"Participating in a COST network offered me an unexpected opportunity to upgrade my research by introducing novel and promising approaches that couldn't be obtained without this collaboration.
COST made it possible to meet Prof. Anna Zamensky from the Technion Institute. During our discussions we realized that we can extend our collaboration beyond COST. One of the projects that we study in my lab aims to investigate the effects of Artificial Light At Night (ALAN; light pollution) on physiology, behavior, and brain plasticity in birds. Among other aspects, we compare the locomotion activity of birds that are exposed to either complete dark nights (control birds) or to nights that are polluted with low-intensity illumination (experimental birds). Until recently, we analyzed these data manually, with a method that limited the recording capacity, and was also very time consuming. However, due to Anna's expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), our data is now analyzed in her lab, using state-of-the-art techniques. This promising collaboration offers a new way of approaching the question of whether ALAN affects sleep behavior in birds.
This is only one a great example of the possible benefits arising from these networks."
Prof. Anat Barnea, Department of Natural Sciences, partner in COST network entitled: “LIFT: Lifting farm animal lives – laying the foundations for positive animal welfare” .