Israeli startup Prospera uses artificial intelligence to help farmers better monitor their crops; Israeli startup FST Biometrics can recognize individuals from facial images, voice analytics and behavior, and much more. 

By: Michael Ordman

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Artificial Intelligence to grow better crops

Israeli startup Prospera uses artificial intelligence to help farmers better monitor their crops. Using in-field cameras and climatic sensors, farmers can irrigate, manage pesticides and fertilizers to achieve maximum crop yields. Prospera has just raised $7 million of funding.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/prospera-raises-funds-to-expand-agro-tech-globally/

Here’s looking at you

Israeli startup FST Biometrics can recognize individuals from facial images, voice analytics and behavior. Recent attacks in Europe have prompted a huge rise in demand for FST’s identification technology.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/biometric-startup-sees-surge-in-demand-as-security-woes-weigh/

Gene sequencing ancient barley

Scientists from Israel, Germany, the USA and UK have genetically sequenced 6000-year-old barley seeds discovered in the Yoram cave in Israel’s Judean Desert. The DNA-analysis will provide essential information as to the origin, domestication and spread of crop plants.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/6-millennia-old-but-almost-fresh-masada-seeds-unravel-barleys-origins/

Israeli smart glass for Mercedes cars

Israeli startup Gauzy and its innovative glass goes from transparent to opaque and back again. Now Gauzy has been selected to take part in Mercedes-Benz’s accelerator program. Gauzy already has offices in Israel, Hungary and Los Angeles.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-gauzy-to-join-mercedez-benz-accelerator/

Games to help learn Math

Israeli startup Matific develops educational math and science games for children in kindergarten and elementary school. It enables students in 20 countries to access superior math tools in 20 languages at an affordable cost. Matific has just raised $45 million of funding to expand distribution and R&D.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-matific-raises-45m-to-expand-math-games/

Engie on TV

Engie – the Israel startup which provides an app that connects to your car via Bluetooth and diagnoses mechanical faults. It then helps you contact the repair shops that can fix your problem efficiently at the lowest price. Engie was just featured on Israel’s ILTV daily.

Robot can crawl, climb and swim

Engineers at Ben-Gurion University have developed a 3D-printed robot called SAW (Single Actuator Wave-like) that can move quickly, forward or backward, in a wave-like motion over unstable terrain. It can even be miniaturized for travelling internally through the human body.
https://aabgu.org/slithering-robot-is-an-engineering-first/ 
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/11/4/046004?fromSearchPage=true

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