Comprehensive coverage

Evolution in action

A moth that has developed acoustic camouflage. Courtesy of the author, Thomas Niall University of Bristol.

Moths and bats have been in an evolutionary arms race for millions of years - and we're still uncovering their tricks

  • No comments
Many species of moths, which are the favorite prey of many bats, have developed all kinds of tricks to avoid being eaten. Some of them developed a sense of hearing at the appropriate frequencies and others, lacking the ability to hear, developed acoustic instead of visual camouflage solutions
Prof. Oded Ravavi. Photo: Tel Aviv University spokesperson

Can high temperature accelerate the rate of evolution?

Researchers from Tel Aviv University demonstrated with the help of worms that epigenetic inheritance of sexual attraction can influence the process of evolution
Galapagos Islands. Photo: Prof. Noa Shankar, Tel Aviv University

The gatekeepers of biodiversity in the Galapagos Islands

A delegation of researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Steinhardt Natural History Museum, flew to the other end of the world and participated in a conference on the conservation of biological diversity in the Galapagos Islands
A fish drives out of water on the paths of Ben Gurion University. Photo: Shahar Givon and Mattan Semina, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Researchers managed to prove: a goldfish can drive on land

  • 7 תגובות
A research group from the field of life sciences and computer science challenged goldfish to navigate in a terrestrial environment. The results change everything we thought about fish
Madagascar cockroach. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Five super abilities that insects have that we could only dream of

Cockroaches will survive even a nuclear holocaust (provided it doesn't happen when their wings are cut off), bed bug extermination is almost impossible today even with the pesticides we have because of the resistance it has developed and spider webs are 5 times stronger than steel
A fruit bat pup and its mother (Photo: Yuval Barkai)

From me you will see and you will do: an answer to the question of what influences more heredity or education

Researchers at Tel Aviv University found that adopted fruit bat pups behave like the adoptive mother
A bumble bee hovers over flowers requesting its pollination services. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The buzzing of the bees initiates the release of scents in the flowers

  • One response
The cover image chosen for the scientific journal CELL REPORTS - credit: image design Tsefnat Ozari and photography Avi Levin

Exposure to the sun's rays increases romantic desire in humans

  • One response
The researchers from Tel Aviv University discovered that exposure to the sun affects, among other things, the regulation of the sexual endocrine system (hormone secretion system) among humans.
The star sea lily Nematostella vectensis. Photo: shutterstock

The level of complexity of the immune system has not necessarily increased throughout evolution

Prof. Yehu Moran from the Hebrew University, one of the leaders of the research: "Sea anemones have lived and thrived for the last 600 million years despite the presence of many viruses, so their immune system is probably effective. A possible disadvantage that I can suggest is that complex systems have a significant metabolic (energetic) cost" . And also: what can be learned from this about the human immune system?
The cover of the Science magazine dedicated to the research of Dr. Amiel Ilani from Bar-Ilan University about the social relations among the hypocrites

An Israeli study in Shaar Science yesterday: in the society of hypocrites, social ties are inherited

  • 2 תגובות
A large-scale study in which Dr. Amiel Ilani from Bar-Ilan University participated, which examined data collected over 27 years and 74,000 social interactions, sheds light on the mechanisms of sociability, status and survival in the spotted hyena * The study was published in the journal Science and, as mentioned, was featured on the cover of the magazine
Sumit Ayalon. Photographed by Sasson Thirim. Courtesy of the spokeswoman of the Hebrew University.

Prof. Amos Frumkin's article: The next disaster in Israel is just around the corner, who cares?

Illustration of a eukaryotic cell containing a nucleus, organelles and a membrane. Photo: depositphotos.com

New research: Why did sexual reproduction develop, and indeed it did?

It is the fusion between the genetic load of the mitochondrion and the host cell that allowed the development of eukaryotes and the sophisticated multicellular organisms we know today," states the researcher
Polycarpa mytiligera Image: depositphotos.com

An animal that is able to regenerate all its organs - even if it is divided into three parts

  • No comments
In the Gulf of Eilat, an animal was discovered, which belongs to the mechanized system, can regenerate all its organs so that each piece knows exactly how to complete all the missing body systems and in a short time
Akbar Israchanani photographed by Fromkin

Ayalon Cave, where very rare species of beavers live, is on the brink of an ecological disaster

Prof. Frumkin: "In a proper step, albeit a bit late, some of the animal species from the cave were also included in it (only the species living in the cave's aquatic environment). This helps in preserving the cave, but without declaring the cave and its surroundings as an official nature reserve, it will be difficult to enforce the law."
A bee on a blue and white flower. Photography by Boaz Ben Zeev

Why do both humans and bees prefer the color blue?

  • No comments
DNA molecule. Image: depositphotos.com

The loom of evolution

A new method makes it possible to locate points of similarity between gene control molecules of different species - from lizards to humans - and thus reveal essential sections that have been preserved throughout evolution
The evolutionary tree of life. shutterstock

Are we closer evolutionarily to starfish or insects? New research challenges 100 years of consensus

  • 2 תגובות
A flightless moth from Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. Photo: Leihy and Chown

Why do many insects on the islands have no wings?

165 years after the thought of the father of the theory of evolution, scientists have finally proved that Darwin's hypothesis about why many insects are wingless is correct - at least for the most part
The findings of the research findings are presented graphically and tangibly on a website dedicated to the public, created by the scientists in collaboration with the designer Itay Reva. To the website To the website Illustration: Itai Ravehkar are presented graphically and tangibly on a dedicated site open to the public created by the scientists in collaboration with the designer Ai Raveh. Click on the image to go to the website. Illustration: Itai Rava

The globe of concrete

During 2020, human products exceeded the mass of all life in our world. ​The mass of buildings, cars and bottles doubles every 20 years - and the curve is about to flatten
A bridge of ants. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Things that Yoram knows: Go to the ant

  • 4 תגובות
Nir looks in amazement at the rows of industrious ants and asks: Is there slavery in nature? Are the workers enslaved to the queen?
Asif Ghazanfar, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Princeton University, led a research group that showed that influencing the development of the vocal abilities of baby monkeys also leads to changes in the markers of domestication: a patch of white fur on their foreheads. Credit: Rebecca Terrett and Lauren Kelly, Ghazanfar Lab, Princeton

Monkeys may have domesticated themselves - similar to humans

  • 18 תגובות
It is no coincidence that dogs are cuter than wolves, or that goats in the wild have shorter horns and friendlier manners than their wild ancestors. Researchers call these phenomena "domestication syndrome"
The viruses (hexagons) attack the algae. Credit - Technion spokesmen

Unique light receptors shared by marine giant viruses and the algae they infect

  • No comments
According to Prof. Oded Beja, "From the genomic mapping we conducted, we concluded that the evolutionary origin of the genes is in the algae, not in the virus, and we estimate that at some point in evolution, the virus 'stealth' accelerated the genes into rhodopsins in a way that allows it to carry out some kind of manipulation related to sensing light"
By examining the dog's closest living relative, the gray wolf, we can get a glimpse - albeit an indirect one - of how the social system of the common ancestor might have influenced the early process of dog domestication. Credit: Paula Pérez Fraga

Adult wolves miss their handler when separated from them, just like dogs

  • 5 תגובות
Adult wolves miss their handler when separated from them, just like dogs
The personality of dogs changes over time, but these changes occur unevenly during the dogs' lives, and each trait develops a separate age trajectory, according to a study published by researchers from ELTE University, Budapest, and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in the journal Scientific Reports. Credit: Kubinyi

Housing for an older dog: how dogs' personalities change over the years of their lives

  • 4 תגובות
Dogs' personalities change over time, but these changes occur unevenly throughout the dogs' lives, and each trait develops at a different age trajectory.
Nematostella sea lily. Courtesy of the Hebrew University.

Is the source of the poison found in the animal world?

  • 3 תגובות
It is an effective mechanism that developed independently and simultaneously, in different groups of animals during evolution and in different forms. The big questions that remain open about most toxins is what is their origin, how are they produced in the living body and how did they evolve evolutionarily?
Science website logo
SEARCH