A new study from the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the University of Haifa found that an ancient winegrape seed discovered at an archaeological excavation in the Negev to be almost identical with the Syriki variety, which is used today to make high-quality red wine in Greece and Lebanon…. Read More
A new Tel Aviv University (TAU) study reveals that bats experience a decline in their ability to hunt and orient in space during pregnancy. This impairment stems from the fact that they produce about 20 percent fewer calls, the sounds that allow them to orient themselves using echolocation, on top of flying at a slower… Read More
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have for the first time recorded and analyzed sounds distinctly emitted by plants. The click-like sounds, similar to the popping of popcorn, are emitted at a volume similar to human speech but at higher frequencies, beyond the hearing range of the human ear. The researchers say that plants usually… Read More
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have developed a hybrid micro-robot that can navigate between different cells in a biological sample, distinguish between different types of cells, identify whether they are healthy or dying, and then transport the desired cell for further study, such as genetic analysis. The micro-robot can also transfer a drug and/or… Read More
A Tel Aviv University (TAU) researcher took part in an extensive international study that identified a new family of snakes, Micrelapidae. According to the study, Micrelaps, small snakes usually with black and yellow rings, diverged from the rest of the evolutionary tree of snakes about 50 million years ago. Only three species, one in the… Read More
A new model developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) offers a possible solution to the scientific question of why neutral sequences, sometimes referred to as “junk DNA,” are not eliminated from the genome of living creatures in nature and continue to exist even millions of years later. The researchers say that junk DNA is often… Read More
An extensive study from the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University (TAU) finds a disturbing impact of prolonged low-intensity light pollution on two species of desert rodents: the diurnal golden spiny mouse and the nocturnal common spiny mouse. On two different occasions, entire colonies exposed to artificial light at night (known by the acronym… Read More
A new Tel Aviv University (TAU) study has identified about 100,000 new types of previously unknown viruses, a ninefold increase in the amount of RNA viruses known to science until now. These viruses were discovered in global environmental data from soil samples, oceans, lakes, and a variety of other ecosystems. The researchers believe that their… Read More