think_admin, Author at THINK Magazine

That amazing Baroque world

St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta (Photo by Michal Szymanski / Shutterstock, Inc.)

The Baroque period was a time of great upheaval. Monarchs believed in the divine right to rule, a notion continuously threatened by the relentless spread of the Ottoman Empire. Civilisations clashed like never before, opposing religious ideals stoking that vicious fire. Curiously, this was also the age when science, technology, and art were making their own grand strides. The cannon and the musket altered military landscapes. The studies of Descartes, Kepler, and Newton revolutionised thought. Borromini, Bernini, Guarini, and Caravaggio altered the artistic world.

Extreme stars unlock gravitational secrets

Our understanding of gravity has changed over the years and will likely continue to as researchers arm themselves with new ideas tested by increasingly sophisticated technology. Dr Jackson Levi Said, Mark Pace, and Filippos Nachmias (University of Malta [UoM]) tell THINK more about their mission to unlock gravity’s secrets from neutron stars.

Albert Einstein atom black holes compact stars dark matter einstein electromagnetism energy expanding universe Fritz Zwicky galaxy gravitational collapse gravity Institute of Space Science & Astronomy Isaac Newton ISSA neutrons newton particles quantum gravity quantum physics radioactive decay space stars theory of relativity universe university of malta UoM Walter Baade

Why write?

By Prof Victor Grech

All academics are constantly encouraged to share their research with the world through journals. Furthering knowledge is the aim, providing colleagues far and wide with a building block on which to potentially further their own work. But are these noble motivations what really drive researchers to publish? According to a study by Bryan Coles (1993), the short answer is no.

It has been shown that authors in the sciences publish primarily to disseminate their own work (54%). Other reasons are the furthering of career prospects (20%), improving funding opportunities (13%), ego (9%), and patent protection (4%).

Clearly, there are huge personal motivations to publish, and with good reason. Globalisation has seen job competition rocket. Today, finding a job opening is hard enough, let alone climbing the career ladder. The term ‘publish or perish’ takes on a more threatening and terrifying overtone as this is now literal and no longer a metaphor.

Careers depend on publishing.I research is conducted without being written up as a paper and accepted in a reputable journal, then it is almost as if it has simply not been done at all. It has not been given official public recognition. Not only this, but even if one has a worthwhile research project to investigate and write up, there are many intervening steps that must be negotiated before a paper can be completed; from drafting a proposal for ethics and data protection, to opting co-authors, all the way to dealing with rejections, editors, and resubmissions, the road to publication is a rocky one.

Understandably, the process can be daunting for many. Thankfully, there are people and courses specifically tailored to help researchers with this. How to Write a Scientific Paper (WASP) is one of them: this is a three-day intensive course being held in London at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, with formal lectures and interactive sessions that will help researchers not only start their journey to publishing, but also see it through.

The organisers are also tentatively planning to hold another of these courses in Malta in 2017.

For more information, visit the Maltime website and the event on Facebook.

#research #science How to Write a Scientific Paper London paper publishing Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health victor grech wasp writing

Don’t THINK — December 2016 Edition

By Dr Ġorġ Mallia

2016 comic don't think gorg mallia

Brain enhancing drugs

This is a murky area to discuss. Cognitive-Enhancing drugs are usually used to treat conditions such as sleeping disorders and ADHD. However, if taken by a person (and we do not recommend these pills) without these conditions, they can enhance the brain for a short time. But no gain comes without pain.

Side effects are a problem. Take coffee, a weak stimulant that increases focus for a short period. A person slowly builds up tolerance and an addiction to the effect of caffeine. The ability to maintain a normal state of focus now requires that cup of coffee. Mind enhancement drugs taken without a prescription could lead to sharper wits in the short term, however they could lead to addiction in the long term. Ritalin and Adderall, prescribed for ADHD, can also lead to heart problems.

The benefits many of these drugs give are usually minor—nothing like the movie Limitless. But while our minds do have limits, they are probably fewer than one might expect, especially if we push ourselves that extra mile.

Send in your science questions to think@um.edu.mt

adderall ADHD alexander Alexander Hili brain cognitive drugs enhancing focus hili limitless ritalin

Road to resilience

Hardships do not befall us all in equal measure. Cassi Camilleri talks to Prof. Carmel Cefai about his work at the Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health and the dedicated curriculum that seeks to impart the skill of resilience to those who need it most.

cassi camilleri Centre for Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health Children classroom collaboration disadvantaged children discrimination exclusion intercultural mental health mindfulness parenting positive positive thinking positivity RESCUR resilience school social inclusion society students Surfing the Waves teachers transnational UM university of malta

The Continuity Product

Individuals crave security, stability, continuity, and the option to create change. How? By retaining project progress. Your Continuity Product can make this happen. Your policy, concept, or idea is for the benefit of humanity, not just your lifetime. Even though Steve Jobs has passed away, your iPhone still blinks. A continuity mind frame is what lies behind successful enterprise. A continuity product is packaged in four parts: one, your team is indifferent to pressure; two, you are not in recovery mode, you take action; three, key resources are always ready; four, Big Data will manage your stats and your impacts.

100 word idea big data continuity Dr Rebecca Dalli Gonzi legacy Steve Jobs

Somewhere

Film review by Charlo Pisani

2016 camera charlo pisani Elle Fanning Film Review sofia coppola somewhere Stephen Dorff

Robot see, robot maps

by Rachael N. Darmanin

The term ‘robot’ tends to conjure up images of well-known metal characters like C-3P0, R2-D2, and WALL-E. The robotics research boom has in the end enabled the introduction of real robots into our homes, workspaces, and recreational places. The pop culture icons we loved have now been replaced with the likes of robot vacuums such as the Roomba and home-automated systems for smoke detectors, or WIFI-enabled thermostats, such as the Nest. Nonetheless, building a fully autonomous mobile robot is still a momentous task. In order to purposefully travel around its environment, a mobile robot has to answer the questions ‘where am I?’, ‘where should I go next?’ and ‘how am I going to get there?’

Like humans, mobile robots must have some awareness of their surroundings in order to carry out tasks autonomously. A map comes in handy for humans. A robot could build the map itself while exploring an unknown environment—this is a process called Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM). For the robot to decide which location to explore next, however, an exploration strategy would need to be devised, and the path planner would guide the robot to navigate to the next location, which increases the map’s size.

Rachael Darmanin (supervised by Dr Ing. Marvin Bugeja), used a software framework called Robot Operating System (ROS) to develop a robot system that can explore and map an unknown environment on its own. Darmanin used a differential-drive-wheeled mobile robot, dubbed PowerBot, equipped with a laser scanner (LIDAR) and wheel encoders. The algorithms responsible for localising the robot analyse the sensors’ data and construct the map. In her experiments, Darmanin implemented two different exploration strategies, the Nearest Frontier and the Next Best View, on the same system to map the Control Systems Engineering Laboratory. Each experiment ran for approximately two minutes until the robot finished its exploration and produced a map of its surroundings. This was then compared to a map of the environment to evaluate the robot’s mapping accuracy. The Next Best View approach generated the most accurate maps.

Mobile robots with autonomous exploration and mapping capabilities have massive relevance to society. They can aid hazardous exploration, like nuclear disasters, or access uncharted archaeological sites. They could also help in search and rescue operations where they would be used to navigate in disaster-stricken environments. For her doctorate, Darmanin is now looking into how multiple robots can work together to survey a large area—with a few other solutions in between.