scientific research

Illustrative image of a scientist in a lab (anyaivanova; iStock by Getty Images)

June 25, 2023, 11:42 am

Israel Science Foundation announces new program to support physician-researchers

$100 million MAVRI initiative funded by government and philanthropists will create positions and carve out time for doctors who also want to work in the lab

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Illustrative: A researcher examines human embryonic stem cells with a microscope in Michigan, October 22, 2008. (Paul Sancya/AP)

June 15, 2023, 10:28 am

Scientists create synthetic human embryos from stem cells, without an egg or sperm

Team at UK’s University of Cambridge grow embryo to point where distinct cell lines form, though not brain or heart

By ToI Staff

Illustrative image: neurons inside the human brain (onimate via iStock by Getty Images)

June 10, 2023, 2:30 pm

New Israeli study shows link between autism and nitric oxide levels in brain neurons

Peer-reviewed research at Hebrew University’s Pharmacy School could lead to drug treatments for people with autism and other neurological conditions

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Tomatoes were among the plants tested for sound by Tel Aviv University researchers. (David Besa, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

March 30, 2023, 8:06 pm

In groundbreaking research, Tel Aviv U team records plants ‘talking’ for first time

Scientists discover clicking sounds, which humans can’t hear and which differ based on species and type of stress; wonder what uses other plants, animals make of the information

By Sue Surkes

A Micrelaps snake. (David David/Tel Aviv University)

March 2, 2023, 4:36 pm

In rare scientific advance, new snake family identified in Israel

Family Micrelapidae has only three species, one in region of Israel and two in East Africa; reptiles believed to have slithered off the snake evolutionary tree 50 million years ago

By ToI Staff

The Golda hens when they were chicks. (Ori Peretz)

December 13, 2022, 4:36 pm

In first, Israeli scientists program hens to lay eggs that carry only female chicks

Gene editing technology developed by Volcani Center scientists, who say it has potential to stop ‘devastating’ destruction of 7 billion unwanted male chicks globally each year

By Sue Surkes

The Ashalim Stream, after it was polluted in June, 2017. (Georgi Norkin, Israel Nature and Parks Authority, File)

September 12, 2022, 8:47 pm

Scientists find way to recycle fertilizer industry’s phosphoric acid wastewater

Wastewater from Israeli phosphate mining company caused lasting environmental damage at Ashalim Stream, near Dead Sea, after evaporation pool wall collapsed in 2017

By Sue Surkes

Head of the endocrinology department at the University Hospital of Vaud (CHUV), Nelly Pitteloud poses in Lausanne, ahead of the publication of a study in Science academic journal, in collaboration with a team from Inserm (within the Lille neuroscience and cognition laboratory), on September 1, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

September 2, 2022, 4:43 pm

Study: New treatment increases cognitive function in Down Syndrome patients

Hormones bring 10-30% improvement in six men, research finds, raising hopes of boosting quality of life; larger scale clinical trial to begin in coming months

By Isabelle TOURNÉ and Daniel Lawler

A synthetic mouse embryo grown at Weizmann Institute of Science, pictured dally, from day one top left, to day eight bottom right. (Courtesy Weizmann Institute of Science)

August 1, 2022, 11:18 pm

Using only skin cells, Israeli lab makes synthetic mouse embryos with beating hearts

In peer-reviewed breakthrough, embryos grown from stem cells; diverse group of scientists says method may one day be used to ethically grow cells for replacement human organs

By Nathan Jeffay

July 18, 2022, 2:25 pm

Deep sea corals glow in the dark to lure prey, Israeli researchers find

Study shows that corals in dark zones of sea that must supplement food obtained by photosynthesis use fluorescence to lure small creatures such as plankton into their mouths

By Sue Surkes

Roberto Figueroa Caballero sits on a small table in his home that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in La Perla neighborhood on the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

February 14, 2022, 10:20 am

New UN report to show how global warming disrupts our daily lives

Document examines how climate change affects jobs, families; activists expect conclusions to be a ‘nightmare’

By Seth Borenstein and Frank Jordans

Artist's rendering of the VENμS satellite, Israel's first environmental research satellite, set to launch on August 2, 2017. (Israel Space Agency)

February 12, 2022, 12:01 pm

Israel, UAE issue call for joint space research proposals on climate, environment

Space agencies will select a single project to fund with $200,000, which will focus on data received from the VENµS a satellite to ‘expand scientific knowledge about Earth’

By ToI Staff

Tulips bloom in the mountains of the Negev desert after four days of rain (Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)

December 13, 2021, 12:33 pm

Israel’s Negev Desert chosen to feature in first global fungi map

Society for the Protection of Underground Networks will collect thousands of samples from 10 environments in search of carbon-storing hotspots to protect

By Sue Surkes

Police officers raid a Yeshiva that is open in violation of the COVID-19 emergency regulations, in the Sanhedria Neighborhood of Jerusalem on January 19, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

October 21, 2021, 2:12 pm

Daily Briefing Oct. 21 – COVID studies offer telling results

Startup Israel editor Ricky Ben-David and science and health correspondent Nathan Jeffay discuss coronavirus research, Israel-UAE collaboration on Beresheet 2, and foldable cars

By ToI Staff

A surgical team at the hospital in New York examines a pig kidney attached to the body of a deceased recipient for any signs of rejection, September 2021. (Joe Carrotta/NYU Langone Health via AP)

October 20, 2021, 9:01 am

US scientists successfully attach working pig kidney to human body

Decades-long quest to use animal organs for life-saving transplants takes major new leap as swine kidney successfully filters waste and produces urine without being rejected

By Carla K. Johnson