COVID-related research and news from BIU follow the general news.
Our minds wander for 50 percent of waking hours
Renowned cognitive neuroscientist and director of the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University, Prof. Moshe Bar, has a new book, “Mindwandering: How it Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity.” It discusses the need to change your attitude towards floating thoughts, how it’s not the same as daydreaming, and why it’s a good part of the creative process. Read More.
Choosing to be with others is more consequential to well-being
Do we enjoy our time more when we are alone, or when we’re in the company of others? A new study by researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel has found that the element of choice in our daily social interactions plays a key role in our well-being. Read More.
BIU, Doral Group Enter Strategic Collaboration
Bar-Ilan University and Doral Group, an entrepreneurial company in the field of renewable energy, have signed a series of agreements for strategic collaboration. Doral will become a member of Bar-Ilan’s Energy and Sustainability Center and the entities will work to promote research, development, and commercialization of several issues, as well as identify and realize joint business opportunities in response to global challenges in the fields of renewable energy, climate, and environment. Read More.
Bar-Ilan University Researchers Develop Recovery Process to Transform Failed Networks
From mass extinction to cell death, complex networked systems often exhibit abrupt dynamic transitions between desirable and undesirable states. These transitions are often caused by topological perturbations (such as a node or link removal or decreasing link strengths). Read More.
New Greentech Start-Up, Refhuel, to Develop Reversible Fuel Cell Technology
The technology is the result of a license agreement signed between Refhuel Limited, a subsidiary of Decama Capital Ltd (symbol: DCMA), an Israeli investment company headquartered in the UK and listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and BIRAD, Bar-Ilan University’s Research and Development Company. The pioneering technology to allow reversible fuel cells, which is already in development, has been worked on at BIU under the leadership of Professor Lior Elbaz. Read More.
Scientists find oldest evidence of humans in Israel
An international group of Israeli and American researchers (including a few from Bar-Ilan University) has discovered a vertebra from a hominin species dated to 1.5 million years ago that lived in the Jordan Valley. The bone was from a child aged 6-12 and is the most ancient evidence of a human presence in today’s Israel, as well as the second oldest human remain found outside of Africa. Read More.
Na’amat Centennial Prize to Prof. Beena Kalisky
Prof. Beena Kalisky, a world-renowned physicist in Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Physics, is the winner of the Na’amat Centennial Prize for women scientists. Na’amat, the Movement for the Advancement of the Status of Women in Israel, honored Prof. Kalisky for her groundbreaking research and efforts to advance women in science and academia. Read More.
Musical preferences could be used to bridge social division
Musical preferences may have the potential to unite personalities of people around the world, according to a new study led by Dr. David Greenberg, an honorary research associate at the University of Cambridge, a postdoctoral scholar at Bar-Ilan University, and saxophonist. Read More.
Encouraging Impact and Innovation
Two Bar-Ilan University researchers – Prof. Michal Alberstein, of the Faculty of Law, and Prof. Sharon Ruthstein, of the Department of Chemistry and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials – are the recipients of European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept (PoC) grants for their innovation proposals: MULTIDOOR and Hypo-Imag. Read More.
Quantum vs. Classical Computers
Some might view games as merely entertainment, but for Prof. Emanuele Dalla Torre at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and his team, playing games is useful for measuring the effectiveness of today’s commercial quantum computers. Read More.
Covid News
Women May Need Lower COVID Vaccine Doses Than Men
A new Israeli study has found that the proportion of women who reported side effects after receiving their first, second, or third dose of the Pfizer vaccination is 1.9 times that among men. Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the Immunotherapy Laboratory at Bar-Ilan University, was interviewed about the research. Read More.
Dr. Mor Weiss wins place in 2021 iDash competition
How can we identify COVID variants without compromising patient privacy, and perform complex computations more simply, even over encrypted messages? Dr. Mor Weiss, of Bar-Ilan University’s Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, is a cryptography expert who focuses on such questions. Recently, she won third place in the 2021 iDash competition. Read More.
Can Israel expect to see an end to compulsory mask-wearing?
While the government has said that for now, the requirement to wear masks indoors won’t be removed, they may revisit and reverse this decision in the coming weeks. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the Immunotherapy Lab at Bar-Ilan University, explained the factors that must be considered in deciding on mask-wearing and why it is still too soon to lift restrictions. Read More.
Europe’s travel rules are dropping as fast as its Covid cases
On Feb. 22, the Council of the European Union recommended member nations open more broadly to travelers from outside of the EU as well — with the caveat that they have been vaccinated or have recently recovered. Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the Immunotherapy Laboratory at Bar-Ilan University shared his views. Read More.
