Have you ever asked yourself why earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and many other natural disasters occur? And why some parts of our planet suffer more than others?
The answer is that the Earth is very complex. It has a lot of moving parts, from physical, to chemical, geological to biological, and the impact of humans can also trigger these events.
A clear and accurate explanation to these important questions can be found in a recent work (December 2021) ‘Marine Geohazards: Safeguarding Society and the Blue Economy from a Hidden Threat’, openly available online, covering the major marine geohazards, and the strategies and tools needed to tackle them.
This work highlights the advent of the Decade of ‘Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’ (2021–2030), bringing together the efforts of a community of scientists across Europe.
Sustainable oceans, seas and related communities are a long-term United Nation (UN) agenda launched in 2015.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aims to foster an inclusive and respectful development of natural resources, human workforce and original communities.
These principles have perpetrated detailed political and societal activities (goals) for protecting the planet, promoting what is known as ‘the green and blue economy’, and the sustainable use and exploitation of resources from the land, seas, oceans and rivers. The Department of Geosciences at the University of Malta, and the Marine Geology and Seafloor Survey (MGSS) section has adopted this vision.
They have helped attract research funds that promote sustainability and the UN Sustainable goals.
These projects deal with how earthquakes and groundwater seepage trigger landslides; and the erosion caused by human activities on the sea floor, with dramatic changes in a slope’s stabilities and on local biotic communities.
This research is an opportunity for policymakers, urban developers and environmental policy workers to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Goals with scientists to implement developments that are more respectful of our lands and seas.
For more, read Marine Geohazards and the University of Malta research themes.
Sound Bites
• Astronomers have discovered a strange new type of star covered in the byproduct of helium burning. It is possible that the stars might have been formed by a rare stellar merger event. The discovery was made by a team led by Klaus Werner of the University of Tübingen.
• A new study shows how a particular molecule, produced by gut bacteria, affects brain function and promotes anxiety-like behaviours in mice. The research was led by a team of Caltech-led researchers. The work helped uncover a molecular explanation for recent observations that gut microbiome changes are associated with complex emotional behaviours.
For more science news, listen to Radio Mocha on Radju Malta and www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/
DID YOU KNOW?
• Biotic community is a fancy term that implies all living things existing in an area.
• Most COVID-19 variants worldwide are now due to Omicron, in some countries over 95 per cent.
• The Anthropocene is a proposed geological time period that identifies the impact human beings have had on the planet ranging from large amounts of plastics to higher levels of radiation.
• Maltese people mostly come from 12th-century Siculo-Arabic roots.
For more trivia, see: www.um.edu.mt/think