The Technion’s story has been intertwined with Israel’s for more than a century, from laying the foundations for a new nation to shaping its future.
Researchers from Cornell Tech have developed a method to identify delays in the reporting of incidents such as downed trees and power lines, which could lead to practical insights and interventions for more equitable, efficient government service. Their method, which works without knowing exactly when an incident occurred, uses the frequency of reports of the same incident by separate individuals to estimate how long it took for the incident to be first reported. The first report establishes that the incident occurred, and subsequent reports are used to establish the reporting rate. Applying their method to more than 1 million incident reports in…
As journalists and professional fact-checkers struggle to keep up with the deluge of misinformation online, fact-checking sites that rely on loosely coordinated contributions from volunteers, such as Wikipedia, can help fill the gaps, Cornell research finds. In a new study, Andy Zhao, a doctoral candidate in information science based at Cornell Tech, compared professional fact-checking articles to posts on Cofacts, a community-sourced fact-checking platform in Taiwan. He found that the crowdsourced site often responded to queries more rapidly than professionals and handled a different range of issues across platforms. “Fact-checking is a core component of being able to use our…
A new app has created a virtual sisterhood for thousands of women across Israel, giving them a safe space to share their experiences, their problems and even just their thoughts – particularly in wartime. The Soli app allows users to anonymously express their state of mind and their feelings, called Moods on the app, ranging from common emotions like happy, stressed or lonely to more specific sentiments such as “in the mood for a night out,” “looking for new friends” and “in need of advice.” Opening the app takes the user to a map, where they see other users and their Moods,…
The Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE) project team, jointly led by NASA and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, envisions a way to make huge circular self-healing mirrors in-orbit to further the field of astronomy.Larger telescopes collect more light, and they allow astronomers to peer farther into space and see distant objects in greater detail.The state-of-the-art 21 foot (6.5 meter) aperture James Webb Space Telescope needed to be folded up origami-style – including the mirror itself – to fit inside the rocket for its ride to space. The aperture of an optical space observatory refers to the size of the telescope’s primary…
A data analytics company in Israel is offering its artificial intelligence tools to help predict where and when the country will suffer rocket attacks during the ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip – even suggesting the optimal time to take a shower without interruption. Sisense which uses machine learning to analyze data for companies, has made its technology available to Israeli government bodies and other institutions during the conflict. Israel has been under continuous rocket fire from Gaza since October 7, when terrorists breached the border fence into Israel, killing 1,400 people and abducting at least 240 more. More…
Despite initial support for Israel and largely universal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on October 7, the number of anti-Semitic incidents, campus protests, and online vitriol against Israel and Jews has skyrocketed. For many, social media has become a battlefield. Enter Zachary Bamberger, an American who immigrated to Israel. The Cornell graduate is currently working toward his master’s in the Technion’s Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science. When he saw what was happening online, he sprang into action. Using his prodigious talents in machine learning and natural language processing research, he built a large language model (LLM) that…
Israel’s battle against misinformation and hate is overwhelming on most days. During a war, it goes on overdrive. By last measure, online anti-Semitism has spiked by a massive 1200% since October 7th. When faced with a river of hate from legions of enemy countries and sympathizers, Israel’s Hasbara (positive PR) efforts are chronically understaffed, under-funded and under-equipped
Avi Aflalo, Simplex 3D co-founder and CEO: “We have accurate 3D models of most cities, towns and villages in Israel. The initiative will open the technology to communities that have not yet been modeled to be up and running within a few days with a defense system to manage emergency incidents, with either a three-dimensional model or a standard map.” Simplex 3D develops systems and algorithms for 3D urban management and planning for the private, and government and defense sectors. The company is harnessing its technology for the benefit of all local authorities and communities in Israel, to strengthen the…
For almost two decades, agriculturalists around the world have been sounding the alarm about the global disappearance of entire bee colonies, a vital link in the food chain whose absence is threatening the world’s food supply. Scientists have determined that one of the primary causes of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is the Varroa mite, a pest that attaches itself to bees as they develop in their cocoons and feeds on them, transmits viruses to them and can even kill them. Israeli startup ToBe has developed a device that releases precise amounts of miticides in beehives to rid them of these parasites without…
Mars is one of the most explored components of the solar system, yet there are always more discoveries to unveil on Earth’s planetary neighbor. On Earth we are able to take direct measurements to understand our planet’s meteorological activities, but on Mars scientists must use evidence in the landscape to discern this information instead. One such feature of the red planet’s landscape are barchan dunes in deserts, crescent-shaped sand dunes formed by wind patterns predominantly in one direction in areas with a limited supply of sand. Such aeolian-derived dunes are significantly impacted by the atmospheric circulation on the planet’s surface, with new research published in Geophysical Research Letters finding…
Moshe, a computer programmer who suffers from a life-long stutter, tried every kind of treatment to ease the jaw spasms, severe facial twitches and feelings of suffocation he experienced whenever he spoke. But every time he’d step out of a clinic or treatment center, he had no way of preserving the methods he had just been taught to manage his condition. That’s when he decided to use his technological skills to develop an algorithm capable of analyzing and monitoring his speech to ensure he was practicing these various stuttering techniques correctly. Six years later, he joined forces with speech language…
In a three-day competition known as a hackathon, Technion undergraduates worked to develop online methodologies to recognize suicidal ideation, with the goal of offering assistance and saving lives. More than 500 people a year kill themselves in Israel. In the United States, that number jumps to about 50,000. Worldwide, someone takes their life every 40 seconds. “People put more of themselves on social media than they realize,” said Professor Avigdor Gal of the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences. “We cannot be blind to society around us, what is done with the tools we develop, how the data we collect…