Christmas is cancelled. Travel restrictions and lockdowns have made it painfully clear that this year’s festivities cannot be normal. People need to drastically reduce how many people they meet, and New Year trips to foreign lands are definitely off the menu.

The new variant cropping up in Britain, and probably elsewhere, shows the grip the coronavirus pandemic has had on our lives. It has changed everything. The only hope towards normality is a vaccine. For it to work everyone needs to take it. If people don’t, the virus will mutate and overcome any vaccine. The global response needs to be quick and absolute.

Coronavirus research is much more than developing vaccines. Researchers the world over, including Malta, have looked into better mask sterilisation techniques, cheaper ventilators, and understanding mental health.

The pandemic has placed mental health in crises. Prof. Josianne Scerri and her team from the University of Malta’s Faculty of Health Sciences are working with the Richmond Foundation to explore the reasons for the spike in calls from April onwards. At first the link was easy: COVID-19 announcements will mean more calls. Now, COVID-related calls are down but mental health struggles are still going up. This trend is seen the world over. Mental health issues initially triggered by COVID-19 are becoming chronic.

Other research is more playful. The University’s Malta Seismic Network recorded a decrease in vibrations from cars, trucks and other vehicles this year, allowing them to record and study more sensitive earthquakes that happen around the Maltese islands.

Innovators also contributed. Tech educator Klaus Conrad, engineer Marco Cremona, doctor Ryan Farrugia and chemical engineer Mark Camilleri came together to design a ventilator that could be used built freely by everyone, and a social distancing sensor that would alert people if they get too close to others – they are still trying to fund their ideas.

There are over eight other research projects I’d love to write about but that will have to be in another article.

Stay safe and have a merry Xmas (Bonus myth debunked: X in the Greek alphabet stands for ‘chi’ or X, or the first letter in the Greek word for Christ).

Did you know? 

• Reindeers are the only deer whose noses are fully covered in fur. Rudolph’s red nose (if it existed) was pro­bably a bacterial infection.

• Reindeer cannot see the colour red.

• Christmas trees are symbols of new life returning after the shortest day of the year.

• Reindeer and caribou are the same species; only non-domesticated reindeer in North America are referred to as caribou.

• Most rain starts as snow. It turns into raindrops when it meets hot air on its way down.

For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think

Sound bites

• Do you want your 2021 New Year’s resolutions to have a greater impact? Think about how you can improve the world, not just yourself. Prof. Richard Ryan, an international expert on motivational research, suggests that resolutions to help others satisfy three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and rela­tedness. “The research shows it’s not just good for the world but also really good for you.”

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201221160413.htm

• Have you recently found a new apprecia­tion for the wilderness? If you have, you’re not the only one. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had more and more of us stepping outside and finding some solace in nature. A survey conducted by the University of Vermont found that 26 per cent of people visiting parks during the early months of the pandemic had rarely (if ever) done so previously. 

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201217145219.htm

For more science news, listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta and www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/