Life
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In eastern Syria, the infants of a dying IS 'caliphate'
They were born in a "state" that no longer exists, most to fathers who are dead and mothers whose countries don't want them back. These are the children pouring out of Baghouz. Their grimy faces are the only ones visible in the sea of black veils...
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Underground water could take over century to respond to climate change
Groundwater is the biggest store of accessible freshwater in the world, providing billions of people with water for drinking and crop irrigation. That’s all despite the fact that most will never see groundwater at its source – it’s stored...
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Artificial cornea breakthrough could lead to self-assembling organs
For every person in the world who receives a cornea transplant, there are 69 others who still need one. That leaves about 12.5m people with limited sight because there aren’t enough eye donors. But what if we could grow new corneas in the...
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Turn down the volume: WHO takes aim at harmful smartphone use
More than one billion young people risk damaging their hearing through excessive use of smartphones and other audio devices, the UN warned Tuesday, proposing new safety standards for safe volume levels. In a bid to safeguard hearing, the World...
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Change the way you wash your hair to help the environment
When you hear about businesses with a high environmental impact or activities with a high carbon footprint, you are probably more likely to imagine heavy machinery, engines and oil rather than hairdressing. Yet hairdressing, both as a sector and...
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Ecstasy users are more empathetic: could the drug have a therapeutic use?
If you’ve ever seen someone in a club on MDMA, it may not surprise you to hear it’s linked to a heightened ability to share other people’s feelings and emotions. Yet in our new study, we found that even when the effects have faded, mild MDMA users...
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Adopt an olive tree... and breathe new life into Spanish village
"They're over 500 years old," says Sira Plana proudly as she points to Oliete's olive groves, many of which are thriving now thanks to an adoption scheme that has prevented this northeastern Spanish village from dying out. For an annual fee of...
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AI system spots childhood disease like a doctor
An artificial intelligence (AI) programme developed in China that combs through test results, health records and even handwritten notes diagnosed childhood diseases as accurately as doctors, researchers said Monday. From the flu and asthma to...
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Rising seas: to keep humans safe, let nature shape the coast
Even under the most conservative climate change scenarios, sea levels 30cm higher than at present seem all but certain on much of the UK’s coast by the end of this century. Depending on emission scenarios, sea levels one metre higher than at...
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Richmond Foundation rebrands, with its eye on younger generations
Organisations offering services related to mental health need to be more approachable for younger people, according to the Richmond Foundation. The NGO, which provides community mental health services, said most mental health related issues tend...
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Why we should ask our doctors about lifestyle medicine
Lara Sierra looks into a new way of treating patients that could save lives and cut millions off healthcare deficits worldwide. So why don’t we know more about it? Physicians who specialise in lifestyle medicine tend to abhor the title. It sounds...
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The court’s calculator
A judgment delivered on January 10, 2019 in the names of Alfred Cuschieri v Mary Louise Refalo (577/10GM) Civil Court, First Hall is a significant one in the sense it may have very well reconceived the judicial approach to quantification of...
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Emoji are becoming more inclusive, but not necessarily more representative
At least 230 new emoji, including different skin tones and genders, are due to be released this year. That’s a leap on 2018 when only 157 emoji were added to the Unicode Standard – the code used to support emoji on different platforms. In addition...
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Beer before wine and you'll feel fine? No you won't...
Plenty of us have been there: waking up after a night out with a thumping headache, feeling sick and swearing never to touch alcohol again. If only there were a way to prevent these terrible hangovers. It isn’t uncommon for us to mix our drinks,...
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Malta’s aristocracy
Some form of nobility was already established in Malta by 1283. Tracts of land were granted as military fiefs by the reigning monarchs of Sicily. Special mention must be made of the fiefs of Djar il-Bniet and of Buqana, both granted with the...
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But who was the first Maltese photographer?
I believe we all got it wrong. So far, everyone (that includes me) accepted as gospel truth the ‘fact’ that the first photographic studio set up in Malta by a Maltese was Leandro Preziosi’s, known to be active c. 1858. Preziosi remains one of the...
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Specialised movement classes for Parkinson’s sufferers, caregivers
Step Up for Parkinson’s is a voluntary organisation that provides free, specialised movement classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers. “While the benefits can be seen directly from participants’s smiling faces and positive...
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St Paul's Shipwreck church cries out for a helping hand
Conservator Fr Charles Vella tells Fiona Galea Debono about the importance of sacred art and the work being done on St Paul’s Shipwreck church in Valletta. Conservation and restoration work on the paintings of the choir vault in St Paul’s...
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Creative romance
It’s that week in February whens everything around you is plastered with big, red hearts that come in the shape of cards, balloons, baked goods and stuffed animals – these are all designed in the cutest of arrangements to appeal to the soppier few...
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Campus book festival in March
The National Book Council and Għaqda tal-Malti – Università’s sixth edition of the Campus Book Festival will be held on March 27, 28 and 29, kicking off daily at 9am with back-to-back activities planned until 4 pm. On Friday the activities will...
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