Technion engineers develop virtual periscope that doesn’t have to get wet

Tekumah, a Dolphin-class submarine, is capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Photo: REUTERS
 

Jerusalem Post - Prof. Yoav Schechner, of the Technion’s electrical engineering department, and colleagues developed the virtual periscope.


‘Up periscope!” may become an outdated order thanks to a team of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers who have developed a new technology for viewing objects above the water’s surface without the need for a periscope poking its head above the waves. The researchers modeled their virtual periscope on technology used by astronomers to counter blurring and distortion caused by layers of atmosphere when viewing stars.


The technology behind a submerged “virtual periscope” was introduced in a presentation at the IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography, held in California earlier this month. Prof. Yoav Schechner, of the Technion’s electrical engineering department, and colleagues developed the virtual periscope, which is called “Stella Maris” (Stellar Marine Refractive Imaging Sensor).


The heart of the underwater imaging system is a camera – a pinhole array to admit light (a thin metal sheet with precise, laser-cut holes), a glass diffuser and mirrors. 

The rays of the sun are projected through the pinholes to the diffuser, which is imaged by the camera, beside the distorted object of interest. The image is then corrected for distortion.   Read More

Israel Discovers New Therapy For Brain Cancer

Arutz Sheva - Israeli researchers at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School made a ground breaking discovery of a cancer-driving protein.

Regina Golan-Gerstl, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, has successfully identified a genetic protein which is involved in the development of the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer found in adults called glioblastoma.

For the 22,000 American citizens who are diagnosed each year with brain cancer, these never before known molecular aspects can provide new diagnosis and treatment options for patients.

Golan-Gerstl and her team of biochemists supported by the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) discovered a splicing factor hnRNP A2/B1, a protein gene found in humans, which was detected to have higher than normal levels found in glioblastoma samples.   More

Israeli scientists help the blind find new vision

New Advanced ‘Seamless’ Incision Closure Technology - without stitches or staples

An Israeli company has come up with a way to close incisions without stitches or staples, leaving a seamless closure.

Arutz Sheva - An Israeli company has come up with a way to close incisions without stitches or staples, leaving a seamless closure.

The technology, IonMed Plasma Tissue Welding, uses a cold plasma biowelding device called the BioWeld1.  The system is designed and engineered to be reliable and easy to use. About the size of a shoebox, the device has a relatively small footprint. Intuitive; two different modes of operation. BioWeld1 has four main components: helium tank, main unit, hand-piece, disposable tip.

It is the first cold-plasma surgical system to reach advanced human clinical stages, and is expected to reach the market later this year.

Results from a clinical study led by Prof. Abrahamyan at the Republican Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology in Yerevan, Armenia recently demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the system.   More

National Geographic – In the Footsteps of the Apostles

They were unlikely leaders. As the Bible tells it, most knew more about mending nets than winning converts when Jesus said he would make them “fishers of men.” Yet 2,000 years later, all over the world, the Apostles are still drawing people in.


Photograph by Lynn Johnson

ITALY

Gracing the wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan since 1498, Leonardo da Vinci’s mural of the Last Supper invites viewers to contemplate how the Twelve Apostles felt in the moment after Christ predicted that one of them would prove a traitor.
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Photograph by Lynn Johnson

ISRAEL

Franciscan priest Fergus Clarke gazes at the Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The tomb’s emptiness echoes the Apostles’ message: Jesus rose from the dead.
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Photograph by Lynn Johnson

ISRAEL

The Western Wall is all that remains of Jerusalem’s Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. Jews consider the site sacred, as do many Christians. Pilgrims often leave handwritten prayers stuffed into the chinks.
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