Tel Aviv's startup scene underwent a transformation around 2019, moving from a system of "Holy Grail exits," as Eli David, CEO of StartUp Link, puts it, to "building companies not looking to sell to Google right away." As has always been the case, the military is still the main source of founders--not least because almost everyone passes through it, but also for its emphasis on problem-solving and a focus on cybersecurity, AI, and robotics. There's growth in Web3, gaming, and productivity startups while countries like India are coming online as customers. "We have a brain-drain problem," admits Michel Abadi, managing partner of Maverick Ventures Israel. "But we have a lot of patience."

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to predict powerful radiation outbreaks, such as solar storms, up to 96 hours before they occur, according to Israeli researchers. Yuval Reuveni of Ariel University's department of physics and the Samaria and Jordan Rift R&D Center and computer science doctoral candidate Vlad Landa at the university say they have developed a new solar storm forecasting method, dubbed the Convolutional Neural Network. As described in their paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, the Ariel University researchers combined knowledge of past radiation bursts with X-ray measurements from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellites belonging to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The researchers explain that "extracting an accurate and reliable solar flare forecast while considering multiple ranges of time windows is essential for decision-makers when protective measures are taken in critical mission situations." Harmful radiation solar storms can have a significant impact on Earth as they cause disturbances in atmospheric layers through which communication and global positioning system (GPS) signals pass.

Generations from now - maybe millennia from now - when archaeologists look back on our time, they may find evidence of the moment when we went from playing physical sports to e-sports. Videogame athletes are watched by millions of fans as they compete for millions of dollars in prize money. Promoters now want to move e-sports from living rooms into sports arenas. Jeff Landa follows one game company to learn how it's done. JEFF LANDA, BYLINE: The Key Arena in Seattle, Wash., is sold out.