A new Bar-Ilan University study has achieved a milestone in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) by addressing a fundamental question: Can deep learning architectures achieve greatly above-average confidence for a significant portion of inputs while maintaining overall average confidence?
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Bar-Ilan University Prof. Amit Shrira led a study measuring acute stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among Israelis between November-December 2023, shedding light on the impact of the conflict on mental health across generations.
Pharmaceutical waste and contaminants present a growing global concern, particularly in the context of drinking water and food safety. Addressing this critical issue, a new study by researchers at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Chemistry and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials has resulted in the development of a highly sensitive plasmonic-based detector, specifically targeting the detection of harmful piperidine residue in water.
A collaborative effort between Israeli and Italian researchers has led to the development of a new treatment strategy targeting the early-stage aggregation of A-beta before the formation of toxic oligomers.
Researchers have unveiled the extraordinary behavior of weakly-bound three-atomic molecules, defying conventional understanding of quantum mechanics.
In an article recently published in Scientific Reports, researchers from Bar-Ilan University reveal the mechanism underlying successful machine learning, which enables it to perform classification tasks with resounding success.
While many aspects of Philistine culture are well-documented, the specifics of Philistine religious practices and deities have long remained shrouded in mystery. The study by Frumin et al. on "Plant-Related Philistine Ritual Practices at Biblical Gath," recently published in Scientific Reports by researchers at Bar-Ilan University, contributes valuable new data to our understanding of the Philistine's ritual practices. The discovery of numerous plants in two temples unearthed at the site unraveled unprecedented insights into Philistine cultic rituals and beliefs – their temple food ingredients, timing of ceremonies, and plants for temple decoration.
Dr. Nitzan Gonen, a Bar-Ilan University researcher specializing in the process of fetal sex determination, together with research students Aviya Stopel, Cheli Lev and Stav Dahari, has succeeded in creating "laboratory testicles" that may significantly advance understanding of the mechanisms involved in sex determination and provide solutions for male infertility, which affects one in 12 men worldwide.
At the Department of Chemistry at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, PhD student Belal Abu Salha developed a process of coating fruits and veggies with edible nanoparticles using sonochemistry, and extended the shelf life of strawberries by 15 days.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by decreased social communication and repetitive behaviors, has long intrigued scientists seeking to unravel its underlying mechanisms.
In a significant leap forward for quantum nanophotonics, a team of European and Israeli physicists, introduces a new type of polaritonic cavities and redefines the limits of light confinement. This pioneering work, detailed in a study published today in Nature Materials, demonstrates an unconventional method to confine photons, overcoming the traditional limitations in nanophotonics.
In an article just published in Physica A, researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel show how shallow learning mechanisms can compete with deep learning.
Damage to the protein production capacity neutralizes the trypanosome parasite, which causes sleeping sickness. Joint research by Prof.
For the last 75 years a core hypothesis of neuroscience has been that the basic computational element of the brain is the neuronal soma, where the long and ramified dendritic trees are only cables that enable them to collect incoming signals from its thousands of connecting neurons.
A novel replacement strategy termed GE x HDR 2.0: Find and Replace, developed by researchers from Bar-Ilan University and described in published today in Nature Communications, combines CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing with recombinant adeno-associated serotype 6 (rAAV6) DNA donor vectors to precisely replace the RAG2 coding sequence while preserving regulatory elements.
Experts on the Israel-Gaza conflict from Bar-Ilan University are available to speak to the media on matters such as the role of government during crisis, Hamas and terrorist organizations, military strategy, and Communications in times of crisis.
Like climbing a mountain via the shortest possible path, improving classification tasks can be achieved by choosing the most influential path to the output, and not just by learning with deeper networks.
A series of three studies led by Prof. Ofer Bergman from Bar-Ilan University has uncovered a fascinating relationship between music collection and listening enjoyment in the era of streaming music.
A group of researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Ben Gurion University has reported a giant leap of more than an order of magnitude improvement in the sensitivity of flexible magneto-resistive sensors.
A new study conducted by researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel has shed light on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life among different ethnic groups in the country. The study, part of a larger cohort project, highlights a significant discrepancy between Arabs and Druze, and Jews, with the two former groups experiencing a more pronounced decline in quality of life one year after infection.
A recently-published study led by Prof. Einat Levy-Gigi, from Bar-Ilan University, examined for the first time the interactive effect of exposure to stress in the school setting and cognitive flexibility on the tendency to develop post-traumatic symptoms among education and teaching staff. One hundred fifty education and teaching personnel (85% women and 15% men with an average age of 43 and average teaching experience of 13 years) volunteered to participate in the study and underwent an assessment of their exposure to stress, their cognitive flexibility, their ability to cope and their level of post-traumatic symptoms.
Do you know someone who knows someone? We have all played this game, often to be amazed that despite the extreme scale of human society, random people can be linked through very small chains of acquaintances -- typically, around six. Recently, a group of researchers from across the globe discovered that this magic of six degrees can be explained mathematically. The intriguing phenomenon, they show, is linked to another social experience we all know too well -- the struggle of cost vs. benefit in establishing new social ties.
Post-secondary education (PSE) has a potential for improving the IQ of adults with mild intellectual disability (ID), according to a new Bar-Ilan University study. The study examined the impact of PSE on students with mild ID who study in a university-based program, known as the Empowerment Project, at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Education.
A breakthrough study by researchers from Bar-Ilan University establishes the first physics laboratory benchmark for the manifestation of the theory of interdependent networks, enabling experimental studies to control and to further develop the multiscale phenomena of complex interdependent materials. This research has vast significance in several disciplines, including basic physics, materials science and device applications.
A project led by a group of researchers from Israel's Bar-Ilan University, in collaboration with TII - the Quantum Research Center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is advancing quantum computing by improving the performance of superconducting qubits, the basic computation units of a superconducting quantum processor. The improved qubit, called a tunable superconducting flux qubit, is a micron-sized superconducting loop where electrical current can flow clockwise or counterclockwise, or in a quantum superposition of both directions.
A single species invades an ecosystem causing its collapse. A cyberattack on the power system causes a major breakdown. These type of events are always on our mind, yet they rarely result in such significant consequences. So how is it that these systems are so stable and resilient that they can withstand such external disruptions? Indeed, these systems lack a central design or blueprint, and still, they exhibit exceptionally reliable functionality.
The key question driving new research published today in Scientific Reports is whether efficient learning of non-trivial classification tasks can be achieved using brain-inspired shallow feedforward networks, while potentially requiring less computational complexity.
A new Bar-Ilan University study has found that gestational diabetes can be diagnosed as early as the first trimester of pregnancy -- months earlier than typically detected.
One study, led by the Toker group from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, observed peptide bond formation in clusters containing four serine dipeptides that were heated up by collisions. However, they found no evidence for the same process occurring in serine clusters. In that work they concluded that if two serine molecules can bind together to form a dipeptide, then the next stages of polymerization could probably occur readily.
Can the brain, with its limited realization of precise mathematical operations, compete with advanced artificial intelligence systems implemented on fast and parallel computers? From our daily experience we know that for many tasks the answer is yes! Why is this and, given this affirmative answer, can one build a new type of efficient artificial intelligence inspired by the brain? In an article published today in Scientific Reports, researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel solve this puzzle.
Matter outflows in the form of jets are observed in astronomical systems at fast, medium and slow speeds. The fastest jets are highly relativistic, namely travel very close to the speed of light. The origin, as well as many properties of the jets, is uncertain.
Cancer cells use feet-like protrusions called invadopodia to degrade underlying tissue, enter the bloodstream and form metastases in other organs.
Dr. Michael Stern and co-workers from the Department of Physics and Quantum Entanglement Science and Technology (QUEST) Center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel are attempting to build superconducting processors based on a type of circuit called superconducting flux qubits. A flux qubit is a micron-sized superconducting loop where electrical current can flow clockwise or counter-clockwise, or in a quantum superposition of both directions. Contrary to transmon qubits, these flux qubits are highly non-linear objects and can thus be manipulated on very short time scales with high fidelity. The main drawback of flux qubits, however, is that they are particularly difficult to control and to fabricate. This leads to sizeable irreproducibility and has limited their use in the industry until now to quantum annealing optimization processes such as the ones realized by D-Wave. Using a novel fabrication technique and state-of the-art equipment, a group led by Dr. Stern, in collaboration with Pr
Bar-Ilan University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have won a call published by the Israel Ministry of Energy for the establishment of a national research institute in the field of energy storage.
The precise relationship between vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 vaccination side effects has not previously been explored in vaccinated persons. A fundamental question arises in regard to the directionality of this vaccine hesitancy-vaccine side effect link, namely which variable predicts which. One possibility is that side effects from an earlier dose predict one’s vaccine hesitancy towards a later dose. Alternatively, one’s psychological negativity (hesitancy) towards an earlier dose could predict subsequent side effects from a later vaccination dose. The latter direction reflects a Nocebo effect, i.e., side effects driven by psychological factors rather than by an active treatment component. Results showed only the latter direction to be true. Namely, only earlier vaccine hesitancy towards the second COVID-19 dose predicted subsequent nocebo side-effects following the booster vaccination. To put this in perspective up to 16% of one’s vaccine side effects were explained by earlier va
When neurons are damaged by degenerative disease or injury, they have little, if any, ability to heal on their own. Restoring neural networks and their normal function is therefore a significant challenge in the field of tissue engineering. Prof. Orit Shefi and doctoral student Reut Plen from the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University have developed a novel technique to overcome this challenge using nanotechnology and magnetic manipulations, one of the most innovative approaches to creating neural networks.
Neuronal silencing periods facilitate an advantageous mechanism for temporal sequence identification and demonstrate a useful new AI mechanism for ATM's equipped with secure handwriting recognition.
Being vaccinated with at least two doses of Pfizer vaccines dramatically reduces most of the long-term symptoms individuals reported months after contracting COVID-19, a new study shows.
Combining techniques in nanotechnology and optics, researchers produced tiny (nanometric) diamond particles so small that they are capable of penetrating skin to deliver medicinal and cosmetic remedies. In addition, they created a safe, laser-based optical method that quantifies nanodiamond penetration into the various layers of the skin and determines their location and concentration within body tissue in a non-invasive manner – eliminating the need for a biopsy.
In an article published today in Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10466-8), researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel reveal that the brain learns completely differently than has been assumed since the 20th century. The new experimental observations suggest that learning is mainly performed in neuronal dendritic trees, where the trunk and branches of the tree modify their strength, as opposed to modifying solely the strength of the synapses (dendritic leaves), as was previously thought. These observations also indicate that the neuron is actually a much more complex, dynamic and computational element than a binary element that can fire or not. Just one single neuron can realize deep learning algorithms, which previously required an artificial complex network consisting of thousands of connected neurons and synapses. The new demonstration of efficient learning on dendritic trees calls for new approaches in brain research, as well as for the generation
A new study shows a major reduction in the most commonly-reported long-term symptoms of COVID-19 among individuals vaccinated with two doses and infected with the virus compared to non-vaccinated previously-infected individuals. Those vaccinated and infected individuals reported no more of these symptoms than individuals who were never infected with the virus.
A new, targeted therapy, developed by researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Houston, and the pharmaceutical company Equillium, together with several other academic collaborators, inhibits specific immune cells associated with lupus nephritis, and was effective in improving kidney inflammation in animal models of lupus and lupus nephritis. The new approach could serve as an alternative to current treatments targeting multiple immune cells, and provide a more effective and potentially personalized remedy for lupus nephritis. The development was recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
A group of researchers led by Prof. Kanter from Bar-Ilan University in Israel challenge conventional wisdom by highlighting three new features they've experimentally discovered about neuronal refractory (resting) periods.
Based on experimental evidence physicists publish revolutionary new theory on brain learning that contradicts the most common assumption in neuroscience, will transform our understanding of brain function, and open new horizons for advanced deep learning algorithms.
From what long-term psychological effects are Yazidi women suffering after being captured, raped, beaten, and locked away by ISIS? A comprehensive study led by Bar-Ilan University researchers has shown that a very high percentage of these women were suffering from C-PTSD in addition to others with PTSD. Furthermore, victims with C-PTSD showed greater sensitivity to post-ISIS conditions. The team intends to launch a program to train Kurdish mental health workers how to treat the disorder.
LAW-TRAIN has been successfully presented at Milipol Paris 2017 and CEPOL 2017.
Approximately 250 students from 13 academic institutions throughout the country participated in the national conference of the Israel Model UN Association (IMUNA) hosted by Bar-Ilan University.
Chances are there's someone in your life who causes a lot of tension and stress. Difficult relationships are common. They are also commonly difficult to evade. Who are these people and why can’t we just cut the cord? New research explores these questions and sheds light on the answers.
Israel-Hungary bilateral cooperation will reach new heights following a cooperation agreement signed between Bar-Ilan University and the Milton Friedman University of Budapest.
Neurons are the basic computational building blocks that compose our brain. According to the neuronal computational scheme used for over a century, each neuron functions as a centralized excitable element. Using new types of experiments on neuronal cultures, scientists have demonstrated that this assumption regarding brain activity is mistaken. Their results call for a re-examination of neuronal functionalities beyond the traditional framework and, in particular, for an examination into the origin of degenerative diseases.
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