X-Lab, a new science education television series, was launched at the University earlier this month.

The 26-episode series will be broadcast in Maltese on TVM and channel E22 in January. The series will also be translated into English and uploaded on the X-Lab website www.xlab.tv in a way that will also make it accessible to people with disabilities.

The series aims to promote the take-up of science subjects in schools by making it fun and showcasing career opportunities in various scientific fields in Malta and abroad. In each episode a group of schoolchildren, chosen from 13 participating schools, demonstrate a scientific principle through an experiment which can easily be replicated at home using everyday items. Areas covered range from aerodynamics to understanding DNA, and from IT and artificial intelligence to preventing disasters.

The use of the principle in industry is also explored, and each episode profiles researchers and scientists working both locally and in some of the best and most well-known scientific institutions across the EU.

The series is the result of collaboration between the University, E22, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation and e-Isotis, a pan-European e-learning NGO focussing on e-learning for the disadvantaged. It was produced in Malta and Cyprus, and is funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme.