A week after the social protest in Tel Aviv turned violent, some 10,000  Israelis marched in Jerusalem Saturday night, in protest against the soaring cost of living. There were concurrent marches, all of them non-violent, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Afula.

Children of mothers who experienced stress during pregnancy may have increased abilities to cope with mental and physical distress in maturity, according to a study out of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion and Ha’Emek Hospital in Afula reported by Globes.

According to Dr. Avi Avital of the Technion, pregnant rats exposed to stressful stimuli gave birth to offspring who reacted to stressors with reduced levels of corticosterone hormone .  Babies of mothers with low stress in pregnancy reacted with higher levels of the stress hormone.

Furthermore, rats who experienced distress in utero showed less physical signs of distress during stressful situations than their previously non-stressed counterparts, and showed better survival instincts.

However, stress during the “childhood” of rats did not improve their abilities.  On the contrary, rats exposed to stress in pre-adolescence exhibited increased distress reactions in the years following.

In an environment of regional instability and geopolitical threats to Israel, the IDF will hold a series of drills to prepare the country in the event of a biological, chemical or radioactive attack.

For the first time, the IDF will simulate a “dirty bomb” radioactive terror attack in Israel.  The exercise, titled “Dark Cloud”, will take place in January in Haifa.  It will include the IDF Home Front Command, hospitals, police, and emergency services.

On Wednesday, the Defense Ministry will hold its sixth annual “Orange Flame” exercise to practice a response to biological attacks.  Hospitals in Afula, Nazareth, and Tiberias in the north will practice dealing with 5,000 patients a day exhibiting  symptoms related to contact with biological weapons.  An inter-ministerial committee will concurrently practice containing a national crisis, utilizing polices such as regional quarantines and mass vaccine distributions.

Syria is known to have a large cache of VX, sarin, and mustar gases, and Libya was discovered to have a large chemical weapons arsenal following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.