This week marks Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut.  A time to honor Israel’s fallen soldiers, as well as celebrate Israel Independence Day.

On this episode of HUJI Bites, we speak with Dr. Sharoni Shafir, head of the recently established Institute of Environmental Sciences at The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at The Hebrew University. The Institute works to promote research and teaching in environmental sciences in agriculture – combining the diverse research approaches of the over 40 research laboratories that comprise the Institute.

Hebrew University students aren’t the only ones getting smarter!  Smart Cities are radically changing the way we live - using technology to provide services and solve city problems – improving everyday essentials like transportation, accessibility, and sustainability for the lives of that cities citizens. At the forefront of this initiative in Israel is Hebrew University’s Department of Geography in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Malaria is a major global health issue, killing half a million people each year – mostly very young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

In pursuit of a cure is Dr. Anat Florentin, a science and nature enthusiast, who joined Hebrew University’s Faculty School of Medicine in July 2020. On this episode of HUJI Bites, Florentin discusses her ground-breaking research into the apicoplast – an organelle inside the parasite cell and a promising candidate as a potential drug target against the disease.

On this episode of HUJI Bites, Dr. Adi Torfstein shares his research, which reconstructs past climate changes and the mechanisms driving them to better understand current and future global climate change. Using field observations together with chemical analysis, Dr. Torfstein and his team are able to understand the past and apply it to evaluating potential future climate change trends.

Dr. Torfstein, is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Earth Science at the Hebrew University, and at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences of Eilat.

Listen to this - Avraham (Avi) Kluger is a professor of Organizational Behavior at the Jerusalem School of Business Administration at The Hebrew University. His area of expertise – listening.

Kluger has studied the destructive effects of performance feedback for over 20 years and is considered the father of many HR methods that are being used in some of the biggest companies around the world.

On this episode of HUJI Bites, Kluger explains why he became interested in this field and how learning to listen can lead to a change, not only in others, but in yourself.

Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is a powerful tool through which we can learn how diseases develop and study how to successfully treat them. Implementing this revolutionary technique in Israel is Dr. Katy Margulis, a graduate and award-winning Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor at Hebrew University’s School of Pharmacy.

On this episode of HUJI Bites, Margulis gives us a slice of the science behind Mass Spectrometry and the importance of bringing this cutting-edge research to her alma mater in Israel.

Did you know that there is more to mosquitoes than their stinger? Their sense of smell can actually help us! And no one "nose" them better then Hebrew University Assistant Professor of Entomology, Dr. Jonathan Bohbot. 

On this episode of HUJI Bites, we get a taste of the science behind mosquitoes and the fascinating research taking place in Bohbot's lab at The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at The Hebrew University.