by Helmut Eppich

Part III of Reunion Of Old Friends erupts with high excitement, propelling the Starship ENTERPRISE into the heart of Baria Five's lethal asteroid gauntlet. Klingon Commanders Kor and Kang set a ruthless trap. They are determined to seize the Phoenix Medical Algae at any cost while Kirk leads a desperate chase through dangerously shifting asteroids concealing heavy Klingon disruptor fire. As the Klingon noose tightens, beneath Baria Five's wreckage-scarred surface, two hunted scientists frantically race through collapsing tunnels leading to Paradise Pharmaceuticals Medical Nightingale complex. Sweeping visuals with cinematic intensity enables this story to deliver a dramatic clash of wit and honor with raw survival of Star Trek's best episodes.

For the earlier chapters, see Part One and Part Two.

Cover Image: Drawings by Helmut Eppich.

Dr. Frank Wang bridges art and cosmology through Richard Wagner’s enigmatic phrase “here time becomes space” from Parsifal. In this essay, he interprets Wagner’s vision through the lens of modern physics – connecting it to the concept of an eternal inflationary universe, where space expands without bound. Drawing on general relativity and quantum mechanics, Dr. Wang reveals how poetic imagination and scientific theory converge in exploring infinity, time, and the origins of the cosmos.

Cover Image: The picture was taken at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus where Parsifal was premiered. Credit: Dr. Ali Erginay, 2023.

Professor Sarah Durand offers a glimpse into the rich flora and fauna that thrived in the waterways and marshes, including Newtown Creek, during pre-colonial times near what is now LaGuardia College. We learn how the natural estuary, sustained for thousands of years by the Lenape culture of environmental stewardship, was destroyed by a European capitalist culture that prioritized resource exploitation and profit over conservation.

Despite the shoreline now hardened by steel and concrete, a key original species survives: the ribbed mussel. This mussel, along with cordgrass, is a "foundation species" essential to the salt marsh and is key to restoring some of the Creek's lost habitat. Professor Durand highlights how the Newtown Creek Alliance and LaGuardia students built floating marsh habitats, where these species can thrive. This success offers hope and shows the power of community action.

Cover Image Credit: Willis Elkins and Sarad Durand.

In this thoughtful reflection, Dr. Priyantha Wijesinghe traces a lifelong fascination with the natural world – from childhood observations in Sri Lanka to discovering the global community science platform iNaturalist. Blending personal narrative with clear explanation, he shows how iNaturalist uses photography, taxonomy, and AI-powered identification to help people recognize the organisms around them and deepen their connection to nature.

Cover Image: Gabis Arboretum, https://www.pnw.edu/

Dr. Scheindlin’s article begins with a seemingly innocent and harmless Polish folktale, a children’s bedtime story retold in Georges Perec’s novel Life A User’s Manual. But this safe parental protection against a potential violent world, the nurturing of fantasy and company before sleep may end up in a fictional catastrophe. The story takes us in and out of the boundaries between fiction, representation and reality. What is fiction? What is non-fiction? Do writers make a pact with readers to tell them that they are not lying? Or is it impossible to faithfully represent reality? How trapped are we in our own definitions? Our languages allow us to have fictional perspectives while we are still immersed in our real lives. The end of the story is as astonishingly beautiful as the beginning.

Cover Image: A picture of the Rue Vilin, Paris, where Georges Perec lived as a young child. Credit: Henri Guérard, 1959.

Climate change has affected humankind in a myriad of ways. It is a real and current threat that will only get worse if the world does not act in a collective and proactive fashion. In this article, Dr. Anja Vojvodic presents her view of climate change and its many ramifications, from the physical to the political. She urges everyone to take this pressing global issue seriously and do what they can to help the cause of combating climate change before it is too late.

Dr. Tao Chen uncovers a new bifurcation pattern in logistic maps, extending the classical picture of period-doubling and cycle-merging. He shows that attracting cycles arrange themselves according to Farey addition, revealing an unexpected arithmetic order within nonlinear growth models. By connecting population dynamics, iterative maps, and number-theoretic structure, Dr. Chen offers a fresh perspective on how simple functions can generate rich and intricate patterns across the spectrum of dynamical systems.

Habiba Boumlik's research journey traces from her multicultural upbringing in Morocco through French anthropology training to founding the New York Forum of Amazigh Film. She explores how Amazigh filmmakers create “media memory” – using cinema to counter Indigenous erasure across North Africa and its diaspora. Her work positions their transnational productions within global Indigenous media studies, documenting how marginalized communities preserve identity and rewrite histories through film.

In this article, Dr. Ngabonziza shares how research has shaped his journey as both a student and a faculty member. Dr. Ngabonziza reflects on how research enhances students learning and college success. He also describes research he has conducted ranging from Carbon Nanotubes to Composite Materials Self-Sensing, to Engineering Education, and Finite Element Analysis of Composites Materials. Students’ mentorship through research is also discussed in this article and Dr. Ngabonziza provides examples of research projects he has worked on with LaGuardia students.

Dr. Shashikanth Ponnala explores one of the most groundbreaking frontiers in modern oncology: radioligand therapy, a technique that delivers radiation directly to cancer cells with extraordinary precision. From prostate and neuroendocrine tumors to a new generation of molecular targets, radioligands are reshaping how we diagnose, treat, and understand cancer. This article offers a clear and timely guide to a rapidly evolving therapeutic revolution.