Students: On Research and Funds

KSU gives its opinion about research

Why do we need research? Why should the University of Malta invest in research? The answer is simple: knowledge. Education has no meaning without a thirst for new information through research.

Universities should be obliged to generate new knowledge by creating thinkers and investing in them. This includes creating an environment where both students and corporations are eager to invest time and money into knowledge worth pursuing. How can this be achieved if students, once they graduate, lose their enthusiasm to find new knowledge? Postgraduate students are faced with insufficient funds and extremely short time frames. Our University has already started moving in the right direction. However, we lack a stable workforce capable of sustaining continued research. This is not easy. Only through dedication, planning, and investment can we break the surface and become a self-sustaining organisation worthy of an academic university.Continue reading

Can We Become Zombies After Death?

Alexanderhili

Leucochloridium paradoxum sp.
Leucochloridium paradoxum sp.

Yes, hypothetically we can be transformed into brain loving zombies. A scary answer to a scary question.However, before going out to buy a chainsaw to cut those zombies in half please be aware that a human zombie has never existed.
The rest of the animal kingdom isn’t so lucky. Different types of fungi, parasites, and pathogens have altered the life of other organisms and transformed them into zombies. One of the most graphic examples is Leucochloridium paradoxum, a tapeworm which has been observed to infect and take control of snails. After inserting itself into the snail’s body, the tapeworm slowly spreads and concentrates in its eye stalks making these look like tasty green caterpillars. In turn this makes the snail more eye-catching for hungry birds that are an intermediate host for this parasite. If that is not gory enough just wait for the zombie part.

The flatworm makes the snail do its bidding by exposing itself during daylight. By staying on the highest leaves pulsing the eye stalks making them look like tasty morsels ready for the picking by the hungry birds above.
This case is not unique. There are other species which are known to be zombified: ants, flies, crickets, and others. At the time of writing no fungus, parasite, bacteria, or virus has been found to infect and transform humans. Till then there is no need to get your zombie-proof chainsaw and sawn-off shotgun. •

27th Passenger

BoardGame-Review

I thought I hated deduction games. A friend of mine had purchased The Resistance and we played it till kingdom come. Everyone loved it, except me. It was too much a social exercise and too little a game. This is not necessarily bad, it just made the game extremely different with different groups, and it didn’t work with some of them. I assumed that this was true for all deduction games; 27th Passenger proved me wrong. 27th Passenger is about a group of assassins on a train. They all want to kill each other, but not the civilians. Of course, all players have a disguise ranging from a tough gangster to a sweeter schoolgirl.Continue reading