Bar-Ilan University alumna Dr. Dalia Fadila is the recipient of the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor from President Isaac Herzog.

While the production of COVID vaccines could have been the “light at the end of the pandemic tunnel”, this outcome was hampered at critical stages by vaccine hesitancy, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines”.

Prof. Doron Aurbach, of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Chemistry, is among the scientists most cited in academic journals in 2022. This according to a comprehensive analysis conducted by Clarivate, the research company, which calculates the impact factor, using data from its Web of Science platform.

In his two-year-long study, Dr. David Engelberg, of Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Education, notes a relationship between a feeling of optimism or pessimism and adaptation, psychological wellbeing, and life satisfaction of students at the outset of their junior high school studies. In his conclusions he suggests implementing programs to promote optimism among students and teachers.

A four-legged robot capable of navigating complex terrain is used in the laboratory of Dr. Reuth Mirsky, of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Computer Science, for research on promoting interactions between people and artificial intelligence.

Neurons are the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, the cells responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world, for sending motor commands to our muscles, and for transforming and relaying the electrical signals at every step in between. Neurons, also called nerve cells, are composed of three main parts: the cell body, the dendrites and the axon -- a long, thin extension that is responsible for communicating with other cells.

The biological clock is an internal and independent mechanism that dictates daily rhythm, thus enabling an organism to gauge daily and seasonal signals and live in sync with the rhythm of nature, while maintaining timing capabilities that are essential to carrying out important physiological and behavioral processes. For corals, includes breaking down sugar and synthesizing fats, opening and closing their hunting tentacles, and more.