Dead Sea Fun

Where to Buy Dead Sea Products in Jerusalem

There are three stores selling Dead Sea beauty products at the Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall on Jaffa Road in central Jerusalem. A fourth store is at 28 King George Street, several blocks away. Prices at all four are very good.

Salty tip: Israel's large pharmacy chains, like Super-Pharm and Nu-Pharm, carry Ahava and other brands of Dead Sea beauty products. The pharmacies are conveniently located, but prices are somewhat higher.

Drastic Desertification: Researchers Study Dead Sea Climate

"Our results are dramatic; they indicate how vulnerable the Dead Sea ecosystems are," says Prof. Litt. "They clearly show how surprisingly fast lush Mediterranean sclerophyll vegetation can morph into steppe or even desert vegetation within a few decades if it becomes drier."

Back then, the consequences in terms of agriculture and feeding the population were most likely devastating. The researchers want to probe even further back into the climate past of the region around the Dead Sea by drilling even deeper.

Read the full article at Phys.org

Israel Tourism Ministry Wants New Hotel Rating System

Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov said Sunday that his ministry is "making a historic consumer move; after 20 years we are bringing transparency back to the hotel industry and promoting competition."

The ministry believes that the new rating system will create stiffer competition between hotels, reducing accommodation prices and improving quality.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

More at Globes.co.il

12 Tips for the Best Dead Sea Vacation, Ever!

Salty Tip #1 - Try not to shave…anything…for a day or so before dipping in the Dead Sea. The water is very salty and you WILL feel the burn!

A Biosphere Reserve to Protect the Dead Sea Unique Heritage?

Biosphere Reserves are sites established by countries and recognized under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science. They are places that seek to reconcile conservation of biological and cultural diversity and economic and social development through partnerships between people and nature, with cooperation from local to international scales.

Currently, there are 598 Biosphere Reserves in 117 countries , and new sites are added every year. Would the Dead Sea join them someday?

Read the full article at EcoPeace - Friends of the Earth Middle East

Solar Powered Desert Oasis Uses Desalination to Fight World Hunger

Growing the most crop per drop of water is an Israeli specialty. With little rain and a hot desert sun as unforgiving as the Sahara, Israel's high-tech researchers and farmers have combined their expertise to grow a cornucopia of salt-tolerant crops in dry desert conditions. People from hungry countries far and wide come to learn from Israel's expertise.

Now, a new research project by two desert research institutes has strung several Israeli agriculture and clean-tech specialties together to help alleviate world hunger and push back the desert through an artificial desert oasis using low-cost desalination technology that runs on solar power.

Read the full article at GreenProphet.com

Side Trip: The Negev Desert

Israel's Negev Desert is like pure magic. Covering over half of Israel's total land area, it is an area bustling with beauty. The Negev desert is a fascinating and enchanting place, especially for those not familiar with desert landscapes.

Whilst there is a lot you can see yourself, the best way to discover the desert is for a day with a guide. Whilst to the untrained eye, the miles of desert all look the same, look a little deeper and every rock formation, hill or mound of earth has its own unique story.

Read the full article at TouristIsrael.com

Israeli Researchers Find New Way to Predict Dead Sea Sinkholes

A team of scientists has developed a method of more precisely predicting the development sinkholes by the Dead Sea, which should make the area safer for visitors and people working there.

Researchers say use of an Italian earth-observation satellite system known as Cosmo-Skymed has significantly improved their ability to predict when and where sinkholes will form. The technology should give them a few month's notice before a sinkhole actually appears.

Read the full article at IsraelStrategist.com

More at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev