Newsroom – Page 47 – Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University

TAU Launches Cutting-Edge Center for Innovation Labs

Written by AUFTAU on 3 November 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.

From Law and Education to Nursing

Written by AUFTAU on 3 November 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Like Teenagers on Vacation

Written by AUFTAU on 3 November 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)

394 TAU Researchers Among World’s Top 100,000

Written by AUFTAU on 31 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Leading academic publisher Elsevier has published its Stanford ranking, announcing the 100,000 researchers (whose articles Elsevier publish) who are among the top 2% in their fields. Tel Aviv University is the first among Israeli universities, with 394 of its researchers included on the list, The Hebrew University on a second place, with 283 researchers.

An impressive 13 TAU researchers are ranked among the top 50 in their field, among them Prof. Noga Alon of the School of Computer Science who is number one in his field. Prof. Alon, an expert in combinatorics (an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures), has won many awards, including the Gödel Prize for his pioneering work on Big Data, the Israel Prize in mathematics (2008) and the Israel Security Prize.

Prof. Ariel Rubinstein and Prof. Itzhak Gilboa from The Eitan Berglas School of Economics were ranked 5^th and 6^thin their field. Prof. Ariel Rubinstein received the Israel Prize for economics (2002) and has, among else, published “Perfect equilibrium in a bargaining model”, an important contribution to the theory of bargaining. Prof. Itzhak Gilboa is an Israeli economist with contributions in decision theory and other fields in economic theory such as game theory and social choice. His main interest is in decision under uncertainty, focusing on the definition of probability, notions of rationality, non-Bayesian decision models, and related issues.

Prof. Jiska Cohen-Mansfield from the Department of Health Promotion at the School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine ranked in 7^th place in her profession. Prof. Cohen-Mansfield co-directs TAU’s Minerva Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the End of Life. Her areas of research include: Psychology, Gerontology and Health Promotion.

Prof. David Schmeidler from the School of Mathematical Sciences and the Coller School of Management was ranked in 10^th place. Prof. Schmeidler is a mathematician and economic theorist with important contributions, among else in the theory of individual decision making under uncertainty (decision theory).

TAU studies in the fields of life sciences, medicine, exact sciences and engineering stood out, the most represented field being clinical medicine with an impressive 139 researchers, followed by 59 from physics and astronomy, 36 from information and communication technologies and 35 from engineering.

In 2020, 333 TAU researchers were ranked among the top 2% in their respective disciplines, 12 of which were among the world’s top 50. Prof. Itzhak Gilboa was ranked 6th in the world in the field of theoretical economics, Prof. Jiska Cohen-Mansfield 12th in the world in the field of geriatrics and Prof. Emeritus David Schmeidler was ranked 12th in his discipline.

Read the full ranking here: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/3

TAU 5th in World for Entrepreneurship

Written by AUFTAU on 29 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Israel-Indian academic ties boosted by visit of Indian Minister of External Affairs

Written by AUFTAU on 27 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom, Press release.

(Left to right): President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, Minister of External Affairs of India ,
Dr S. Jaishankar, and President of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Ariel Porat.

All photos by Shlomi Amsalem, Courtesy of Tel Aviv University

Meeting of Israeli university presidents and senior leadership with Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.

Tel Aviv University hosted a meeting of Israeli university presidents with Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India. The Minister met with university presidents and senior leadership from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion, Ben Gurion University, Haifa University and Bar Ilan University to discuss opportunities for expanding and deepening academic ties between the two countries. The Minister also met with a group of Indian students studying in Israel to hear about their experiences and suggestions for how to expand student mobility.

The Minister noted that universities play a significant role in strengthening bilateral relations and whilst there has been increased cooperation in the higher education field in recent years, there is much potential to boost ties in many fields, including technology and innovation. Currently there are around 1,000 Indian students studying in Israel, around half of them post-doctoral students. The Minister said that India is “committed to finding new ways to expand our relationship”, and “the challenge before us is how to scale it up and shift it to the next gear”.

Professor Ariel Porat, President of Tel Aviv University, noted the significance of the Minister’s visit in the context of the upcoming 30^th anniversary of diplomatic relations and growing ties between the two countries. Professor Porat stressed that “TAU sees India as a strategic priority and we see great potential in expanding our partnerships with leading academic institutions and industry in India”. Professor Daniel Chamovitz, President of Ben Gurion University said “The strong academic collaboration between India and Israel is built on common values which facilitates the personal interactions”. The Israeli university leaders called for the establishment of more bilateral mechanisms to support joint research and student mobility.

Roohi Chaudry, PhD student in the field of cancer biophysics at TAU, reflecting on her experiences studying in Israel said “studying at TAU and Israel has helped me to gain insight into so many diverse cultures and take a giant leap out of my comfort zone to unravel endless opportunities. The well-equipped research labs with world class infrastructure and the most advanced innovative learning techniques assisted in reinforcing my desire to take up research as my line of work”. She applauded the Minister’s visit and called for the “more student exchanges in the future which will prove to be a testimony in strengthening Indo-Israel relations”.

Meeting of Indian students studying in Israel with Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India.

“In Wars, there are Winners and Losers. In Peace, Everyone Wins”

Written by AUFTAU on 20 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Hundreds of students and faculty members gathered to show their respect to late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 26 years after his assassination. The speakers at the event were Prof. Eyal Zisser, Vice Rector of Tel Aviv University; Prof. Simha Goldin, Historian and Head of the History Teaching Profession Committee and father of Hadar Goldin (Lieutenant in the Givati Brigade of the IDF who was killed during the military Operation Protective Edge in 2014, his body still held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists) and Lior Hazan, Chairwoman of Tel Aviv University’s Student Union.

“Violence is not an order. It is a choice”

Prof. Eyal Zisser called on the TAU community to take on the task of changing the discourse in Israel and to displace the growing culture of violence. “Rabin wanted to forge a path for peace,” said the professor, adding that Rabin “experienced something which many of those involved in state security had experienced. Those who had experienced wars, fought fiercely and made significant sacrifices acknowledged the futility of wars and their destructive impact on every good part of the social, political and human fabric. In his remarks, which he repeated in many of his speeches, Rabin noted that in wars there are winners and losers. In peace, everyone wins.“

Professor Zisser added that Rabin’s assassination was a painful and traumatic event for Israelis, that still resonates today. “We still haven’t stifled the fire of fanaticism and hatred. We have allowed intolerance and brutality to fill the gap [which has worsened since Rabin’s assassination]. Thus, the longing for Yitzhak Rabin is overshadowed by concern for the society he left behind,” said Prof. Zisser.

TAU students and faculty members honor late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the Memorial Day services held on campus (Photo: Michael Plotno, Tel Aviv University’s Student Union)

“Violence challenges social values and moral norms, and threatens to undermine the foundations of the state. Violence is not an order. It is a choice. Let us not put up with it. It is important to listen to minority opinions with utmost attention, and take into account the hardships, fears and the inhibitions experienced by the individual as well as by the many.”

“We, the TAU community and its alumni, have a responsibility to decisively change our daily, social and public discourse.” He called for another discourse that brings back “moral boundaries, based on the principle that someone who holds different opinions is not thereby a traitor. 26 years after the murder it is right to return boldly and emphasize that there must be no tolerance and understanding when it comes to manifestations of racism, violence and fanaticism. We must take a strong stance in the face of fanaticism, which has intensified in recent years, so that democracy is not destroyed.”

Filling the Void that Was Created

Prof. Goldin spoke about Rabin’s courageous path, noting that the former prime minister was not afraid to pioneer change. The professor asked this generation of students to assume responsibility and establish a new, honorable and courageous leadership.

“A generation has passed, and we’ve learned nothing. I expect you to fill the void that was created and save this wonderful country from itself,” said Prof. Goldin, urging the participants at the event to behave like Rabin. Instead of looking for culprits, they should take responsibility.

Prof. Simha Goldin (Photo: Michael Plotno, Tel Aviv University’s Student Union)

This Week: TAU Board of Governors Meeting 2021

Written by AUFTAU on 11 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Festive event to be hosted on campus and broadcast around the world.

The annual TAU Board of Governors Meeting will be taking place between October 13-17. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the festive event will be taking place both in-person and online. The following is a selection of highlights from the program, with a focus on the impact of TAU’s big ideas on the success of the State of Israel and beyond.

Honorary Degrees

Honorary Doctorates for Recipients in Israel will be awarded to: Mr. Haim Be’er (novelist); Adv. Hanina Brandes (Founding Partner, Naschitz Brandes Amir); Prof. Shafrira (Shafi) Goldwasser (Electrical Engineer and Computer Scientist, MIT; Mathematician, Weizmann Institute of Science); and Ms. Hanna Zohar (Founder, Kav La’Oved).

Honorary Fellowships in Israel will be awarded to: Mr. Joseph Bar Natan (Businessman and Philanthropist) and Gesher Theater, Israel.

The ceremony will be broadast live on TAU’s Facebook page on October 17 at 8 p.m. The public is invited to attend virtually.

Climate Change and Space Research

MK Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection and a TAU alumna, will address this year’s Academic Symposium, titled “Between Climate Change, Space Research and Life under Extreme Conditions.”

The guest speaker will be Dr. Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Her talk will focus on her recent mission to space, space research and life under extreme environments as well as on NASA’s work related to climate change. The Symposium will be chaired by Prof. Mark Shtaif, Rector of the University and moderated by Prof. Colin Price, Head, Environmental Studies Department, Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

Dr. Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut

First Woman to Chair TAU’s Board

After serving for three years as Co-Chair of the TAU Global Campaign, triple alumna and long-time benefactor of TAU Dafna Meitar-Nechmad will replace Prof. Jacob A. Frenkel, who will be completing two four-year terms as Chair of the Board of Governors. She will be the first woman to Chair the Board of Governors.

Meitar-Nechmad thanked the Search Committee for recommending her appointment: “As a woman, a social investor and an alumna of TAU, it will be a great honor and privilege for me to head its Board of Governors. The past decade has seen substantial development at TAU, in research, education and contribution to the community, and I am certain that together we can keep up this momentum, expand the sources of funding, and open TAU’s gates to new target populations from both Israel and abroad.”

Also during the meeting, TAU will welcome 35 new governors from around the world.

Dafna Meitar-Nechmad is the incoming Chair of the Board of Governors (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research

The Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research at Tel Aviv University celebrates pioneering scientists and scholars who have reached the highest levels of excellence in both research and teaching. For the past six years, the Award has been granted annually to four TAU researchers, two senior and two junior faculty members, from across the entire spectrum of faculties and disciplines on the TAU campus. This year’s recipients are: Prof. Emilia Fridman from the School of Electrical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; Prof. Dalit Rom-Shiloni from the Department of Biblical Studies, Entin Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Yossi Yovel from the School of Zoology; Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Prof. Domenico Agostini from the Department of General History, Entin Faculty of Humanities.

Launch of New Dan David Prize

At a time when documented facts and evidence-based conclusions are increasingly contested, understanding our history is more important than ever. That’s why, to mark the Dan David Prize’s 20th anniversary, the Prize has been redesigned to celebrate scholars and practitioners whose work illuminates the human past, bringing a historical lens to current debates and our thinking about the future (nominations are still open for the largest history prize in the world, The Dan David Prize 2022). The relaunch of the Dan David Prize will be celebrated with a keynote lecture by Prof. David Nirenberg from the University of Chicago on “How the Long History of Race and Religion Helps Us Think about the Present and Future.”

Dan David Prize – Looking Back, Looking Forward

For regular BOG updates and photos, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, hashtag #TAUbog21.

Featured image: From the Honorary Degrees Conferment Ceremony, BOG 2019 (Photo: Noam Wind)

Seahorses – Slow, but Fierce

Written by AUFTAU on 7 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Seahorses are not exactly Olympic swimmers, in fact they’re considered to be particularly poor swimmers. Despite being relatively slow, however, they are adept at preying on small, quick-moving animals. In a new study conducted at Tel Aviv University, researchers have succeeded in characterizing the incredible preying capability of seahorses, discovering that they can move their head up at the incredible speed of 0.002 seconds. The rapid head movement is accompanied by a powerful flow of water that snags their prey right into the seahorse’s mouth. How was this spring mechanism formed? When did it develop? The researchers hope the recent study will lead to further studies designed to help solve the riddle of spring fish.

The study was led by Prof. Roi Holzman and the doctoral student Corrine Jacobs of the School of Zoology at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, and was conducted at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Springing to Action

The researchers explain that seahorses are fish that possess unique properties such as male ‘pregnancy’, square tail vertebrae, and of course the unique eating system. For most of the day, seahorses are anchored with their tail to seaweeds or corals with their head tilted downward, close to their body. However, when they detect prey passing over them, they lift their head at incredible speed and catch it. According to Prof. Holzman, while preying, seahorses turn their body into a kind of spring: using their back muscles, they stretch an elastic tendon, and use their neck bones as a ‘trigger’, just like a crossbow. The result is faster than even the fastest muscle contraction found anywhere in the animal world.

However, until now it was not clear how the spring-loaded mechanism enabled seahorses to actually eat. Just as anyone who tries to remove a fly from a cup of tea knows, water is a viscous medium and the fish needs to open its mouth to create a flow that draws the prey in. But how do seahorses coordinate snagging in prey with their head movement?

In their recent study, researchers from Tel Aviv University succeeded in characterizing and quantifying seahorse movement by photographing their attack at a speed of 4,000 images per second, and using a laser system for imaging water flows. This measurement showed that the ‘crossbow’ system serves two purposes: facilitating head movement and generating high velocity suction currents – 10 times faster than those of similar-sized fish. These advantages enable seahorses to catch particularly elusive prey.

Evolution of the Spring Mechanism

The new measurements also help shed light on the ecology of various species of seahorses, distinguished from each other by the length of their noses. “Our study shows that the speed of head movement and suction currents are determined by the length of a seahorse’s nose”, Prof. Holzman added. “From the evolutionary aspect, seahorses must choose between a short nose for strong suction and moderate head raising, or a long nose for rapid head raising and weaker suction currents. This choice, of course, corresponds to the available diet: long-nosed species catch smaller, quicker animals whereas short-nosed species catch heavier, more ponderous ones.”

Prof. Roi Holzman hopes the recent study will lead to further studies to help solve the riddle of spring fish

According to Prof. Holzman, seahorses are not the only instance of the impressive spring mechanism. Actually, seahorses are counted among the family of fish bearing the appropriate scientific name Misfit Fish, including species such as alligator pipefish, shrimpfish, and cornetfish or flutemouths.

“These fish are called that because of their odd shape which enables stretching their body into a spring. The big question applies to the evolution of the spring mechanism, how it was formed and when it developed. I hope our recent study will lead to further studies designed to help solve the riddle of spring fish”.

Help A Friend Out?

Written by AUFTAU on 7 October 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Help A Friend Out?

Ever wonder what causes us to help – or not to help – someone in distress? New research from the Tel Aviv University indicates that the brain activity that gives rise to one’s motivation to help only occurs when the “other” who is in distress is a member of one’s own group. Interestingly, helping a friend in distress appears to relate more to a sense of group belonging and identity and less to expressing empathy for another’s difficulty and suffering, suggesting that pro-social behavior should be promoted through the reinforcement of a sense of belonging, more than a sense of empathy.

Selective Aid

Previous findings showed that rats do demonstrate empathy for their peers. Rescuing them from trouble and reaching out to help is as rewarding to them as eating chocolate. It was subsequently found that while rats do love to help their peers, they only help members of their own group and not rats from other groups.

In the current study, the research team decided to examine what change in the brain causes this behavioral difference that leads the rats to only help members of the same group. How did they do that? Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal of The School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at the Tel Aviv University explains that during the course of the study, researchers used phosphoric markings to mark those neurons in the rats’ brains that were active when the rats were in the presence of the trapped rats. Similarly, the researchers recorded their cerebral activity by means of a calcium signal that is released when neurons are active.

Cultivating A Sense of Belonging

Their findings are fascinating: Upon seeing the trapped rat, a system in the brain, similar to that seen in humans when they report feeling empathy, was activated. However, only when the rats discerned that it was a rat of their own breed did the researchers observe “helpful behavior” and action by the brain’s “reward system,” meaning – activation of a neural network that inspires motivation to perform acts that contribute to survival. When the trapped rat is from another, unfamiliar breed, the rats do not help it and the brain’s reward system does not activate. Thus, it is a sense of belonging which is the dominant factor that affects social solidarity, and not empathy for the suffering and distress of others.

“This research shows that the reward system has an important function in helping behavior and if we want to increase the likelihood of pro-social behavior, we must reinforce a sense of belonging more than a sense of empathy,” concludes Dr. Ben Ami Bartal.

The team is currently examining what happens in the brains of rats from different groups over the course of two weeks during which they live together and become friends, and how artificial brain stimulation can be utilized to make the rats show empathy for the plight of rats from another breed.

TAU research team: Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal, Tamar Spectre, Estherina Trachtenberg, and Dr. Einat Bigelman (not in the photo: Keren Ruzal and Ben Kantor)

The study was led by Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal of The School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at the Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Prof. Daniela Kaufer of the University of California and Berkeley as well as additional researchers from Stanford University and the University of Toronto. The study was published in the prestigious journal, eLife.

TAU Launches Cutting-Edge Center for Innovation Labs

From Law and Education to Nursing

Like Teenagers on Vacation

394 TAU Researchers Among World’s Top 100,000

TAU 5th in World for Entrepreneurship

Israel-Indian academic ties boosted by visit of Indian Minister of External Affairs

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“In Wars, there are Winners and Losers. In Peace, Everyone Wins”

This Week: TAU Board of Governors Meeting 2021