More from Nepal

Lots this week on Nepal. Some updates to share with your kids:

• The death toll has now risen over 5000 
• A teenage boy was rescued today by a USAID team and locals. He had been trapped beneath a collapsed building for 5 days! Can you imagine not eating or drinking and being locked inside a room for 5 day? 
• Israel sent more volunteers to help in Nepal than any other country, reports CNN. Israel sent around 200 people. The next largest group was from England, which sent 68. Israel has also donated the most financial aid -- $10 million. 
• About 2000 Israeli travelers were in Nepal during the earthquake! (They like to visit after serving in the army). All have been found and are ok except for one. Or Asaf, 22 years old, is still missing. 

 

More on Nepal's Earthquake

Follow up to yesterday--Nepal's earthquake--an article about Chabad in Nepal and a young homeless boy whom they took in. And keep praying for all those still missing in Nepal, including over 100 Israelis. 

 

Earthquake in Nepal

Over the weekend, there was a terrible earthquake in Nepal. Thousands are thought dead. They are urgently in need of everything: tents, water, food, medical help. Hikers on Mount Everest had to survive an avalanche at base camp. Click here for pictures and article. have kids think of ways they can help (prayers, cards, donations, etc.)

Here is info on multiple Israeli delegations bringing aid and soldiers to help recovery: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-briefed-on-efforts-to-help-Nepal-after-quake-This-is-the-real-face-of-Israel-399246

Learn to Play Music through an App

Sorry for the delay in posts. Work has been busy, as was Passover! I may not write out paragraphs about articles anymore, but just post links to interesting topics. We'll see how much time I have on a given day...Thanks for reading!

Today's article is about a Chinese company which is investing in an Israeli app that teaches people how to play music. Watch a promotional video here. 

Cute Passover video

Cute video for Passover combining science and tradition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQfqoZrEvI

Enjoy!

Ways that Palestinian and Israel Children are Working Together

PA & Israeli girls study animal welfare together when 40 girls from Jericho and Beit Shemesh participated in an event called "New Spring – New Hope," at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel. They visited animals and listened to a lecture in Hebrew and Arabic about the importance of treating animals kindly.

The Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) launched Baseball for All (Baseball Le’Kulam), the first ever program to teach Jewish and Arab Israeli children to play baseball. 28 sixth graders from Modiin and Ramle learned about baseball as they also learned about one another.

Source: http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/  

What Does It Mean That Your Brain Is Missing a Cerebrum?

Article: The cerebellum is a part of the brain that holds half of our neurons. But until now, scientists haven't known exactly all that it allows us to do or not do. Thanks to some people born without cerebellums or cerebellums damaged due to stroke, infection or disease--and willing to have their brains scanned and studied--we are learning a lot more. Until now, scientists thought the cerebellum was only responsible for helping us keep our balance and fine motor control. So when one gets drunk and fails a police walking test or can't touch the tip of their nose, that is the cerebellum impaired. (Kids: try walking in a straight line; that is your cerebellum helping you out.) But now we also know that the cerebellum is like the fine tuner to most of our other functions. Other parts of the brain enable us to do things-- like telling us when to walk or speak or feel an emotion--but the cerebellum fine tunes that and helps us do it well -- walk well, speak in an understandable way, or show empathy. For instance, one person in the study who was born without a cerebellum could walk, talk, think and express some feelings, but none very well. In a conversation, he speaks slurred and can only say basic things, like "how are you? how was your day?" But if the conversation progresses beyond that, like someone saying "I felt sad today. My friends were mean to me," his brain cannot process the next step of where to take that conversation. Or if he were driving, he could drive in a straight line, but could not process what to do if a car honked at him and a bus pulled in front of him and he had to figure out what to do next.