jelszót is találtak, olyan adatokat, amelyek a legmagasabb rangú amerikai tisztviselőkhöz tartoznak. Elkészült az önmagát hűtő sörösdoboz First Class 2025-03-27 09:39:30 Infotech Az ilyen dobozban tárolt italt nem kell hűtőbe tenni, elég megnyomni rajta egy gombot és rövid időn belül jelentősen csökken az ital hőmérséklete. Malware-szűrőkre utazik a Medusa ICT Global 2025-03-27 06:03:50 Infotech Kiberbiztonság Kibertámadás FBI A napokban már az FBI is figyelmeztetést adott ki a Medusa zsarolóvírus miatt, amelynek üzemeltetői régimódi BYOD-támadásokat hajtanak végre. Megkerülik a végponti védelmet, az észlelését és reagálását biztosító EDR-eszközöket, miközben telepítik a titkosítót. Egy meggondolatlan koppintás, és lenullázhatják bankszámláját Index 2025-03-27 06:14:00 Mobiltech Hacker Legitim szolgáltatásoknak álcázva csalnak ki banki és személyes adatokat hekkerek. Mutatjuk, mire figyeljen. Ár-érték bajnokot avatott a Poco? Mobilarena 2025-03-27 12:00:00 Mobiltech Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, AMOLED kijelző, 6000 mAh-s akkumulátor a Poco F7 Pro repertoárjában most még 499 euróért. Levette a gázról a lábát a Microsoft az adatközpontokban HWSW 2025-03-27 09:12:31 Infotech Microsoft A cég az elmúlt fél évben jelentős adatközpont-kapacitást mondott vissza az AI megoldások kereslet-előrejelzése alapján. Óra a Holdra – Unimatic x Massena LAB U1-SPG “NASA Artemis” Limited Edition Kronometer 2025-03-27 04:05:00 Mobiltech Világűr NASA Elérhető árú űrhajós óra kerámia bevonatos tokkal. Ez már a sokadik Massena LAB kollaboráció, amin megakadt a szemünk. Ahogy a kronometer.hu másik nagy kedvence senconde/seconde, úgy a Massena LAB stúdió… 55 ezer személyes adat, magyar diákok, tanárok és az Oktatási Hivatal dolgozóinak információi szivároghattak ki 444.hu 2025-03-27 12:43:34 Karrier Oktatás Hacker Oktatási Hivatal Az iskolai kompetenciamérést is lebonyolító Tehetségkapu nevű rendszerhez fértek hozzá a hackerek és nyilvánosságra hozták, amit elloptak. A magyar, aki a Porschéról csinált bravúros reklámot – stáb, kamerák és színészek nélkül Forbes 2025-03-27 05:57:01 Cégvilág Mesterséges intelligencia Reklám Kamera Porsche Amikor Gaál László eldöntötte, hogy Ázsiában próbál szerencsét a térség fejlődő filmipara miatt, még nem sejtette, hogy nagy dobását nem a klasszikus film, hanem egy mesterséges intelligenciával készített Porsche-reklám hozza meg neki. A további adásainkat keresd a podcast.hirstart.hu oldalunkon.
Megérkezett a Google Gemini 2.5 Pro, a "gondolkodó" modell ITBusiness 2025-03-27 04:35:38 Infotech Mesterséges intelligencia Google A Google újabb jelentős lépést tett a mesterséges intelligencia fejlődésében: ma bejelentette a Gemini 2.5 Pro (kísérleti) verzióját, amely elsősorban az előfizetők és fejlesztők számára érhető el. Az új modell egy évközi frissítésként érkezik, amely tovább növeli a rendszer teljesítményét és pontosságát. Tudjuk, hogy káros, mégis alig törődünk az óriás akkumulátorgyárak éjszakai fényözönével Helló Sajtó! 2025-03-27 09:35:00 Tudomány A fényszennyezés egyaránt káros hatással van az emberi szervezetre és az élővilágra, mégis úgy fest, kevés figyelem jut rá az új gigaberuházások kivitelezésénél. Éltető Andrea, a HUN-REN KRTK Világgazdasági Intézet kutatójának elemzéséből kiderül, hogyan lesznek világosabbak az éjszakáink, ahogy Magyarország akkunagyhatalommá válik. Megduplázódott a HR technológiák iránti kereslet mmonline.hu 2025-03-27 09:39:53 Mobiltech Egy év alatt megduplázódott a HR technológiák iránti kereslet nemcsak Magyarországon, hanem európai viszonylatban is. A jelenség ellentmondásosnak látszik, és könnyű mögé egyfajta elszemélytelenedést vizionálni, de a valóságban a megoldások éppen, hogy támogatják az egyenlő érdekérvényesítést és a jogokat, ráadásul segítségükkel lényegesen több fig Néhány kémcső helyettesítheti majd a szerverfarmokat? Mínuszos 2025-03-27 13:33:34 Tudomány Oktatás egyetem Izrael DNS Izraeli kutatók DNAformer néven új módszert fejlesztettek ki a DNS-en tárolt információk leolvasására, s ezzel jelentősen elősegíthetik az adattárolás új technológiájának fejlődését — jelentette a Technion haifai műszaki egyetem. A modern társadalmakban a digitális adattárolás egyszerre jelentősebb gazdasági és környezeti gondot jelent, amely a mes A Spiegel játszi könnyedséggel megtalálta a neten Trump nemzetbiztonsági tisztviselőinek személyes adatait Telex 2025-03-27 07:16:01 Tudomány USA Közigazgatás Nemzetbiztonság E-mail Az újságírók mobilszámokat, emailcímeket és még néhány jelszót is találtak, olyan adatokat, amelyek a legmagasabb rangú amerikai tisztviselőkhöz tartoznak. Elkészült az önmagát hűtő sörösdoboz First Class 2025-03-27 09:39:30 Infotech Az ilyen dobozban tárolt italt nem kell hűtőbe tenni, elég megnyomni rajta egy gombot és rövid időn belül jelentősen csökken az ital hőmérséklete. Malware-szűrőkre utazik a Medusa ICT Global 2025-03-27 06:03:50 Infotech Kiberbiztonság Kibertámadás FBI A napokban már az FBI is figyelmeztetést adott ki a Medusa zsarolóvírus miatt, amelynek üzemeltetői régimódi BYOD-támadásokat hajtanak végre. Megkerülik a végponti védelmet, az észlelését és reagálását biztosító EDR-eszközöket, miközben telepítik a titkosítót. Egy meggondolatlan koppintás, és lenullázhatják bankszámláját Index 2025-03-27 06:14:00 Mobiltech Hacker Legitim szolgáltatásoknak álcázva csalnak ki banki és személyes adatokat hekkerek. Mutatjuk, mire figyeljen. Ár-érték bajnokot avatott a Poco? Mobilarena 2025-03-27 12:00:00 Mobiltech Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, AMOLED kijelző, 6000 mAh-s akkumulátor a Poco F7 Pro repertoárjában most még 499 euróért. Levette a gázról a lábát a Microsoft az adatközpontokban HWSW 2025-03-27 09:12:31 Infotech Microsoft A cég az elmúlt fél évben jelentős adatközpont-kapacitást mondott vissza az AI megoldások kereslet-előrejelzése alapján. Óra a Holdra – Unimatic x Massena LAB U1-SPG “NASA Artemis” Limited Edition Kronometer 2025-03-27 04:05:00 Mobiltech Világűr NASA Elérhető árú űrhajós óra kerámia bevonatos tokkal. Ez már a sokadik Massena LAB kollaboráció, amin megakadt a szemünk. Ahogy a kronometer.hu másik nagy kedvence senconde/seconde, úgy a Massena LAB stúdió… 55 ezer személyes adat, magyar diákok, tanárok és az Oktatási Hivatal dolgozóinak információi szivároghattak ki 444.hu 2025-03-27 12:43:34 Karrier Oktatás Hacker Oktatási Hivatal Az iskolai kompetenciamérést is lebonyolító Tehetségkapu nevű rendszerhez fértek hozzá a hackerek és nyilvánosságra hozták, amit elloptak. A magyar, aki a Porschéról csinált bravúros reklámot – stáb, kamerák és színészek nélkül Forbes 2025-03-27 05:57:01 Cégvilág Mesterséges intelligencia Reklám Kamera Porsche Amikor Gaál László eldöntötte, hogy Ázsiában próbál szerencsét a térség fejlődő filmipara miatt, még nem sejtette, hogy nagy dobását nem a klasszikus film, hanem egy mesterséges intelligenciával készített Porsche-reklám hozza meg neki. A további adásainkat keresd a podcast.hirstart.hu oldalunkon.
A biotecnologia impulsiona avanços que transformam o tratamento de doenças complexas. Tecnologias como bioadesivos inovadores, capazes de selar feridas gastrointestinais e vasculares, e o uso da inteligência artificial para desenvolver novos fármacos são exemplos do impacto da inovação na saúde.No entanto, desafios regulatórios, a transição da pesquisa acadêmica para a prática clínica e a estruturação do ecossistema de startups de biotecnologia ainda precisam ser superados para que essas soluções alcancem mais pacientes.Neste episódio do podcast de Biotech and Health, oferecido pela Blue Plano de Saúde, Laura Murta e Camila Pepe conversam com Daniel Dahis, cientista líder na Biodevek, PhD pelo Technion e MIT Innovator Under 35.
Salvador Litvak, also known as the Accidental Talmudist, is the filmmaker behind the 2005 cult classic When Do We Eat and the author of Let My People Laugh: The Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time!. He joins us to discuss his new film, Guns and Moses, in which a small-town rabbi becomes an unlikely gunslinger after his community is attacked. Guns and Moses premiered at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival in 2024 and is expected to release nationwide this summer. Sponsors: The Institute for Jewish Spirituality invites you to Mindfulness for the Climate Crisis: Resilience in a Changing World. Register at Jewishspirituality.org Join the American Technion Society for an exclusive briefing with Technion Professor Brigadier General Jacob Nagel, as he shares key finding from his report to the government on Israel's defense technology and security needs, and the Technion's vital role in this evolving strategy. Register at link.ats.org/security
The American Studies Association has boycotted Israeli academic institutions since 2013. The Association for the Advancement of Anthropology has refrained from formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions. And just this past summer, the American Association of University Professors opened the door to academic boycotts against Israel. Enter: two scientists at MIT who see firsthand the consequences of academic boycotts and the damage it can cause to scholarship and scientific progress. To ensure Israeli scholars and their American colleagues can collaborate freely, and foster research and innovation that benefits all of humanity, they formed The Kalaniyot Foundation (pronounced Ka-la-nee-yought), named after Israel's national flower. Hear from Drs. Or Hen and Ernest Fraenkel, co-founders of this initiative, on the impact of anti-Israel boycotts on academic collaboration with Israeli scholars, and what they're doing to rehabilitate the reputation of Israeli researchers in the eyes of the world. Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. People of the Pod: U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Gaza Reconstruction, Israeli Security, and the Future of Middle East Diplomacy Why Germany's Antisemitic Far-Right Party is Thriving Instead of Disappearing Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Drs. Or Hen and Ernest Fraenkel: Manya Brachear Pashman: Since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023 many university campuses have been riven by anti-Israel protests, demonstrations, often unfortunately fueled by disinformation and rife with rhetoric that too often crosses the line into antisemitism. But even before October 7, Israeli scholarship had become a target of the boycott divestment sanctions movement. The American Studies Association has boycotted Israeli academic institutions since 2013. The Association for the Advancement of Anthropology has refrained from formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions. Even study abroad programs that give students an opportunity to live and study in Israel have come under scrutiny. Enter: two scientists at MIT who see firsthand the consequences of academic boycotts and the damage it can cause to scholarship and scientific progress. To ensure Israeli scholars and their American colleagues can collaborate freely, foster research and innovation that benefits all of humanity, they formed The Kalaniyot Foundation, named after Israel's national flower. Dr. Or Hen and Ernest Fraenkel are with us now to discuss this initiative. Dr. Hen, Dr. Fraenkel, welcome to People of the Pod. Ernest Fraenkel: Thank you very much. Manya Brachear Pashman: So I want to work backward here a bit with a purpose. I want to start by sharing with our audience a little about your research. Dr Fraenkel, you work in health science, technology. What is the goal of your research and scholarship? Are there particular diseases you're trying to cure or treat? Ernest Fraenkel: We are interested in the diseases that are the hardest to treat, ones like Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, where we don't really know the root cause, and we believe that by gathering many different kinds of data about genes and molecules, about RNA and also about people's lived experience of these diseases, and using computational models, we can identify new targets for drugs and hopefully better therapies. Manya Brachear Pashman: Have you collaborated with Israeli scientists on this? Ernest Fraenkel: Yes, we collaborate with quite a few scientists all over the world, including top researchers in Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Dr. Hen, you are a nuclear physicist, and you study the strongest force in nature, right? What is the goal of your research? Or Hen: So my research is very much on the fundamental curiosity driven science side of things, I am trying to understand how the fundamental building blocks of matter come about. We're building a new particle collider in the US called the electron hand collider. It's a $3 billion project funded by the Department of Energy, where we will try to understand why the proton and from that nucleus and all of us have mass. Trying to understand how we get the proton to a specific spin, which is the reason that we can go into an MRI machine and image ourselves. And I also try to understand things like, how do protons and neutrons interact with each other at extremely short distances, which tell us about exotic phenomena in the universe, like neutron stars. So trying to understand, really, the fundamental building blocks of matter and how they come about. Manya Brachear Pashman: Wow. And is there promising scholarship in this realm in Israel? Or Hen: Yes, there's quite a few groups working in this area. I did my own training in Israel. I am a graduate of the Hebrew University for undergrad and Tel Aviv University for grad school. And actually, ever since I came to MIT, I've still been collaborating with colleagues from Technion, Tel Aviv, Hebrew University, Weizmann, Ben Gurion. I've always had a strong collaboration with Israel, actually. Manya Brachear Pashman: So after October 7, or maybe even leading up to it, what were you seeing when it came to support of Israeli scholarship and collaboration in your institutions, in your fields, in academia in general? Ernest Fraenkel: I think before October 7, we were living in a bit of a bubble, because MIT is a special place which is very deeply immersed in science and technology. Where really, quite honestly, before October 7, I had no hint that there were biases against Israel, Israelis or Jews. I know that was not the experience in many other areas, especially in other fields. But things really turned 180 degrees on October 7, and what we've seen since then has been deeply disturbing. That some of the boycotts that have been bubbling for years in the humanities suddenly burst forth into the sciences and the engineering fields in ways that are both global and also very local. Seeing bias against individual researchers inside laboratories, as well as these kind of blanket attempts to boycott Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Dr Hen, did you see the same? Or Hen: Yes, definitely. I work with a lot of international collaborations, actually, within collaborations, because there's structured bodies with bylaws and rules, It was very hard for anyone to object the presence of Israeli researchers. But what we have observed in many places is peer to peer collaborations dying down. We've seen a very significant social tax being applied to people who continue to collaborate with Israelis, and honestly, maybe in contrast a bit to what we know from academic boycotts in other areas, but are very much politically driven, within the STEM, within exact sciences, biosciences, etc, the social taxing is actually much stronger because we are people who usually instead, people keep a very clear separation between the politics and then, you know what they view from the work in the lab, which is very clear and data driven, and not a lot of room for opinions. It's very much exact. But on the other hand, the second that walking within Israel, and you know collaborating with Israel, is start costing other corporations, other people will now not work, then you get a problem. And that's what people really avoid and that's how an academic boycott within the STEM areas is progressing. It's a very deeply bound social tax that is just running in the air of the institutions. Manya Brachear Pashman: So what is the Kalaniyot Foundation doing to promote these collaborations? Can you give us some specific examples, or projects or partnerships? Or Hen: Yeah, so one of the things that we really believe in is that, at the end of the day, actually, what we see, also data shows, is, well, there is existing strong collaboration, that peer to peer, that person to person connection, is so strong that it's very hard to break that. You can go into my department and you can talk to people about Israel. And they know Or, and they know the person, right? And they might have a positive opinion about, you know, negative opinion about me. But whatever that opinion is, right, it's stronger than anything. They will try to protest and say, Okay, maybe there's a political issue. But you know, we know the researcher. We know the scientists. We know our colleagues. So the approach of Kalaniyot is to actually bring in more Israelis to campus, to bring in brilliant people who are excellent researchers that will come and enrich the academic environment, first and foremost, through this quality, and second, by the people that they are. Maybe Ernest, you want to continue with this? Ernest Fraenkel: So it's really this dual mission. We think that if we bring more top notch Israeli scholars to us campuses, it will normalize interaction with Israelis, humanize the Israeli, but there's a problem, right? Because if you just bring Israelis into campus environments that are hostile, they won't thrive. Many of them won't want to come, right? And so the other piece of it that's necessary is to build community, and that's something that we've been doing since October 7 of last year, trying to figure out how to do that, and what we found is face to face interaction is really critical. And so at MIT, we've been having weekly lunches of the Israelis, Jews, allies, everybody who felt isolated and left out of society by all the protests that were taking place. And the beautiful thing is that that started as a reaction, right, a sort of a safe place to retreat to, and it's actually become a wonderful, positive place. And still, now, you know, so far into this crisis, people are coming, and actually the numbers are even growing. And so on a typical week, we get more than 100 people in person. We, of course, feed them lunch, and it's just a wonderful place where you can make friendships, develop academic collaborations, and Israelis realize that there is a community here that appreciates them and welcomes them and it helps them thrive. Manya Brachear Pashman: Because, of course, food is a vital currency, both on college campuses as well in Jewish as in Jewish life. Food heals all. But I am curious, do you? In addition to building these thriving communities, are you also so that people are surrounded and comfortable but are you also trying to build bridges with people who perhaps do tend to throw the word Israeli around in a negative capacity, but you need to actually have some face to face contact. Or is that really not the purpose of Kalaniyot. Or Hen: I mean, it's a yes and a no. We certainly have done that, right. So if you think about how it all started very soon after October 7, basically after the first protest on campus at MIT. We went to talk to our president, three Jewish Israeli faculty, and we asked her. We said, Look, we hear from the students about what's happening in the dorms, what they're experiencing. It's really bad, and it's very hard to handle through the existing mechanisms. Please actually give us the budget. We'll get kosher food. I'm a Mizrahi, that's what I know how to do, feed people. Let's put everybody together, and let's make sure everybody feel welcome. And we also said, you know, we'll be your bridge. We'll help the students communicate with administration through our guidance, right? We'll be able to filter, to guide them, but also to pick up on the important things that you need to know. But then we said something else. We said, Look, this is going to become very tough, also for the students who are protesting out there right now. It was before Israel responded, but we knew exactly what happened in the kibbutzim, and we knew this is not going to be just another round with Gaza. This is going to be something different. So we actually suggested to the President that alongside starting our group, we will start a parallel group of peers who we might disagree with politically and have different perspectives on the Middle East, but we know that they are reasonable people that we can talk to, that we can collaborate with, that we can work with, despite or alongside disagreements. And so the idea was to start our lunch, to start a second lunch, and slowly, through the faculty leadership, bring the groups together. Some of it has worked. Some of it didn't work. We used to meet once a week as the faculty and say, students tell us that this and this is happening. Can you maybe walk with your students to tone that down, and they would tell us what's bothering them, etc. Getting the students to come together, that was a bigger lift, a challenging one. And there was another initiative that came about called the Third Space Lunch, that maybe Ernest can elaborate more on. Ernest Fraenkel: So just to add a little bit to that. So the faculty leads from the other group came to speak to our students. Were very respectful to them. The faculty listened quietly to the concerns of the Jewish students. And I think we did see an attempt by many of the faculty to bridge the gaps. Obviously, faculty are an extremely, you know, diverse group. We have extremists, we've got centrists, we've got moderates. And not everybody was trying to help, but many, many were, and I think that was very encouraging, and I've seen that continue throughout this. There are hidden allies. Probaby the average faculty member probably doesn't really want to know too much about Israel or Palestine. Doesn't want to have to understand the conflicts. They just want to go about their daily lives, teach what they love to teach, do the research they love to do, and they are natural allies in trying to bring order back to campus. And the more that we can engage them, the better off it is. Or Hen: But I think in terms of the formal program for Kalaniyot - Kalaniyot is really meant to bring in researchers and make sure that they have a supporting environment. And if people want to take that extra step of building bridges and building, that's all great, but it's not kind of a mandatory part of the program. Manya Brachear Pashman: I get it. You really just want to foster academic research and progress and innovation, right? Put political strife aside. You've named this foundation Kalaniyot after Israel's national flower. Can you describe for our listeners that flower and why you chose that name for this initiative? Ernest Fraenkel: The Kalaniyah looks a lot like a poppy. It's a red poppy, and during good times, there actually was an annual festival where Israelis would flock to the south in the area right around Gaza to see the bloom of this flower that would cover the otherwise fairly barren, quite honestly, countryside. And it was called the South Red, Darom Adom, and people would rush there to see it. And it was a symbol, which actually takes place right around the time we're recording. People have been sending us photos from from Israel the last few weeks of these flowers, the more they hear about the program. And it's a sign that the winter is going to end and spring is going to come, and everything will be renewed. And so it was the South in red, in a sense, that was all positive. And we think the same sort of thing is possible here, that while Israel is right now a touch point for conflict on campus, we want to see a time when Israel, this is something like, Oh, of course. You know, everybody wants to have some connection to Israel. That's where the best researchers are in every field. I often tell the story, when I was first on the faculty here, one of my first assignees as an undergraduate advisee was somebody from Hawaii, and he told me, asked him what he was going to do this summer, and he said he's going to Israel. So no, really, what's, what's your connection to Israel? He said, Oh, I don't have any I thought, maybe he's a strong Christian. I asked him about that. Said, no, no, I don't have any particular faith. I just heard it's startup nation, and I want to go and experience it. And I just think, how many students today is their first association with Israel, startup nation? Probably not that many anymore, but we can get back to that and realize that it's more than startups, right? It's basic science, it's the arts, it's culture. And so there's much that Israel has to offer the world, and we want to get back to the point where that's the first thing people think about Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman: So this initiative did start at MIT, but it appears to be sprouting, to use a pun, it appears to be sprouting on other campuses. Dartmouth is developing a chapter and Penn, right, the University of Pennsylvania. Are they being led by fellow scientists who have seen the consequence of this scholastic snub, for lack of a better word? Ernest Fraenkel: So at each university, and there are several others in the works that are still working their way through the administration at each university, and by the way, this is not a renegade effort. At each university, the faculty form a faculty board, we encourage them to find a diverse group. So it's not all the sciences on our board. And on those boards, there seem to be many members of humanities departments. Not all Jews, not all Israelis. And these diverse faculty boards are people who are allied with the goals, and we have bylaws. This is a program entirely about positivity. It's not attempting to suppress anybody else's speech. It's not attempting to make any political points. It's a purely academic program that will help restore the image of Israel as a place of academic excellence and help the United States maintain its academic edge through those collaborations. Or Hen: And I think you're hitting on a very unique point, right? And that is that this is entirely faculty led program. When you think about the role of faculty in universities, especially faculty from STEM fields, right, we don't lead a lot of things in the academic world that are not our research, right? Honestly, that's kind of, why am I here and not in Google, right? I would probably make a much bigger salary for Google these days. I'm here because I really care about my research, those open questions I really want to explore, and that's what I'm doing. So I'm teaching my class, and I'm focusing on my research. And me is everybody else around me, that's what we do. So there is a very high activation energy to get the faculty to do something that is not their research, their own research, but once you do that, faculty is a force of nature at the university. That's kind of what we're here to stay, right? We'll tenure, we're going to be at the retirement. We run the place eventually. So it's both to activate the people who can really make an impact from within in a very strong way. That's number one, who have these decades of connections, right? Well before the challenge, you know, I've had my 10 years of collaborations here at MIT, and this has a lifetime of more than 10 years of collaborations here, right? And many of us and people remember those connections, right? Remember how we teach together, how I lent them something from my lab, and stuff like that, right? We have these personal connections. So it is really the first and uniquely faculty led program that is very helping to come back, see faculty do that. There's a lot of power, and that's also why it's such an academically focused program, because that's what we know how to do. There's many other who can combat antisemitism and can give antisemitism training and title six and all that. And we don't do it, not because it's not important, just because we are not the people who bring in unique expertise in those areas, but when it comes to research collaboration, connections with Israel around those things, we are the ones who can really promote it from within in a way that's unpowered and parallel to anyone else. And that's the, I think the strongest point of Kalaniyot, the faculty leadership. Manya Brachear Pashman: In other words, you're not activists, you're not advocates. That's not what you set out to do. You are researchers, scientists who just want to do research in science. Or Hen: And when I see everybody around us do the best research and science possible, which means engaging with the brightest minds anywhere in the world, and that includes Israel. And we don't want to see that door shut down. There's no hiding it – Ernest and I are Zionists, we're not going to shy away from that. And we think that an academic boycott in the STEM is a risk to Israel. Israel doesn't have oil, right? What Israel has is the Jewish mind, and that mind is the thing that helps Israel, and that mind is the thing that helps the world. And we can go on and on about inventions and discoveries that came out of Israel and Israelis and Jews for the benefit of mankind. So both for the benefit of Israel and all of humanity, we don't want to see the Israeli Academy get isolated. It's going to be bad for all of us. Manya Brachear Pashman: Now I know that there is a program at Indiana University called Olamot, focusing on the humanities. Does this only apply to STEM fields, or do you also have partnerships and collaborations developing across multiple disciplines? Ernest Fraenkel: Yes, absolutely, this is a program that's open to all academic fields, and each university will craft a slightly different program, we're sure. At MIT, because we're STEM dominated, our Kalaniyot program is dominated by STEM, but it's not exclusively STEM here, either. We do have deep involvement with several of our board members in the humanities. Many of the people who come to our programming are in humanities. We're hoping that some of the scholars whom we will select in our first cohort of post doctoral and sabbatical visitors will be in the humanities, but that's going to be much a bigger component of it at other universities such as Dartmouth and Penn, where they have huge humanities programs. Manya Brachear Pashman: And are you getting mostly support, or are you getting any pushback from faculty members? Ernest Fraenkel: So this is really fascinating. Early on, when we first started formulating this program, we wrote a memo explaining, a letter, explaining why we were doing this for something called the faculty newsletter, which is usually a place where people write fairly anti-Israel things, and we kind of braced ourselves for the pushback. And nothing came back. There was no pushback. Because if you believe in academic values in the United States, unless you're a hardcore BDS person, there's really nothing objectionable here. Our goal is to bring brilliant scholars to campus and encourage them to be able to work broadly, without regard to nationality, religion, anything else, any other protective category. And so we were very pleased. And initially, you know, the administration was curious. They were interested. They wanted to review exactly what we're doing. The MIT administration went through everything we're doing, and they gave us the thumbs up, and they've now been helping us make connections and behind the scenes, I believe, I understand that, you know, some provosts and presidents occasionally talk about this when they meet and they, you know, tell each other it's not a bad thing to have at your University. Or Hen: I remember when we kind of got people to know the program, we met with a very high ranking individual at MIT. And that person said, Look, MIT stands on three legs: research, education, and entrepreneurship. Israel excels in all three. Of course, we want those connections. Of course we want those collaborations. And who in the right mind can say that this is anything political, right? Now I'm sure that some people will try at some point. But like Ernest said, we've worked very hard on the language and the messaging to make sure that the language and messaging reflects the way we really see it, as a very strong academic program. Manya Brachear Pashman: So, Dr. Hen, I do want to ask you a personal question. I have read that as a child, you navigated some pretty significant learning disabilities stemming from dysgraphia. You have difficulty translating your thoughts into written form, but the assessment to determine those disabilities also determined that you had a unique gift for abstract comprehension, the ability to conceptually pare down complex ideas to their fundamental core. So I wanted to ask you, in your opinion, what is at the fundamental core of these academic boycotts? Or Hen: Honestly, I do believe that the academic boycotts come from antisemitism. That's the core. I do believe that there are a lot of people who engage in that, not understanding that is what they're doing. I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I think that a lot of people do see a difference between anti-Zionism, anti-Israel, antisemitism, right, which I personally do not share. And that's a different point of view, which is allowed. But I think at the end of the day, trying to isolate Israel, eventually is from a top level, and attempt to bring down the country, because that's the core. Core of Israel is its academics. That's really where it all starts. And if we don't have academia, if we're attacking the Israeli Academy, you're attacking Israel. And any person who takes the time to learn about the Israeli Academy, who listens to speeches by the head of Tel Aviv University about the judicial reform in Israel. Who listens to the head of the Israeli National Academy about how he sees democracy and what he sees about the war, situation, you would learn that the Israeli Academy is really the hallmark of independent academia that stands by itself, as an independent body that really promotes research and good for the world. And anyone who attacks that either doesn't know or doesn't care to know, and I'd like to hope that most people don't know, and once they'll know and appreciate the people, they will see different people. There is a core that doesn't want to know, and okay, we need to make sure that that call remains as small as possible. Manya Brachear Pashman: Dr. Fraenkel, do you agree? Ernest Fraenkel: I'm by nature, a centrist and not a political person, and I also have learned over time that it's very hard to understand other people's motivations. But I do think that one of the paths to it, to solving the problem, is to re-humanize Israel and Israelis in the minds of the people who are currently protesting. And I think we'll have good results if we do that. Manya Brachear Pashman: I'm curious, we've been talking a lot about Israeli research and innovation. Can you kind of share a piece of Israeli innovation that you've heard about recently, that maybe our audience has not and should know about? Ernest Fraenkel: I was just at a conference yesterday, and one of the best talks yesterday, this was at a conference on ALS, was given by a researcher from the Weitzman Institute, Eran Hornstein. And he spoke about an entirely new way to analyze what goes on inside cells in the course of disease. He calls it organellealomics, I think. It's kind of a mouthful, but it was completely innovative. No one has anything similar. It allows you to get a wonderful view of all the different processes that are going on in the cell at a very high level, in a way that is experimentally very accessible. And I think it's really going to transform a lot of how we research diseases, and may lead to some rapid advances in some of these tough cases. Or Hen: Yeah, I can add to that, you know, from the more industry side of things, right? We all have technology in our pockets, in our homes, in our offices, developed in Israel. The most advanced processors by Intel are built on architecture that was developed in Haifa. Apple has engineering centers in Israel. Facebook has engineering centers in Israel, Nvidia. All of us use Israeli technology day in and day out. We either know it or we don't. But there's not a single person in the western world that does not rely on Israeli technology sometime, someplace, some point in his day. Manya Brachear Pashman: And when you were at that conference, Dr. Fraenkel, or Dr. Hen, consider that, when you pull out your phone and consider the many ways in which we use Israeli technology, does that further validate, does it affirm that what you are doing is the right thing to do, and that this will only benefit humanity at large? Ernest Fraenkel: In biology, we often do these experiments where we delete a gene, we make it stop working, and we see what happens to the cell or to the animal that we're studying, right? And just do the thought experiment. What would happen to American science if it didn't have these strong collaborations with Israel? And be weaker in consumer electronics, and be weaker in AI, we would be weaker in all the underpinnings of all the technology that we're all walking around with every day. We'd be weaker in healthcare. Think about the contribution that Israel made to understanding what was going on during the COVID pandemic, right? It's just shocking how much we would lose from this small country not being there. And absolutely, when we think about that, it just drives us even more to try to get this program to spread across all the best universities in the United States, and hopefully we'll make inroads in Europe as well and really bring Israel back to the forefront in everybody's mind as a place where positive things are happening. Manya Brachear Pashman: Well, thank you both for joining us so much and for sharing about this program. Really do appreciate it. It's fascinating and refreshing to learn that academics are supporting academics. Ernest Fraenkel: Thank you very much. Real pleasure to speak with you.
A man goes into a bar… This is the beginning of a riddle that our guest, Yoed Kennet, an assistant professor at the Technion's Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, uses to measure creativity in subjects. In our talk, Yoed speaks about how to combine cognitive science and network science to explore the complexities and decode the mysteries of the human mind. The listeners will learn how network science provides tools to map and analyze human memory, revealing how problem-solving and creativity emerge from changes in semantic memory structures. Key insights include the role of memory restructuring during moments of insight, the connection between semantic networks and creative thinking, and how understanding these processes can improve problem-solving and analogical reasoning. Real-life applications span enhancing creativity in the workplace, building tools to combat cognitive rigidity in aging, and improving learning strategies by fostering richer, more flexible mental networks. ------------------------------- Want to listen ad-free? Try our Graphs Course? Join Data Skeptic+ for $5 / month of $50 / year https://plus.dataskeptic.com
In this conversation, Rav Daniel Hershkowitz shares his unique journey as a Rabbi who also held leaderships positions in govenment, academia, and politics. We discuss the balance and integration between his various roles. The conversation touches on: How his grandmother inspired him to pursue smicha, adding rabbinic ordination to his academic and professional achievements. His philosophy on balancing Torah and science, including a fascinating lesson on how rocket stability mirrors life's challenges. The behind-the-scenes pressures of managing Israel's vast civil service network, with over half a million employees under his watch. His unique approach to Jewish unity, comparing societal harmony to the orchestration of diverse instruments in a symphony. The unforgettable wedding story where a missing ring turned into a lesson in compassion and problem-solving. Contact Us To submit guest suggestions, questions or other ideas for Shovavim episodes, email me at yaakovwolff@gmail.com Join Our Whatsapp Group! If you enjoy Shtark Tank, you don't want to miss our Quiet Whatsapp group, which includes updates, exclusive bonus content and more. You will also get the chance to submit questions for the show itself. Click Here to join. Additional Content is also available at shtarktank.org Guest Bio: Rav Daniel Hershkowitz has built a career that bridges the worlds of Torah and public service. With a PhD in mathematics from the Technion, he has held significant academic roles, including serving as President of Bar-Ilan University. He has also contributed to Israel's public sector as Minister of Science and Technology and as Commissioner for the Civil Service, where he oversaw the work of hundreds of thousands of government employees. Alongside his professional achievements, Rav Hershkowitz has been the Rav of Haifa's Ahuza neighborhood for many years, a role he carries out as a volunteer. His approach to life combines Torah values with practical leadership, and his experiences offer a unique perspective on integrating faith, learning, and service. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:13 Integrating Scientific Excellence and Torah 09:13 Unique Experiences in the Rabbinate 13:51 The Importance of Balance in Life 20:42 The Role of College Education in a Changing World 24:35 Transitioning from Academia to Politics 28:27 The Complexities of Civil Service 35:44 Jewish Unity and Societal Harmony 38:55 Lightning Round
Send us a textFew wine experiences linger in memory as vividly as a day spent at Elvi Wines and Clos Mesorah in Montsant and Priorat Spain. My wife Sara and I had the privilege of an extraordinary visit — a masterclass in hospitality and winemaking — hosted by Moises and Anna Cohen. The rain, relentless throughout the day, provided a dramatic backdrop to what turned out to be one of the most enriching vineyard experiences I've ever encountered.Nestled in the Montsant hills, Clos Mesorah is a gem of a winery. Moises Cohen, a scientist from Casablanca, Morocco. At the age of 17, he moved to Israel to study agricultural engineering at the Technion in Haifa and later ended up in Catalonia, Spain, working in agriculture and water management. “This new vineyard is the labratory I always wanted, it really brings together both of my passions,” Cohen mused.What struck me most about our nearly seven-hour visit was the passion and warmth of the Cohen family. Moises, whose expertise lies in viticulture and biodynamics, is as captivating as the vineyards he tends. But the true revelation of the day was Anna Cohen, originally from Toulouse, France, an artist and qualified sommelier. Soft-spoken yet fiercely knowledgeable, Anna's winemaking is the soul of Elvi. Her mastery shines through in every glass, her meticulous approach translating into wines that are as complex as they are elegant. While she doesn't speak English, her passion and artistry transcend language barriers.Moises & Anna's curated tasting lineup was nothing short of extraordinary, offering a glimpse into the evolution and potential of Elvi Wines. Here are the highlights:2018 Clos Mesorah SublimThis wine is a bold evolution for the brand. The heavy oak on the nose lends itself to layers of ripe black and red fruit, sweet vanilla, and warming spices. The oak is very apparent, both in the nose and taste. The palate is rich and velvety, with acidity tempering the opulence, making it a wine that has a long way to go. As it opened up over several hours, the integration of flavors became a revelation. Sublim is aptly named — a wine that promises greatness with time. I'm excited to see where it goes.2021 Clos MesorahThis latest vintage of the flagship Clos Mesorah is a tour de force. The blend of Grenache, Carignan, and Syrah offers an exquisite balance of ripe fruit, earthiness, and a touch of umami. Clos Menorah has unique nose, with overripe blackberry forward. Assertive tannins and bright acidity make this wine both approachable and age-worthy. Still young, can't wait to taste it as it ages in the bottle.2014 Clos Mesorah (Vertical Tasting)The vertical tasting of the 2014 and 2022 vintages highlighted the evolution of Clos Mesorah. The 2014 has softened with time, revealing a mosaic of dried fruit, smoke, and earth. It's a wine that whispers its story rather than shouts it, showcasing the rewards of patience.2022 Siblings by MesorahThis wine is extremely approachable, even now. Designed and created by Cohen siblings David and Leah, this mevushal wine blends accessibility with sophistication. I would call it a young Clos Menorah, still boasting a lot of that same dark black fruit and a tinge of umami. Crafted from Grenache and Carignan, it offers bright fruit flavors and a fresh finish, making it a versatile choice for both casual dining and celebrations, think of it as a sophisticated simcha wine.As the rain poured outside, the warmth of the Cohens' hospitality enveloped us. The tasting extended late into the evening, followed by a cozy dinner filled with laughter and conversation.If you're inSupport the showEmail your questions and comments to kosherwinepodcast@gmail.com
In this episode of Under the Microscope, we travel to Denmark to meet Prof. Nika Akopian from the Technical University of Denmark, our next QuanTour Hero!
Take a journey with M.A. student, Henry Rajoro, to rediscover the State of Israel and Zionism through lively conversations with guests, researchers and others at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism. Get to hear personal journeys, research findings and up-to-date perspectives on the State of Israel. In this episode, we journey with Dr. Carmit Padan on her Big Trip to Africa as she discovers the people, the land and ultimately her path to destiny. Dr. Carmit Padan is a Senior Research Fellow at Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Research at Technion and a Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel-Aviv University. Her main areas of research are national resilience, social-military relations, and military leadership.
On today's Anchor Podcast, Amir interviews Dr. Dina Aweida, doctor of biology at Technion, Israel's premier institution for science. Dr. Aweida is passionately pro-life and battles daily to educate people on the sanctity of life and the dangers of abortion. This is a fascinating discussion that you will not want to miss.Connect with us on social:Telegram: @beholdisraelchannelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/amir.tsarfati/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beholdisrael/X: https://x.com/beholdisraelYouTube: https://youtube.com/@beholdisrael
In this special bonus episode of Brave UX, Nitzan Shaer speaks candidly about the future of UX research, why simulated audiences are a step beyond synthetic, and how UX professionals can leverage them effectively. Highlights include: 15:12 - What's the vision you're building towards with WEVO? 22:56 - How would you define the difference between synthetic and simulated research? 25:44 - Could simulated research eventually surpass human research in accuracy? 34:50 - What does the near future hold for UX research with AI advancements? 58:00 - How can simulated audiences help accelerate innovation? ====== Who is Nitzan Shaer? Nitzan is the CEO and co-founder of WEVO, a user research platform that leverages AI to deliver reliable insights to designers, marketers, and product managers—in a fraction of the time that traditional research requires. Before co-founding WEVO, Nitzan was the co-founder and managing partner of High Start Group, an innovation consulting firm dedicated to helping companies create and launch breakthrough products. He also led product management, partner relationships, and defined Skype's strategy for mobile phones as head of the Mobile Phones and Product Group, where the challenges of working with customers across 150+ countries sparked his vision for WEVO. Complementing his hands-on experience in building and scaling products, Nitzan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology. An active contributor to the broader product and business community, Nitzan has shared his insights on stages such as The Product Podcast, Product-Led Summit New York, and at Harvard Business School. Find Nitzan here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nshaer/ Website: https://wevo.ai/ ====== Subscribe to Brave UX Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen). Apple Podcast Spotify YouTube Podbean Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content! LinkedIn Instagram Brendan Jarvis hosts the Show, and you can find him here: Brendan Jarvis on LinkedIn The Space InBetween Website
What if value-based care is the future of healthcare? This would mean a shift towards preventing illness rather than solely treating symptoms. Kira Radinsky, a pioneer in AI-driven healthcare, develops innovations that enable healthcare providers to predict patient risks and intervene early. In this episode, Kira reveals how predictive analytics can empower practice owners to personalize care, drive better patient outcomes, and achieve greater efficiency in their operations. Kira Radinsky is a visionary in AI-driven healthcare solutions. She is the CEO and co-founder of Diagnostic Robotics, which uses AI to enhance healthcare efficiency. In 2015, Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Tech. In this episode, Kevin and Kira will discuss: - Kira's journey from tech to healthcare - How AI is transforming healthcare predictions - Reducing ER wait times with AI - Shifting from treatment to prevention in healthcare - The impact of value-based care on patient outcomes - Kira's strategies for effective team building and leadership - The importance of adaptability and resilience in business - Lessons learned from scaling her company - Overcoming barriers to AI adoption in healthcare - How predictive care could shape audiology's future - And other topics… Kira Radinsky is the CEO and co-founder of Diagnostic Robotics, where she leads the development of AI-driven solutions that are transforming healthcare. She is a prominent Israeli computer scientist and entrepreneur known for her pioneering work in predictive analytics. She gained recognition for developing algorithms that predicted significant events, such as the 2012 cholera outbreak in Cuba. She has been recognized globally for her work in predictive analytics, including being named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35. She also serves as a visiting professor at the Technion, focusing on predictive data mining in medicine. Connect with Kira: Kira's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kira-radinsky/ Resources Mentioned: Diagnostic Robotics Website: https://www.diagnosticrobotics.com The Only Thing: If you're an audiologist and want to grow your practice – we've got a FREE, expert guide to help you achieve your goals. It's called The Only Thing. This expert guide will show you how to increase new patient calls by 5 to 57 a month, schedule more new patients each week, help more people, and increase revenue. It's the best resource I know for growing your audiology practice. Get your copy for free at http://medpb.com/mastery.
Isaac Yomtovian, originally known as Es'hagh Pesare' Ebram Johood, traces his Persian roots back 2,500 years.He was born in Tehran near the Marble Palace of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. He immigrated to Israel, where he volunteered in the 1967 Six-Day War and earned a degree in Civil Engineering from the Technion.In 1971, Yomtovian moved to the US, obtaining a Master of Science from the University of Nebraska, and conducting post-graduate work at Cornell University. He later founded EnviroScience, an engineering firm in Minneapolis, before relocating to Cleveland, where he earned an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.Yomtovian is a prominent real estate developer in New York and Ohio and a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. He is also a passionate educator on Iranian history and culture, speaking at synagogues, churches, and universities worldwide on topics ranging from the Persian Empire to the modern Islamic Republic.
Organizations often unknowingly send mixed signals to their employees. For example, they might encourage innovation but punish failure. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., joins the Talent Angle to explain how organizations can structure incentives to unlock employees' full potential. He explains how HR leaders can use incentives to nurture intrinsic motivation in employees and create habits in the workforce that support organizational performance. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv. Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives' most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.
הפעם חרגנו מהרגלנו ויצאנו מהאולפן הממוזג לשטח. כל הדרך לחיפה נטולת הGPS.בלי תסריט ועם התרגשות לקראת היום.באירוע התקיים פאנל בכירים וחוקרים בתעשייה ובאקדמיה. את הפאנל הנחה פרופסור אבינועם קולודני ובפאנל השתתפו:מיכאל קגן סמנכ"ל הטכנולוגיות של NVIDIA,ד"ר עופר שחם מנכ"ל Majestic Labs ai, עופרי וכסלר Distinguished Engineer at Google,רוני פרידמן מנכ"ל אפל ישראל,פרופ' שחר קווטינסקי מהטכניון,שלומית וייס לשעבר סגנית נשיא בכירה בIntel Corporation. הפאנל היה בנושא השפעת הAI על עולם המהנדס בתעשיית פיתוח השבבים ועל העתיד של התעשייה בתקופת הAI. אספנו תובנות מהפאנל והנגשנו אותן לפרק, מקווים שתהנו.בנוסף לכל אלה, הוקדש גם חלק לסטודנטים לתואר ראשון שעשו את פרויקט הגמר שלהם בשיתוף חברת אפל וזכו בפרויקטים מצטיינים. הסטודנטים תכננו צ'יפ משלב האלגוריתם ועד הטייפאאוט. תפסנו את הסטודנטים האלה גם לשיחה קצרה.אז על מה דיברנו?עתיד עולם התעסוקה למהנדסי פיתוח שבביםדאטה, הרבה דאטההספק, המון הספקתוכנה מעל החומרההסקאלות של מודלי AIאיך AI משתלב עם רובוטיקהשינויים בחברה המודרנית בעקבות AIאלגברה לינאריתממשק אדם-מכונהועוד!פגשנו בטכניון מאזינים שידעו שאנחנו מגיעים בזכות קבוצת המאזינים - הצטרפו אלינו כדי לפגוש אותנו באירועים עתידיים >>>https://chat.whatsapp.com/KwUu8pQsxx220qS7AXv04Tפרק זה הוקלט בתנאי שטח ותוכלו לשמוע ברקע את המבקרים בכנס.נשמח לשמוע את דעתכם על הפרק בתגובות, תרצו שנעשה עוד פרקים כאלו?
Are you frustrated with the inconvenience of traditional blood testing, struggling to interpret health metrics, or looking for cost-effective, comprehensive health data? In this episode, you'll get to explore how Michael Dubrovsky's company, SiPhox Health (a Boston-based startup backed by YC, Kholsa Ventures, and Intel Capital), is revolutionizing home blood testing. Discover how SiPhox's advanced technology provides real-time health insights, integrates with wearable data, and offers personalized health management solutions. Whether you're aiming to optimize your wellness journey or seeking effective cardiovascular risk monitoring, this episode covers invaluable insights and practical tips to transform your approach to health. Michael Dubrovsky is a materials chemist, serial entrepreneur, and the co-founder and CPO of SiPhox Health, Previously, while at Technion and later at MIT, Michael developed the world's first photonic computer on a chip for cryptocurrency mining. He was also instrumental in the design and launch of SiPhox's current offering (the broadest, lowest-cost home blood test kit on the market, currently used by thousands of people). His hobbies include woodworking (mainly Chinese tea tables), song translation (typically Soviet bard music), and angel investing in deep-tech companies. Michael also sporadically interviews famous scientists as a cohost on the 632nm Podcast. His company, SiPhox Health, is a hardware-first health-tech company that has spent 3.5 years building a hardware platform for at-home consumer blood diagnostics. In 2022, they launched a platform that fuses mail-in blood biomarker testing with wearable data for personalized health insights. SiPhox is the only D2C diagnostics or DaaS (diagnostics as a service) company that builds blood testing hardware. Today, they screen and monitor 1000s of people every month with their best-in-class, mail-in home blood tests covering markers of inflammation, hormonal health, cardiovascular health, and nutrient and vitamin deficiencies in a single kit. This episode isn't just about groundbreaking technology — it's about the future of accessible and affordable healthcare, so whether you're a health enthusiast or new to self-testing, you won't want to miss this show! Full Show Notes: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/siphoxpodcast Episode Sponsors: Organifi: Go to Organifi.com/Ben for 20% off your order. Fatty15: Get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription starter kit by going to fatty15.com/BEN and using code BEN at checkout. Magic Spoon: Scoop up these new crispy, crunchy, protein-packed treats at your nearest grocery store or by visiting MagicSpoon.com today! Lagoon: Go to LagoonSleep.com/BEN and use the code BEN for 15% off your first purchase. BioStack Labs: Get 15% off your purchase of $100 or more by going to biostack.com/ben15.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Meet Alex Fink, an accomplished American programmer and entrepreneur celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to the technology and information sectors. Born in Tiraspol, Moldova, in 1984, Alex's journey took him from Israel to the United States, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in computer sciences from the Technion and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Alex's entrepreneurial spirit led him to found Panopteo, a pioneering technical consulting firm specializing in video cameras and computer vision software. Driven by ethical considerations, he later shifted gears to establish Otherweb in 2021. As CEO, Alex leads Otherweb in revolutionizing information consumption through artificial intelligence, filtering out low-quality content and promoting factual, high-quality news to its vast user base, which has exceeded 9.5 million active users as of March 2024. In 2023, Alex co-founded Swarmer, a cutting-edge startup focused on drone swarm management software tailored for military applications. Swarmer's innovative technology has made significant strides in defense scenarios, notably supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Alex's diverse portfolio spans artificial intelligence, military technology, and beyond, reflecting his deep insight into global challenges such as misinformation, digital media integrity, and security. His ventures consistently aim to deliver impactful, ethical technological solutions. A sought-after expert, Alex has appeared on prominent television channels including CBS, ABC, and Fox, as well as numerous radio shows and podcasts, where he shares his expertise and vision for the future of technology. Explore Alex Fink's transformative work and visionary leadership as he continues to shape the landscape of technology and information integrity. Visit his website here:https://otherweb.com/
Yair Reem is a Partner at Extantia Capital, a climate-first venture capital firm accelerating the path to a decarbonized world by backing daring entrepreneurs with breakthrough ventures. He co-founded BeyondBlack, a fund for investments in technologies reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and advises European startup CEOs on strategic narratives. Formerly Managing Director at Hasso Plattner Ventures, Yair was also a cyber technology leader at Israel's Unit 8200. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Technion, an Executive MPA from Hertie, and an AMP from Wharton.This episode delves into:First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) ExplainedStrategic PartnershipsCap Table ManagementVC Risk-TakingBrand Building in VCWant to go deeper?Invest in climate moonshots with Climate Insiders. Join 300+ members and become a shareholder of the best climate tech startups alongside us, from $1,000. Become a member now: https://www.climateinsiders.comJoin the Climate Insiders newsletter, The only newsletter you need to invest in climate tech. Every Saturday I share one actionable tip to invest successfully in climate tech. Join 3,500+ investors and get access to investing tips and strategies to invest today: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/(00:00) - Episode Trailer(01:04) – Intro(01:34) – What is The Foaking Awesome?(04:09) – What does Foak mean?(06:20) - Are VCs Ready to Embrace First-of-a-Kind Opportunities?(08:10) – Which are the Sectors full of Possibilities?(10:25) - Can Nvidia's Success Be Replicated in Future Industries?(11:12) - Is Investing in Nuclear Fusion the Next Big Challenge for VCs?(11:51) – Where are we in terms of TRL?(12:50) - Does the Stage of Funding Determine When to Build the First Factory?(13:46) - Is Partnering with Corporates Essential for Startup Success in Climate Tech?(16:37) - When Should Startups Add Strategic Investors to the Cap Table?(17:54) - Do Startups Need Corporate Connections, or Can VCs Bridge the Gap?(18:45) - Are Corporate Partnership Managers the New Must-Have in Climate Tech?(21:11) – Deep Tech Engineer vs Software Engineer – What is the Difference?(23:14) - What Makes Climate Hardware Sexy to Big Financial Players?(24:40) - What Common Cap Table Errors Scare Away Investors?(26:28) - Should Founders Fight or Fold? Navigating Long-Term Potential vs. Short-Term Survival(30:12) - Are Ego-Driven Valuations Hurting Startup Founders?(32:08) - Why 20% Matters: Balancing Venture Builder Impact on Cap Tables(33:31) - Choosing Between Co-Leads or a Dominant Lead Investor: What's Best?(36:34) - Is Risk Aversion Stifling Innovation in VC?(39:50) - First Principles of VC: Balancing Risk in Turbulent Markets(41:43) - Conscious Choices: Team Effort vs. Individual Initiative(42:05) - Authenticity vs. Quantity: The Struggle in Digital Engagement(44:39) - Team Dynamics: Internal vs. External Strategies for Time Management(47:26) - Risk and Reward: Inviting Others to Innovate in VC(49:29) - Expanding Reach: Should VC Messaging Extend Beyond LinkedIn?(50:56) – Role Models in VC(53:14)- YouTube as a Knowledge Foundation: Do VCs Trust Video Learning?(57:52) - Differentiation Strategy: From Tech to Brand, Creating a Category of One(01:01:23) - Breaking the Exit Taboo: IPOs and Strategic Acquisitions in Impact Business(01:03:41) - Exchange of Goods and Society: The Role of Money in Innovation(01:05:04) – Outro
Episode 3: Featuring Asya Rolls, NeuroimmunologistIn this episode we get curious about our immunity and how our emotions and thoughts affect our physical health. It makes sense that if we are stressed our bodies are less able to fight off disease but today we dive into the science behind that and discuss the research of the placebo effect which pays attention to a more holistic point of view within the medical trials. To join me in this virtual conversation from Israel, is Asya Rolls, who is an Israeli psychoneuroimmunologist and International Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She's also a Professor at the Immunology and Center of Neuroscience at Technion within the Israel Institute of Technology.This episode is sponsored by Future Insight E.VOUR GUEST BIO: Prof. ASYA. ROLLS studies the physiological mechanisms whereby emotions and thoughts affect physical health.She is at the Rappaport Medical School, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. She is the recipient of two ERC grants from the European Research Council, a member of the FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (2014-2017), and an International Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-Wellcome investigator (2018-2023).HELPFUL LINKS:www.curiousfutureinsight.orgwww.make-science-not-war.orghttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-could-be-controlling-how-sick-you-get-and-how-you-recover/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-brain-stimulation-slow-cancer/CREDITS: The BE CURIOUS PODCAST is brought to you by ECODA MEDIAHost: Louise HoughtonProduction by: Deviants MediaProducer: Louise HoughtonAssistant Producer: Marta WagnerAssistant Producer: Ralph CortezMotion Graphics: Josh Dage
In this episode, Will sat down with Dr. Aaron Ciechanover, biologist and Distinguished Research Professor in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Ciechanover is renowned for his work in studying the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins. While in the laboratory of Avram Hershko, they discovered that small proteins, called ubiquitin, were attached in chains to targeted proteins, marking them for degradation by a proteasome. This system is highly regulated and was subsequently found to be a factor in many diseases and areas of biology, so much that in 2004, Dr. Ciechanover was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry while on faculty at Washington University. Enjoy!
Natalie opens the show sharing the loss of her mother, who lived in the USA; Natalie shares her grief and regret for not pushing her parents to make aliyah. This is a stumbling block for many....leaving their families behind. Natalie interviews Karla Konik, 52, divorced, single mom from Mexico City who made aliyah in 2021 to Haifa. Karla's son (18) made aliyah in 2016 and urged her to follow. Karla shares with us how she planned the move and all the different steps she went through....Today Karla works for the Technion in Haifa. Returning Home 31MAR2024 - PODCAST
On October 7, Hamas launched a horrific terror attack in Israel. Over 1,300 Israelis have been killed, over 3,200 have been injured, and nearly 200 hostages have been taken. As always, JOWMA's network of physicians is here to serve the Jewish world. Now, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Help support JOWMA's work and our medical mission. We are bringing critically-needed physicians to save lives in Israel. Every dollar raised goes directly to support this Donate to JOWMA's Medical Mission: https://donate.cwsio.com/jowma/ Eliza “Shevie” Kassai, MD is a board-certified general and trauma surgeon. She has been a valued member of the Mountain View Surgical team since 2020. Born and raised in Denver, she attended medical school at the Technion in Israel and subsequently returned to Denver to complete her training. She completed her internship and residency in General Surgery at the University of Colorado. She completed a Research Fellowship in Trauma Surgery during her training and her research has been published in multiple medical journals, including the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Injury, and The American Surgeon. She is certified in robotic surgery, and serves as the Medical Director of the Wound Care and Advanced Hyperbaric Center at The Medical Center of Aurora. She lives with her husband and three children in Denver. Dr. Kassai loves skiing, running, traveling, and spending time with her family. _______________________________________________________ Sponsor the JOWMA Podcast! Email digitalcontent@jowma.org Become a JOWMA Member! www.jowma.org Follow us on Instagram! www.instagram.com/JOWMA_org Follow us on Twitter! www.twitter.com/JOWMA_med Follow us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/JOWMAorg/ Stay up-to-date with JOWMA news! Sign up for the JOWMA newsletter! https://jowma.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9b4e9beb287874f9dc7f80289&id=ea3ef44644&mc_cid=dfb442d2a7&mc_eid=e9eee6e41e
How can companies gain a competitive advantage by seeing how competitors grow, retain & engage with their users? Idan Vakrat is a seasoned product and tech leader who oversees Watchful strategy and delivery of products, including engineering, product management, design, and analytics. Before joining Watchful, he was a Group Product Manager at Google, where he led the product efforts for Waze. Earlier in his career, Idan was head of products at Outbrain (NASDAQ:OB). Idan is an 8200 elite unit alumni. He holds Physics degrees from the Technion (with highest honors) and a Master of Business Administration from Tel-Aviv Recanati business school.
Sponsored by Freed.AI - Get 50% off your first month of using their AI-powered medical scribe software! Just add PGD50 to your cart! Erez Druk, a computer science engineer and former Facebook employee, created Freed, an AI technology designed to alleviate the burden of charting for clinicians. The idea was inspired by his wife, a physician, and their experiences with the demanding nature of healthcare work. Freed aims to streamline the documentation process, allowing clinicians more time with patients and less on paperwork. Looking for something specific? Here you go! 01:32.74: Erez on Freed's Origin 03:28.842: Discussion on Clinician Burnout 06:09.08: Freed's Functionality and Workflow 07:54.962: Discussion on Freed's Cost 10:52.12: Erez on Freed's Learning Mechanism 16:57.304: Compliance and HIPAA 23:27.96: Erez on Freed's Roadmap and Future 28:13.119: Contact Information for Erez and Freed More on Erez Druk, CEO of Freed.AI: Erez Druk, a graduate of the Technion in Israel, moved to California to work as an engineer for Facebook. He later started his own company, Urban Leap. His latest venture, Freed, was inspired by the challenges faced by his physician wife and her colleagues. Freed uses AI technology to simplify charting for clinicians, aiming to reduce burnout and improve work-life balance in the healthcare sector. Did ya know… You can also be a guest on our show? Please email me at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more about the show! Socials: @physiciansguidetodoctoring on FB @physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube @physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter
(0:00) Intro.(1:28) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(2:15) Start of interview.(3:16) Yifat's "origin story." (6:20) Yifat's bio and positions at the University of Haifa and Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.(8:00) About Elizabeth Pollman, Professor at the Penn Carey Law School at the U. of Pennsylvania.(9:57) About their article, Ousted (2023). "We use that term broadly to refer to being forced or pushed to step down from the CEO role, specifically that managerial role, despite having significant control. And what we're arguing is that there's a whole bunch of countervailing forces and factors that can work to limit the durability of the founder CEO's power and ultimately can lead to them resigning from that managerial role."(11:58) Examples of countervailing forces and factors to the founder/CEO power. Differences between public and private companies. Influence of voting rights.(15:20) Influence of margin loans (backed by founder stock) and secondary sales in corporate governance. *Reference to E41 with Maureen Farell on Cult of We (Aug 2021).(19:31) Conflict with regulators, investors and other stakeholders (example: Uber). *Reference to Elizabeth Pollman's article on Regulatory Entrepreneurship. (22:19) On employee pressure in corporate governance.(23:00) On OpenAI's board debacle (involving Sam Altman's ouster and reinstatement). (29:31) Other founder/CEO cases referenced in Ousted. *Mention of E64 with Keir Gumps, involved in Uber's governance clean-up. Cases of Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) and Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX). On externalities from lack of corporate governance in startups, particularly unicorns. The impact of the Power Law in VC-backed companies.(36:26) Take-aways from their article Ousted. Gap between academia and practice.(40:04) Elizabeth Pollman's article Startup Failure. *Reference to E3 with Elizabeth Pollman on Startup Governance and Regulatory Entrepreneurship (May 2020)."[I]t's really important that law and culture facilitate the efficient flow of the failure of venture-backed startups and that failed startups can do so with honor because that's what sustains our system in a big way, out of which comes these few successes. But we also have to have a way of dealing with lots of failed startups (ie. M&A, acquihires, ABCs, and liquidation)."*Reference to my newsletter describing a time of "downrounds, shutdowns and recaps" on a monthly basis.(44:28) Yifat Aran's article The RSU Time Bomb: Regulating Startup Equity Compensation in the Unicorn Era. Triggered by Stripe's downround in March 2023 (raising $6.5 billion at $50 billion valuation).(52:51) On current equity compensation practices and the private/public market divides.(54:51) Consequences of startups staying private for longer (SPL) or forever.- Rapid fire questions for Yifat Aran:(58:31) Books that have greatly influenced her life: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886)(59:56) Her mentors: Dorit Beinisch (Former President of the Supreme Court of Israel)Joe Grundfest, Stanford Law School.Elizabeth Pollman, Penn Carey Law School.(01:02:30) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "I believe that you can achieve everything, but you aren't likely to achieve everything at the same time."(01:03:13) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves: chic flicks and gummy bears to write papers.(01:03:46) A living person she admires: Arthur Rock.Elizabeth Pollman is a Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Institute for Law & Economics at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She teaches and writes in the areas of corporate law and governance, as well as startups, venture capital, and entrepreneurship.Yifat Aran is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Haifa. She is also a lecturer in the MBA program at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and a research fellow at the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. She is primarily interested in corporate law and governance and securities regulation, with a focus on venture capital and entrepreneurship. __This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel. You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
In this episode, I will be speaking with Esther Sperber, founder of Studio ST Architects. Esther founded ST Architects in 2003 after working at Pei Partnership Architects for more than five years, during which she had the privilege of working closely with Mr. I. M. Pei. Esther Sperber writes and lectures on architecture and psychoanalysis, two fields of praxis that strive to reduce human distress and widen the range of human experiences. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Lilith Magazine, and The Huffington Post, among others. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel she studied architecture at the Technion in Haifa and Columbia University in New York. In this episode, we will be discussing: Architecture as Leadership How Esther's interest and understanding of psychology and psychoanalysis influence her leadership and architecture The importance of hiring a great coach To learn more about Esther visit her: Website: https://studio-st.com/ ► Transcription: https://otter.ai/u/ai4-Q5p96Qt1Ub1YWzP1R4IBaA8?utm_source=copy_url ► Feedback? Email us at podcast@businessofarchitecture.com ► Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/ ► If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/call ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful, and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BusinessofArchitecture-podcast Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9idXNpbmVzc29mYXJjaGl0ZWN0dXJlLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz ******* Access the FREE Architecture Firm Profit Map video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Download the FREE Architecture Firm Marketing Process Flowchart video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Come to my next live, in-person event: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/live Carpe Diem!
Organizations often unknowingly send mixed signals to their employees. For example, they might encourage innovation but punish failure. Dr. Uri Gneezy joins the Talent Angle to explain how organizations can structure incentives to unlock the full potential of employees. He explains how HR leaders can use incentives to nurture intrinsic motivation in employees and create habits in the workforce that support organizational performance. Dr. Uri Gneezy is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv. Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives' most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management, and the future of work.
Dr. Jessica Rose, Dr. Joseph Fraiman, and Dr. Kelly Victory return to discuss concerns about the reliability of safety trials for mRNA vaccines, and why some experts are saying that its RCT (randomized controlled trials) asked all of the wrong questions. Dr. Joseph Fraiman is an emergency medical physician from Louisiana. He is the former Medical Manager of Louisiana's Urban Search Rescue Disaster Task Force 1. In a letter published in Vaccine, Dr. Fraiman led a group of physicians who warn “there are major shortcomings in the FDA's recent publication of its first “near real-time surveillance” study.” Follow him at https://twitter.com/JosephFraiman/ Dr. Jessica Rose is a Canadian researcher with a Bachelor's Degree in Applied Mathematics and a Master's degree in Immunology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She also holds a PhD in Computational Biology from Bar Ilan University and 2 Post Doctoral degrees: one in Molecular Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one in Biochemistry from the Technion Institute of Technology. She was also accepted for a 2-month program as a senior researcher at the Weizmann Institute prior to completion of her latest post doctoral degree at the Technion. Her more recent research efforts are aimed at descriptive analysis of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data in efforts to make this data accessible to the public. Find Dr. Jessica Rose online at https://www.jessicasuniverse.com and https://jessicar.substack.com 「 SPONSORED BY 」 Find out more about the companies that make this show possible and get special discounts on amazing products at https://drdrew.com/sponsors • COZY EARTH - Say goodbye to hot, restless nights with soft, temperature-regulating bedding from Cozy Earth. Susan and Drew love Cozy Earth's sheets made with super-soft viscose from bamboo! Use code DREW at checkout to save 40% at https://drdrew.com/cozy • GENUCEL - Using a proprietary base formulated by a pharmacist, Genucel has created skincare that can dramatically improve the appearance of facial redness and under-eye puffiness. Genucel uses clinical levels of botanical extracts in their cruelty-free, natural, made-in-the-USA line of products. Get an extra discount with promo code DREW at https://genucel.com/drew • PRIMAL LIFE - Dr. Drew recommends Primal Life's 100% natural dental products to improve your mouth. Get a sparkling smile by using natural teeth whitener without harsh chemicals. For a limited time, get 60% off at https://drdrew.com/primal • THE WELLNESS COMPANY - Counteract harmful spike proteins with TWC's Signature Series Spike Support Formula containing nattokinase and selenium. Learn more about TWC's supplements at https://twc.health/drew • BIRCH GOLD - Don't let your savings lose value. You can own physical gold and silver in a tax-sheltered retirement account, and Birch Gold will help you do it. Claim your free, no obligation info kit from Birch Gold at https://birchgold.com/drew 「 MEDICAL NOTE 」 The CDC states that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and reduce your risk of severe illness. You should always consult your personal physician before making any decisions about your health. 「 ABOUT THE SHOW 」 Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Kaleb Nation (https://kalebnation.com) and Susan Pinsky (https://twitter.com/firstladyoflove). This show is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 「 ABOUT DR. DREW 」 Dr. Drew is a board-certified physician with over 35 years of national radio, NYT bestselling books, and countless TV shows bearing his name. He's known for Celebrity Rehab (VH1), Teen Mom OG (MTV), Dr. Drew After Dark (YMH), The Masked Singer (FOX), multiple hit podcasts, and the iconic Loveline radio show. Dr. Drew Pinsky received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his M.D. from the University of Southern California, School of Medicine. Read more at https://drdrew.com/about Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oren Aharon is CEO and founder of Hour One, a leader in virtual human innovation, and a pioneer in generative AI. He joined Bret Kinsella to talk about how the technology behind virtual humans has evolved and the role generative AI is playing in the next set of features. Hour One's new Reals Activate technology can transform any video into a scripted virtual human experience. It will align mouth movements and sounds to match a script to the video of a person. This means any video of you or anyone else can be transformed into a virtual human experience. Aharon debuted this technology for the first time publicly for the Voicebot Podcast audience. If you would like to view the demos, a video of the full interview is available on Voicebot's YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/voicebotai. Aharon also talks about the market for virtual humans and how the rising interest in generative AI has accelerated use case adoption. He earned a Phd in electrical engineering from Technion and formerly was a co-founder at Kadoor Electronics and Vectorious Medical Technologies.
If there's a place on Earth where geopolitics not only makes for engaging conversation around the dinner table but is an everyday concern for every citizen, it's the Middle East. Today, we'll dive into the captivating realm of Middle East geopolitics, where history is being reshaped by intricate negotiations. Israel and Saudi Arabia, former foes, now pursue historic peace, yet shadows loom as nuclear reactors emerge on Saudi soil. Amidst Lebanon's fragility, Hezbollah's audacious dance with Israel adds even more tension. As Iran navigates behind the scenes, orchestrating both regional turmoil and negotiations with President Biden for a pivotal nuclear deal, the region hangs in a delicate balance. To shed light on these complex dynamics and the broader forces at play, we are honored to have Dr. Raphael BenLevi with us today. A distinguished authority in international relations and political science, Dr. BenLevi serves as the director of the Churchill Program for Strategy, Statecraft, and Security at the Argaman Institute, and is a research fellow at The Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. Drawing from an extensive background in IDF Intelligence and affiliations with esteemed institutions such as Georgetown University, he brings profound insights to the intricate tapestry of Middle Eastern geopolitics. Notably, his contributions extend to his upcoming book titles "Cultures of Counterproliferation - the making of US and Israeli Policy on the Iranian Nuclear Program" With a scholarly journey culminating in a PhD from Bar-Ilan University, an MA from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), and a B.Sc. from the Technion, Dr. BenLevi's expertise serves as a guiding beacon in our pursuit of understanding these critical dynamics.
Joshua Benadiva hosts Chen Amit, the founder and CEO of Tipalti. We deep-dive into Chen's journey, from finding initial success in tech and product management, to his role today as the leader of a billion-dollar company. Chen offers fascinating insights on how to craft the initial solution for significant enterprise problems, and how being an outsider can bring a fresh, innovative perspective. He also speaks candidly about his learnings from starting Tipalti and the critical elements of structuring an early-stage company and hiring the right team. Chen is a veteran high tech executive and repeat entrepreneur. Prior to Tipalti, Chen was CEO of Atrica, a Carrier Ethernet company that Nokia-Siemens acquired. Before Atrica, Chen was co-founder and CEO of Verix, a provider of business intelligence software. At ECI Telecom, Chen founded their ADSL business unit and led it from inception to $100 million in annual sales. He earned a BSc from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA from INSEAD.
This week, host Anna Rose (https://twitter.com/annarrose) and Nico Mohnblatt (https://twitter.com/nico_mnbl) chat with Ron Rothblum (https://csaws.cs.technion.ac.il/~rothblum/), Professor of Computer Science at Technion. They explore information theory and ZK, diving into the weeds on multiple topics including error correcting codes, FRI, FFTs, Reed-Solomon encoding, Fiat-Shamir and more. Here's some additional links for this episode: Fiat-Shamir via List-Recoverable Codes (or: Parallel Repetition of GMW is not Zero-Knowledge) by Holmgren, Lombardi and Rothblum (https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/286.pdf) Proving as Fast as Computing: Succinct Arguments with Constant Prover Overhead by Ron-Zewi and Rothblum (https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/1673.pdf) Faster Sounder Succinct Arguments and IOPs by Holmgren and Rothblum (https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/994.pdf) The Random Oracle Methodology, Revisited by Canetti, Goldreich and Halevi (https://eprint.iacr.org/1998/011.pdf) Linear-Time Arguments with Sublinear Verification from Tensor Codes by Bootle, Chiesa and Groth (https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/1426.pdf) Testudo: Linear Time Prover SNARKs with Constant Size Proofs and Square Root Size Universal Setup by Campanelli, Gailly, Gennaro, Jovanovic, Mihali and Thaler (https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/961.pdf) Reed-Solomon Codes (https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~guyb/realworld/reedsolomon/reed_solomon_codes.html) Shannon's Source Coding Theorem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon%27s_source_coding_theorem#References) Guy Rothblum Publications (https://guyrothblum.wordpress.com/about/publications/) Episode 274: SNARKs: A Trilogy with Ariel Gabizon (https://zeroknowledge.fm/274-2/) zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> https://9lcje6jbgv1.typeform.com/zkSummit10 Aleo (https://www.aleo.org/) is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup. Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo's programming language called Leo that enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs to deploy decentralized exchanges, hidden information games, regulated stablecoins, and more. Visit http://developer.aleo.org (http://developer.aleo.org/). For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord (http://aleo.org/discord). If you like what we do: * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree (https://linktr.ee/zeroknowledge) * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter (https://zeroknowledge.substack.com) * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) * Join us on Telegram (https://zeroknowledge.fm/telegram) * Catch us on YouTube (https://zeroknowledge.fm/)
Cap sur Israël dans ce Bonus Track
Cette semaine, je t'emmène en Israël. La 1ère "Startup Nation" compte 4 fois plus de licornes que la France pour une population 7 fois plus petite
Lior Handelsman is a General Partner at Grove Ventures, a leading early-stage VC fund with more than half-a-billion dollars under management. Grove Ventures partners early with exceptional Israeli entrepreneurs who believe that the Deep Future is now and are ready to build it. As a General Partner, Lior led the fund's investments in companies like Protai, NoTraffic, Luminescent, Protai, Teramount, Mirato, and Vocai, among others. Prior to joining Grove Ventures, Lior was one of the founders of SolarEdge (NASDAQ:SEDG). He took part in inventing and developing the company's technology and saw it grow from a small startup to a multi-billion dollar global company, with a market leadership position in the smart and renewable energy markets. Before SolarEdge, Lior spent 11 years leading research and development teams and directing large-scale, multidisciplinary R&D projects in power electronics, analog design, communications, and signal processing at the Intelligence Corps Technology Unit – Unit 81. Lior holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) and an MBA from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
In this episode, my guest Uri Gneezy joins me to talk about the psychology behind creating and using incentives.Uri Gneezy is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. He received his B.A. in economics at Tel Aviv University and Ph.D. in economics at Tilburg University. Gneezy joined UC San Diego in 2006. Prior to that, he was a professor at the University of Chicago, the Technion and the University of Haifa. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam, NHH Bergen and Burgundy School of Business. As a researcher, Gneezy focuses on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world, where theory can meet application. He is looking for basic research as well as more applied approaches to the study of when and why incentives (don't) work. His research covers topics such as incentives-based interventions to increase good habits and decrease bad ones, gender differences in reaction to incentives, and how incentives affect deception and ethical behavior in general. In addition to the traditional laboratory and field studies, he is working with firms on using basic findings from behavioral economics to help companies achieve their traditional goals in non-traditional ways. Gneezy's research includes over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, for which he won the Most Highly Cited Researcher prize for the last 8 years. He is a coauthor (with John List) of the international best seller The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life and author of Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work.We talk about:[0:00] Intro[3:25] What inspired Uri to write 'Mixed Signals' [4:05] Examples of 'mixed signals' when it comes to incentives[6:40] Why humans are influenced by social norms and signaling[10:10] Specific industries where incentives work best[11:20] Loyalty programs as brand incentives[12:45] How to design a loyalty program[15:45] Pitfalls and misconceptions when implementing incentive programs[20:05] Positive and negative incentives[23:05] How each gender perceives and reacts to incentives[27:15] How to learn more about behavioral economics[33:20] One piece of advice for entrepreneursConnect with Uri here:https://www.twitter.com/urigneezyhttps://rady.ucsd.edu/faculty-research/faculty/uri-gneezy.html Connect with Kaye here:Brand Personality Quiz: https://www.kayeputnam.com/brandality-quiz/https://www.youtube.com/user/marketingkayehttps://www.facebook.com/marketingkaye/https://www.kayeputnam.com/https://www.kayeputnam.com/brand-clarity-collective/
Check out the latest episode of Your Child's Brain. Join Dr. Brad Schlaggar President and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute and his guests Heidi Daniel, president and CEO at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, and Dr. Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, a developmental neuroscientist at Kennedy Krieger Institute as we discuss children's reading, literacy, and the impact of technology on both. Links to visit: Enoch Pratt library Summer Reading Program https://www.prattlibrary.org/summer-break The Neurobiology of Reading podcast https://urlisolation.com/browser?clickId=796DE2A7-3F7F-4DA8-A057-296FDC84DFF0&traceToken=1682690228%3Bkennedykrieger_hosted%3Bhttps%3A%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS_7brlIMa_k Dr. Brad Schlaggar (BS): Welcome to Your Child's Brain, a podcast series produced by Kennedy Krieger Institute with assistance from WYPR. I'm Dr. Brad Schlaggar, pediatric neurologist and president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute. One of the most distinctive features of the human brain is its capacity for language. Arguably, our brains have evolved to produce spoken and heard language. But exactly when that capacity emerged in humans is debated, in the scientific literature, spoken language likely emerged no less than a couple of 100,000 years ago and perhaps as long ago as one million or more years. On the other hand, the invention of the written form of language and therefore the origins of reading, came roughly 5,000 years ago. Simply put, while our brains evolved for spoken language, reading and writing are far too recent to have been drivers for the evolution of our brains. It has only been in the last several 100 years that human society has put such a premium on the value of reading that large portions of society learned to read. That said, in Maryland and in the US as a whole and while estimates vary, roughly one in five adults has very low or absent literacy skills, contributing to significant challenges for the health and welfare of those individuals. For some, reading difficulty is largely the consequence of lack of access to quality education while for others, the issue is dyslexia or a reading impairment, despite sufficient intellectual ability and access to quality education. For so many reasons, it is critically important for us to understand the full complexity of how our brains learn to read and how factors in our children's life, like screen time, for example, impact the development of this crucial skill. Today, I'm joined by two guests, both with expertise that is highly relevant to a discussion of reading development and literacy. Dr. Tzipi Horwitz-Kraus from the Department of Neuropsychology at Kennedy Krieger Institute is an international leader in the neuroscience of reading development. She's an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She's also an associate professor of education and science and technology and in biomedical engineering at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. For full disclosure, Tzipi and I are research collaborators on the neuroscience of reading development and we published several papers together. Heidi Daniel is the president and CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, a true gem in Baltimore, Maryland, where she has been at the helm since July of 2017. Welcome, Tzipi and Heidi. Heidi, you're completing your sixth year leading the Enoch Pratt Free Library. I know that literacy is one of the pillars of the library's strategic plan, especially focused on digital literacy and pre-literacy. Tell us about the library's approach to literacy. Heidi Daniel (HD): The library approaches literacy the way we approach most things through the lens of access. You mentioned having access to high-quality education and high-quality materials is really important for the development of reading and literacy in our population. The library's focus is really on making sure that we're approaching learning and reading as a whole person way of looking at it. We're very focused on family literacy and for our pre-literacy skills and wanting to make sure that we're empowering parents and caregivers and the community around children to be fully literate themselves, to have the skillsets that they need to develop literacy in the children and their families and their care and their communities. Then giving access to high-quality materials to help them develop. That looks like a lot of things. It could be providing access to programming around development of brain, development of reading. It's modeling, it's doing programs that model, seeing, read, play with your children. It's providing play rich environments where children have the opportunity to play and explore while also having a lot of rent around them integrated into their play scape. Because we know that children learn through play. It's also that digital literacy piece. As we recognize that digital literacy is critical to the communities that we service and through really our whole world. We're all connected to devices and screens. How does that play out when we start to talk about children learning to read and children's brain development. Even in our teens, how does that interact with their continued growth and development? We really want to make sure that parents are educated on the impact of devices, and that they have access to high-quality apps and materials on those devices. We're not telling people to stay away from screens and only take out print books. If you know anything about the library, we've got tons of electronic resources for folks to access. But what we want to make sure is that caregivers feel empowered to make decisions around high-quality electronic usage. What apps are really educational and useful? How much screen time kids should be having? Really looking at all of the things that come into play when we talk about the interaction of literacy and devices and that they know how to correctly use them for empowerment so that it's not just that junk food approach, doing what feels good, but maybe what isn't like super nutritional for your brain. We take that approach as well as connecting families to all the additional resources they might need to support growth and learning in their home. BS: That sets us up so well for the discussion that we're about to have. Tzipi, tell us a bit about your work on understanding how our brains learn to read. Tzipi Horwitz-Kraus (TH-K): I've been working on the neurobiology of reading for I think 15 years now. I started coming out from a very personal place with having several family members with dyslexia, with the basically difficulty in reading, struggle with reading along the years. I saw that aside to wonderful thinking skills, great intelligence, right ability to manage in your environment. It struck me, how can it be, how can these intelligent individuals struggle with this ability that most of us are doing so naturally? I started digging in and doing the academic journal that I'm having for many years. I started looking for biomarkers, for reading difficulties, and we started looking at different neuroimaging tools or tools that helps us to understand how the brain works. We found that individuals with dyslexia, when they are adults, their brain basically does not recognize that they're making reading errors. Then we said, let's see if this is modifiable. Can we train them to better recognize words and can their brain actually realize that they made reading errors? We found that the brain is plastic, so we moved on to kids and we found that the kid's brain, even if they have dyslexia, is even more plastic than the adult brain that has dyslexia. In the past years, aside to work that we are doing with children with dyslexia and reading difficulties, and we will talk more about it, we started looking at younger kids at pre-reading age and we're trying to see whether we can minimize reading difficulties, and for better effect, not only reading difficulties, let's make all kids love reading because this is one of the most enjoyable activities that kids can do themselves and definitely can do with their parents. BS: As I mentioned earlier, human spoken language dates back on the order of probably 100,000 or a couple of 100,000 years ago. But written language and therefore reading, it's really been around just 5,000 years. What are the implications of how relatively new reading is for the human experience? How does that affect the way you think about investigating the way the brain learns to read? TH-K: This is an amazing question and there is a lot of literature about it that relates to this whole process as recycling these brain networks that were originally aimed to listen, to see, to pay attention to things in order to work together, so reading is accomplished. I think when we're talking about recycling these networks. This is a term coined by a researcher named Dehaene 2009. We kind of understand that maybe not all people can recycle these networks and maybe these brain networks cannot be recycled as easily for everybody. That only emphasizes how much this process is not really intuitive. Which means that in order for these networks to be active together, in order for us to see the words, to listen to the words in our thought and to pay attention to the words, then the timing of this activity needs to be very, very precise. The teaching or the tutoring of this process needs to be very explicit. So it's not intuitive for all kids. BS: Along those lines, what does the research tell us about the best approaches and at what ages it's best to introduce a child to reading? TH-K: Oh, wow. If we go back to the American Pediatric Association, they will tell you that a child should be exposed to reading from birth basically. If we talk about these brain regions that are related to reading, which are visual regions, auditory listening regions, attention regions, meaning, so language and vocabulary these brain networks are really ready to perceive this information at birth. I think that a fine stimulation of these brain regions using storytelling in a different way that matches the child age, using different methods like as batteries or speaking in a voice or reading the story and the voice that the young child can listen and process and then when the child is older, showing the words with the finger that the parent is reading is a great way even at early ages. We do see some of our studies that are looking at children at pre-reading age that are exposed massively or even not massively, are exposed to more hours of stories told by their parents and that they're exposed to more books in their household that even in their close environment basically show greater engagement of brain regions related to imagination when they just listen to stories so they're not seeing anything, but they can imagine the stories. BS: So Heidi, along those same lines of this early exposure, can you talk about some of the programs that you've implemented at the Enoch Pratt Free Library for early reading opportunities for young children. HD: As we talked about, it's really important that caregivers feel less self-conscious about doing anything right and use these intuitive techniques that come naturally to us when we're working with small and young children reading in a calm voice, letting them take breaks and walk away, letting them come back. Singing, playing with them while you're reading, letting them touch the words, pointing out the words. We do all of that naturally through our programming that we do with young children that is family-oriented. We have what people call the traditional story time at the library, we still have all of those. Then we also do some extra programs. We have a program called Books For Me that's been quite successful that really focuses in on groups of parents that partake in a cohort together and from their child's very young, we love to start at birth, right through as their children get older and even including older siblings and the experience of coming together and reading. The program really focuses on that modeling of using different techniques and there's five or six that the American Library Association really encourage parents to use that include things like singing, playing rhyming. Rhyming is really important. Showing the words doing left to right and focusing in on that phonological awareness. A lot of that can happen best through print. We also, through part of that program built home libraries because it's really important that children have access to literature and quality books in their home. I think a lot of studies show that the number of books in the home correlates with better educational outcomes later in life. So for us, we recognize that the cost of books is a big barrier and obviously we want you to come to the library and take out as many books as possible. But so many of our programs now focus on also building that home library for young children and then also even during our summer break programming for older kids and adults as well. Because it's also really important for young children to see the adults in their life reading as well so that they see that this is something important, this is something enjoyable. As the library we love to focus in on, like let your child love to read, especially as they get older, don't worry quite so much about that reading level. Obviously, there's markers and signs that you want to be thoughtful of if they're not developing correctly. But also really just let your child read books. My son is a reluctant reader and he loves Captain Underpants and I let him read that well past his level of reading, he was well beyond it lexical wise, but he just enjoyed reading them and it was the same with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Just let them have fun and enjoy it. That's part of the beauty of reading is you get this wonderful experience out of it and it develops empathy and kindness in our brains, and really the ability to think about other people. I think sometimes when we work with parents at the public library, we have the privilege and ability to be able to say, make this a really enjoyable bonding experience with your child. Even if you're making up part of the story and they were walking away and they're coming back, it is okay, the idea of the written word being an enjoyable experience, it's also really important and having a lot of print rich environments for your child to explore is also a key development piece. BS: We've used this term dyslexia a couple of times now. So Tzipi, let's talk about it. What is dyslexia exactly? Why do some children have difficulty learning to read, despite all the other efforts being made to enhance the environment, access to education, intellectual ability, all of that. Why still do some children have difficulty learning to read? TH-K: Let's start with the definition for dyslexia. Dyslexia is defined as slow and inaccurate reading despite average IQ and higher. The typical exposure to written language. The reason for dyslexia is neurobiological. It's basically a brain that is active differently. Based on what we said at the beginning of the recycling of these networks that we're actually supposed to see and listen and pay attention to something that is happening in your visual field or when you hear something, there's really not surprising that there are situations that individuals just have difficulties reading. In our studies, this is exactly what we research. Is there a specific brain activity that we see in individuals with dyslexia? Can it be modified? Do we have different profiles of children with reading difficulties? Those who have attention difficulties in reading difficulties, are they the same as those with just reading difficulties? Because this reading network is so complex, it is really not surprising that reading difficulties can occur due to error sort of say, in different places in the network. We see children with epilepsy that suffer from reading difficulties, those with autism disorder, that suffer from reading difficulties and many, many more. I can say that the classical finding that was replicated by several researchers is that individuals with dyslexia show a greater engagement of the right side of the brain when they read as opposed to the average population, the children engagement of the left side of the brain when they read. This is a pattern that we're seeing in several studies, regardless or in most languages, I would like to say. BS: How early can reading issues such as you're describing be identified in a child? Can you talk about pre literacy skills and whether difficulty attaining those reading skills, those pre literacy skills predicts difficulty reading. TH-K: I think that Heidi touched upon some of these early markers. If we think about reading, as I said, I think that reading start developing when the child is born because the infrastructure for reading start developing right there and even beforehand in the uterus. I would say that early markers for future reading difficulties or for the occurrence of future reading difficulties would be related to the awareness to the tiny little sounds in language, the ability to repeat a word that you're hearing, the naming of the letters was found that the ability to name letters fast and accurately, which together is called automatically, is a marker for a future reading achievement. These kind of markers would probably predict the occurrence of feeding difficulties in future .BS: A significant direction of your work and something that you and I have collaborated on over the years is the role of executive function in reading. You talked about attention so broadly, executive function and how that influences reading development. Can you talk about how executive functioning is linked to reading issues and does treating executive dysfunction improve reading outcomes for example in children that have both ADHD and dyslexia? TH-K: Executive functions might be a term that not everybody are familiar with, and also in the field of psychology, this is like an umbrella term for many sub cognitive abilities that are related to learning from our own mistakes for example these include working memory, which is our ability to capture several items in our memory and to manipulate them. Speed of processing. How fast we process information and inhibition our ability not to respond immediately, but to hold that thought and wait with it. Some also referred to attention as part of executive function and some do not. We think, and what we find our studies is that executive functions might be the synchronizer of the reading system. What do I mean by that? We talked about the visual system that we see that is related to the ability to read words orthographically. To read the words holistically without decoding each letter at a time. We have the auditory system that is located in a different region in the brain that is related to the phonological processing steps. The ability to be aware that the tiny little sounds in language and also to decode letter and sound. In order to have a fluent reading, these two systems must be active in a synchronous manner. What we see in our studies is that executive functions or brain regions that are related to executive functions usually mapped to the frontal lobe but my neuroscience fellows will absolutely not like what I'm saying now, because this is an overall simplicity of this situation. But for now, let's just say in frontal regions of the brain, these regions basically synchronize the visual and auditory regions in our brain and we think that this is a critical role of executive functions. In a way, we can think about a metaphor of an orchestra where you have lots of tools in your orchestra, but you have the conductor who synchronize them altogether into a nice melody and we think that this is what executive functions are doing during the reading process. BS: One of the topics that has come up already, we've talked about screen time, different types of technology of how we are now viewing the written word. What do we know about how the use of technology or screen time affects the developing brain and pre literacy, learning to read? TH-K: This is a question My kids always tell me, please mom do not talk with my friends about screen, please. I can only speak for what we know scientifically. Let's put all our belief aside. What we found in several very innovative neuroimaging studies that are looking at neurobiological correlates for screen time. That children already at the age of three to five years when they're exposed to higher screen time. And that involves tablets and smartphones and television and all kinds of screens. The greater the time is, the less organized the white matter tracks in the brain. What are these white matter track? These are basically, we can think about them as the roads that connect the cities and if we're talking about cities, let's talk about the visual and the auditory regions that we just talked about and the executive functions related regions. These are the cities. They communicate with each other by roads that connect them. These are exactly the white matter tracks that I'm talking about. What the research shows is that the higher the screen time is, the less organized these roads are. If you're driving in a less organized road and you have a bump or you have a hole or you have whatever during your ride, the information or the car will move much slower than what we find is that for 3-5 year old kids, the higher the screen exposure is, the lower the organization is in these white matter, we also see that the cities themselves or the gray matter of regions that are part of the visual, auditory and executive function system is different. It's less thick. The cortex is less thick in these regions and this is in pre literacy age. We do not really know what is happening earlier in a younger age group. BS: I was going to ask you about these younger age group because we know that multiple guidelines from professional societies, medical, psychological and others, they recommend no screen time for children less than two years of age. That's a pretty stark recommendation. What is the level of evidence that we have at this time for zero screen time for under two years? TH-K: I think that unfortunately we cannot have a definitive answer for this question because in order to be able to answer this question, we will have to have longitudinal studies tracking screen time from birth onwards and see how that affects the child's brain. However, birth to five years old is really the critical time for brain development. There are different processes like the synaptogenesis. Where these synopsis are created and the pruning where it's cut when it's not being used, so many processes in this. Within these five years, if our results from 3-5 year old kids show this dramatic effect, I can only assume that kids that are younger than that, screen exposure will not be beneficial for them. BS: Right. I think it's reasonable to say that we should limit screen time. The research is not there yet to be really determinative. It is also fair to say that it's okay to FaceTime with grandma, it's okay to read back and forth, pointing to the words on a screen with your child if you're engaged in reading. It's not that all screen time necessarily is aversive to the brain's development, but we do know and we can extrapolate is that large quantities of screen time are probably to be avoided. We've been talking about reading off the screen. Does it even matter? Does it matter if you're reading off of the printed page or off of a screen in terms of how the brain is processing the printed word? TH-K: This is an excellent question that we really wanted to answer using MRI. MRI is this tube and this huge magnetic field. It's really hard to get a book inside the MRI to really see how your brain is active when you read a paper-printed based book, but you can use other tools for that. You can use EEG, electroencephalogram, which is this cap with the electrodes that measures brain electricity signal from your scalp. This is what we've done, a really freshly published paper that looked at brain activation of children that are 6-8 years old that are reading from the computer screen versus reading from a printed paper. What we found is that when children were reading from the screen, their brain activation looked like a brain activation of a distracted person. Patterns that look like a cognitive overload that's probably related to the way the individual is screening the screen, so the pattern of actual reading while reading from the screen, and there are behavioral studies supporting that. That there is a greater cognitive overload when you read from a screen versus when you read from a paper, both in adults and both in children. This is what we found. Again, would love to run greater studies compared to that one. BS: Heidi, how do you approach this question, reading from the screen versus the printed page? HD: We approach that in the same way. Start with the professional guidelines and the research which does show that young children tend to be more distracted when they're reading from screens and that there's less exchange verbally between the parent and the child also when they're reading from a screen or looking at images on the screen than when they're reading from print. It reduces that exchange of words between the caregiver and the child and it also means that there's less bonding going on, less intimacy in their reading experience. But it's very distracting when you're reading from the screen because there are things that come along, that are pop-ups, they're ads and that again gets to the quality of what you're putting on the screen in front of your child as well. Most of our children's librarians have taken a lot of media literacy classes to learn how to vet and evaluate apps. If we're loaning devices, the apps that are on those devices have been prevented to make sure that they don't have pop-ups, or distracting graphics, or things that would take away from the experience of reading with the child. Again, it gets back to what I said earlier about that junk food approach. Not everything is created equal just because you can access it. We recognize that a lot of parents are looking for those free apps, so a lot of times we will purchase the app, load up a device, and let parents borrow them so that we're ensuring that they're getting higher-quality experiences with their children that are appropriately aged 3-5, for that screen time so that it's more quality screen time as well. As a mom, like I can tell you I've handed my child a device in the shopping cart just so that I can get my things done, but we want to make sure that what we're giving them is high quality exposure. TH-K: To your point, Heidi, you were talking about destruction and I wanted to share really interesting study that we conducted looking at the effect of smartphone existence and text messages that are sent to the parents while they're reading a book to the child. Let's say you decided to read a book to the child. Great. Good for you. You're reading it dialogically, so with a lot of excitement in the air. Then all of us parents, we have our phone and we just got a text message, so we're just peeking at it. What is happening to this dialogue and to this interaction that we just had with the kids? Luckily, neuroimaging data can reveal what is happening between these two brains. What we found using a really interesting neuroimaging technique that is called hyperscanning, so we collect data both from the parent and from the child while they're reading a book, we saw that the ability of the parent and child to pay attention to each other, what we call joint attention, that we can actually measure looking at the brain correspondence of these two goes down. For us, it was striking because it opened up so many questions. Does it go back? Do we go back to synchronization with the child after it is interrupted by the device? If you are choosing to read a book for the child, put the phone aside for a couple of minutes. [LAUGHTER] BS: Exactly. Heidi, the library has rolled out some programs including with the summer coming, I know Summer Break Baltimore. Can you describe that program, how does it work, and what are some of the early outcomes from it? HD: This Summer Break Baltimore program is really our new take on the classic summer reading program. We changed the focus because it's not just about reading. We also include a lot of experiences in that program as well. There's rewards for attending programs, there's rewards for going to cultural places throughout the community. But the idea is that you keep your child or the child in your care engaged throughout the summer because it combats that summer slide. The fact that children lose usually about a grade level of reading in the summer if they're not engaged in some learning activity. We want to make sure that those levels stay up, so we try to engage children in a wide variety of activities. We have camps during the summer for all age groups, and the earliest readers even get to be read to and get rewards and parents can get rewards for reading as well because we know that that's fun. We really focus on the rewards being building your home library. We give away a lot of books during the summer. The outcomes have been pretty great actually. We had seen quite a dip in summer reading over the years because people are engaged in camps, they're engaged in a lot of activities. Rarely now, as time has changed, you see the two parent, one parent at home available to take their kid to a program at 10:00 AM. It's a lot busier and kids are engaged in a lot more activities. We started going out to camps as well as having camps. We've gone to rec centers, we've partnered with the schools, and we really take this program out so that this way we can incorporate reading into every single piece of the summer experience throughout the community. What we've seen is our numbers were slipping, we had in the low thousands of families participating, and last summer, we had over 20,000 families that finished. We're really excited about how families are engaging with this and I think that piece of also building a summer library, having those books in your home to keep have been really an important piece as well because parents realized that having those books around for children to go back to over and over is really valuable in your child's learning journey. It's been great. We hope more families will engage with it or continue to engage with it so that we can keep those summer scores up. BS: If we can, let's put a link to the library summer books program on our website or web page for this episode so we could direct families to it. The other thing I'd like to link, if we could, is I know that the two of you were part of a webinar through the library that was recorded on April 17th. It's probably a similar conversation I would imagine, but perhaps a bit longer and more in-depth, but I think we should be able to link that webinar to the web page for this episode as well. That would be great. TH-K: Definitely. BS: Thank you both. I want to thank our guests for this fascinating discussion on reading development. We hope you our listeners have found this topic interesting and informative and that you'll consider sharing this podcast and rating it. You can check out our entire library of topics on Your Child's Brain at Wypr.org, KennedyKrieger.org, Wypr.org/studios, or wherever you get your podcasts. You've been listening to Your Child's Brain. Your Child's Brain is produced by Kennedy Krieger Institute with assistance from WYPR and producer Spencer Bryant. Please join us next time as we examine the mysteries of your child's brain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Topic: Rocket Man Guest: Ari Sacher Bio: Ari Sacher is a Rocket Scientist, and has worked in the design and development of missiles for over twenty five years. He has briefed hundreds of US Congressmen on Israeli Missile Defense, including three briefings on Capitol Hill at the invitation of the House Majority Leader and the Israeli Ambassador. Ari is a highly requested speaker, enabling even the layman to understand “rocket science”. Ari has appeared on CNN, Fox News, i24news, and the Discovery Channel. Ari has also been a scholar in residence in numerous synagogues and schools in the USA, Canada, UK, South Africa and Australia. He is a riveting speaker, using his experience in the defense industry to explain Judaism to the young and old alike in a way that is simultaneously enlightening and entertaining. Ari came on aliya from the USA in 1982. He lives in Moreshet in the Western Galilee along with his wife, eight children, and ten grandchildren. He currently works in the Land and Naval Warfare Division at Rafael, where he is responsible for system development. In this episode we discuss: 1) The Technion 2) The importance of Deterrence 3) Sacrifice 4) Mission Driven Life 5) Centrality of Torah, Am Yisroel & Family 6) Offense & Defense 7) The Needy that are close to us and so much more!
Studio ST Architects is a full-service, woman-owned, architectural firm located in Manhattan. The firm believes in innovative, sustainable and responsible design. They strive to combine leading technologies with evolving environmentally-friendly design and production methods, and apply these tools in creative ways.Esther founded Studio ST Architects in 2003 after working at Pei Partnership Architects for more than five years, during which she had the privilege of working closely with Mr. I. M. Pei. Esther Sperber writes and lectures on architecture and psychoanalysis, two fields of praxis that strive to reduce human distress and widen the range of human experiences. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Lilith Magazine, The Huffington Post, among others. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel she studied architecture at the Technion in Haifa and Columbia University in New York.Studio ST Architects is working on a wide range of projects. The 22,000-sq.-ft. Jones Street multi-family apartment building finished construction in Jersey City. They are working on a number of synagogue renovations, including Ansche Chesed on the Upper West Side in NY and Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob in Skokie, IL. Studio ST Architects completed the renovation of the 14th Street Y in 2010 and plans for the Hudson Yard Synagogue – an 20,000-sq.-ft. $8 million renovation project in Manhattan. The firm has completed many residential projects ranging from high-end apartments to low budget real-estate development, including apartment buildings, duplex combinations, and single-family homes.Studio ST's work has been published in architectural magazines and monographs in North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2008, Studio ST was selected by Wallpaper* as one of the “World's 50 Hottest Young Architectural Firms.” The Swell House was selected by Architectural Record as “Best Unbuilt House” for 2008. In July 2009 they were selected for the best 40/40 exhibition in Tel Aviv, Israel.https://studio-st.com
Ron is the founder and CEO of Kidas, a company that creates an AI-based solution that helps parents to protect their kids from bullying, scams, and online predators in more than 200 online multiplayer games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of duty. Ron holds an MSc in information system engineering and machine learning from the Technion, Israel Institue of technology, an MBA from the Wharton school of business, and an MA in global studies from the Lauder institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Before starting Kidas, Ron was an early-stage venture capital investor, and prior to that, he was an R&D manager who led teams to create big data and machine learning-based solutions for national security. Ron is excited about gaming and making gaming a safe experience for kids and families.
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