There is a Russian oil tanker adrift about 100km to the South East of Malta right now.

Its crew abandoned it two weeks ago after it was hit by a huge explosion.

Russia hasn't come to pick it up and no country - including Malta - will touch it.

Still though, all eyes are on it, as it is loaded with some 700 tonnes of fuel and it could blow up.

In a 20-minute episode that will be out on Wednesday, Times Talk will discuss the inside story of how the Russian tanker story was discovered and revealed, what the authorities are saying and fearing behind closed doors, and how the government went from denying concerns to asking the EU for help.

What are the chances that aliens are real? And if they are, what do they look like, where are they and how come they never visit? And if they were to visit, how would they even do it?

Is time travel to the past and to the future possible? It turns out it is – at least one way.

And what is the likelihood that there are other worlds like ours out there? The short answer is: very likely. The long answer is even more interesting.

In a wide-ranging 90-minute discussion on Times Talk, astrophysicist professor Joseph Caruana breaks down the staggering reality of our existence – from the probability of humanity living in a computer simulation to the probability of time travel.

During the episode the 39-year-old Oxford-educated researcher and University of Malta lecturer explains why most of the universe is still a mystery and how scientists have managed to trace back its beginning 14 billion years ago. And along the way he answers a myriad of other questions.

When will the world end? Will the universe end? What happens to us after we die? And how is human consciousness the way the universe finally knows about itself?

And from all that he knows about the universe, does it look like there is a God? Does the universe need a creator to keep it going? Did it even need a creator?

And is it possible that we are all living in a computer simulation? Short answer is: quite possibly.

Watch the full 90-minute Times Talk episode to find out.

Forty-six years ago, a man walked into Castille with a gun.

Gunshots rang out. The man was dragged out bleeding. He was accused of trying to kill Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.

That same day, thugs destroyed Times of Malta offices and ransacked the home of Mintoff’s rival, Eddie Fenech Adami.

In this episode, Times Talk explores one of the darkest days in Malta's modern history.