The Death of the Temple People
I’m sorry I forgot: Is dementia Malta’s next national crisis?
In 2010, the total number of individuals with dementia in Malta stood at about 5,000. By 2030 that figure will double to 10,000. The evolution of healthcare technology has bestowed a longer life upon the human race. But this extended lifespan comes at a price. The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases normally associated with old age, such as the many forms of dementia, is on the rise. With no cure in sight, the future depends on the development of effective prevention and care methods. This is the mission of Dr Charles Scerri, Anthony Scerri, and their team as they join forces to battle dementiaContinue reading
The Pool Party: Life at the Extreme
Shrimps, water fleas, waterworts, and pondweeds, this is one wild party. Dry summers with temperatures of over 40 degrees in summer and flooded winters, life in a rockpool is not easy. Decades of research by local ecologists have shed light on this extreme habitat—Dr Sandro Lanfranco, Kelly Briffa, and Sheryl Sammut tell us more.Continue reading
Colouring Chemistry
Smart, logical, and colourful. Dr David Magri and his team develop intelligent molecules. They are not only smart because they perform logical functions, similar to computers, but because they can detect miniscule changes in their surroundings that causes them to emit a large array of colours. These colour changes are intriguing researchers and are a great benefit to society.
An Eventful Research Summer
Maltese summers can be harsh and exhausting. Luckily, this year’s was not a summer to be particularly remembered for its heatwaves or for its breathless nights. Still it is always better to be on holiday, enjoying a sea breeze or, even better, enjoying the beauty of some remote, cool mountainous resort. Some were lucky enough to spend their summer in such manner. Other not so lucky ones, continued with their routine while dreaming of next year’s summer.Continue reading
Why do banana-flavoured sweets taste differently from real bananas?
The flavour profile of banana sweets was created using the Gros Michel banana. This variety was the original reference banana flavour. In the 50s the fungal Panama disease wiped it out.
Why did the Gros Michel banana fall prey to disease? Well, commercial bananas are clones—identical copies to one another—so when a disease infects one banana it can quickly spread throughout plantations. Couple that to a globalised world and the fungal infection spread like wildfire. With no resistance and time to adapt, this banana variety was doomed.
The Cavendish banana was introduced to meet commercial demands. Unfortunately for us, this banana is a bit bland. The superior taste of the Gros Michel banana was relegated to artificial flavours leaving us with a hint of the original banana taste.
Algae Farm
Alexander Hili
What is Malta’s most abundant resource? The sea and sun. Till now very few uses have been found for such resources due to the lack of applications in conventional industries. However, what would happen if we became unconventional?
Think Algae farms. Malta and Gozo could be using the warm waters around them to produce a cheap, healthy food. With copious sunlight prevalent throughout the year, local sushi bars could serve sushi wrapped in local nori. Malta could export to large profitable markets overseas. The farms could provide a large influx of work and increase cash flow to the Maltese Islands.
Beneath your skin
Ingrid Vella writes about her career in medical imaging and how she ended up with pictures of her kidneys.
Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science
This book was published in 2010 but unfortunately remains one of the few examples of positivity towards Islam coming from the West. British Jim Al-Khalili was born in Iran and he wrote about science during the early days of Islam, also giving a beautiful picture of life before the Islamic revolution of 1979 that forced his family to flee. Al-Khalili is a an accomplished theoretical physicist and broadcast presenter for BBC Horizon, The Big Bang, Tomorrow’s World and Science and Islam (the parallel TV series to this book).
If you love history, you will love this book as Al-Khalili goes into great depth—three whole chapters—to explain the circumstances that led to the golden age of science within Islam. The standard history of science texts usually paints the Islamic Empire (the scientific golden age was mostly from the 8th till 13th century) as being the great saviour of Greek texts having translated the works of Pythagoras, Aristotle, and other Greek scientists that then instigated the Renaissance in Europe when they were translated into Latin and other languages. Al-Khalili shows that these scholars were not mere translators but innovative in Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Chemistry, and other fields. Scholars came from all major faiths.
Al-Khalili takes till Chapter Four to start detailing these scientific achievements. I would have preferred if these came sooner. He reveals facts such as that the zero was not invented by the Arabs but by the Indians, the Arabs simply used it to powerful effect. The Arabs pushed mathematics by leaps and bounds and Al-Khalili uses multiple chapters to outline them all. They invented decimal fractions, part-invented the decimal system, and invented proofs of mathematical equations through induction, using pages of equations to break down the initial equation and prove it absolutely, which is still the gold standard for modern mathematicians.
“He reveals facts such as that the zero was not invented by the Arabs but by the Indians, the Arabs simply used it to powerful effect”
He talks about the polymath al-Razi (854 AD–925 AD). Al-Razi lays claim to classifying substances according to their properties based on experimentation. He used experimentation to select the most hygienic site for Baghdad’s hospital, improved medical ethics and even accepted mentally ill patients (when concurrently the Christian world saw them as devil-possessed), distinguished between curable and incurable disease, clinical trials, and many other advances. His medical textbook al-Kitab al-Hawi fills 23 modern volumes, the largest in the Arab world.
Al-Khalili talks about plenty of other advances and scholars that are sure to surprise readers. The book can be slightly challenging for people to get through. Al-Khalili writes beautifully, clearly, but somewhat academically. If you’re interested in learning about a neglected part of the history of science, this book is for you.
I spoke to Al-Khalili back in 2010 about the TV series related to this book. His final words were that I had to bring his series to Malta. Words relevant then as they are now: a shining light on the possible positivity within Islam interpreted in the right way.
Let the blood flow
