TPS-IL

By Pesach Benson • January 11, 2026

Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Scientists have discovered a surprising feature in the teeth of the Atlantic wolffish that could inspire stronger bone prosthetics and body armor, and even more resilient vehicles, Israeli scientists announced.

At the heart of these teeth is a tissue called osteodentin, which shrinks in every direction when squeezed — a behavior almost never seen in natural, mineral-rich materials. This unusual property allows the teeth to absorb crushing forces, offering a blueprint for creating materials that are both tough and damage-resistant.

Normally, when materials are compressed along their length, they expand sideways. But osteodentin does the opposite, a rare property known as auxeticity, in which a material shrinks in all directions under pressure instead of bulging outward. In tests, when researchers applied force along the tooth’s axis, mimicking the wolffish’s powerful bite, the tissue contracted both sideways and lengthwise. Across all eight teeth studied, measurements fell in a range rarely seen even in man-made materials.

“This was astonishing,” said Prof. Ron Shahar of the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at Hebrew University, who led the research. “Osteodentin behaves in a way that almost no other natural mineralized tissue does. Its structure allows the tooth to absorb heavy loads safely and efficiently. Nature has built a design that protects the fish from the extreme forces of its diet, and this could inspire new synthetic materials with similar toughness.”

The Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) is a marine predator with an eel-like body found in the North Atlantic Ocean. Its most striking feature is its powerful jaws and large, sharp teeth, especially the canines and molar-like teeth in the back of the mouth, which allow the wolffish to crush shells that many other fish cannot. The osteodentin tissue makes the teeth less prone to breaking.

The team used advanced X-ray scanning and 3D mapping techniques to see exactly how the teeth deform under pressure. They found that osteodentin contracts evenly in all directions during compression, a highly unusual response in natural materials.

The secret lies in the tissue’s tiny structure. Osteodentin has a dense network of vertical canals, 10–20 microns wide, running from the base to the tip of the tooth and curving outward near the surface. This arrangement causes the mineral columns between the canals to bend inward when squeezed, increasing the tooth’s toughness and reducing the chance of cracking, the scientists said.

Tests also showed that while the mineral in osteodentin is about as stiff as bone, it is this unique architecture that makes the teeth so strong. “Similar behavior has been seen only in a few invertebrates, like limpet teeth and nacre,” Shahar said.

The researchers believe this feature may exist in other fish as well, suggesting a wider role for osteodentin in nature. Beyond understanding how teeth survive extreme stress, the discovery provides a model for designing synthetic materials that are strong, durable, and absorb energy—qualities valuable in medicine, aerospace, and engineering.

Materials inspired by osteodentin could be used in bone implants, dental prosthetics, and joint replacements, making them more durable, crack-resistant, and able to absorb stress. The discovery raises the possibility of engineering helmets, body armor, sports gear, and even shoes or phone cases with lightweight materials that more effectively absorb impact.

The design principles could also benefit engineering, aerospace, and automotive applications. Vehicles, aircraft, and buildings could incorporate auxetic-inspired materials to withstand repeated stress, collisions, or vibrations while remaining strong and lightweight.

“Studying osteodentin gives us insight into how nature creates materials that are both tough and resilient,” Shahar said. “It’s a remarkable example of natural engineering that could help guide new technologies.”

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Acta Biomaterialia.

By Pesach Benson • December 25, 2025

Jerusalem, 25 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Most people like to think they want the truth, but daily life suggests otherwise. From unopened medical test results to investment accounts left unchecked during a market slump, people often choose not to know. New Israeli-Dutch research suggests that this instinct is not about denial or irresponsibility, but about managing emotional pain.

The study, led by Prof. Yaniv Shani of the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University and Prof. Marcel Zeelenberg of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the Netherlands, argues that avoiding information and actively seeking painful information are not opposite behaviors. Instead, both stem from the same emotional process: an effort to regulate distress in situations perceived as threatening.

“Our decisions about information are not only functional but often emotional,” the researchers wrote. “People constantly navigate between the desire to know and the instinct to protect themselves, weighing which option will hurt less — the painful truth or the uncertainty.”

Much of the existing research on so-called willful ignorance has focused on moral explanations, suggesting people avoid information primarily to escape responsibility or guilt toward others. The new study offers a broader and more personal account. According to the researchers, people often avoid information simply because they feel unable to cope with its emotional impact at a particular moment.

The study — published in the peer-reviewed Current Opinion in Psychology — is based on a broad review of recent empirical research alongside the authors’ own studies on information avoidance and on seeking information that serves no practical purpose. From this body of work, the researchers developed a simple framework built around two questions: “Can I bear uncertainty?” and “Can I bear the truth?”

The answers to those questions, they argue, determine whether a person avoids information or insists on knowing it. Importantly, the same individual may shift between the two strategies depending on circumstances and emotional capacity. “These behaviors are not opposites,” the researchers wrote. “They are two tools people use to regulate emotions and prevent psychological overload.”

The study points to common examples: individuals who postpone checking medical test results before a holiday, or investors who avoid reviewing their portfolios during periods of market volatility. “This behavior does not reflect indifference,” Shani said. “In many cases, people fully intend to face the information later. They are choosing when to confront the emotional burden.”

At the same time, the researchers identify an apparently contradictory pattern that arises from the same emotional mechanism. In situations dominated by uncertainty, people often seek out information they know will be painful, even when it offers no practical benefit. Consumers frequently check the prices of items they have already purchased to see whether they overpaid, despite knowing the decision cannot be reversed.

“In these cases, uncertainty itself becomes the greater source of distress,” Zeelenberg said. “Knowing may hurt, but not knowing can hurt more.”

This pattern was particularly evident in Israel following the October 7 attack, when many families sought definitive information about the fate of loved ones even when they understood the news could be devastating. The researchers note that prolonged uncertainty can generate ongoing emotional strain, while painful knowledge can sometimes bring a sense of closure.

“People are constantly weighing which emotional cost is easier to bear,” they wrote. “The truth, or the uncertainty.”

The study also examined moral situations, noting that people sometimes prefer not to know how their actions affect others in order to avoid guilt. However, when avoiding information risks serious harm, an inability to tolerate uncertainty may instead compel individuals to confront uncomfortable truths.

The study’s findings have practical applications across healthcare, public institutions, business, and digital communication. By showing that people’s decisions to seek or avoid information are driven by emotional coping, organizations can tailor how and when they deliver sensitive information.

In healthcare, test results or diagnoses can be shared with timing and support that reduce emotional overload. Governments and emergency services can structure updates during crises to balance urgency with people’s ability to cope. Businesses can present financial or product information in ways that acknowledge customers’ emotional responses, and digital platforms can design alerts or news feeds to prevent unnecessary stress.

“What matters is not only what information is conveyed, but how and when it is delivered,” Shani said.

By Pesach Benson • December 21, 2025

Jerusalem, 21 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israeli and European scientists have uncovered a previously unknown molecular mechanism that helps explain why aging and neurological disease are so often accompanied by sleep disturbances, mood disorders, and cognitive decline — and, crucially, how those effects may be reversed.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal *Nature Communications*, identified a longevity-linked enzyme as an active metabolic switch in the brain rather than a passive marker of aging.

The research centered on tryptophan, an essential amino acid commonly associated with sleep because it is a precursor to serotonin and melatonin. But researchers say that view is incomplete. Tryptophan also fuels a separate metabolic route that produces cellular energy, and the balance between these pathways is critical for brain health. For years, scientists have observed that this balance becomes disrupted in aging brains and even more severely in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, contributing to impaired mood, learning, and sleep. Until now, the molecular cause of that disruption was unknown.

“This imbalance has been documented repeatedly, but the mechanism behind it remained a mystery,” said Prof. Debra Toiber of Ben-Gurion University’s Department of Life Sciences, who led the research.

Using human cell lines alongside mouse and fruit fly models, Toiber’s team identified the enzyme sirtuin 6, or SIRT6, as the central regulator. SIRT6 is known for its role in longevity, but the study shows it also functions as a gatekeeper of tryptophan metabolism. When SIRT6 activity is intact, tryptophan is properly distributed between pathways that generate energy and those that produce serotonin and melatonin, neurotransmitters that protect the brain and regulate mood and sleep.

When SIRT6 activity declines — a hallmark of aging — that balance shifts dramatically. Tryptophan is diverted toward the kynurenine pathway, which supports energy production but also generates byproducts the researchers found to be toxic to nerve cells. At the same time, production of serotonin and melatonin drops, depriving the brain of compounds essential for neural stability.

“This is not just a gradual decline,” Toiber said. “It is an active metabolic rerouting that damages the nervous system.”

The scientists also demonstrated that the damage is not inevitable. In fruit fly models lacking SIRT6, the team inhibited a second enzyme, TDO2, which plays a key role in pushing tryptophan into the kynurenine pathway. Blocking TDO2 significantly prevented neuromotor deterioration and reduced pathological changes in brain tissue, pointing to a clear therapeutic opportunity.

“Our research positions the enzyme SIRT6 as a critical and primary drug target to combat degenerative brain pathology,” Toiber said. “These findings change the way we understand the relationship between aging and brain function. It is not simply wear and tear, but a specific metabolic malfunction that can be corrected.”

She added that the results open the door to the development of drugs that inhibit TDO2 or interventions, including nutritional strategies, that restore balance between tryptophan pathways. Rather than managing symptoms of sleep disorders, depression, or neurodegeneration, future therapies could aim to correct the underlying metabolic imbalance in tryptophan utilization. Compounds that enhance SIRT6 activity or selectively inhibit TDO2 could reduce the buildup of neurotoxic metabolites while restoring the production of serotonin and melatonin.

The study also raises the possibility of repurposing existing compounds. TDO2 has already been investigated in other fields, including cancer and immunology, meaning that experimental inhibitors and partial safety data may already exist. Redirecting or refining such compounds for neurological indications could significantly shorten development timelines compared to entirely new drugs.

Beyond treatment, the work suggests a path toward earlier diagnosis. Alterations in tryptophan metabolites or reduced SIRT6 activity could serve as biomarkers detectable in blood or cerebrospinal fluid, allowing clinicians to identify individuals at risk of cognitive decline, mood disorders, or sleep disturbances before symptoms become severe. Such biomarkers could also be used to more precisely monitor disease progression or response to therapy.

The international collaboration included researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, KU Leuven’s VIB Center for Cancer Biology in Belgium, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, and the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic.

By Pesach Benson • December 11, 2025

Jerusalem, 11 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Starting in February, students in Israeli elementary schools will no longer be allowed to use cell phones on school grounds, Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced on Thursday.

“We are allowing children to return and truly meet each other, reduce external distractions, and expand the human and natural connection between students, without screens,” Kisch said. “Creating a school space that enables social and emotional growth for our children is our commitment and responsibility.”

Kisch emphasized that the decision is part of a broader systemic effort “to reduce distractions, strengthen social ties, and ensure optimal conditions for learning.”

Phones will only be permitted in designated classes where controlled use is approved for learning purposes. The ministry plans to support schools through educational programs in classrooms and dialogue with parents, aiming to foster balanced phone use, prevent social media misuse, and limit exposure to inappropriate content. The emphasis, Kisch said, is on cultivating social and emotional skills and encouraging face-to-face interaction among students.

“This is a huge and powerful step,” Kisch said. “Several months ago, the ministry held a broad staff meeting on the use of mobile phones among Israeli children. Excessive use of cell phones creates a feeling of loneliness and depression. Some schools are already doing it, by choice. The noise has returned to the schools, and everyone has stopped being on the screen. At the moment, the move will not be in middle schools and high schools.”

Ina Salzman, Senior Deputy Director and Director of the Ministry’s Pedagogical Administration, stressed the link between phone use and academic outcomes.

“The more cell phones are used by students, the lower the students’ achievements,” she said. “Our emphasis for administrators and education teams is to create social activities and social skills. We will also engage parents to reduce screen time at home. Sixty percent of teenagers are addicted to social networks, and the earlier they start, the harder it is to break the habit.” She noted that many children receive smartphones as early as first grade.

Unlike previous guidelines, which gave principals wide discretion, the new policy applies to all areas of the school, including breaks.

“Today it will be mandatory. There will be positive noise: there will be no use of smartphones in school,” Kisch said. “Parents understand the importance of the move. The policy is no use, but not a ban on bringing cell phones.”

According to ministry Director General Meir Shimoni, the ban’s delay until February is to give people an adjustment period. “We know that it will not happen all at once, it will be a process. But cell phones will be outside of schools,” he said.

By Pesach Benson • December 9, 2025

Jerusalem, 9 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Learning doesn’t have to slow down with age. In fact, new Israeli-U.S. research shows that older adults can thrive when taught the way young people are—through active participation, meaningful discussion, and material that connects to their lives. The findings suggest that seniors can boost memory, maintain emotional well-being, and even gain a renewed sense of purpose by engaging in education that respects their life experience.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Educational Gerontology, was conducted by Prof. Anat Zohar of the Seymour Fox School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dr. Yochai Z. Shavit of the Stanford Center on Longevity. It challenges the long-held assumption that aging inevitably limits learning, showing instead that the right teaching methods can help older adults thrive.

“We’re teaching older adults the wrong way,” said Zohar. “The dominant model is still the lecture, but it is built on assumptions that simply don’t hold for older learners. First, it relies heavily on memorization, even though memory is the very ability that tends to decline with age. Second, it doesn’t connect new ideas to the rich knowledge and life experience older adults already have—one of their greatest learning resources. And third, lectures rarely create the meaningful, relevant learning and relationships that drive motivation in later life. Despite the large industry built around them, lectures just don’t work pedagogically. Older adults enjoy attending them, but they don’t retain enough. High-quality, active learning can support cognitive abilities, promote health, and even contribute to longer lives.”

The research emphasizes that older adults learn best when education taps into their motivations, connects new knowledge to previous experience, and allows for active engagement. These principles mirror the methods that help children and young adults learn deeply, suggesting that age does not require a fundamentally different approach—just one that respects and builds on life experience.

The study builds on earlier research by the same team, which examined nineteen highly educated women in the “third age.” That research found that many participants felt they were learning better than at any earlier stage of life. They reported deeper understanding because they could connect new knowledge to decades of accumulated experience, challenging stereotypes about cognitive decline.

Shavit highlighted the psychological benefits of later-life learning. “Older adulthood is a time of real psychological depth,” he said. “When education taps into older adults’ motivations, like the search for meaning, connection, and self-understanding, it becomes not just effective, but deeply rewarding.”

Despite growing evidence supporting active, meaningful learning, many programs for older adults still rely on lecture-based formats. In the United States alone, the broader continuing education sector—which includes adult courses, vocational programs, and professional training—was valued at USD 66.9 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach about USD 96 billion by 2030. Yet a substantial portion of this spending continues to flow into formats that do not align with older adults’ learning needs.

The study suggests that universities, community colleges, and online learning platforms can apply these findings by redesigning courses to incorporate group discussions, hands-on projects, problem-solving exercises, and real-world case studies.

Employers and health programs can also benefit from these insights. Workplace training for older employees can shift from passive instruction to interactive workshops, mentorship, and collaborative problem-solving, boosting skill acquisition and motivation. Similarly, cognitive health initiatives—such as language classes, skill-building workshops, or lifelong learning programs—can help maintain mental sharpness, support emotional well-being, and even contribute to longer, more engaged lives, turning education into both a professional and personal resource for older adults.

“Older adults are not a separate category requiring entirely different rules,” Zohar said. “They are part of the continuous story of human learning, and education should treat them that way.”

By Pesach Benson • December 7, 2025

Jerusalem, 7 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — For many adults recovering from cancer, finishing treatment does not mean the end of challenges. Subtle but disruptive changes in memory, attention, and mental processing—often called “chemobrain”—can make work, relationships, and everyday routines unexpectedly difficult. A new study offers hope that a remote, group-based cognitive rehabilitation program can help survivors regain confidence, improve daily functioning, and feel less alone in the process.

The intervention combines cognitive training exercises with occupational-therapy–based strategies and weekly group sessions conducted entirely online. In the pilot study, a small group of adults participated in six weekly meetings and engaged in personalized digital brain-training activities.

Participants reported noticeable improvements in their ability to manage everyday tasks, from organizing work projects to handling household responsibilities. Beyond cognitive gains, many said the group format helped them feel understood and supported, providing emotional validation and a sense of community that eased the isolation often experienced after cancer treatment.

The remote, online format allowed participants to join from home, making it easier to fit the program into their daily routines. Its digital, group-based design also makes the intervention scalable, offering the potential to reach a larger number of survivors without the logistical challenges of in-person programs.

“Cancer survivors often tell us they feel like they’ve ‘lost’ parts of themselves after treatment,” said Prof. Yafit Gilboa, the principal investigator of the study. “Our goal was to offer a practical, compassionate, and accessible way to help them regain control—to show them that their cognitive challenges are real, understandable, and, importantly, treatable. Seeing participants improve in the activities that matter most to them is exactly why we do this work.”

While improvements in objective cognitive tests were modest—common in research on cancer-related cognitive impairment—most participants reported meaningful gains in self-perceived cognitive functioning.

The program, known as CRAFT-G (Cognitive Retraining and Functional Treatment – Group version), was developed by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Based on these promising early results, the team concludes that the approach is both feasible and potentially effective. They recommend larger trials to further validate its benefits, and a new study is already underway focusing on breast cancer survivors.

The research, published in *Supportive Care in Cancer* under the title “Remote group intervention for adults with cancer-related cognitive impairment: a feasibility study,” highlights the potential of online, group-based interventions to help survivors manage the cognitive effects of cancer treatment and reclaim their daily lives.

By Pesach Benson • November 24, 2025

Jerusalem, 24 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — A study that could influence everything from child development research to the design of more natural-sounding AI argues that human language arose not from one evolutionary breakthrough but from the gradual convergence of biological capacities and cultural learning, according to Israeli scientists.

For centuries, scientists and philosophers have sought to explain how humans evolved the ability to speak, create grammar, and share meaning. Despite language being one of the defining traits of the human species, its roots have remained elusive.

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem attempted to break the impasse by bringing together findings from linguistics, psychology, genetics, neuroscience, and animal communication, creating what the authors describe as a unified framework for understanding language evolution.

Their study, recently published in the peer-reviewed Science journal, argues that language must be understood as a biocultural phenomenon built from multiple evolutionary threads rather than a single origin point.

“Crucially, our goal was not to come up with our own particular explanation of language evolution,” said first author Inbal Arnon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Instead, we wanted to show how multifaceted and biocultural perspectives, combined with newly emerging sources of data, can shed new light on old questions.”

The researchers argue that no isolated biological or cultural capacity can explain the emergence of language. Human communication, they say, arose from the intersection of abilities such as producing novel sounds, recognizing patterns, forming complex social bonds, and transmitting knowledge within and across generations. This interaction between biology and culture, they believe, is essential for understanding how language became the richly structured system humans use today.

“The multifaceted nature of language can make it difficult to study, but also expands horizons for understanding its evolutionary origins,” said co-author Simon Fisher of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Radboud University. “Rather than looking for that one special thing that singles humans out, we can identify different facets involved in language, and productively study them not just in our own species but also in non-human animals from different branches of the evolutionary tree.”

The authors caution that research has sometimes stalled because different scientific disciplines examined language in isolation. They argue that advancing the field requires an integrated approach capable of capturing the full range of biological and cultural forces that shape communication.

To illustrate the value of their framework, the paper examines three areas where a biocultural perspective helps clarify long-standing questions.

One focus is vocal learning, a skill crucial for human speech but limited among our closest primate relatives. Species such as birds, bats, and whales show far stronger vocal-learning abilities, and the authors say those comparisons offer key insights into human speech.

The research also highlights the slow emergence of linguistic structure, saying grammar took shape over generations through repeated use and cultural transmission, a process evident in the development of new sign languages and in laboratory simulations.

The study also points to the social foundations of language, noting that humans’ strong inclination to share information underpins communication yet appears rarely in other animals.

The findings offer several practical implications. For early childhood language interventions, the framework suggests that difficulties in speech or comprehension may arise from different underlying facets — such as vocal learning, pattern recognition, or social motivation — allowing clinicians to target therapies more precisely rather than treating language as a single, uniform skill.

The study also has relevance for artificial intelligence, indicating that communication systems become complex not through one breakthrough but through gradual cultural transmission and social interaction. AI models designed to learn in more interactive, human-like ways could develop more natural communication abilities.

Additionally, the biocultural approach may help researchers better understand and diagnose communication disorders by showing which specific components of language break down in conditions such as autism, developmental language disorder, or aphasia, leading to more focused and effective treatments.

By Pesach Benson • November 23, 2025

Jerusalem, 23 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israeli Baja motorcycle racer Alona Ben Natan on Sunday took second place in the Dubai Baja World Cup, propelling her to the number one female racer in the overall Baja World Cup.

“This race, for me, what was important is to finish the race because I am leading the world championship in the female category,” Ben Natan told The Press Service of Israel after the race.

Other races on the Baja World Cup circuit include Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

“I wasn’t in Saudi Arabia or Jordan because of the situation, but I competed in other races. Most of them I finished first or second. That’s why I have the highest qualification,” the 36-year-old Ben Natan explained to TPS-IL.

In Baja racing, competitors thread their way from waypoint to waypoint, making split-second route choices over hundreds of kilometers each day. “It’s all about navigation, focus and to ride very fast,” Ben Natan explained to TPS-IL while training for the Dubai race.

She hopes to amass enough points and sponsors to participate in the Dakar Rally.