SPRING 2018 No. 13 Artificial Intelligence Are we outsmarting ourselves? Prof. Ruth Arnon’s one-shot strategy Sami and Tova Sagol From the President Dear Friends, Technology has vastly changed the way we live our lives today, as compared to several decades ago—or even five years ago. It has revolutionized the way we work, how our medical ailments are diagnosed, how our cars keep us safe, and the way in which scientific research is conducted. But what if this revolution is just the beginning? The age of artificial intelligence—which integrates a deep understanding of how the human brain works with feats of computer engineering—is perhaps just at the starting gate. In launching a new Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Weizmann Institute is creating a platform for our scientists to invent, plan for, and safely steward in the coming age of AI—ensuring that the next age of computer science will do good for humanity, and preclude a dystopian world in which machines replace humans in all areas of life. You may read about our efforts in AI in this issue, among many other exciting developments in science. I would also like to turn your attention to stories on Sami and Tova Sagol, who recently generously Credits funded the new Sagol Institute for Longevity Research and are funding a new collaboration with A publication of the Department of Resource Development MIT; and on Ted Teplow and David Teplow, who have their own personal ties with the Institute—and a very Editorial staff special family connection to its very origins. Prof. Israel Bar-Joseph, Vice President for Resource th Development and Public Affairs ¶ Kelly Avidan, Our 69 Annual General Meeting of the International Director, Department of Resource Development Board in November was a big success, and I’m ¶ Tamar Morad, Head, Donor Communications looking forward to the Global Gathering of the ¶ Heidi Shulman, Publications Coordinator Weizmann Institute, which will take place in Boston in early June. Writing Staff Debbie Bruce, Sandy Cash, Anne Sperling, Sharon Udasin Shaniv Sincerely, Illusration Tal Bavli-Ziv Prof. Daniel Zajfman Graphic Design President, Weizmann Institute of Science Alexey Kletsel, Netgo Ltd. Photography Itai Belson, Ohad Herches of the Weizmann Institute Photo Lab ¶ Eclipse Productions ¶ Julia Farache, lab of Prof. Guy Shakhar ¶ Grainge Photography ¶ Frank Hommes in Wikimedia Commons ¶ IDE Technologies Ltd. ¶ Yael Ilan ¶ Ceri Jones, Haven Diving Services ¶ Raphael Melnick ¶ Ernesto Monkas ¶ Gil Tamin ¶ Joshua Touster ¶ Visit WeizmannCompass: Weizmann Institute Archives, Haim Ziv www.weizmann.ac.il/WeizmannCompass מכון ויצמן למדע SPRING 2018 Table of Contents 1 New Scientists Spotlight On Profile of a Pair 8 Dr. Efrat Shema: the 42 Sami and Tova Sagol 56 Milvia Perinot and epigenetics of cancer Prof. Michal Neeman Science Briefs Spotlight On Beyond the Bench 2 Sting operation 18 A Boston beginning 54 Prof. Ruth Arnon's 3 Autism and the smell of fear one-shot strategy 4 Cave dwellings; scallops; Special Section next-generation immunology; 24 Annual General Meeting of the Alumni th global yogurt craze; fish larvae; 69 International Board 58 Safeguarding our H₂O a big brain magnet; and the 26 Q&A with Prof. Jehuda Reinharz Human Cell Atlas Project Education Science Feature 60 The personalized classroom New Scientists 36 Like clockwork: Why circadian 10 Dr. Assaf Gal: materials of the sea rhythms matter Students 62 Big data, big dreams Cover story Weizmann World 12 Artificial intelligence: Are we 48 Committee news, events on outsmarting ourselves? campus, and more… מכון ויצמן למדע Science Briefs Sting operation How malaria parasites trick the immune system alaria parasites are known to be master manipulators, capable of making drastic changes during their lifecycle that promote M their survival. But now, research by Dr. Neta Regev-Rudzki of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences has revealed a previously unknown defense strategy that is downright devious: malaria parasites generate “decoy” messages that misdirect the body’s immune response. This provides a critical window of opportunity during which the parasites can replicate freely with no immune involvement, making malaria infection more difficult to contain. In her previous research, parasites’ devious message: a Dr. Regev-Rudzki discovered that protein that goes by the acronym malaria-infected red blood cells STING, which is activated communicate by exchanging during nanovesicle infiltration vesicles—tiny, membrane- of the monocytes. bound sacs—that contain a specific collection of “We knocked out the genes, RNA, and proteins. gene that codes for the This vesicle-encased cargo STING protein, and as throws the normal immune a result, the chain of response off-balance, molecular reactions that allowing the parasite to live on, generated the misleading and to infect again. signaling was interrupted,” says Dr. Regev-Rudzki. “We discovered In the current study, performed in a subversive strategy used by the collaboration with Prof. Andrew G. Bowie of malaria parasite to thrive in human blood, Trinity College Dublin and other researchers, g Dr. Neta Regev- as well as a way to block it.” Rudzki Dr. Regev-Rudzki identified the decoy messages’ cellular recipient: immune cells Further studies related to this mechanism called monocytes which normally form the body’s may point the way toward new clinical therapies first line of defense against foreign attack. for malaria, a dreaded disease that kills an estimated half-million Within the first 12 hours of infection, malarial people annually. parasites generate DNA-filled nanovesicles that penetrate monocytes. This causes other immune mechanisms to rush to the monocytes’ defense, leaving the malaria parasites safe to replicate and spread. Dr. Regev-Rudzki and her team identified the molecule responsible for trumpeting out the מכון ויצמן למדע SPRING 2018 Science Briefs 2–3 Autism and the smell of fear s there an odor associated with fear? A recent study at the Weizmann Institute not only confirms I that there is, but also reveals that individuals with autism perceive fear-associated odors—like sweat the fear-induced sweat produced measurable from an anxious skydiver—in a way that is different increases in skin conductivity—a physiological from how smells are experienced by individuals who response associated with heightened anxiety are not on the autistic spectrum. in which the skin momentarily becomes a better conductor of electricity. (This is the same difference It has long been recognized that certain emotions— in conductivity that provides the “true or false” including happiness, aggression, and fear—are indication on lie detector tests). Exposure to the associated with specific smells produced by the sweat gathered under calm conditions did not trigger body, and that people respond to such odors, even this response in this same control group. if they are not consciously aware of their existence. Prof. Noam Sobel and his team in the Department of Participants with autism, on the other hand, Neurobiology set out to test whether, like other forms responded in the opposite manner: fear-induced of social communication, this “smell sense” is sweat lowered their fear responses, while the disrupted in the case of autism. odor of “calm sweat” measurable raised anxiety levels. Working with a group of participants on the high-functioning end of the In a separate set of experiments, autism spectrum who volunteered Prof. Sobel and his team evaluated for the study, as well as a control how the unconscious perception group of individuals without ASD, the of fear-associated odors affected scientists began by verifying that all participants’ response to social cues. participants had a similar ability to The scientists created talking robotic sense and identify odors that can be mannequins that emitted different consciously detected. Then, the two odors through their nostrils. These groups were exposed to an odor that mannequins gave the volunteers—who went under the olfactory radar: the smell were unaware of the olfactory aspect of of fear. the experiment—different tasks designed g Prof. Noam Sobel to evaluate the level of trust that the Prof. Sobel and his team exposed the study volunteers placed in the mannequins. participants to two different samples of human sweat. In the first sample, the sweat was collected The mannequins emitted the same sweat-based from people while they were exercising, in a fear-free odors as in the previous experiment, and again, they environment. The second sample was gathered found that the response to the smells was reversed in from the same people while they participated autistic participants as opposed to the control group. in an activity that is highly correlated with fear: The ASD participants placed more trust in the “fear skydiving classes. smell” mannequin, as opposed to the mannequin that exuded a “calm smell.” These results suggest Presented with the “fear-neutral” and “fear-enhanced” that people with ASD can misread olfactory cues, sweat, the two groups of participants responded in something that may contribute to their confusion two very different ways. In the control group, smelling about social cues. מכון ויצמן למדע Science Briefs g Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto European artists’ Middle Eastern roots he prehistoric culture that left us spectacular the Ahmarians moved out of the Middle East, and cave paintings, exquisite statuettes and expertly- slowly evolved into art-making Aurignacians as they T crafted bone tools across western Europe made their way to Europe. What, then, is the source seems to have sprung from an earlier, similar human of the bone-based Aurignacian tools found in the culture of the Middle East. What’s more, according to Israeli cave? researchers at the DANGOOR Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (D-REAMS) Laboratory at the Radiocarbon dating provides evidence that while Weizmann Institute of Science, once the population expanding through Europe, some Aurignacians that produced these early artists arrived in Europe, returned to the Middle East and that, in some cases, some individuals executed a U-turn, and high-tailed it they reoccupied the same caves their ancestors back to the Near Eastern corridor.