Massive jellyfish invasion in St Paul’s Bay

Jan 12 2023

Images posted to Facebook page ‘Proud to live in St Paul’s Bay’ shows a massive bulk of jellyfish at the bay.

Posted by user Anna Mizzi, the images show what seems to hundreds of jellyfish occupying the seaside wharf. ‘We need turtles’ Mizzi captioned the images.

One commenter said that ‘we need less plastic’ so that turtles themselves aren’t driven further to extinction given their important role in the marine ecosystem.

The early year invasion by jellyfish has been forecasted by various biologists and experts on the matter. Late last year, marine biologist Alan Deidun shared images and videos of jellyfish swimming around Comino, and others washed up on Facebook.

Deidun had explained how this invasion of ‘jellyfish soup’ was due to the otherwise calm weather Malta had over the festive season.

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Photo Source: Anna Mizzi (Proud to live in St Paul’s Bay) FB

17 year old man grievously injured after being hit by car

Jan 12 2023

A 17-year-old man from Philippines and resident of St Paul’s Bay was taken to Mater Dei Hospital after bing injured in a traffic incident in Triq Tul il-Kosta, Naxxar at around 0815hrs.

Preliminary investigations showed how the young man was hit by a Mazda Demio being driven by a 34-year-old woman resident of Mellieħa.

The youth was given preliminary aid by a medical team and then transported to Mater Dei. He was later certified as having suffered grievous injuries.

Investigations are still ongoing.

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Advertising conversion therapy to get harsher penalties

Jan 12 2023

Conversion therapy is already illegal in Malta according to the 2016 Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Bill.

However, the government is now proposing a new amendment to the Conversion Therapy legislation so that the promotion or advertising of such practice results in harsher therapies.

Conversion therapy is any treatment, practice or sustained effort which attempts to change, repress or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression.

The bill, which includes penalties and jail time for anyone who performs or refers a person to such therapy, will see amendments that will target the advertising of the law.

This concerns any publishing, advertising, displaying, distributing, linking to or circulating any content which promotes or entices people to undergo conversion therapy.

Speaking during a press conference, Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Rebecca Buttigieg explained how it does not make sense to have illegal practices advertised.

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Could this be the planet our descendants move to?

Jan 12 2023

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has continued to push the scientific enterprise as it locked a view on a planet that could be our far descendent’s new home.

LHS 475 b is almost exactly the same size as our home planet Earth, cocking in at 99% of Earth’s diameter. With rocky dry land similar to Earth, NASA scientists need to first ensure what sort atmosphere the planet has.

Despite not being able to conclude what the atmosphere is just yet, the scientists were able to determine that it is not made up of thick methane as is found on Saturn’s moon, Titan.

The James Webb research team, led by Kevin Stevenson and Jacob Lustig-Yaeger, is eager to discover more about the new intriguing planet.

But just how far away is it? Well, according to estimates, the planet sits 41 light years away, which would translate to 387,889,961,902.12 kilometres away – try to comprehend that distance for a second…

The planet is also a few hundred degrees warmer than Earth and completes an orbit in 48 hours. Of course, any form of extraterrestrial inhabitation by us Homo sapiens is still far off into the future. And it is further complicated by the dilemma which scientists wrestle with when investigating new worlds – that being, whether our intrusion on them would kill any chance of a new form of life evolving there.

#MaltaDaily