Another high-tech tour offered by Career Israel was to an emerging company called Better Place. The goal of Better Place is to replace all family cars in Israel by vehicles run 100% by electricity. The Electronic Vehicles (EVs) have a lithium ion battery underneath the car which need about 1 minute of charge time for every 1 minute of drive time.
The goal is to have charging stations (1 meter poles) located in parking lots nationwide so cars can be charged while the driver is at home, the mall, even work. Because the battery will not stay charged for long trips, 100 battery switch stations will be located nationwide. In the same time it takes to pump gas, the car is driven over a robot which takes out the emptying battery and replaces it with one fully charged. A computer onboard incorporates GPS and customer service assistance. Owners will pay a monthly service fee to fund unlimited customer service and charging/switch stations.
As part of the tour, we were able to test drive an EV. They make no noise and accelerate smoothly because there is no gear switching. The ride was extremely comfortable and the technology inside was pretty cool.
The company began just 3 years ago by Shai Agassi (only 42 years old) and will release the first working cars in Fall 2011. The investment in creating a reliable network is high and full of risk, but will hopefully end in a great return. The main flaw I see in this operation is the lack of green energy to change the global impact of the billions of cars on the road. Better Place sees the potential of running cars on 100% clean energy but is not performing or funding research in that area.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Given Imaging
As an optional tour, 20 people headed North past the city of Haifa to visit a company called Given Imaging on February 21st. This high-tech company sells the only pill camera worldwide. The 3 PillCam products they currently have take photographs to create videos of the esophagus, small intestines, or colon. With today’s technology, colonoscopies require the insertion of a tube with a camera on the end of it as the doctor views a video display. The main problems with this are the patient’s comfort and that there is no way to view the inside of the fragile small intestine.
The pills are no larger than vitamins and have different photo frame rates depending on the part of the body to be pictured. The product of the pill is a 15 minute video analyzed by algorithms which look for suspected places of damage or growths as well as a map of the path taken through the body. As of today the colon PillCam has not been approved by the FDA so colonoscopies through this method are not yet available in the states but hopefully will be soon.
The lecture was extremely interesting and informative. I now know exactly how every piece of food travels through my body (whether I wanted to or not). We were able to view actual photos and videos from studies conducted. In one woman, an entire fly was found, still undigested after traveling through her stomach and entering the small intestine. Another funny photo showed the view from the toilet of the patient looking at it after exiting the body. Haha
I think this technology is amazing and will save many lives by encouraging people to get colonoscopies on a regular basis and more than doubling the viewable area in the body with the addition of the small intestine.
The pills are no larger than vitamins and have different photo frame rates depending on the part of the body to be pictured. The product of the pill is a 15 minute video analyzed by algorithms which look for suspected places of damage or growths as well as a map of the path taken through the body. As of today the colon PillCam has not been approved by the FDA so colonoscopies through this method are not yet available in the states but hopefully will be soon.
The lecture was extremely interesting and informative. I now know exactly how every piece of food travels through my body (whether I wanted to or not). We were able to view actual photos and videos from studies conducted. In one woman, an entire fly was found, still undigested after traveling through her stomach and entering the small intestine. Another funny photo showed the view from the toilet of the patient looking at it after exiting the body. Haha
I think this technology is amazing and will save many lives by encouraging people to get colonoscopies on a regular basis and more than doubling the viewable area in the body with the addition of the small intestine.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Negev Desert
Heading South
Instead of Ulpan on Thursday morning (Feb 18), we packed a weekend bag and headed South by bus for a tour of the Negev Desert. The Negev covers 60% of Israel’s land mass yet only houses 15% of the population. The main inhabitants are Bedouins, a roaming people who live off the land in tents, or soldiers training in the IDF. The Israeli government tried to establish villages so the Bedouins can pay taxes, receive government-funded projects, and be safe of military activity.
The Bedouins refused and still roam the land as they wish.
Bedouin Village
We visited one Bedouin village in which a member of the tribe spoke with us about his lifestyle. He emphasized living off the land and the relationships within the tribe. One day he came across a wealthy pilot who offered his penthouse apartment in the middle of Tel Aviv so the Bedouin could experience Western civilization. After a month the Bedouin had to return home because he hated that people don’t even know their neighbors and walk past so many people without even acknowledging them.
Another stop along the way was a student village near the city of Sde Boker. Student villages are almost social environments built by hand and run by university students. They are similar to kibbutzim but most students have jobs in nearby cities.
CI Activities
The hotel we stayed at was on the property of a boarding school and our view outside was breath taking… only mountains and desert as far as the eye could see. We participated in a drum circle the first night. Everyone was either playing a drum or dancing around for hours. Later, we had a bonfire with delicious kosher s’mores.
Hikes
The group went on hikes, all with different terrains, 3 days in a row. Flash floods occurred in the Negev three weeks prior to my visit so the landscape was much greener than usual and streams still had small amounts of water. Some of the hikes had manmade steps/ladders while others required rock climbing on steep cliffs. My favorite hike involved first climbing straight up then along the top of the long, skinny mountain. I felt like I was in a biblical scene. The whole time I was thinking about how much my dad would enjoy these adventures. I’ll have to take him on some soon!
Instead of Ulpan on Thursday morning (Feb 18), we packed a weekend bag and headed South by bus for a tour of the Negev Desert. The Negev covers 60% of Israel’s land mass yet only houses 15% of the population. The main inhabitants are Bedouins, a roaming people who live off the land in tents, or soldiers training in the IDF. The Israeli government tried to establish villages so the Bedouins can pay taxes, receive government-funded projects, and be safe of military activity.
The Bedouins refused and still roam the land as they wish.
Bedouin Village
We visited one Bedouin village in which a member of the tribe spoke with us about his lifestyle. He emphasized living off the land and the relationships within the tribe. One day he came across a wealthy pilot who offered his penthouse apartment in the middle of Tel Aviv so the Bedouin could experience Western civilization. After a month the Bedouin had to return home because he hated that people don’t even know their neighbors and walk past so many people without even acknowledging them.
Another stop along the way was a student village near the city of Sde Boker. Student villages are almost social environments built by hand and run by university students. They are similar to kibbutzim but most students have jobs in nearby cities.
CI Activities
The hotel we stayed at was on the property of a boarding school and our view outside was breath taking… only mountains and desert as far as the eye could see. We participated in a drum circle the first night. Everyone was either playing a drum or dancing around for hours. Later, we had a bonfire with delicious kosher s’mores.
Hikes
The group went on hikes, all with different terrains, 3 days in a row. Flash floods occurred in the Negev three weeks prior to my visit so the landscape was much greener than usual and streams still had small amounts of water. Some of the hikes had manmade steps/ladders while others required rock climbing on steep cliffs. My favorite hike involved first climbing straight up then along the top of the long, skinny mountain. I felt like I was in a biblical scene. The whole time I was thinking about how much my dad would enjoy these adventures. I’ll have to take him on some soon!
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