You look just fine – when pain is invisible
DNA spacewalk
Can bacteria grow in space? How do cells respond to radiation? Geneticist Prof. Joseph Borg realised that to find out, he must make some friends outside his discipline.
Continue readingKeep Calm and Factor This
Author: Malcolm Pace
People suffering from haemophilia, an inherited disorder, will bleed for much longer after an injury, bruise easily, and risk internal bleeding in joints or brain. This is a widely studied condition with unique variations in the disorder to Malta. While pursuing an M.Sc. in Applied Biomedical Science, I have profiled and found the contributing genes in all Maltese patients and compared them to patients abroad.
Continue readingI, in the Sky
Author: Andrea Francesca Bellia
This summer, I was fortunate to experience the rigorous process of academic research and publishing. Under the supervision of Dr Sandro Lanfranco, I examined the efficiency of using a drone to obtain large-scale vegetation maps, which resulted in a paper in the journal Xjenza Online. The study shows how influential technology has become, even in traditionally ‘low-tech’ fields like ecology.
Continue readingWhere Archaeology, Physics, and Artificial Intelligence Meet
Author: Dr Marc Tanti
Ancient Egypt is famous for the mummies of Pharaohs, but did you know that there are many mummified animals? Studying them offers scientists a wealth of knowledge on the method and motivation behind this practice. But mummies are fragile artefacts, and museum curators don’t generally appreciate archaeologists dissecting their specimens. To get around this, X-rays help researchers peek inside the mummies without damaging them.
After finishing my Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, I started working as a research support officer at the University of Malta on a collaborative project with archaeologists at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), a research institute in France. These archaeologists are studying animal mummies from museum collections, such as the Museum of Grenoble, in order to learn about their structure. This institute is better known for its particle accelerator, which sets electrons flying at nearly the speed of light to understand the shape of drugs and other molecules. So, what’s the link with mummies?
Continue readingMake cognitive science your agony aunt
If you need to rekindle romantic feelings, your decisions should be evidence-based. Lorna Muscat Baron writes.
Continue readingA Quantum Leap for Communication
A team of scientists from around the world has recently shown that quantum mechanics can be used to create a super-secure telecommunications link between Malta and Sicily. Laura Bonnici meets with the project’s leader in Malta, Prof. André Xuereb, to discover how Malta could be pivotal in the development of a brand new communications technology.
Continue readingSave the night
The sky goes on forever, the stars; they wait each night for someone to find them,
in quiet spots as yet unspoiled by light and mayhem.
Nina Rosner — ‘Malta’
Author: Dr Joseph Caruana
The dwindling, peaceful glimmer of twilight promises a clear night. The vivid yellows and oranges give way to more subtle hues until a deep and ever-darkening blue takes over. Slowly, the velvety sky turns into a black canvas peppered with twinkling lights, as the first eerie cries of shearwater birds are heard in the distance.
This magical spectacle plays out most evenings at Dwejra, Gozo. This popular tourist site is one of the last places on the Maltese Islands that offer a sufficiently dark sky to observe our home galaxy — the Milky Way. The proliferation of badly designed exterior lighting all over the islands means that it is impossible to fully escape the deleterious effects of light pollution. This westernmost region of Gozo is as far as one can get to escape the glow of artificial light emanating from the rest of the Maltese Islands.
Continue readingSaving the skates
Author: Gail Sant
They’re called ‘skates’. Yes, like the shoes. Like sting rays, but less popular.
If I had a penny for every time I uttered those words throughout my dissertation years, I’d be a rich woman. You’d think that skates, a regular at the daily fish market, would be part of people’s general fish-knowledge. But it came to me as no surprise, considering how culinarily, environmentally, and economically unappreciated they are.
Continue readingMathematical equation of breast tissue
Author: Daphne Anne Pollacco
Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall. Malta ranked at number 17 among the 25 countries with the highest rates of breast cancer in 2018, according to World Cancer Research Fund International.
Cancer patients often need X-ray imaging for diagnosis and to track recovery. But X-ray radiation is a double-edged sword. It can help to spot the cancer, but it can also contribute to the problem.
Radiation can change the molecular and atomic structure of tissue, potentially leading to other cancers developing. But do any other technologies exist that could achieve the same result without harming patients?
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