Author: AUFTAU

Ukrainian Refugees Arriving in Europe

Written by AUFTAU on 1 May 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Over 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine over the last three months, following the Russian military invasion. Several more millions are still making their way to the borders, experts estimate, and numbers may continue to grow, depending on the course and outcomes of the war.

EU’s Efforts

Just one week after the invasion began, the European Union agreed to activate the Temporary Protection Directive adopted by the EU in 2001, after the region first saw a massive influx of refugees following the Yugoslavian war.

The Directive is designed to grant group protection to the migrants, allocating them rights to labor, housing, medical aid and education without processing individual cases at least for one year. It helps alleviate the bureaucratic burden on a host country and enables refugees to achieve a degree of normalcy and stability in their daily lives.

“This is the first time all EU member states have agreed to activate the Directive. It wasn’t activated during the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, when over 1,200,000 refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, were seeking asylum within EU borders, or recently, in 2021, when Afghans were fleeing the Taliban,” notes Professor Anastasia Gorodzeisky, the Head of TAU International M.A. Program in Migration Studies, of the School of Social and Policy Studies at the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences.

The reason for such an unprecedented show of solidarity? “Ukrainians are perceived by the EU states, especially those of Eastern Europe, as people fighting, at least partially, their own war, which is hitting very close to home,” explains Gorodzeisky. “This wasn’t the case in previous refugee waves.” Activating the Directive helped the Europeans feel they are doing something effective and positive to help the situation, she adds.

Lviv, Ukraine – March 18, 2022: Ukrainian refugees on Lviv railway station waiting for train to escape to Europe

Where Are the Refugees Headed?

Gorodzeisky says that for now, most of the refugees have settled in the countries that share borders with Ukraine – in Poland and Romania – while others made their way to the Czech Republic. “Eventually, some people will make their way to Germany, or even to the UK, which is harder to enter, as it’s no longer a part of the EU,” she continues.

“Refugees are in general naturally attracted to places with large expat communities,” explains Gorodzeisky. “People tend to go to places where they have relatives, friends, or at least some sort of network of support. These people left with nothing, so a network is very important for them.”

At this point, we have no way of predicting when the refugees will be able to return to their home country. “After the 1992 Yugoslavian War, most of the refugees did return. The reason that most Ukrainian refugees stay in the neighboring countries is their desire to return to Ukraine,” predicts Gorodzeisky, adding that personal circumstances will still play a major role in this decision.

Israel’s Role

Gorodzeisky also reflected on Israel’s role in helping Ukrainians. Israel is historically very conservative in taking in refugees, non-conditionally accepting only those with Jewish roots, which it would have done anyway, she says.

“But we’re good at providing humanitarian help in other ways. We have a highly organized civil society, where people take all sorts of high-impact initiatives that make a difference,” she says, citing as an example a website created by Israeli volunteers in the very first days of the war to centralize information about humanitarian aid efforts for Ukraine. Some Israeli volunteers organized evacuation efforts, other provided help online, including instructions on what to do under fire, which drew on the Israelis’ rich experience of living through conflict, Gorodzeisky concludes.

In the period between the beginning of the war, on February 24, up until April 4th, Israel accepted 21,277 Ukrainian citizens, out of which about 7,000 have Jewish roots. Another 7,000 of them have relatives in Israel, and approximately 5,000 have no formal Israeli ties.

“It’s a dynamic situation, and we’re monitoring it,” says Adv. Anat Ben-Dor, who heads TAU’s Refugee Rights Legal Clinic. She adds that Israel now canceled the monetary deposit requirement for the refugees entering the country, which it implemented in the beginning of the war. The Clinic specializes in the legal rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and provides individuals with pro bono legal representation.

Lviv, Ukraine – March 9, 2022: Ukrainian refugees on Lviv railway station waiting for train to escape to Europe

Featured image: Isaccea, Romania. 05 March, 2022. Refugee Ukrainians walk from Ukraine to Isaccea in Romania after crossing the border.

New Collaborations between TAU and Leading Turkish Universities

Written by AUFTAU on 29 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Antisemitism in 2021: War and Covid-19 Catalyzed Global Uptick

Written by AUFTAU on 27 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry issues its annual report on the state of global antisemitism

Antisemitic incidents dramatically increased over the past year in almost all countries with large Jewish populations, according to the Antisemitism Worldwide Report 2021 published by The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University.

Released annually on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the report is based on dozens of studies from around the globe, alongside information from law enforcement authorities, media, and Jewish organizations in various countries. It is the 28th-annual report of its kind issued by the Center.

The authors report a dramatic rise in the number of antisemitic incidents in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia – as well as other countries. In most countries the increase was particularly notable compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

WATCH: The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry on The Annual Report on Antisemitism Worldwide 

Key Findings

251 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the US, in only three weeks during the riots around the Israel-Hamas conflict in May. According to the annual survey of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), 2.6% of American Jews said they had been the victims of antisemitic physical attacks in the past five years. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded a 27% increase from 2020 and a 113% increase from 2019 in incidents of white supremacist antisemitic propaganda.

In France, 589 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2021, a 74% increase from 2020 and a 14% decrease from 2019.

In May 2021, B’nai Brith Canada reported 61 assaults against Jews in Canada. Altogether 226 incidents were recorded that month – a 54% increase from the same period in 2020.

In the UK, 2,255 antisemitic incidents were recorded in 2021, an increase of 34% from 2020. A sharp rise of 78% compared to 2020 was recorded in physical assaults against Jews.

German Police recorded 3,028 antisemitic incidents during 2021 – an increase of 29% from 2020, and 49% from 2019. Another worrying phenomenon registered in 2021: German anti-vaxxers likened their situation to that of the Jews in the Holocaust. The authors of the Report argue that this has led to trivialization of the Holocaust.

447 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Australia in 2021 – an increase of 35% from 2020 and 21.5% from 2019. The highest monthly total ever was recorded in May – 88 incidents.

The authors found similar phenomena in a range of countries: Dr. Inna Shtakser examined the rise of state-sponsored antisemitism under Belarus’ authoritarian leadership; Dr. Carl Yonker and Dr. Lev Topor investigated how antisemitic white supremacists are penetrating mainstream American conservatism; Dr. Ofir Winter analyzed voices in the Arab world that paint the Abraham Accords with unmistakably antisemitic colors; and Adv. Talia Naamat demonstrated the challenges for French courts in prosecuting Islamist antisemitism.

Need to Re-Strategize

“In recent years, the fight against antisemitism has enjoyed extensive resources worldwide, and yet, despite many important programs and initiatives, the number of antisemitic incidents—including violent assaults—is rapidly escalating,” said Prof. Uriya Shavit, Head of the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at TAU’s Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities..

Despite certain successes outlined in the Center’s January report on positive trends combating antisemitism, Shavit stressed that the latest findings demonstrate that some strategies are clearly not effective. “The easy thing is to say that more laws and more funding are required,” he said, adding that the situation demands “courageous and unsparing examination” of the efficacy of some of the more prevalent strategies in battling antisemitism.

“The Jewish world must pull itself together and understand that the fight against antisemitism and the fight for liberal democratic values are one and the same,” he concluded.

What Caused the Sharp Increase?

According to the report, the increase stems from the strengthening of both the radical Right and Left political movements in different countries and widespread fake news and incitement on social media networks. Specifically, the number of antisemitic incidents around the world was directly impacted by two major events: The May 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas (Operation Guardian of the Walls), and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2021 Israel-Hamas Conflict: The authors of the Report note that the operation in Gaza led to a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents around the world, and “exposed an unacceptable reality: when Israel defends itself, Jews across the world are attacked.”
Covid-19: From the onset of the pandemic in 2020, conspiracy theories began to sprout around the world, blaming Jews and Israel for spreading the virus, reminiscent of centuries-old blood libels. The lockdowns, which glued people to their screens at home, contributed significantly to popularizing harmful antisemitic discourse on social networks. In 2021, when the lockdowns were gradually eased, antisemites returned to the streets, and physical violence against Jews increased.

The report questions the utility of legislation and agreements reached with social media companies on banning antisemitic expressions from their platforms. The gravest concern is the dark web, which shelters extremists of all types, and where antisemitic content is freely and openly spread. The report also notes that Iran invests substantial time and funding in spreading antisemitic propaganda online, focusing their campaigns mainly in the United States and Latin America.

Read the full report here >>

The Ultimate Solution to Global Warming?

Written by AUFTAU on 26 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Hydrogen-powered bicycles and cars have been in serial production for years. In these vehicles, the regular polluting lithium battery has been replaced by a fuel cell that converts hydrogen, a non-polluting fuel, to electricity. Most of today’s hydrogen is, however, still produced from natural gas in a highly polluting process and is therefore referred to as gray hydrogen. Not only is natural gas a non-renewable source of energy, but it also creates carbon dioxide gas when burned, damaging our environment and contributing to global warming.

Enter a new TAU discovery, which may boost the industrial transition from using polluting gray hydrogen to environmentally friendly green hydrogen: Researchers identified a mutant of a known strain of microscopic algae that allows, for the first time, the production of green hydrogen gas via photosynthesis on a scale suited to industrial requirements. Hydrogen gas can thus be produced solely through renewable energy and in a climate-neutral manner, reducing our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions dramatically to stabilize global temperatures.

Humanity’s transition to the use of green hydrogen may be the ultimate solution to the problem of global warming.

The microscopic algae

Continuous Production Achieved

The study was led by doctoral student Tamar Elman, under the supervision of Prof. Iftach Yacoby from the Renewable Energy Laboratory of The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The study was recently published in the prestigious journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

While production of green hydrogen is possible through solar panels wired to devices that perform water breakdown into hydrogen and oxygen (electrolysers), the researchers explain that this is an expensive process, requiring precious metals and distilled water. In nature, hydrogen is produced as a by-product of photosynthesis for periods of minutes by micro-algae, unicellular algae found in every water reservoir and even in the soil. For this biological process to become a sustainable source of energy, however, humanity must engineer micro-algae strains that produce hydrogen for days and weeks.

Prof. Yacoby explains that as part of the laboratory tests, the researchers identified a new mutant in microscopic algae that prevents oxygen from accumulating at any lighting intensity, and therefore hypothesized that continuous hydrogen production could be achieved from it. With the help of bioreactor measurements in liter volumes, they were indeed able to prove that hydrogen can be produced continuously for more than 12 days.

According to Prof. Yacoby, the new mutant overcomes two major barriers that have so far hindered continuous production of hydrogen:

Accumulation of oxygen in the process of photosynthesis – As a rule, oxygen poisons the enzyme that produces hydrogen in algae, but in the mutation, increased respiration eliminates the oxygen and allows favorable conditions for continuous hydrogen production.

Loss of energy to competing processes – And this includes carbon dioxide fixation into sugar. This, too, has been solved in the mutant and most of the energy is being channeled for continuous hydrogen production.

To industrialize these results, the research team led by Prof. Yacoby is working on a pilot program of larger volumes and the development of methods that will allow the time of hydrogen harvest to be extended, in order to reduce its cost to competitive levels. “The rate of hydrogen production from the new mutant reaches one-tenth of the possible theoretical rate, and with the help of additional research it is possible to improve it even further,” concludes Prof. Yacoby.

Tamar Elman and Prof. Iftach Yacoby in the lab

Featured image: Tamar Elman and the microscopic algae

How are the Birds Coping with Climate Change?

Written by AUFTAU on 25 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found changes in the morphology of many birds in Israel over the past 70 years, which they interpret to be a response to climate change. The body mass of some species decreased, while in others body length increased – in both cases increasing the ratio between surface area and volume. The researchers contend that these are strategies to facilitate heat loss to the environment: “The birds evidently changed in response to the changing climate. However, this solution may not be fully adequate, especially as temperatures continue to rise.”

Relying on the vast bird collection preserved by The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at TAU, the researchers looked for changes in bird morphology over the past 70 years in Israel. They examined approximately 8,000 adult specimens of 106 different species – including migratory birds that annually pass through Israel (such as the common chiffchaff, white stork, and black buzzard), resident wild birds (like the Eurasian jay, Eurasian eagle-owl, and rock partridge), and commensal birds, that live near humans. They built a complex statistical model consisting of various parameters to assess morphological changes – in the birds’ body mass, body length and wing length – during the relevant period.

The study was led by Prof. Shai Meiri and PhD student Shahar Dubiner of the School of Zoology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. The paper was published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Cooling Down

Prof. Meiri explains that according to Bergmann’s rule, formulated in the 19th century, members of bird and mammal species living in a cold climate tend to be larger than members of the same species living in a warmer climate. This is because the ratio of surface area to volume is higher in smaller animals, permitting more heat loss (an advantage in warm regions), and lower in larger bodies, minimizing heat loss (a benefit in colder climates). Based on this rule, scientists have recently predicted that global warming will lead to a reduction in animal size, with a possible exception: birds living in the human environment (such as pigeons, house sparrows, and the hooded crow) may gain size due to increased food availability, a phenomenon already witnessed in mammals such as jackals and wolves.

Either Long or Slender

Shahar Dubiner: “Our findings revealed a complicated picture. We identified two different types of morphological changes: some species had become lighter – their mass had decreased while their body length remained unchanged; while others had become longer – their body length had increased, while their mass remained unchanged. These together represent more than half of the species examined, but there was practically no overlap between the two groups – almost none of the birds had become both lighter and longer. We think that these are two different strategies for coping with the same problem, namely the rising temperatures. In both cases, the surface area to volume ratio is increased (by either increasing the numerator or reducing the denominator) – which helps the body lose heat to its environment. The opposite, namely a decrease in this ratio, was not observed in any of the species.”

The researchers (from left to right): Shahar Dubiner and Prof. Shai Meiri

Global Phenomenon

Sadly, flying away from global warming is not an option. These findings were observed across the country, regardless of nutrition, and in all types of species: resident birds; commensal species living in the human environment – which, contrary to predictions, exhibited changes similar to those of other birds; and migrants.

A difference was identified, however, between the two strategies: changes in body length tended to occur more in migrants, while changes in body mass were more typical of non-migratory birds. The very fact that such changes were found in migratory birds coming from Asia, Europe, and Africa, suggests that we are witnessing a global phenomenon.

The study also found that the impact of climate change over time on bird morphology (the birds’ change in either weight or length over time, relative to the actual temperature change during that time) is ten times greater than the impact of similar differences in temperature between geographical areas (the birds’ differences in weight or length in different geographical areas, relative to the temperature differences between those areas).

What is the Limit of Evolutionary Flexibility?

Shahar Dubiner: “Our findings indicate that global warming causes fast and significant changes in bird morphology. But what are the implications of these changes? Should we be concerned? Is this a problem, or rather an encouraging ability to adapt to a changing environment? Such morphological changes over a few decades probably do not represent an evolutionary adaptation, but rather certain phenotypic flexibility exhibited by the birds. We are concerned that over such a short period of time, there is a limit to the flexibility or evolutionary potential of these traits, and the birds might run out of effective solutions as temperatures continue to rise.”

Featured image: Israeli birds have become either longer or slenderer over the past 70 years

TAU Researchers Invent Healthy Weapon Against Covid

Written by AUFTAU on 15 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, humanity has led an arms race against mutations, variants, and extensive contagion, in order to minimize damage to human life and the economy. Currently the battle against the virus relies mainly on RNA-based vaccines, alongside several anti-viral medications.

The Covid virus, however, changes very rapidly, and frequent updates are required to treatments and vaccines that are based on familiarizing the immune system with the virus. The same is true for flu viruses, another widespread cause of illness and death. Now, TAU researchers have shown that common dietary supplements can help protect us against the Covid virus as well as several common winter illnesses.

The study was led by Prof. Ehud Gazit, Prof. Eran Bacharach, and Prof. Daniel Segal of The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, TAU, together with PhD students Topaz Kreiser and David Zaguri and other researchers. The paper was published in Pharmaceuticals.

Preventive Supplement

Prof. Gazit, who also heads TAU’s BLAVATNIK CENTER for Drug Discovery, said: “To address the rapid changes of the virus, we decided to develop active vaccines made of safe and easily obtainable dietary supplements, that would reduce the viral load in the body and cut down contagion. We have known for years that food supplements containing zinc can enhance immunity to severe, viral, and chronic infections and their potentially grave consequences.”

The researchers found that the consumption of zinc alone achieves a relatively low cellular content. To enhance the effect, they combined the zinc with flavonoids – polyphenolic compounds found in many fruits and vegetables. They also added copper – in order to prevent an ionic imbalance and improve the treatment’s effectiveness.

“The interesting aspect is the treatment’s potential flexibility,” explains Prof. Bacharach. “We found that a combination of several flavonoids with zinc helps protect cells against a wide range of RNA viruses. We believe that the product can serve as a supplementary treatment to enhance the effect of existing anti-viral vaccines and medications.”

Prof. Segal adds: “Advanced lab tests, including PCR, have shown that the new vaccines we developed did, in fact, reduce the viral load. We found a 50-95% decrease in the genomic replication of various groups of RNA viruses, including Covid-19, the flu virus, and others. These results are very promising, possibly enabling the development of an orally administered biological shelf treatment.”

So far, all experiments were conducted in vitro in the lab, but the researchers are optimistic as to the study’s practical potential. Soon they hope to launch a series of clinical trials in humans, ultimately leading to an effective treatment accessible to everyone.

The Research Team (left to right): Professors Eran Bacharach, Daniel Segal and Ehud Gazit

TAU Launches Manufacturing Research Center in India

Written by AUFTAU on 13 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University and Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (TIET) in India have agreed to jointly build a collaborative research establishment to explore advanced production technologies.

The Future of Cutting-Edge Production

The new Thapar-Tel Aviv University Center of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing will draw knowledge from multidisciplinary teams from TAU and TIET with expertise in all fields of engineering and sciences. As such, it aims to promote cutting-edge research with industry applications in disciplines including biomedicine, automotives, space and defense.

TAU Vice President for International Collaboration Prof. Milette Shamir and Prof. Prakash Gopalan, Director of TIET, on April 4 signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding at TIET’s main campus in Patiala, India, in the presence of Mr R R Vederah, Chairman of TIET’s Board of Governors.

Speaking at the signing, Prof. Shamir said “TIET is an important partner for TAU in India and the new Center will bring cooperation between our two universities to a new level.” Noting that 2022 marks 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and India, she added that “academia plays a special role in the bilateral relationship. Through the advancement of knowledge, bridges are built between students and researchers that can generate substantial benefits for both countries.”

Expanding Existing Partnership

As part of the agreement, TIET has committed to establish a TAU Chair Professorship who will lead the Center. Prof. Noam Eliaz, the founding Chair of TAU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering is due to serve as the new Center’s inaugural chair professor.

“I’m excited and proud to be chosen by Thapar University as TAU’s representative to serve as the new chair professor and take part in establishing one of six centers of excellence for advanced production technologies, including 3D printing and unprecedented resource investment,” he said. He added that he aims to turn the Center into a leader in its field in India and in the world.

The new Center expands the existing partnership between TAU and TIET, which includes initiatives such as the TAU-TIET Food Security Center of Excellence headed by Prof. Yossi Shacham, along with joint degree programs in life sciences and engineering, and other forms of academic cooperation.

Featured image: TAU Vice President of International Collaboration Prof. Milette Shamir (front left) and Prof. Prakash Gopalanat (front right), Director of the Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, at the April 4 signing ceremony in Patiala, India

Is the Vaccine Safe? Consult the Smart Sensor!

Written by AUFTAU on 12 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

In most methods used today, clinical trials designed to evaluate the safety of a new drug or vaccine employ self-report questionnaires, asking participants how they feel before and after receiving the treatment. A new study from Tel Aviv University enables developers, for the first time in the world, to determine vaccine safety via smart sensors that measure objective physiological parameters. According to the researchers, most clinical trials testing the safety of new vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, rely on participants’ subjective reports, which can lead to biased results. In contrast, objective physiological data, obtained through sensors attached to the body, is clear and unambiguous.

The study was led by Dr. Yftach Gepner of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, together with Dr. Dan Yamin and Dr. Erez Shmueli from TAU’s The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering. The paper was published in Communications Medicine, a journal from the Nature portfolio.

The End of an Era?

Researchers from Tel Aviv University demonstrated that smart sensors can be used to test new vaccines. The current study was conducted when many Israelis received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The researchers equipped volunteers with innovative, FDA-approved sensors developed by the Israeli company Biobeat. Attached to their chests, these sensors measured physiological reactions from one day before to three days after receiving the vaccine.

The innovative sensors monitored 13 physiological parameters, such as: heart rate, breathing rate, saturation (blood oxygen levels), heartbeat volume, temperature, cardiac output, and blood pressure. The surprising results:

A significant discrepancy was found between subjective self-reports about side effects and actual measurements. That is, in nearly all objective measures, significant changes were identified after vaccination, even for subjects who reported having no reaction at all.
In addition, the study found that side effects escalate over the first 48 hours, and then parameters return to the level measured before vaccination. In other words: a direct assessment of the vaccine’s safety identified physiological reactions during the first 48 hours, with levels re-stabilizing afterwards.

“The message from our study is clear,” says Dr. Gepner. “In 2022 the time has come to conduct continual, sensitive, objective testing of the safety of new vaccines and therapies. There is no reason to rely on self-reports or wait for the occurrence of rare side effects like myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, which occurs in one of 10,000 patients. Preliminary signs that predict such conditions can be detected with advanced sensors, identifying normal vs. extreme alterations in physiological parameters and any risk of inflammation. Today, trial participants are invited to the clinic for blood pressure testing, but often their blood pressure rises just because the situation is stressful. Continual monitoring at home solves these problems with simple, convenient, inexpensive, and accurate means. This is the kind of medicine we should strive for in 2022.”

The Research Team (from left to right): Dr. Dan Yamin, Dr. Yftach Gepner and Dr. Erez Shmueli

Research based on a comprehensive study of 8,000 birds in Israel

Written by AUFTAU on 9 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers say that climate change may be responsible for changes in the morphology of many birds in Israel over the past 70 years. The body mass of some species decreased while in others body length increased, in both cases increasing the ratio between surface area and volume. The researchers contend that these are strategies to facilitate heat loss to the environment.

“The birds evidently changed in response to the changing climate,” the researchers concluded. “However, this solution may not be fully adequate, especially as temperatures continue to rise.”

The study was led by Professor Shai Meiri and PhD student Shahar Dubiner of the School of Zoology, Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at TAU. The paper was published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Professor Meiri explains that according to “Bergmann’s rule,” an ecogeographical rule formulated in the 19th century, members of bird and mammal species living in a cold climate tend to be larger than members of the same species living in a warmer climate. This is because the ratio of surface area to volume is higher in smaller animals, permitting more heat loss (an advantage in warm regions), and lower in larger bodies, minimizing heat loss (a benefit in colder climates). Based on this rule, scientists have predicted that global warming will lead to a reduction in animal size, with a possible exception: birds living in the human environment (such as pigeons, house sparrows, and the hooded crow) may gain size due to increased food availability, a phenomenon already witnessed in mammals such as jackals and wolves.

Relying on the vast bird collection preserved by the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at TAU, the researchers looked for changes in bird morphology over the past 70 years in Israel. They examined approximately 8,000 adult specimens of 106 different species, including migratory birds that annually pass through Israel such as the common chiffchaff, white stork, and black buzzard; resident wild birds like the Eurasian jay, Eurasian eagle-owl, and rock partridge; and commensal birds that live near humans. They built a complex statistical model consisting of various parameters to assess morphological changes — in the birds’ body mass, body length and wing length — during the relevant period.

“Our findings revealed a complicated picture,” Dubiner says. “We identified two different types of morphological changes: some species had become lighter – their mass had decreased while their body length remained unchanged; while others had become longer – their body length had increased, while their mass remained unchanged. These together represent more than half of the species examined, but there was practically no overlap between the two groups – almost none of the birds had become both lighter and longer.

“We think that these are two different strategies for coping with the same problem, namely the rising temperatures. In both cases, the surface area to volume ratio is increased by either increasing the numerator or reducing the denominator, which helps the body lose heat to its environment. The opposite, namely a decrease in this ratio, was not observed in any of the species.”

These findings were observed across the country, regardless of nutrition, and in all types of species. A difference was identified, however, between the two strategies: changes in body length tended to occur more in migrants, while changes in body mass were more typical of non-migratory birds. The very fact that such changes were found in migratory birds coming from Asia, Europe, and Africa suggests that this is a global phenomenon. The study also found that the impact of climate change over time on bird morphology is 10 times greater than the impact of similar differences in temperature between geographical areas.

“Our findings indicate that global warming causes fast and significant changes in bird morphology,” Dubiner concludes. “But what are the implications of these changes? Should we be concerned? Is this a problem, or rather an encouraging ability to adapt to a changing environment? Such morphological changes over a few decades probably do not represent an evolutionary adaptation, but rather certain phenotypic flexibility exhibited by the birds. We are concerned that over such a short period of time, there is a limit to the flexibility or evolutionary potential of these traits, and the birds might run out of effective solutions as temperatures continue to rise.”

Work created by TAU-affiliated artists can’t exist on earth

Written by AUFTAU on 9 April 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Many think that physics is an exact science that requires the application of analytical and quantitative abilities, while art is based on emotion and creativity. A collaboration between the physicist Dr. Yasmine Meroz of Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the contemporary artist Liat Segal challenges the boundaries between the two fields. Their joint work, called “Impossible Object,” will be launched in April to the International Space Station (ISS), as part of the “Rakia” mission of the Israeli astronaut Eitan Stiva.

Dr. Meroz is a senior faculty member at the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at TAU’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, whose lab studies the physics of plant systems. Segal studied Computer Science and Biology and worked in the hi-tech industry for several years, before shifting her career to arts. The special bond between the two was created when they were graduate students at the same lab at TAU.

“Impossible Object” is a sculpture made of water. The liquid’s three-dimensional form does not get its shape from any vessel and so cannot exist on earth, but only in outer space in the absence of gravity.

The sculpture is made of interconnected brass pipes and rods, through which water is flown. In the absence of gravity, the water adheres to the rods and forms a liquid layer shaped by water tension, which envelopes the brass structure, yielding a three-dimensional shape that changes over time. The underlying brass structure is reminiscent of a wavy and directionless staircase, raising questions about shape and form in the absence of gravity and directionality. In particular, what is the shape of water? What does a “slice of the sea” or a “handful of a wave” look like?

“There is much in common between art and scientific research: Both are the result of a thought process in which creativity plays a central role and are motivated by the desire to ask interesting questions,” Dr. Meroz says. “‘Impossible Object’ is a research-based artwork, where the medium is basically the physics underpinning water behavior in the absence of gravity. I learned a lot in the process, and I have no doubt it will contribute to research in my laboratory. In this respect, this work expresses the unrealized potential of the synergy between art and scientific research.”

“I am very happy about my collaboration with Yasmine,” Segal adds. “In this collaboration we not only shared knowledge and inspiration, but we were also able to bring about a true co-creation, which could not have been realized by each one of us individually. ‘Impossible Object’ is timely, weighing the role of culture and art at an era when humanity is experiencing accelerated scientific and technological developments. Following incredible technological and scientific achievements in space, and as space tourism becomes tangible, it is important to reflect on the place of culture and arts in our lives, on earth and beyond.”

This is their second collaboration; their previous artwork, “Tropism,” has been exhibited at TAU’s Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery.

Author: AUFTAU

New Collaborations between TAU and Leading Turkish Universities

Antisemitism in 2021: War and Covid-19 Catalyzed Global Uptick

The Ultimate Solution to Global Warming?