It took 1,320 liters of water to produce your new pair of jeans and twice that much to produce the cotton shirt you wear with it. When these items are discarded, they will continue burdening the environment as they end up incinerated or buried in landfills. Re-Born Textiles, a new Israeli initiative, offers an alternative that not only saves clothing and other textile waste from the trash heap but also employs at-risk populations. “Israel produces at least 500,000 tons of textile waste a year, which costs the state around 150 million shekels [$46 million],” said Viktoria Kanar, cofounder of Re-Fresh Global,…
Author: zenger.news
A camel may be man’s best friend. Antibodies from female camels can help fight prostate cancer by delivering potent drugs to cancer cells without damaging normal cells, a recent Israeli study has shown. The study, led by Prof. Niv Papo and PhD candidate Lior Rosenfeld from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, managed to identify nanobodies in female camels that bind to receptors overexpressed in prostate cancer tumors. They can be conjugated to a cytotoxic drug, enabling the delivery of the drug to the cell. The research was recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. “We wanted to do something…
RAMAT GAN, Israel — An invention originally designed to transform dog droppings into odorless powder is being tested as a solution for the animal waste plaguing livestock farms and slaughterhouses. Israel’s Paulee CleanTec, which holds patents for eco-friendly management of human and animal waste, recently installed one of its demo BioLizer systems at a kibbutz dairy farm. “We can convert half a ton of fresh animal manure into odorless organic fertilizer in one hour,” says CEO Ilan Levy. “If you have 300 dairy cows, they generate a ton of liquid waste every hour. This is equivalent to wastewater from a…
Medical cannabis has proven beneficial for a wide variety of health conditions. Now, a first-of-its-kind study in adults aged 60 and above with hypertension shows that smoking cannabis or ingesting its oils significantly reduces 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The discovery by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and its affiliated Soroka University Medical Center appeared in a January edition of the European Journal of Internal Medicine. “Older adults are the fastest growing group of medical cannabis users, yet evidence on cardiovascular safety for this population is scarce,” said lead author Dr. Ran Abuhasira of the BGU…
NINH BINH, Vietnam — The animal welfare officials rescued three Asian black bears from Vietnam’s Illegal wildlife trade and gave them a new shelter home at the Ninh Binh Bear Sanctuary. The bears named Mochi, Nara, and Nikko were rescued when they were few months old. Nikko and Nara were rescued in Lai Chau Province on the Vietnam border on Jul. 21 last year. “Nara is a shy one, but doing well with the other two cubs,” the sanctuary said in a report. “Although Nikko is a male and weighs double than Mochi, he is afraid of nearly everything new.…
ULYANOVSK, Russia — A cat, rescued by a recycling plant worker seconds before being crushed on a rubbish conveyor belt in December 2020, has been given an official job in the local government. The event happened at a waste plant in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, which is famous for being the birthplace of Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin. The moggy, since named ‘Kite’ on the suggestion of caring citizens, has since been ’employed’ as the deputy head of the regional Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation and has quickly settled into his new role, as…
BEDFORDSHIRE, UK — An adorable video of two Asian small-clawed otters taking a brief break from their playtime to enjoy their lunch has gone viral. The pair is seen munching on saltwater fish, crayfish, and crabs. One otter is also seen using its claws to “hunt for food” in a simulated underwater environment, created to allow the otters to engage in natural activities they would do in the wild. The two-year-old Carol and seven-year-old Ernie were introduced to their new home at the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire in July 2020 as part of a breeding program for the South…
MULHEIM, Germany — German firefighters rescued a deer and heron in two different emergency call-outs on Feb. 12. The firemen from the city of Mulheim, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, received the calls for the rescue operation. The first call came in the morning when a deer was found trapped in a metal gate trying to get through it. Images from the fire department showed the deer stuck between metal bars after making it halfway but was apparently unable to get its hind legs through. “Visibly facilitated the deer and a firefighter enjoyed the mutual heat exchange in…
KUFRA, Libya — The Kufra police found eight bodies belonging to one family, all of whom died after they lost their way in the Libyan desert. Images of the tragedy show the relatives’ dead bodies, along with their belongings, strewn around the vehicle, some of them already partially buried in the sand. It was alleged that 13 others were missing after their car broke down in the desert. All the people are expected to have ended up dying of starvation and thirst. As per the local media, 21 people were traveling on a Toyota Sequoia when it broke down in…
CTESIPHON, Iraq — The 1,700-year-old ancient Arch of Ctesiphon in Iraq is at a risk of collapsing due to adverse weather conditions in the city. The Taq Kasra’s grand arch is running against time from going extinct. In 2019, sizable parts of the arch turned to rubble after 20 continuous days of heavy rain. The site has served as the royal capital of the Parthian and Sasanian Empire for over 800 years until the Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD. “The restoration work will be carried out by the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with the Iraqi State Board…