Publications

lab members ⋅ preprint available ⋅ open access ⋅ project repository ⋅ slides ⋅ eq equal contribution ⋅ Scholar

  1. Yosef T, Samuni L, Ram Y. 2026. Evolution of Menopause and the Mama's Boy Hypothesis. Submitted.

  2. Barkai R, Assaf E, Efrati B, Simon T, Mudrik L, Ram Y. 2026. Homo Memorabiliaxis: Souvenirs and the Evolution of Autobiographical Memory and Self. Submitted.

  3. Karstadt R, Shiff C, Oron T, Ben Nun N, Ram Y. 2026. Transmission of human handedness: a reanalysis. Evolutionary Human Sciences. DOI:10.1017/ehs.2026.10038

  4. Ben Nun N, Rosset S, Gresham D, Ram Y. 2026. Collective Posterior Inference from Highly Variable Empirical Replicates. bioRxiv. DOI:10.64898/2026.01.26.701673

  5. Yesharim M, Perl RGB, Roll U, Gafny S, Geffen E, Ram Y. 2026. Near-perfect photo-ID of the Hula painted frog with zero-shot deep local-feature matching. arXiv. DOI:10.48550/arXiv.2601.08798

  6. Stana R, Ben-David U, Weissman DB, Ram Y. 2025. Evolutionary rescue by aneuploidy in tumors exposed to anti-cancer drugs. Genetics. DOI:10.1093/genetics/iyaf098

  7. Oron T, Karstadt R, Ram Y. 2025. A Modern Reanalysis of McManus’ Genetic Model of Handedness. EcoEvoRxiv. DOI:10.32942/X25W7S

  8. De T, Ben Nun N, Spealman P, Suresh I, Avecilla G, Abdul-Rahman F, Ram Y, Gresham D. 2025. Segmental copy number amplifications are more stable than aneuploidies in the absence of selection. bioRxiv. DOI:10.1101/2025.07.21.665951

  9. Chuong J, Ben Nun N, Suresh I, Matthews J, De T, Avecilla G, Abdul-Rahman F, Brandt N, Ram Y, Gresham, D. 2025. Template switching during DNA replication is a prevalent source of adaptive gene amplification. eLife. DOI:10.7554/eLife.98934.3

  10. Macdonald JC, Blanco-Portillo J, Feldman MW, Ram Y. 2024. Bayesian Estimation of the Number of Significant Principal Components for Cultural Data. arXiv. DOI:10.48550/arXiv.2409.12129

  11. Macdonald JC, Blanco-Portillo J, Feldman MW, Ram Y. 2024. Cultural transmission, networks, and clusters among Austronesian-speaking peoples. Evolutionary Human Sciences. DOI:10.1017/ehs.2024.45

  12. Galke L, Ram Y, Raviv L. 2024. Deep neural networks and humans both benefit from compositional language structure. Nature Communications. DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-55158-1

  13. Egozi S, Ram Y. 2024. Prestige bias in cultural evolutionary dynamics. Royal Society Open Science. DOI:10.1098/rsos.230650

  14. Shvartzman B, Ram Y. 2024. Self-replicating artificial neural networks give rise to universal evolutionary dynamics. PLOS Computational Biology, DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012004

  15. Kohanovski I, Pontz M, Vande Zande P, Selmecki A, Dahan O, Pilpel Y, Yona AH, Ram Y. 2024. Aneuploidy can be an evolutionary diversion on the path to adaptation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, DOI:10.1093/molbev/msae052

  16. Ram Y. 2024. The evolution of modifier genes. Nature Reviews Genetics, DOI:10.1038/s41576-024-00724-y

  17. Borofsky T, Feldman MW, Ram Y. 2024. Cultural transmission, competition for prey, and the evolution of cooperative hunting. Theoretical Population Biology, DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2023.12.005

  18. Pontz M, Stana R, Ram Y. 2023. Fixation probability and fixation time under strong recurrent mutation. EcoEvoRxiv. DOI:10.32942/X23P4Z

  19. Lobinska G, Pilpel Y, Ram Y. 2023. Phenotype switching of the mutation rate facilitates adaptive evolution. Genetics. DOI:10.1093/genetics/iyad111

  20. Caspi I, Meir M, Ben Nun N, Abu Rass R, Yakhini U, Stern A, Ram Y. 2023. Mutation Rate, Selection, and Epistasis Inferred from RNA Virus Haplotypes via Neural Posterior Estimation. Virus Evolution. DOI:10.1093/ve/vead033

  21. Denton KK, Ram Y, Feldman MW. 2023. Conditions that favor cumulative cultural evolution. Philosophical Transactions B. DOI:10.1098/rstb.2021.0400

  22. Avecilla G, Chuong JN, Li F, Sherlock G, Gresham D, Ram Y. 2022. Neural networks allow efficient and accurate simulation-based inference of evolutionary parameters from adaptation dynamics. PLOS Biology. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001633

  23. Kohanovski I, Obolski U, Ram Y. 2022. Inferring the effective start dates of non-pharmaceutical interventions during COVID-19 outbreaks. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. DOI:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.12.364

  24. Cohen O, Ram Y, Hadany L, Gafny S, Geffen E. 2022. The effect of habitat and climatic on microsatellite diversity and allele length variation. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. DOI:10.3389/fevo.2022.893856

  25. Kolodny O, Feldman MW, Lotem A, Ram Y. 2022. Differential application of cultural practices at the family and individual levels may alter heritability estimates. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. DOI:10.1017/S0140525X21001576

  26. Gurevich Y, Ram Y, Hadany L. 2022. Modeling the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 under non-pharmaceutical interventions and testing. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. DOI:10.1093/emph/eoac013

  27. Galke L, Ram Y, Raviv L. 2022. Emergent Communication for Understanding Human Language Evolution: What’s Missing? Emergent Communication Workshop at ICLR 2022. DOI:10.48550/arXiv.2204.10590

  28. Denton KK, Ram Y, Feldman MW. 2022. Conformity and content-biased cultural transmission in the evolution of altruism. Theoretical Population Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2021.10.004

  29. Cohen O, Ram Y, Hadany L, Gafny S, Geffen E. 2021. Annual climatic fluctuations and short-term genetic variation in the eastern spadefoot toad. Scientific Reports. DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-92696-w

  30. Gutiérrez R, Ram Y, Berman J, de Sousa KCM, Nachum-Biala Y, Britzi M, Elad D, Glaser G, Covo S, Harrus S. 2021. Adaptive resistance mutations at supra-inhibitory concentrations independent of SOS mutagenesis. Molecular Biology and Evolution. DOI:10.1093/molbev/msab196

  31. Cohen D, Lewin-Epstein O, Feldman MW, Ram Y. 2021. Non-Vertical Cultural Transmission, Assortment, and the Evolution of Cooperation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2020.3162

  32. Arthur RF, Jones JH, Bonds MH, Ram Y, Feldman, MW. 2021. Adaptive social contact rates induce complex dynamics during epidemics. PLOS Computational Biology. DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008639 Stanford News | ACSH

  33. Kolodny O, Berger M, Feldman MW, Ram Y. 2020. A new perspective for mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 infection: priming the immune system for attack. Open Biology. DOI:10.1098/rsob.200138

  34. Denton KK, Ram Y, Liberman U, Feldman MW. 2020. Cultural evolution of conformity and anticonformity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. DOI:10.1073/pnas.2004102117

  35. Ram Y, Obolski U, Feldman MW, Berman J, Hadany L. 2020. Reply to Balsa-Canto et al.: Growth models are applicable to growth data, not to stationary-phase data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1917758117

  36. Liberman U, Ram Y, Altenberg L, Feldman MW. 2019. The Evolution of frequency-dependent cultural transmission. Theoretical Population Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2019.12.004

  37. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2019. The evolution of stress-induced mutagenesis in the presence of horizontal gene transfer. The American Naturalist. DOI:10.1086/703457

  38. Ram Y, Dellus-Gur E, Bibi M, Karkare K, Obolski U, Feldman MW, Cooper TF, Berman J, Hadany L. 2019. Predicting microbial relative growth in a mixed culture from growth curve data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1902217116

  39. Zinger E, Guiejman A, Obolski U, Ram Y, Ruby E, Binder M, Yechieli N, Ohad N, Hadany L. 2019. Less fit Lamium amplexicaule plants produce more dispersible seeds. Scientific Reports. DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-42158-1

  40. Ram Y, Liberman U, Feldman MW. 2019. Vertical and oblique cultural transmission fluctuating in time and in space. Theoretical Population Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2018.11.001

  41. Ram Y, Liberman U, Feldman MW. 2018. Vertical and oblique transmission under fluctuating selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1719171115

  42. Ram Y, Altenberg L, Liberman U, Feldman MW. 2018. Generation of variation and a modified mean fitness principle: Necessity is the mother of genetic invention. Theoretical Population Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2018.02.004

  43. Obolski Ueq, Ram Yeq, Hadany L. 2018. Evolution on rugged adaptive landscapes. Reports on Progress in Physics. DOI:10.1088/1361-6633/aa94d4

  44. Harari Y, Ram Y, Kupiec M. 2018. Frequent ploidy changes in growing yeast cultures. Current Genetics. DOI:10.1007/s00294-018-0823-y

  45. Harari Y, Ram Y, Rappoport N, Hadany L, Kupiec M. 2018. Spontaneous changes in ploidy are common in yeast. Current Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.062

  46. Rougier NP, et al. 2017. Sustainable computational science: the ReScience initiative. PeerJ Computer Science. DOI:10.7717/peerj-cs.142.

  47. Dellus-Gur E, Ram Y, Hadany L. 2017. Errors in mutagenesis and the benefit of cell-to-cell signalling in the evolution of stress-induced mutagenesis. Royal Society Open Science. DOI:10.1098/rsos.170529

  48. Obolski Ueq, Lewin-Epstein Oeq, Even-Tov E, Ram Y, Hadany L. 2017. With a little help from my friends: cooperation can accelerate the rate of adaptive valley crossing. BMC Evolutionary Biology. DOI:10.1186/s12862-017-0983-2

  49. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2016. Condition-dependent sex: who does it, when, and why? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. DOI:10.1098/rstb.2015.0539

  50. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2015. The probability of improvement in Fisher's geometric model: a probabilistic approach. Theoretical Population Biology. DOI:10.1016/j.tpb.2014.10.004

  51. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2014. Stress-induced mutagenesis and complex adaptation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2014.1025

  52. Gueijman A, Ayali A, Ram Y, Hadany L. 2013. Dispersing away from bad environments: The evolution of fitness-associated dispersal (FAD) in homogeneous environments. BMC Evolutionary Biology. DOI:10.1186/1471-2148-13-125

  53. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2012. The evolution of stress-induced hypermutation in asexual populations. Evolution. DOI:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01576.x

Software & Datasets

  1. Ram Y. 2026. miewid-msv3-latonia-1233 Finetuned checkpoint for Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) photo-ID.. Hugging Face.

  2. Perl RGB, Yesharim M, Roll U, Gafny S, Ram Y, Geffen E. 2026. Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer) individual photo-ID dataset. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.18989220.

  3. Zinger E, Ram Y, Hadany L, Ohad N. 2019. Lamium amplexicaule seed photo set for image characterization. FigShare. DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.11446380

  4. Ram Y. 2019. Curveball: Predicting microbial growth in a mixed culture from growth curve data. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.3263379.

  5. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2019. Mamba: Version Baptiste. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.2563549.

  6. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2019. Data from: Evolution of stress-induced mutagenesis in the presence of horizontal gene transfer. Dryad Digital Repository. DOI:10.5061/dryad.5t9211b.

  7. Ram Y, Zinger E, Hadany L. 2017. Sid: Image processing for seed images. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.344898.

  8. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2014. Data from: Stress-induced mutagenesis and complex adaptation. Dryad Digital Repository. DOI:10.5061/dryad.3066j.

  9. Ram Y, Guiejman A, Hadany L. 2014. proevolution simulation: Version Dobzhansky. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.11400.

  10. Ram Y, Hadany L. 2014. proevolution simulation: Version Charles. Zenodo. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.11401.