The unique, isolated conditions in cave habitats lead to a process of convergent evolution, causing the development of exceptional adaptations to life in the dark, such as blindness, loss of pigments, and sensory organ enlargement.

These species join a large number of invertebrates recently found in Israeli caves that are new to science. The study was recently published in the Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution journal and has extensive scientific implications for uncovering the evolution of speciation in caves and the historical, geographic, and climatic processes that occurred in Israel.

Doctoral student Shlomi Aharon led the study under the guidance of Dr. Efrat Gavish-Regev, from the Hebrew University National Natural History Collections and Prof. Dror Hawlena from the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior.

“In many cases, these adaptations will lead to the creation of new species, whose distribution is geographically limited in areas with unique ecological conditions, such as a single cave or a system of connected caves,” Aharon says. “In this study, we sought to understand the evolutionary relationships between funnel web spiders with normal eyes that are found at the cave entrance, with those that are further in the cave and are pigmentless, eye-reduced, and even completely blind.”

In the study, the researchers collected the spiders by hand and then conducted a series of microscopic examinations, recorded the morphology, and extracted DNA from each to compare them to sequences of known species of the same genus that exist in GenBank.

“Among the spiders we found, five were unique to different caves, and the two other species were found in several caves in the Galilee and in caves situated at the Ofra karst field, which is now under threat from planned construction,” says Dr. Gavish-Regev. “One of the surprising findings in the study shows that the new species are evolutionarily closer to species from caves in Mediterranean areas in southern Europe than to species living in close proximity to them at cave entrances in Israel.”

Five of the new species described had reduced eyes, while the other two were completely blind. The researchers suggest that the new species developed adaptations to life in underground habitats and speciated in caves, after or simultaneously with the extinction of the ancestor species from which they evolved, which lived outside caves and became extinct due to historical regional climate changes.

“We are currently witnessing the effects of climate change on many habitats, which obliges us to consider, maintain, and promote programs that include the preservation of underground habitats – many of which are at immediate risk,” concludes Professor Hawlena. “We must protect Israel’s unique nature, preserve its underground systems for the future, and further explore the processes that created these systems in the country.”

The researchers recently received a $1 million joint grant from the American National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) to study new aspects of RNA biology.

The team of researchers, led by Prof. Ruth Sperling of the Hebrew University Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, together with Prof. Stephen Stamm from the School of Medicine in Lexington, Kentucky, hypothesize that a new type of primate-specific proteins, translated from molecules of circular RNA, improves the brain’s function in relation to other organisms with a similar number of genes.

RNA is the mediator in turning instructions encoded in DNA into cellular proteins. As part of the process, the RNA is heavily modified: some pieces are cut out and the remaining parts are put back together, to assemble a new line of RNA – which fundamentally changes their composition. Sometimes, these parts form in circles, creating circular RNA.

Circular RNAs are mostly found in the brain and their formation is promoted by genomic elements specific to humans and other primates, called Alu-elements. The human genome consists of about 11% Alu-elements and their expansion in primates correlates with brain complexity.

“For the first time, the team of researchers will focus on new biological aspects of the circular RNA molecules, with the aim of revealing why humans have a stronger and more complex brain than other organisms with a similar number of genes,” Stamm says.

Prof. Sperling, a world-renowned expert in RNA processing, is seeking to understand how circular RNA is created by the splicing machinery in cells, to analyze when this occurs and how it is regulated in the brain.

According to Sperling, “If we do find that we have new proteins, this opens up a completely new research field with essential functions for the human brain.” Such a discovery may have wide implications, for example, on the detection of genetic materials correlated with schizophrenia, epilepsy, autism, or neurological disease.”

The hypothesis is that the new proteins, translated from these specific circular RNAs, substantially increase molecular complexity, which improves brain functions. “Do circular RNAs code for proteins? Do these proteins function? Can they be found in the brain? This is what we are analyzing. It has never been looked at,” Stamm says.

As part of the three-year project, there will be annual two-week RNA biology courses held in the summer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem led by Stamm and Sperling. Students from both universities will have theoretical lectures and do hands-on experiments during the course.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Number 2221921, and United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation under Award Number 2022602.

 

Referring to the cancellation of Israel's sweetened beverage tax, as "a grievous blow to public health," Hebrew University Prof. Aron Troen, and a renowned worldwide group of senior health scholars have published a letter in The Lancet prestigious medical journal seeking to overturn the harmful, hasty, and costly decision. See attached for text of letter.

Approximately 64 percent of adults in Israel are overweight, defined as a body mass index over 25 according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Childhood obesity is on the rise, and its poor populations carry the greatest burden of associated chronic disease, like diabetes. The direct and indirect costs of obesity to Israeli society are estimated at 20 billion NIS ($5.8 Billion) annually.

"Since its introduction a year ago, the tax has reduced the consumption of sweetened drinks by about 10%," says Troen who is a member of the World Federation of Public Health Associations. “The fact that world health leaders have responded shows what an important issue we’re dealing with. Canceling the tax is irresponsible, an act of public health malpractice, and an outrage.”

In the letter, the authors state that, "Revoking the tax will undoubtedly harm lives and increase the direct and indirect economic costs to Israel's health system and economy, both in the short term and long term. More broadly, this act undermines hard won progress made elsewhere around the world. It is a serious setback for evidence-based public health policy and will be celebrated by vested interests who promote their products and disregard the need for policies that uphold the public's health and welfare. This decision will be seen as prioritizing sectorial political interests over incontrovertible scientific evidence and public health best practice."

The scholars conclude the letter by, "calling on the Government of Israel to reconsider and retract this ill-conceived and hasty decision. Instead, let the revenue from the soda tax be used to combat chronic diseases including obesity, as well as promote nutrition security by increasing economic access to healthy diets, narrowing health disparities, improving the health and welfare of all Israeli citizens, and setting an example for world health leadership."

Other co-authors include Darius Mozaffarian, Dean for Policy at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science who co-chairs the task force that informed the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutritional Security, Barry Popkin, a world-renowned health economist, and Hagai Levin from the Hebrew University School of Public Health and chair of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians.

About the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's leading academic and research institution. Serving some 24,000 students from 80 countries, it produces a third of Israel’s civilian research and is ranked 12th worldwide in biotechnology patent filings and commercial development. Faculty and alumni of the Hebrew University have won eight Nobel Prizes and a Fields Medal. For more information about the Hebrew University, please visit http://new.huji.ac.il/en.

About American Friends of the Hebrew University

American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) is a national, not-for-profit organization based in the United States. AFHU is headquartered in New York and has seven regional offices working in close partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. AFHU provides supporters, Hebrew University alumni, and the public with stimulating programs and events, and organizes missions to Israel. The organization’s activities support scholarly and scientific achievement at HU, create scholarships, fund new facilities, and assist the university’s efforts to recruit outstanding new faculty.

For more information, please visit http://www.afhu.org.

Follow us on: Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter  | Instagram | YouTub

 

 

This report delves into each of the individual SDGs and outlines how the University is playing a role in making an impact on these goals.

To read this report, click here

 

Prof. Shalva Weil of the Seymour Fox School of Education at the Hebrew University, who established the Israel Observatory on Femicide, said: “After a decrease in 2021, this year there is a significant rise in the number of femicide cases in Israel in which a woman is killed because of her gender. We must stop the violence and eradicate this frightening trend.”

The report also found that:

The victim’s age was 38.1. The youngest victim was 14, and the oldest 68. The average age of the suspect/murderer suspects is 39; the youngest is 19 and the oldest is 65.

38% of the victims were stabbed to death, and 25% were shot with gunfire. The rest of the cases involved the use of an explosive device and drowning, and in some as yet unsolved cases, hanging and the use of substances.

In a third of cases, the suspect was known to the police or welfare authorities from previous violent incidents, or due to economic circumstances. In other cases, the murderer was known to have a criminal or mental health record.

In 36% of cases, at least one child of the victim was present during the event.

In two cases, the murderer committed suicide, and in five additional cases, the suspect or murderer attempted suicide.

 

A new research study, conducted by doctoral student Amal Khayat and led by Dr. Yael Bar-Zeev and researchers at the Hebrew University’s Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, shows that one of the world’s largest tobacco companies exploited loopholes in the law against advertising smoking products in Israel, and specifically targeted the Haredi population in Israel. The study findings, which were recently published in the academic journal Tobacco Control, reveal a series of advertising strategies that focused on the population group with the lowest rates of smoking in Israel.

Analyzing the marketing data of Philip Morris International, the researchers examined the differences in advertising expenditure over a four-year period between advertising focused on different major population groups in Israel—the general population, the Haredi public, Arab speakers, and Russian speakers. “We conducted a comparison among the advertising expenditures for all Philip Morris cigarette brands and the IQOS brand (a heated tobacco stick that entered the local market in December 2016), in light of regulatory changes that restricted the advertising of tobacco products,” explains Khayat.

While the restriction on advertising tobacco products led to a significant reduction in the company’s marketing expenditures, the study shows that the company exploited legal loopholes in order to subvert the law’s goals and increase its own profits as much as possible. “Even after the law came into effect, the company continued to spend almost NIS 3 million on advertising, with a focus on the printed press,” explains Dr. Bar-Zeev. “While the law restricted print advertising to one advert in each newspaper, 40% of the IQOS adverts placed were giant, two-page adverts, which effectively doubled the product’s advertising space, while still being considered a single advert as allowed by the letter of the law.”

Another strategy used by Philip Morris was adding a QR code to the advert, which readers could scan and then view additional content, beyond that contained in the advert permitted in the newspaper. Furthermore, the adverts featured people smoking IQOS devices in closed public spaces, despite the fact that the law forbids

 

the use of any tobacco products in such areas. According to the researchers, adverts like this give the impression that such behavior is legally permitted, and exploits the innocence of the majority of consumers, who are not aware of these distinctions.

The study further finds that before the law came into effect, Philip Morris significantly increased its advertising to all the population groups examined, with a particular focus on the Haredi population, which had the lowest rates of smoking in Israel. “Our data shows that since the introduction of the IQOS e-cigarettes, 216 targeted adverts were published, of which 55% were for the Haredi public, 6% for the Arab public, and the rest for the Russian-speaking public,” says Dr. Bar-Zeev. Similarly, for regular cigarette brands, 87% of advertisements were targeted at the Haredi population—a surprising finding given the company’s repeated claims that it is only interested in marketing its products to existing smokers. Dr. Bar-Zeev adds: “We expected that the company would focus on populations with the highest rates of smoking in Israel—men in the Arab sector—and not on the population which has hardly any smokers.”

In the wake of the study findings, the previous Knesset assembly decided to cancel the exception for advertising in the printed press, but deferred implementation of this step for seven years. In discussions, a series of additional restrictions were decided upon for this interim period, including prohibitions on the use of coupons, on the use of QR codes, and on featuring cigarette packs which do not carry the mandatory plain packaging in adverts in the printed press. However, Dr. Bar-Zeev concludes that this is merely “a drop in the ocean,” as the study has proved that the tobacco companies bypass such restrictions, and find creative ways to continue marketing their products and getting a new generation of smokers addicted to them. The researchers argue that only a full and immediate ban on all forms of advertising, combined with strict enforcement of the law, can stop this happening.

 

The academic articles presenting the study findings are available here:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057585

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tc-2022-057671

 

 

A remarkable scientific discovery has been made by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), Tel Aviv University (TAU), and Bar-Ilan University (BIU), in collaboration with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Oranim Academic College, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR) institution, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. A close analysis of the remains of a carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY) archaeological site in Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago.  Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods. Until now, the earliest evidence of cooking dates to approximately 170,000 years ago. The question of when early man began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The study was led by a team of researchers:  Dr. Irit Zohar, a researcher at TAU’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and curator of the Beit Margolin Biological Collections at Oranim Academic College, and HU Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, director of the excavation site.  The research team also included Dr. Marion Prevost at HU’s Institute of Archaeology; Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil at BIU’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology; Dr. Jens Najorka of the Natural History Museum in London; Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute; Prof. Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz at TAU’s Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Zohar and Dr. Prevost: “This study demonstrates the huge importance of fish in the life of prehistoric humans, for their diet and economic stability. Further, by studying the fish remains found at Gesher Benot Ya’aqob we were able to reconstruct, for the first time, the fish population of the ancient Hula Lake and to show that the lake held fish species that became extinct over time. These species included giant barbs (carp like fish) that reached up to 2 meters in length. The large quantity of fish remains found at the site proves their frequent consumption by early humans, who developed special cooking techniques. These new findings demonstrate not only the importance of freshwater habitats and the fish they contained for the sustenance of prehistoric man, but also illustrate prehistoric humans’ ability to control fire in order to cook food, and their understanding the benefits of cooking fish before eating it.”

In the study, the researchers focused on pharyngeal teeth (used to grind up hard food such as shells) belonging to fish from the carp family. These teeth were found in large quantities at different archaeological strata at the site. By studying the structure of the crystals that form the teeth enamel (whose size increases through exposure to heat), the researchers were able to prove that the fish caught at the ancient Hula Lake, adjacent to the site, were exposed to temperatures suitable for cooking, and were not simply burned by a spontaneous fire.

Until now, evidence of the use of fire for cooking had been limited to sites that came into use much later than the GBY site--by some 600,000 years, and ones most are associated with the emergence of our own species, homo sapiens.

Prof. Goren-Inbar added: “The fact that the cooking of fish is evident over such a long and unbroken period of settlement at the site indicates a continuous tradition of cooking food. This is another in a series of discoveries relating to the high cognitive capabilities of the Acheulian hunter-gatherers who were active in the ancient Hula Valley region. These groups were deeply familiar with their environment and the various resources it offered them.  Further, it shows they had extensive knowledge of the life cycles of different plant and animal species. Gaining the skill required to cook food marks a significant evolutionary advance, as it provided an additional means for making optimal use of available food resources. It is even possible that cooking was not limited to fish, but also included various types of animals and plants.”

Prof. Hershkovitz and Dr. Zohar note that the transition from eating raw food to eating cooked food had dramatic implications for human development and behavior.  Eating cooked food reduces the bodily energy required to break down and digest food, allowing other physical systems to develop.  It also leads to changes in the structure of the human jaw and skull. This change freed humans from the daily, intensive work of searching for and digesting raw food, providing them free time in which to develop new social and behavioral systems. Some scientists view eating fish as a milestone in the quantum leap in human cognitive evolution, providing a central catalyst for the development of the human brain.  They claim that eating fish is what made us human. Even today, it is widely known that the contents of fish flesh, such as omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, iodine and more, contribute greatly to brain development.

The research team believe that the location of freshwater areas, some of them in areas that have long since dried up and become arid deserts, determined the route of the migration of early man from Africa to the Levant and beyond. Not only did these habitats provide drinking water and attracted animals to the area but catching fish in shallow water is a relatively simple and safe task with a very high nutritional reward.

The team posits that exploiting fish in freshwater habitats was the first step on prehistoric humans’ route out of Africa. Early man began to eat fish around 2 million years ago but cooking fish—as found in this study—represented a real revolution in the Acheulian diet, and is an important foundation for understanding the relationship between man, the environment, climate, and migration when attempting to reconstruct the history of early humans.

It should be noted that evidence of the use of fire at the site—the oldest such evidence in Eurasia—was identified first by BIU’s Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil. “The use of fire is a behavior that characterizes the entire continuum of settlement at the site,” she explained. “This affected the spatial organization of the site and the activity conducted there, which revolved around fireplaces.” Alperson-Afil’s research of fire at the site was revolutionary for its time and showed that the use of fire began hundreds of thousands of years before previously thought.

HU’s Goren-Inbar added that the archaeological site of GBY documents a continuum of repeated settlement by groups of hunter-gatherers on the shores of the ancient Hula Lake which lasting tens of thousands of years. “These groups made use of the rich array of resources provided by the ancient Hula Valley, and left behind a long settlement continuum with over 20 settlement strata,” Goren-Inbar explained. The excavations at the site have uncovered the material culture of these ancient hominins, including flint, basalt, and limestone tools, as well as their food sources, which were characterized by a rich diversity of plant species from the lake and its shores (including fruit, nuts, and seeds) and by many species of land mammals, both medium-sized and large.

Dr. Jens Najorka of the Natural History Museum in London explained: “In this study, we used geochemical methods to identify changes in the size of the tooth enamel crystals, as a result of exposure to different cooking temperatures. When they are burnt by fire, it is easy to identify the dramatic change in the size of the enamel crystals, but it is more difficult to identify the changes caused by cooking at temperatures between 200 and 500 degrees Celsius. The experiments I conducted with Dr. Zohar allowed us to identify the changes caused by cooking at low temperatures. We do not know exactly how the fish were cooked but given the lack of evidence of exposure to high temperatures, it is clear that they were not cooked directly in fire, and were not thrown into a fire as waste or as material for burning.”

Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute and Prof. Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz were also part of the research group, providing analysis of the isotope composition of oxygen and carbon in the enamel of the fishes’ teeth. “This study of isotopes is a real breakthrough, as it allowed us to reconstruct the hydrological conditions in this ancient lake throughout the seasons, and thus to determine that the fish were not a seasonal economic resource but were caught and eaten all year round. Thus, fish provided a constant source of nutrition that reduced the need for seasonal migration.”

 

Dr. Amir Capua, Faculty Member, HU’s Department of Applied Physics, shared, “the chip industry in Israel is flourishing, as hi-tech giants open new development centers. At the same time, there is a severe lack of engineers at all levels.  In our role to prepare the next generation of engineers, Hebrew University’s curriculum for electrical engineering and applied physics is attentive to market needs.  We provide our students with the most up-to-date studies, including the skills and knowledge they will need when they complete their studies. It’s is a complex field, with technology changing at a dizzying speed.” Capua continued, “in our proposal to the Intel’s SyllaBoost Program, we went deep to equip our graduates with the final and critical stage of chip design: the backend stage, just before a chip is rolled out on the most advanced production lines.”

Thanks to support for the new syllabus by HU’s management, headed by VP and CEO Mr. Yishai Fraenkel, an industrial working environment based on cloud infrastructure was created for students. This allows for continuous updating of course content, distance learning for students, and tech support from an external company.  HU plans to expand this infrastructure to other VLSI courses offered in microelectronics specialization, enabling more students to gain gain hands-on experience of the most up-to-date technologies and methodologies used in the chip-making industry.

Mariana Waksman, Head of Academic and Education Relations at Intel Israel, shared, “our collaboration with Hebrew University is important to us and will continue on in the future. HU’s new course will benefit not only students in its Department of Applied Physics but also the chip design industry at large—a growing industry in Israel and particularly in Jerusalem.  We are committed to advancing academic teaching in all areas of chip design and development, and will continue to strengthen Israel’s academia by supporting and conducting strategic partnerships with various universities.”

 

New research study led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and the Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (Volcani Institute) details the success of a biological sensor for early detection of hidden disease in potato tubers, one of Israel’s chief export industries at 700,000 tons a year. 

Israeli farmers import European potatoes for planting in Israel.  However, a certain percentage of them carry disease within—either visibly or invisibly—that cause rot and significantly reduce the potato’s quality.  The Hebrew University-Volcani alliance is about to change that. They’ve developed a sensor that detects disease and can be used to inhibit the rot from growing and spreading. Their study, published in the upcoming edition of Talanta, was conducted by Dr. Dorin Harpaz and her PhD student Boris Veltman at HU’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, under the supervision of Dr. Evgeni Eltzov of the Volcani Institute.  The team collaborated with the Volcani Institute’s Dr. Sarit Melamed and Dr. Zipora Tietel, as well as Dr. Leah Tsror from the Gilat Research Center.

The sensor relies on smart bioengineering and optics.  When the sensor is exposed to an infected potato, a bacterial compound within lights up—with the strength of the luminescence indicating the concentration and composition of the rot.  “The intensity of the light given off by the bacteria panel makes it possible to quickly and quantifiably analyze the characteristics of the disease, which the sensor can ‘smell,’ before the appearance of visible symptoms,” explained Eltzov. “The biosensor we developed will help identify diseased potatoes that do not yet have any external indications, and keep them away from healthy tubers, thus preventing the rot from developing or spreading to other healthy plants,” Harpaz added.

To form the bacteria panel, the team created a compound of four genetically-engineered bacteria that measure biological toxicity.  In this study, the biological sensor detected disease before there was any visible trace, and caused the optical sensor to shine twice as brightly as did the sensors in non-infected potatoes. Their capabilities were also demonstrated in a previous study that used the sensors to detect toxicity among artificial sweeteners in sport supplements. 

According to the researchers, early discovery of disease--before the potatoes are exported to foreign markets or replanted, offers a significant advantage to food growers. “The biological sensor can be used to quickly and economically identify hidden rot in potatoes, facilitate better post-harvest management, and reduce food wastage—particularly important given the current global food crisis,” concluded Harpaz.

 

 

The trend throughout the world is for couples to delay starting a family until they have achieved greater financial stability. This takes women beyond their years of peak fertility – causing many to rely on processes such as IVF to have a baby.  In IVF, an egg is removed from the woman, fertilized in a dish and then, a few days later, the embryo is implanted in her womb.  While in the dish, the embryo is kept in a liquid, or culture medium, that supports its development.  The Hebrew U. review established that the addition of hyaluronic acid (HA) to this medium enhances the ultimate success of IVF. 

This significant finding was the result of a detailed systematic review and meta-analysis of the outcome of all high-quality clinical trials where HA was either added or not added to the culture medium. "We found that exposing an embryo to HA for more than 10 minutes prior to its transfer to the womb, increased the likelihood of a birth from 32% to 39%," shared Heymann.  The most marked success was in cases for women who had a poor prognosis of success.

Furthermore, the increase in birth rate was only seen in cases where a woman was implanted with her own fertilized egg and not in cases where donor eggs were used. "This could be because donor eggs tend to be of higher quality," explained Heymann. The main benefit being seen in poorer quality eggs.

This study, by Heymann and her colleagues, including IVF experts Prof. Zeev Shoham and Dr. Yuval Or, and builds on their work for Cochrane which published a review in 2020 showing an overall increase in success rate in ARTs when embryos are exposed to HA prior to implantation.

Although HA naturally occurs in the female reproductive tract, its role in improving IVF outcomes is unclear and "more research is needed," suggests Heymann. Meanwhile her prime concern is that IVF clinics act on the findings of this review. "However," she noted, "hyaluronic acid is expensive, and this might mean it is not as widely used as it should be."