When the world works together

Abstract

Sometimes humanity does things greater than itself. Unfortunately, such success led to the atomic bomb. On better days, these achievements benefit everyone. CERN is the prime example. It gave rise to the Internet, new medical treatments, and has helped us understand what all matter in the Universe is made up of; in turn it helps us understand ourselves. Last year Malta became an Associate Member of the ALICE Collaboration, one of CERNs major experiments. The UoM (University of Malta) unlocked networks that will help solidify a long-standing collaboration. Our focus celebrates this achievement (pgs. to 15-31). THINK does not shy away from controversial topics. This issue has student research on attitudes towards pornography amongst UoM students (pg. 12) and a feature on how to ethically care for the terminally ill to reduce suffering (pg. 39). Other research coming out of Mater Dei Hospital (in collaboration with UoM biomedical engineers) has developed an automatic technique to easily and quickly take heat maps of hands and feet to see if a patient has diabetes (see pg. 44). Risk is central to all our lives. Humans are pretty bad at figuring out what’s risky business, Professor Noellie Brockdorff explains why (pg. 35). Other features show the diversity of research at UoM, which ranges from how PV panels can be used more cleverly (pg. 50) to research showing how the history of maps reflects changes in society (pg. 56). We have even managed to fit a short featurette about how game developer Rami Ismail believes Malta is ripe for a blossoming indie gaming scene (pg. 32). This issue is packed with digital art exhibitions, migrant issues, satellite dishes, student and alumni articles, and a ready-to-burst fun section full of reviews and comics.