Newsroom – Page 2 – Reaching for the Stars

The Magnificent TAU Trees

Written by Star on January 16, 2022. Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University campus lawns are legendary, but on the occasion of Tu B’Shvat, we thought we’d take a moment to celebrate our many trees.

They paint our campus in a variety of colors throughout the seasons, provide us with shade on hot sunny days and fill our souls with gladness. Our campus wouldn’t have been the same without them, and what better time than Tu B’Shvat to celebrate them? Below are some of the most interesting trees of Tel Aviv University. How many do you recognize?

The Root of the Matter

While most of the trees on campus boast broad, branched out branches, there is one tree that attracts attention for the opposite reason, namely its impressing branched-out roots. This fascinating fig tree (Ficus) ain’t planning on going anywhere – you can find it between the Dan David building and the Library of Exact Sciences, its roots extended with a radius of about five meters across the courtyard.

Summer-Time Snow

If you’ve ever visited the secret courtyard behind the building of the Faculty of Engineering during the hot summer months, you may have noticed that the green grass appears to be coverd in soft and airy snow. While it may not be real snow, it is fun to pretend that’s what the seeds from the white silk floss tree (Ceiba insignis) are. When the fruits of the tree ripen, they open up and a swollen crest bursts out – it looks just like a cotton ball – containing small brown seeds that are quickly spread everywhere.

Red Flame

At the beginning of summer, our campus is painted in a fiery red, thanks to the beautiful Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia), also known as ‘flamboyant tree’ or ‘peacock tree’. The trees are a delight to the eye for every passerby, and during this time of the year the lawn in front of the Gilman building becomes a favored destination for avid campus photographers, eager to document the breathtaking blossom from every possible angle.

Pretty in Pink

During spring, the courtyard between the Faculty of Exact Sciences and Dan David is painted pink and feels like a beautiful paradise, thanks to the spectacular flowers of the Bauhinia variegata. As the grass gets sprinkled with pink petals that slowly fall from the trees, the world looks really perfect for a moment, so we highly recommend you to bring your camera and come for a visit in April.

The Tree of Knowledge?

Strange-looking trees are growing in front of the George S. Wise Senate building, with large and impressive flowers and reddish fruits with an intriguing and tropical appearance. What’s the name of this strange tree, you ask? This is none other than a large-flowered magnolia tree, named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol. When its red seeds are exposed from its fruits, a small feathery tail is also revealed, allowing for flight and levitation, reminding us how ingenious and sophisticated nature is.

European Fall

How many songs do you think have been written about the season of fall? While that was meant as a rhetorical question, if you google “songs about fall”, you’ll get an idea. How is it that, even as the leaves dry out at the end of their life cycle, they are nevertheless so beautiful and inspiring? Get a small taste of European fall on Tel Aviv University campus, as the chestnut trees put on a display in shades of orange and brown next to our law school and the memorial monument of the Dan David building.

The above mentioned trees are only a small selection of the trees of our campus. According to Ilan Sharon, Head of TAU’s Yard Gardening and Maintenance Department, several thousand trees grow here, including pines, almonds, groves, palms and more. And let there be no doubt: We love and appreciate them all.

What is your favorite tree on campus? Give it a big hug, document the moment and tag us on Instagram with hashtag #tau-campus.

Wishing those of you who celebrate a Tu B’Shvat Sameach!

Health Revelations from Ancient Jerusalem

Written by Star on January 4, 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

‘Who is wealthy?… Rabbi Yosef says: Anyone who has a bathroom close to his table.’ (The Talmud, Bavli Shabbat 25: 2).

Having a toilet was indeed an indicator of wealth in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago. The wealth was, however, no guarantee for good health, as a joint study by Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) shows that even the wealthy residents of Jerusalem at that time suffered from diseases and epidemics. This became evident as an ancient toilet was uncovered in the garden of a luxury estate uncovered at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade in Jerusalem, and the researchers concluded that while the owners were undoubtable wealthy they also suffered from a range of intestinal parasites.

Rich, Yet in Poor Health

The study was led by Dr. Dafna Langgut of Tel Aviv University’s Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, director of The Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments at The Sonia & Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. The research was published in the recent edition of the International Journal of Paleopathology.

Ya’akov Billig, who directed the excavation of the villa on behalf of the Israel Antiques Authority, dated the villa to the Late Iron Age of the 7th century BC. Aside from the toilet, magnificent stone artifacts of extraordinary workmanship were found at the site, such as decorated stone capitals of a quantity and quality never before observed in ancient Israel.

Langgut and Billig were not surprised by the recovery of a toilet in the garden of the estate, explaining that toilet facilities were extremely rare at that time and were a status symbol – a luxury facility that only the rich and high-ranking could afford.

Dr. Langgut collected sediment samples from underneath the stone toilet, chemically extracted the parasite eggs, scrutinized them under a light microscope, and identified them. The egg remains were discovered as part of a salvage excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority, recently carried out at the Armon Hanatziv and funded by the Ir David Foundation. “The findings of this study are among the earliest observed in Israel to date,” she says. “These are durable eggs, and under the special conditions provided by the cesspit, they survived for nearly 2,700 years.”

She says the parasites that were found cause symptoms like abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, and itching. Some of them are especially dangerous for children and can lead to malnutrition, developmental delays, nervous system damage, and, in extreme cases, even death.

Dr. Dafna Langgut at the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments

Intestinal disease at the time, she explains may have been the result of either poor sanitary conditions, the use of human feces to fertilize field crops or the consumption of improperly cooked beef or pork. In the absence of medicine, its recovery was difficult to impossible, and those infected could suffer from the parasites for the rest of their lives. Therefore, it is quite possible that the findings of the study indicate a bothersome and long-lasting infectious that affected the entire population. Langgut points out that these parasites still exist today, but the modern Western world has developed effective diagnostic means and medications, so they don’t turn into an epidemic.

The examination of the toilet samples came as Dr. Langgut was developing a new field of research called ‘archeoparasitology’, whereby researchers identify microscopic remains of intestinal worm eggs to learn about the history of diseases and epidemics. This area provides new information regarding human hygiene, lifestyle, and sanitary conditions.

“Studies like this one help us document the history of infectious diseases in our area and provide us with a window into the lives of people in ancient times,” Dr. Langgut concludes.

The excavation site at the Armon Hanatziv Promenade in the Jerusalem where the toilet was found (Photo: Yuli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Featured image: The stone toilet seat found during the 2019 excavation at Armon Hanatziv.

Over the Past 1.5 Million Years, Human Hunting Preferences have Wiped Out Large Animals

Written by Star on December 30, 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

A groundbreaking study by researchers from Tel Aviv University tracks the development of humans’ hunting practices over the last 1.5 million years – as reflected in the animals we’ve hunted and consumed. The researchers believe that at any given time early humans preferred to hunt the largest animals available in their surroundings, which provided the greatest quantities of food in return for their effort.

In this way, according to the researchers, early humans repeatedly overhunted large animals to extinction and then went on to the next in size – while improving their hunting technologies to meet the new challenge. The researchers also claim that about 10,000 years ago, when animals larger than deer became extinct, humans began to domesticate plants and animals to supply their needs, which might explain why the agricultural revolution began in the Levant at precisely that time.

The study was conducted by Prof. Ran Barkai and Dr. Miki Ben-Dor of The Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Prof. Shai Meiri of the School of Zoology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, and Jacob Dembitzer, a research student of Prof. Barkai and Prof. Meiri, who led the project. The paper was published in the prestigious scientific journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

The study, unprecedented in both scope and timespan, presents a comprehensive analysis of data on animal bones discovered at dozens of prehistoric sites in and around Israel. Findings indicate a continual decline in the size of game hunted by humans as their main food source – from giant elephants 1-1.5 million years ago down to gazelles 10,000 years ago. According to the researchers, these findings paint an illuminating picture of the interaction between humans and the animals around them over the last 1.5 million years.

Overhunting or Climate Changes?

Prof. Barkai notes two major issues presently addressed by prehistorians worldwide: What caused the mass extinction of large animals over the past hundreds of thousands of years – overhunting by humans or perhaps recurring climate changes? And what were the driving forces behind great changes in humankind – both physical and cultural – throughout its evolution?

Prof. Barkai: “In light of previous studies, our team proposed an original hypothesis that links the two questions: We think that large animals went extinct due to overhunting by humans, and that the change in diet and the need to hunt progressively smaller animals may have propelled the changes in humankind. In this study we tested our hypotheses in light of data from excavations in the Southern Levant covering several human species over a period of 1.5 million years.”

Prof. Ran Barkai

Jacob Dembitzer adds: “We considered the Southern Levant (Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Southwest Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon) to be an ‘archaeological laboratory’ due to the density and continuity of prehistoric findings covering such a long period of time over a relatively small area – a unique database unavailable anywhere else in the world. Excavations, which began 150 years ago, have produced evidence for the presence of humans, beginning with Homo erectus who arrived 1.5 million years ago, through the Neanderthals who lived here from an unknown time until they disappeared about 45,000 years ago, to modern humans (namely, ourselves) who came from Africa in several waves, starting around 180,000 years ago.”

The researchers collected all data available in the literature on animal bones found at prehistoric sites in the Southern Levant, mostly in Israel. These excavations, conducted from 1932 until today, provide a unique sequence of findings from different types of humans over a period of 1.5 million years. With some sites comprising several stratigraphic layers, sometimes thousands of years apart, the study covered a total of 133 layers from 58 prehistoric sites, in which thousands of bones belonging to 83 animal species had been identified. Based on these remains, the researchers calculated the weighted mean size of the animals in each layer at every site.

Prof. Meiri: “Our study tracked changes at a much higher resolution over a considerably longer period of time compared to previous research. The results were illuminating: we found a continual, and very significant, decline in the size of animals hunted by humans over 1.5 million years. For example, a third of the bones left behind by Homo erectus at sites dated to about a million years ago, belonged to elephants that weighed up to 13 tons (more than twice the weight of the modern African elephant) and provided humans with 90% of their food. The mean weight of all animals hunted by humans at that time was 3 tons, and elephant bones were found at nearly all sites up to 500,000 years ago.”

“Starting about 400,000 years ago, the humans who lived in our region – early ancestors of the Neandertals and Homo sapiens, appear to have hunted mainly deer, along with some larger animals weighing almost a ton, such as wild cattle and horses. Finally, in sites inhabited by modern humans, from about 50,000 to 10,000 years ago, approximately 70% of the bones belong to gazelles – an animal that weighs no more than 20-30kg. Other remains found at these later sites came mostly from fallow deer (about 20%), as well as smaller animals such as hares and turtles.”

Climate Change had Minimal Impact

Jacob Dembitzer: “Our next question was: What caused the disappearance of the large animals? A widely accepted theory attributes the extinction of large species to climate changes through the ages. To test this, we collected climatic and environmental data for the entire period, covering more than a dozen cycles of glacial and interglacial periods. This data included temperatures based on levels of the oxygen 18 isotope, and rainfall and vegetation evidenced by values of carbon 13 from the local Soreq Cave. A range of statistical analyses correlating between animal size and climate, precipitation, and environment, revealed that climate, and climate change, had little, if any, impact on animal extinction.”

According to Dr. Ben-Dor: “Our findings enable us to propose a fascinating hypothesis on the development of humankind: Humans always preferred to hunt the largest animals available in their environment, until these became very rare or extinct, forcing the prehistoric hunters to seek the next in size. As a result, to obtain the same amount of food, every human species appearing in the Southern Levant was compelled to hunt smaller animals than its predecessor, and consequently had to develop more advanced and effective technologies. Thus, for example, while spears were sufficient for Homo erectus to kill elephants at close range, modern humans developed the bow and arrow to kill fast-running gazelles from a distance.”

Environmental Damage from the Dawn of Humanity

Prof. Barkai concludes: “We believe that our model is relevant to human cultures everywhere. Moreover, for the first time, we argue that the driving force behind the constant improvement in human technology is the continual decline in the size of game. Ultimately, it may well be that 10,000 years ago in the Southern Levant, animals became too small or too rare to provide humans with sufficient food, and this could be related to the advent of agriculture. In addition, we confirmed the hypothesis that the extinction of large animals was caused by humans – who time and time again destroyed their own livelihood through overhunting. We may therefore conclude that humans have always ravaged their environment but were usually clever enough to find solutions for the problems they had created – from the bow and arrow to the agricultural revolution. The environment, however, always paid a devastating price.”

Featured image: Prof. Shai Meiri of the School of Zoology and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History

Rising Temperatures Fuel Increase in Violence: TAU Study

Written by Star on December 26, 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Findings demonstrate first direct link between climate change and criminal behavior.

Rising temperatures increase the likelihood of violent crimes, according to a new study led by Tel Aviv University‘s Dr. Ram Fishman of TAU’s Department of Public Policy, Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences.

The novel findings indicate that for every 1-degree Celsius rise over the average daily temperature, the rate of violent crime spikes by one percent. The victims are generally ethnic and religious minorities, women, and political rivals.

The study is the first of its kind to link the day-to-day relationship between weather changes and criminal trends in the developing world.

“This is a glaring warning sign of the devastating and worrying consequences of the global climate crisis,” said Fishman, who conducted the study with partners from the UAE, India and the US. “These consequences are already here with us and are gnawing at the very foundations of social and human existence.”

Dr. Ram Fishman (Photo: Noga Shahar)

In the context of the study, Fishman examined a representative state in India with a crime rate similar to the national average. Results from parallel studies in other countries yielded similar results according to Fishman, Head of the Sustainable Development Lab at TAU’s Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges. He explained that the analysis performed in India can be tailored to other locations, where he expects similar results.

The team gained unprecedented access to troves of crime records from 600 police stations in Karnataka, India. The “big data” sets included the exact date, location and type of crime reported over a six-year period. Using advanced statistical analysis methods, the researchers compared crime data to daily and seasonal weather conditions. In this way, they discovered the correlation between weather and crime at a level more accurate than previously possible.

The researchers pointed to higher temperatures causing increased aggression as one likely factor driving this phenomenon. Further demonstrating the link between heat and higher day-to-day violent crime, the findings showed that non-violent property crimes were largely unaffected by daily weather. Fishman and team added that severe heat can cause lower agricultural yields, leading to higher unemployment rates and increased economic hardship. However, these economic motives were primarily associated with increased crime rates over time—not on a daily level. The study’s authors note that previous research in developing countries was limited. Population in these regions typically face relatively higher temperatures and are less able to shield themselves from these conditions.

Their findings are in the December 2021 peer-reviewed issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

TAU Students Racing Towards a Greener Campus

Written by Star on December 21, 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

As part of Tel Aviv University’s initiative to reduce its environmental footprint to help combat the global climate crisis, the Entrepreneurship Center rallied 73 students to the cause and held a hackathon aimed at generating innovative solutions for a greener and more sustainable campus. The event was organized in cooperation with Shlomo Meltzer Institute for Smart Transportation and TAU’s Student Union.

Students were challenged to come up with practical solutions to one out of two central issues for cutting down pollution and waste: reducing the daily car traffic to campus and encouraging the use of reusable dishware on campus.

Fifteen experts mentored the students throughout the competition, which also featured professional enrichment and industry insider lectures on how organizations are addressing environmental challenges today.

Vehicular Pollution Challenge Winners

First Place: TAUapt

The winning team worked under the assumption that most TAU students residing in Tel Aviv rely on public transportation and therefore, do not use a car. What could encourage more of this behavior?

By enabling more students to live in Tel Aviv, the number of vehicles commuting to campus could further decrease. The team conceptualized a house hunting app, similar in nature to the existing job hunting platform AllJobs – but for apartments – which sends its subscribers instant messages through WhatsApp about apartments that are vacating. Team members: Abedallah Barghouti and Ubaydah Wattad.

The TAUapt Team receives the prize for winning the competition’s Vehicular Pollution Challenge

Second Place: BIVPIsrael

The team suggested that the main difficulty for drivers of electric bicycles and scooters is the need to carry around a helmet and battery throughout the day. The team proposed a solution for storage compartments in which both helmet and battery can be left, and the latter can be charged, using solar-generated electricity, while the vehicle remains locked nearby.

Third Place: The Hitchhikers

The team proposed a way to encourage carpooling to campus by offering benefits to students and faculty members. They decided to appeal to people’s pockets – not their ideology.

Reusable Dishware Challenge Winners

First Place: Tengo

To cut down waste from single-use plastics, the Tengo team proposed a collaborative circular model based on the use of reusable dishware marked with a barcode. The reusable dishware is returned to collection boxes after use, where the users are credited. The dishware then gets transported, cleaned and distributed back to campus restaurants. Team members: Chen Agassi, Idan Stark, Roi Farjun and Tali Aknin.

The Tengo Team receives the prize for winning the competition’s Reusable Dishware Challenge

Second Place: Go Clean Go Green

The team proposed a platform to incentivize the use of reusable dishware by awarding store credits for popular retailers. Through barcode-scanning technology on reusable cups and more, one earns redeemable points with every swipe.

Third Place: TAUBIS

A game app that ranks businesses according to their degree of eco-friendliness. Students enjoy services similar to food delivery platforms like UberEats, Wolt or 10bis, accumulation of financial and ecological points.

Yair Sakov, Head of TAU’s Entrepreneurship Center: “Sustainability and the circular economy are key issues promoted by the Entrepreneurship Center; there is no field more important than this to initiate and flood innovation.”

The Competition’s Judges

The judges in the competition included Knesset Member Prof. Alon Tal, former Head of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Public Policy; Miki Haimovich, Chairperson of the Heschel Center for Sustainability; Asi Schmelzer, Chairman of the Shlomo Group; Yuval Shani, VP of Technology and Innovation at Shlomo Group; Lior Hazan, Chairperson of TAU’s Student Union; Prof. Colin Price, Head of TAU’s Department of Environmental Studies; Prof. Hadas Maman, Head of the Environmental Engineering Program at TAU’s Faculty of Engineering; Dr. Ilit Oppenheim, Director at Shlomo Schmelzer Institute for Smart Transportation; Orlie Gruper, General Partner in Mobilitech Capital; Shani Raved, Global Operations Strategy Lead and Product Manager at Lime.

Revisiting the Tel Aviv Zoo

Written by Star on November 12, 2021. Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Two TAU students developed an app that recreates the mythological zoo in the heart of the city.

For many years, there was a zoo right in the center of Tel Aviv. Residents of nearby streets used to wake up to roars of tigers and monkeys’ chatter. In 1980, the zoo and its residents were relocated to a large complex in neighboring Ramat Gan, but seasoned Tel Avivians still think of it fondly. Maya Shekel and Yuval Kela, two talented students in the digital media track at The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, wanted to see it with their own eyes, and developed the TAZOO app that enables this.

Throughout the four years of their studies, they designed and created the unique widget, based on stories and memories of the local community. The animals were created by help of augmented reality technology, and in order to experience the project in full, all you need to do is to download the app on your phone, make your way to Tel Aviv’s City Garden and look for the orange signs that are scattered in the garden.

This new attraction, which will soon be launched in a festive ceremony, has already warmed the hearts of several Tel Aviv residents who inspired the creation of the project and the stories, as well as Tel Aviv Mayor, Mr. Ron Huldai, who still recalls the exact wording on the garden signs.

The Next-door Neighbor

What brings two students, both born long after the zoo was closed, to recreate Tel Aviv’s animalistic past? “I’ve been living on Tel Aviv’s Hadassah Street all my life, right opposite where the zoo used to be,” says Maya Shekel. “Whenever people hear where I live, they ask me, ‘Did you know that there used to be a zoo there?’,” Therefore, after hearing the recurring questions for years, she decided to investigate the subject further together with Yuval Kela, who is also her life partner.

“After some online research, we discovered amazing photos of elephants and lions in the middle of Tel Aviv. We realized that the place used to be a cultural center for the residents of the city. We decided to start a Facebook group which we called ‘Tel Aviv Zoo Community’. Gradually, people would join the group and share photos, memories and stories about the zoo. This way, we got confirmation that there was a nostalgic need to revive the lost zoo, and to share its story with those who visit the place today, unaware of its history.”

“An elephant is about to join us,” Maya Shekel demonstrates to Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai how the TAZOO app works

Reviving Animals in Augmented Reality

Unlike many apps that allow you to sit in your living room and feel like you’re somewhere else, Maya and Yuval chose to encourage their users to venture to the real site where the zoo was once located. “It was important for us to create an experience where people actually had to physically experience the sights and the feelings, while reviving the lost place,” explains Yuval.

Their main challenge was to adapt the app for two different target audiences: the older residents, who wish to reminisce, and to the younger target audience (such as the elderly residents’ children and grandchildren). “We overcame this hurdle by adding layers to the app, like short films about the zoo staff and additional information where you can choose to delve deeper and read more about each station. We also added some games that are more suitable for children,” he adds.

For big and for small. The virtual zoo in the Hadassah Garden

Storytelling and Technology

During their studies, Maya and Yuval learned the importance of storytelling on platforms of this type. They made sure to study the technology thoroughly to get a good grasp of both its advantages and limitations.

Throughout their work on the app, more and more ideas for future projects were born. “We’re constantly thinking of how we can take the idea and expand on it to include more destinations in the city, in Israel and in the world. There’s no shortage on ‘lost’ places that have left memories and history that can be revived by help of technology, allowing for people to experience and learn about them,” says Maya.

“The technology is constantly evolving. We hope to continue to create significant impact by combining storytelling and innovative technology. Our dream is to constantly create mainly projects that are accessible to the general public,” she concludes. On the question of which animal she would not want us to miss on the TAZOO app, she says “We would not want you to miss out on our hippos, Paula and Jacob! They jump into the water and really blend in with the physical space.”

Paula and Jacob with friends

The project was supported by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, which cooperated and placed the signs throughout the park, as well as The New Fund for Cinema and TV, which supported and assisted with funding.

Download the app on iOS- https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/tazoo/id1548925102

Download the app on Android- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tazoo.tazoo

*Maya and Yuval hope to create an English version of the app in the very near future, as part of the existing one.

Like Teenagers on Vacation

Written by Star on November 3, 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

A joint study conducted by researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Open University of Israel revealed that exposing male crickets to artificial light at night (ALAN) can impair their activity cycles. According to the researchers, nocturnal chirping is the male’s way of calling females to come and mate with him, and its disruption can interfere with reproduction processes and even endanger the entire species. Previous studies worldwide have shown that light pollution is harmful to many species of animals and plants. The researchers call for reducing ALAN as much as possible to enable coexistence in the night environment.

Humans are Driving Away the Darkness

Keren Levy of the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University explains: “The distinction between day and night, light and darkness, is a major foundation of life on earth. But humans, as creatures of the day who fear the dark, disrupt this natural order: they produce artificial light that drives away the darkness and allows them to continue their activities at night.”

Levy explains that today, more than 80% of the world population live under light pollution, and the overall extent of artificial light at night rises by 5% every year. This negatively impacts the environment and affects natural behaviors that have developed over millions of years of evolution. The artificial light at night affects the length and quality of sleep of many animals, leads to high mortality, and changes the activity cycles of many creatures. For example, dung beetles, that navigate using the Milky Way, lose their way when light pollution increases; sea turtles hatchlings seek the brightest surface in sight – supposedly the sea, and reach the nearby promenade instead; to mention just two of many examples.

Off-Tune Crickets

In the current study the researchers examined the impact of light pollution on the field cricket, a nocturnal insect whose chirping can be heard during the nights of late summer – when males call for females to mate with them.

Prof. Amir Ayali, also from TAU’s School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, explains, “In nature, crickets exhibit a very regular cycle of activity. Chirping behavior, calling for females, occurs at sunset and during the night, ending in the morning. We exposed field crickets to different levels of lifelong ALAN and observed its impact on two fundamental behaviors: chirping and locomotion.”

The researchers monitored dozens of crickets that were exposed throughout their lives (from egg to adult stage) to four types of light conditions. They found that crickets whose light-dark cycle is disrupted behave like teenagers on vacation: active or asleep according to their own inner clock or lacking any rhythm whatsoever.

“In fact,” adds Keren Levy, “light pollution induced by humankind impacts the field cricket and evokes loss of synchronization within the individual, on the population level, and between the population and the environment. Our findings on ALAN-induced changes in calling song patterns may possibly impair female attraction and reproduction in this species. Our results are in accord with many other studies demonstrating the severe impacts of low levels of ALAN on nature.”

Levy urges us all to help protect our environment and surroundings by turning off the lights in our backyards, on the terrace, in parking lots, and wherever possible: “Help us bring the night and the milky way back into our lives and enable nightly coexistence with the creatures around us.”

The study was led by Prof. Amir Ayali and Keren Levy of the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University and Prof. Anat Barnea of the Department of Natural and Life Sciences at the Open University. Yoav Wegrzyn from Prof. Ayali’s laboratory and Ronny Efronny also took part in the study. The paper was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and also mentioned in Nature.

Featured image: Prof. Amir Ayali and a small friend (Photo: Jonathan Blum)

TAU Launches Cutting-Edge Center for Innovation Labs

Written by Star on November 3, 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University is launching the Center for Innovation Laboratories. The center will join forces with industry along the goal of advancing groundbreaking research with potential applicability within a period of 3-7 years from the moment the research begins. At this stage, the center comprises six laboratories, with additional laboratories under construction. The goal of the labs is to adapt research to the needs of society, industry and public institutions.

Research in Consultation with Industry Experts

For the first time in Israeli academia, the choice of research topics will be made in consultation with industry and public bodies (e.g. hospitals) that will present the needs on the ground to the heads of the laboratories, who will try to provide a comprehensive scientific and innovative solution within a few years’ time. For example, if the industry describes a demand for the development of unique photographic technology for medical diagnosis purposes, or a need to monitor offensive content in information transmitted online, the researchers will try to provide an appropriate solution based on unique artificial intelligence methods.

The model of this applied research is different from traditional basic research, which focuses on the interests of the researcher, without necessarily thinking about immediate needs. At the same time, however, while the center will focus on the applicable aspect of the research, this will not detract from the outstanding basic research that is taking place at the university. This fundamental research has been and will remain the bulk of the university’s scientific research. Furthermore, faculty members at the new center will continue to be an integral part of their “mother” faculties.

A Multidisciplinary Endeavor

In its multi-year vision, Tel Aviv University has defined three main elements: strengthening its international component, encouraging multidisciplinarity, and bolstering its relationships with knowledge-intensive industry and society. In this context, the new center will promote the university’s vision and act as a channel through which these three tracks will flow.

Unlike basic research, which traditionally focuses on one discipline, research at the new center will bring together experts from a wide range of disciplines. The Automated Justice Laboratory, for instance, will deal with areas in which the market and academia rarely engage, such as systems for improving democracy – handling fake news and the relationship between the government and the citizens. This lab will house people from various disciplines, including legal scholars, psychologists, software engineers, media specialists, political scientists, smart cities researchers and designers. A multidisciplinary approach is required and the research will have potential applicability within a period of 3-7 years.

Unconventional Approach to IP Rights

The center’s financial approach is based on the industry taking on a significant part of the funding of the research, in a format that involves “club membership” that confers product development rights.

The center also applies unconventional thinking when it comes to property rights. According to the new model, all players, including the university, the researchers, and industry partners, will receive the rights to use the research products. These rights will be under a non-exclusive and non-transferable license. This unique model will accelerate the application of academic innovation to the sphere of action and will overcome one of the most significant obstacles in commercialization of worth academic innovations.

These six labs will be kicking off this exciting journey:

Genetic Reproduction: Biology, Medicine, Engineering (Prof. Noam Shomron)
The Human Robot: Animal, Man, Machine (Dr. Goren Gordon)
Urban Science: Sustainability, Environment, Food (Prof. Tali Hatuka)
Computational Economics: Information, Intelligence and Economics (Prof. Michal Feldman)
Mechanized Justice: Law, Information, Intelligence (Prof. Omri Yadlin)
Act-Play-Game (Dr. Sharon Aronson-Lehavi)

“This unique center redefines the interface between academia and industry,” says Director of the Center, Prof. David Mendlovic of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering

“The academic freedom to create and innovate on the one hand, and the desire for research that has practical applicability on the other, has led to a center that brings together innovation labs dealing with a variety of topics and actors such as industry, hospitals and government agencies. Our unique commercial and funding model and our selection of unconventional innovation labs is leading to the close engagement of the center’s partners that will relay the academic innovation to those who will implement it. I am proud to be part of a university that is responsible for such an initiative.”

Featured image: Dr. Goren Gordon (right) with a student in the Human Robot: Animal, Man, Machine Lab.