The ability to successfully navigate a landscape is a matter survival for both humans and animals, alike. Egyptian fruit bats, for instance, fly dozens of kilometers each night to feed on specific fruit trees, making the return trip the same night. How do they achieve this? In the first-ever GPS-based field study of mammal navigation, Weizmann Institute scientists traced the movements of fruit bats, collecting accurate data on their flight habits and navigational skills. Their findings reveal the impressive navigation skills of bats and show that they orient themselves according to an internal, cognitive map of their home range, based on such visual landmarks as lights or hills.

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How easy is it to falsify memories? Research at the Weizmann Institute shows that a bit of social pressure may be all that is needed. During the experiment, volunteers were asked questions about a film they were shown. A few days later, they were asked to retake the test but this time, they were allowed to see the supposed answers of others in their group. Planted among these were false answers. Seeing these planted responses caused the participants conform to the group. After being told about trick, the volunteers were invited to take the test a third time, but close to half their answers to these questions remained erroneous, implying that the subjects were relying on false memories implanted in the earlier session. The study revealed a unique pattern of brain activity that occurs when false memories are formed, which involves the amygdala – a brain area that plays a role in social interaction.

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A diagnosis of autism is possible only after age three or four; and the tests are subjective, based on behavioral symptoms. Research by Weizmann Institute scientists found, for the first time, a method that can accurately identify a biological sign of autism in very young toddlers. By scanning the brain activity of sleeping children, the scientists discovered that the autistic brains exhibited significantly weaker synchronization between brain areas tied to language and communication, compared to that of non-autistic children. On the basis of the scans, the scientists were able to identify 70% of the autistic children between the ages of one and three.

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