Breaking out of a comfort zone doesn’t just mean trying that new restaurant across the street or booking that holiday to India. It means having the courage to try something new, to set a course for self-improvement. Academics and institutions break their comfort zones by expanding their horizons and adapt to new circumstances. The latest edition of THINK showcases how we’re expanding our horizons in archaeology, fertility, journalism and a host of other topics!
Read all of the magazine online. Here are some articles to whet your appetite and get you started!
An excavation site from 1947 outside of Zebbug exposed a new type of pottery. But what fascinated researchers wasn’t so much the pottery as much as the single-celled organisms living inside. Dr Ing. John Charlens Betts and Dr Catriona Brogan take a closer look at Neolithic pottery remains. By utilising electron microscopy scans they examine “foraminifera” that are fossilised within the clay itself to uncover the various ways how people and skills moved around the ancient Mediterranean.
Many people are faced with the choice of whether they want to focus on having family or their career. We tell ourselves that we can always rely on the miracle of science, through egg cryopreservation, sperm freezing and IVF, right? Prof. Jean Calleja Agius, a specialist in early pregnancy complications, explains how science alone cannot save our fertility. By providing young people with the knowledge we can empower them to make informed choices about whether, when and how they intend to conceive.
Independent journalism is the life-line of any democracy. Without independent journalism, the alternative is either a metaphorical dark age or an orwellian society where news is filtered through by those in power. The decline in advertising revenue, government interference and powerful social media structures have forced independent journalism to adapt while still retaining their integrity. Prof. Mary Anne Lauri explains how, for the price of a coffee, we can help independent journalism.