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1. 2020 started with murder hornets, ends with new species of wild bee

   Explore Jpost Dec 29 2020 News

   

   A year that featured murder hornets is ending off with more positive insect news, as a new species of wild bee was discovered right as its natural habitat was being rehabilitated north of Netanya.

    Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Tuesday that they had discovered a new species of wild bee while researching the effects of restoration efforts of a rare habitat in the Sharon region on bee populations. The findings were published in November in the scientific journal Belgian Journal of Entomology.

   The researchers say they believe that the species is likely unique to the sands ...

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   Mentions: Agriculture Faculty of Agriculture

2. Stormy weather ahead: pollution found to cause fierce gales in coastal cities

   Explore Haaretz Dec 24 2020 News

   

   A combination of city-generated heat and pollution in tropical coastal cities has been found to significantly increase precipitation in those cities. These results were reported last week by American scientists. Their study looked into factors causing the intensification of storms hitting Houston, Texas, which lies in the most tropical area in the U.S. According to Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld from the Hebrew University, who participated in the study, this combination apparently causes more fierce storms along the coastal plain in Israel as well, although to a lesser extent than in tropical regions.

    Climate scientists noticed a long time ago that ...

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   Mentions: Science/Technology

3. Ancient oil lamp workshop, now at Israel Museum, shows the way we once lit

   Explore The Times of Israel Dec 13 2020 News

   

   A complete rare, early Islamic-era oil lamp workshop from ancient Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee has gone on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

   Ten complete lamp molds, a kiln, and several intact, unused oil lamps dating from circa the mid-7th century to the 11th century were found under debris from a series of earthquakes during excavations this summer, conducted by the Hebrew University Institute for Archaeology’s Israel Archaeological Services.

   The complete assemblage of the workshop offers “a rare glimpse into work processes in our area in ancient times,” said Liza Lurie, the Israel ...

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   Mentions: archaeology Humanities

4. Israeli researchers discover how to lengthen life of solar panels

   Explore Jpost Nov 25 2020 News

   

   In a move toward upgrading solar power technologies, a team of Israeli researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed an eco-friendly way to lengthen the lifespan of perovskite-based solar cells.

   The researchers designed a new structure to hold the cells, which allows for the easy removal and replacement of perovskite, a light-sensitive material that degrades over time. The process allows for the full restoration of a panel’s photovoltaic capacities and essentially enables it to be recycled.

   Perovskite is a mineral structure that has the capacity to absorb light and is used as a semiconductor. The growing field ...

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   Mentions: Science/Technology

5. One llama’s antibodies, analyzed in Jerusalem, may help ‘millions’ through COVID

   Explore The Times of Israel Nov 8 2020 News

   

   Antibodies from a single llama that were analyzed in a Jerusalem lab could be replicated and help “millions” of coronavirus patients, scientists say.

   Dina Schneidman-Duhovny of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has examined the qualities of dozens of antibodies from a llama called Wally, and identified which would best fight the coronavirus in humans.

   The best candidates have been tested in vitro by her US-based colleagues with live coronavirus and human cells, and appear to significantly reduce the virus’s ability to infect cells.

   As the llama antibodies are much smaller than human antibodies — they are often dubbed “nanobodies” — they ...

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   Mentions: Medicine/Health

6. Glowing engineered bacteria point out explosive landmines

   Explore ISRAEL21c Oct 20 2020 News

   

   Researchers who discovered how to utilize fluorescent E. coli bacteria to locate landmines have recently further mutated them so that they are now both more sensitive and emit a glow visible to the naked eye, eliminating the need to scan the ground using laser light beams.

   In 2017, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem molecularly engineered E. coli to emit a fluorescent light upon coming in contact with explosive vapors accumulated in the soil above landmines. This light was recorded using a laser-based scanning system so the mines could be located safely from afar.

   Now, in a study published ...

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   Mentions: Science/Technology

7. Climate research multidisciplinary center opens at Hebrew U.

   Explore Jpost Oct 7 2020 News

   

   The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which considers climate issues as some of the most significant scientific problems the world currently faces, established a climate research center, the Hebrew University Center for Climate Science (HUCS).
   

    

   The new center, headed by the two researchers Prof. Hezi Gildor and Dr. Uri Adam, will make it possible to deal with the challenges of the climate crisis in the Middle East region. The center's members will focus on building an up-to-date and accurate regional climate model.

    

   The center will allow ideas, research and interdisciplinary brainstorming around the climate issue to collaborate with the Meteorological ...

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   Mentions: Agriculture Science/Technology artificial intelligence

8. Could octopuses have more than one brain? - Hebrew U. study

   Explore Jpost Oct 7 2020 News

   

   A new Hebrew University study recently examined the possibility that octopuses, known to be among the most intelligent of invertebrates, could have multiple brains.

   The full intelligence of an octopus is not fully understood, however it is known that they have the largest nervous system among invertebrates – even larger than some vertebrates – with more nerve cells not in the brain itself but rather in its body and the tentacles.

   The question of multiple brains is one that many researchers are still investigating. 

   The collection of sensory information and the ability to process it, learn from it and respond accordingly, is ...

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   Mentions: Science/Technology

9. Israel's decision to restart schools a cautionary tale - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

   Explore The Arkansas Democrat Aug 4 2020

   

   Israel's decision to restart schools a cautionary tale Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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10. Studies show pomegranate supplement slows neurodegenerative diseases

    Explore ISRAEL21c Aug 2 2020 News

    

    Everybody knows that the pomegranate is a superfood. One of the seven native fruits of Israel, pomegranates are packed with health-promoting and healing antioxidants and vitamins.

    Now, an Israeli supplement derived from pomegranate seed oil has proven helpful in improving cognitive function in multiple sclerosis patients experiencing cognitive difficulties associated with the disease.

    Prof. Dimitrios Karussis, the internationally renowned director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, found significant improvement in learning ability and text comprehension, word recall and categorization in 30 patients involved in a groundbreaking study of the patented GranaGard supplement.

    This is ...

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    Mentions: STEM nanotechnology Medicine/Health

11. Yissum Spinouts Raise $79 million in H1 2020 Despite Coronavirus Uncertainty - PRNewswire

    Explore PR Newswire Jul 28 2020 News

    

    Startups from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem raised $79 million in the first half of 2020, Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University announced today.  Despite the continuing global uncertainty caused by the coronavirus and ongoing lockdowns around the world, 14 Yissum spinouts raised tens of millions of dollars in early-stage funding rounds.  

     Investments were made in companies in the cleantech, agriculture, and foodtech sectors as well as in life science, AI, and education.  Despite the fact that VC investments in the US  and Europe were down, the number of VC deals in Israel reached an all-time record ...

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    Mentions: Agriculture cancer Yissum

12. Nano-engineered pomegranate oil holds hope for brain disease, study shows

    Explore The Times of Israel Jun 23 2020 News

    

    A Israeli study has found that multiple sclerosis patients taking a nano-engineered nutritional supplement made out of pomegranate oil showed “significant cognitive improvement” after just three months.

    The small-scale study of 30 patients was conducted at the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem by Prof. Dimitrios Karussis, director of the center and a senior neurologist. Results showed that patients taking the supplement witnessed an average 12 percent improvement in learning ability and text comprehension, word recall and categorization, in the three months of treatment.

    The researchers are now writing up the findings to submit them to ...

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    Mentions: stem cells STEM nanotechnology

13. Ancient scepter found in south may have been part of life-sized 'divine statue' - The Times of Israel

    Explore The Times of Israel Jun 18 2020 News

    

    An approximately 3,200-year-old scepter found at a biblical site in southern Israel may be the first physical evidence of life-sized “divine statues” used in Canaanite rituals, according to a new report.

    Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeology professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote in the academic journal Antiquity that the scepter, which was made from bronze and coated in silver, was discovered inside the cellar of a Canaanite temple at Lachish.

    He linked the scepter, which looks like a spatula, to a scepter found at Hatzor in the north, as well as to a small figurine found at the site ...

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    Mentions: archaeology Humanities

14. Special vessels show Jewish continuity in Israel after Roman destruction

    Explore Jpost Jun 17 2020 News

    

    New research offers insights on how Jewish life continued in the Land of Israel after the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.

     

    The use of chalkstones vessels, very common among the Jewish population during the Second Temple Period, did not stop with the destruction of city in the second century CE as previously thought, but continued in the Galilee, the new center of Jewish life, for at least another two centuries, a paper published in the May issue of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) documented.

    Several types and ...

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    Mentions: Humanities

15. Why dance? From prehistory to the Bible, scholar offers answers

    Explore Jpost Jun 11 2020 News

    

    In the 1990s, leading Israeli scholar Yosef Garfinkel, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, led several seasons of excavations at the Neolithic site of Sha’ar Hagolan in northern Israel. Among other things, the researchers uncovered several clay figurines depicting the deity Mother goddess presenting unnaturally elongated heads. For their artistic qualities, the figurines were exhibited in the most important museums around the world. For Garfinkel, they represented the spark which prompted him to investigate a new field of research, the history of human dance.

    “While I was trying to understand more about their ...

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    Mentions: Bible Humanities
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