{"id":78870,"date":"2019-04-13T17:13:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T22:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=78870"},"modified":"2019-04-13T21:59:18","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T02:59:18","slug":"life-at-a-research-lab-in-israels-negev-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/life-at-a-research-lab-in-israels-negev-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Life at a research lab in Israel’s Negev desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexis Shanes<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

SDE BOKER, ISRAEL \u2014 Two hours south of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where political drama unraveled amid Tuesday\u2019s Israeli elections, I finished my morning coffee and stepped out into the blinding desert sunshine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m spending this month at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, which are part of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The main BGU campus is located in Be\u2019er Sheva, the Negev desert\u2019s largest city. But I\u2019m at the BIDR outpost 45 minutes south, in Sde Boker, where I\u2019m embedded with researchers tackling water stewardship in the Middle East. I\u2019m reporting by observation and taking notes I\u2019ll later use for Medill News Service stories.
\n<\/p>\n

The Sde Boker campus borders Midreshet Ben-Gurion, a village named for David Ben-Gurion, Israel\u2019s first prime minister. He is buried near the village overlooking the Zin Valley. Just north is Kibbutz Sde Boker, where Ben-Gurion once lived.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Zin Valley, seen here from Midreshet Ben-Gurion, is a popular spot for hikers. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The Negev’s arid climate means most days are clear, giving canyon viewers a panorama of the desert. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I arrived last Friday, the campus was eerily quiet. Israeli law mandates that businesses observe Shabbat, the weekly Jewish holiday of rest, so even mostly secular communities such as this one shut down from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. In Sde Boker, that means university classes are recessed, and the tiny market and four restaurants close. On Sunday, the community springs back to life.<\/p>\n

I spent my first week here learning my way around the campus and village \u2014 granted, it\u2019s not easy to get lost. More importantly, I spent time with the students, faculty and staff who call the campus home. Person-to-person interactions are more informal in Israel than in the U.S., so I didn\u2019t have to wait long to start visiting research labs and observing in-progress projects. The university draws students from approximately 20 countries, but I\u2019m not working with a fixer because English is the university community\u2019s standard language.<\/p>\n

One evening, I stayed late in a lab to help a doctoral student conduct an experiment. He\u2019s studying how clay impacts stream water flow, which he said could have implications for agricultural land use and policy-making.<\/p>\n

At the center of his project is an artificial stream assembled in what looks like a long fish tank. The tank is partially filled with sand and clay, which constitute the stream base. A pump system ensures water circulates continuously through the tank, creating wave-like shapes in the base material.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Researchers use high-powered lights and a camera to document changes in an artificial stream experiment. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After extensive and meticulous preparations, he poured a container of bright-blue dye into the water, and we watched silently as it seeped through the base material. Nearby, a camera programmed to take time-lapse photos, documented the path of the dye through the stream.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Blue dye highlights sand and clay formations in an artificial stream experiment. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was so absorbed in the experiment that I forgot where I was until I glanced up and spotted a mezuzah \u2014 parchment inscribed with a Jewish prayer and enclosed in a decorative case \u2014 affixed to the lab door. In the U.S., it\u2019s rare to find mezuzahs anywhere other than synagogues, Jewish homes and kosher bakeries. As a reporter, I sometimes find small details are the most striking ones.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A mezuzah graces a research lab door. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photo at top: The sun sets in Midreshet Ben-Gurion. (Alexis Shanes\/MEDILL)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alexis Shanes Medill Reports SDE BOKER, ISRAEL \u2014 Two hours south of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where political drama unraveled amid Tuesday\u2019s Israeli elections, I finished my morning coffee and stepped out into the blinding desert sunshine. I\u2019m spending this month at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, which are part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":500,"featured_media":78873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,29,2951,4559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-politicsnational-security","category-winter-2019"],"yoast_head":"\nLife at a research lab in Israel's Negev desert - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/life-at-a-research-lab-in-israels-negev-desert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life at a research lab in Israel's Negev desert - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alexis Shanes Medill Reports SDE BOKER, ISRAEL \u2014 Two hours south of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where political drama unraveled amid Tuesday\u2019s Israeli elections, I finished my morning coffee and stepped out into the blinding desert sunshine. 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