Purpose & Achievements
Protecting our Planet
“The next ten years are crucial. We have so many environmental challenges in front of us. And, I think science is what gives us rational optimism, in order to deal with those challenges.”
— Prof. Ron Milo, Co-Leader of Weizmann’s Institute for Environmental Sustainability
Weizmann Institute scientists are not only facing current environmental crises head-on, but are solving tomorrow’s threats to our planet today.
They are developing mathematical formulas to predict rainfall with greater accuracy; creating crops that can grow in harsh climates and with less need for pesticides; designing nanomaterials that can serve as engine lubricants and thus reduce air pollution; studying ways to protect and conserve water, our most valuable resource; examining the Earth’s movements to forecast volcanoes and earthquakes; growing a forest in a desert to study CO2 – these are just some of the ways in which Weizmann researchers are using science to protect our planet, both now and in the future.
Highlights
Sustainable Science
A new initiative at the Weizmann Institute puts used gear back in business
A Little Dusty – but Alive
A Weizmann Institute study shows that some bacteria that hitch a long-distance ride on desert dust particles may touch down alive and kicking
The Weight of Responsibility: Biomass of Livestock Dwarfs That of Wild Mammals
Wild land mammals weigh less than 10 percent of the combined weight of humans and are outweighed by cattle and other domesticated mammals by a factor of 30
Answering a Question That Has Bugged Ecologists for Decades
Researchers have produced the first global estimate of the combined weight of all land insects and related arthropods