University news and updates at a glance

The issue of vaccination hesitancy and refusal often makes headlines in the media and worries health authorities. However, a new study by Dr. Anat Gesser-Edelsburg, Dr. Yaffa Shir-Raz and Prof. Manfred  S. Green  from University of Haifa, School  of Public Health,  published in the Journal of Risk Research suggests that even parents  who are not "vaccine refusers" and who usually  comply  with the routine  vaccination programs may hesitate  or refuse  to vaccinate their children  based  on poor communication from the relevant  healthcare provider, as well as concerns about the safety of the vaccine.

University news and updates at a glance

In two articles recently published in leading journals (Ugarit Forschungen and Semitica), Prof. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa (Department of Biblical Studies) presented important information about the period of David’s reign, based on new archaeological and epigraphic data unearthed in northwestern Syria and southern Turkey.

University news and updates at a glance

In the Community Ecology Lab, headed by Prof. Leon Blaustein, researchers have found a salamander tadpole which has two heads. Researchers at the lab, Dr Ori Segev and Antonina Plavikov, noted that while they had observed an incidence of deformity, especially among the limbs of salamanders,  in the past such cases of two heads were more rare.  The reason for this deformity is unknown,  but the chief theories are pollution of water sources, changes in radiation and the influence of a small population.

University news and updates at a glance  

It is possible to detect when we provide false information regarding our health conditions through our handwriting, according to a new study conducted at the University of Haifa. The study used a computerized system, which was developed by Prof. Sara Rosenblum from the University of Haifa and that was patented recently, to analyze the handwriting process. “Our findings can provide the health care system and insurance companies with a fairly simple tool with which to discover medical fraud, without the need for intrusive devices such as the polygraph that tries to detect physiological changes,” said Dr. Gil Luria, one of the study’s conductors.