May 2007 Archives

THE COUNTRY held its first ever online ozone layer protection quiz, and two students from Philippine Science High School emerged victorious in the finals, earning the right to represent the Philippines in the Asia Pacific sub-regional quiz in Bangkok. Here's an excerpt from the PNA article that came out in Bayanihan.org:

This victory gave the tandem of Paulo Miguel Manzanilla and Lawrence Medina the right to represent the Philippines in the Asia-Pacific sub-regional ozone layer quiz in Bangkok, Thailand tentatively scheduled on June 30 this year, the DENR said.

Each of them will also receive a prize of PhP5,000 while their coach will get PhP10,000. The winning PSHS team will likewise receive roundtrip airline tickets and accommodation for the Bangkok competition.

MAYBE army ants could fix the roads here and teach our officials a thing or two, heh :) Here's an excerpt from the Inquirer and Reuters article:

WASHINGTON -- Army ants tired of potholes take one for the team, throwing their bodies into rough spots to make a smoother road for their sisters, two British researchers reported on Sunday.

The two researchers found that army ants of Central and South America match their own bodies to the size of the hole they want to plug. In fact, according to the researchers’ report in the journal Animal Behavior, several ants even plunge together to fill in bigger holes.

STUDENTS and professors from De La Salle University are aiming for the next international event to conquer. This time it will be the prestigious World Solar Challenge in Australia, a competition that pits developers of solar-powered vehicles from around the world. Forty people from the DLSU and their corporate partners have been developing the first Philippine-made solar-powered car, which has been christened "Sinag" ("sunshine" in Filipino), that will be entered in the competition, which will be held in October 2007. In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Merritt Partners chairman and former energy secretary Vincent Perez said the development of the first Philippine-made solar-powered car that will be entered in the competition is one of the biggest undertakings related to energy development that brings together various private firms and an academic institution. Perez said the solar-powered car will pose a major challenge to DLSU as it has never created a vehicle that runs solely on solar energy. "That's why this group of private entities is working together to help them build this car." Perez added that the endeavor of building the solar-powered car and joining a major competition will be further proof of Filipino ingenuity. "It's our next Mount Everest," Perez said, referring to the three Filipina climbers who recently made history. Meanwhile, DLSU Manila chancellor Carmelita Quebengco said the school has been teaching subjects related to solar energy and alternative fuel, and the Sinag Project will be the best method to apply what the students have learned. She also said that while joining the World Solar Challenge will be an extremely grueling endeavor, the Sinag Project Team is not expected to win any award. "We're not looking to win but to finish the game and prove that we Filipinos can also do it." The World Solar Challenge is an annual event joined mostly by research and development teams from international universities. The goal is to race through 3,000 kilometers of open roads from Darwin to Adelaide with minimal maintenance on the solar-powered vehicle. DLSU Mechanical Engineering Department professor and head of the Sinag technical team Rene Fernandez said they already have the basic design for the car's monocoque shell, with the solar cells to be integrated to its upper surface. "SunPower provided the solar cells while Motolite provided the batteries. We already have the materials and equipment ready and hopefully, we finish before the October race," Fernandez said. Fernandez said that of the 40 people working on the car, 12 will go to Australia for the competition, four of whom will be the drivers. The car itself is expected to be unveiled by September. DLSU has partnered with about a dozen private entities to develop the Philippine-made solar car. Among these firms are Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corp., Shell, Ventus, Ford Group, Motolite and solar panel manufacturer SunPower. Other partners include Aurora Cabrera Lavadia and Associates, JWT, Creasia, Merritt Partners, Gochermann Solar Technology, StratWorks and Tuason Training School.

TWO projects from the Philippines were among the top winners in the recently held Global Development Marketplace Competition organized by the World Bank in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as part of an international initiative to identify emerging development ideas. The two Filipino projects were among the 2,900 entries that were submitted to the competition, and one of the nine Filipino projects that made it to the top 104 finalists. They will be awarded with grants of up to $200,000. The Development Marketplace has awarded $40 million to more than 1,000 projects through global and country-level competitions since 1998. This year, it has allocated $4 million in grants for the winning projects. The first project created by Asian Alliance of Appropriate Technology Practitioners Inc. or Approtech Asia. Their project is to train 200 street food vendors in Metro Manila in preparing highly nutritious, hygienic, affordable food packages from indigenous plants and animals, and provide common hygienic kitchen facilities for these food vendors. The second winning project is from International Resources Group Philippines, which will set up two health banks for the poor in island towns of Obando, Bulacan. The health banks will provide milk, vitamin supplements and medicine to children in exchange for recyclable goods. The two groups' winnings from the Development Marketplace funds will allow them to carry out their projects for up to two years. South Asia was the most represented region among winners, with seven of the 22 projects. Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean followed with six winners each. The largest number of winners from a single country was from India, with four projects, followed by Kenya, Malawi, Costa Rica, Haiti, the Philippines and Bangladesh with two each.

LUIJI John Karlo Suarez from Doña Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School is one of the Filipino students who made their mark in the recently held Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Suarez won a scholarship award from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance/Lemelson Foundation worth $1, 000. He is one of the 11 winners of the Special Award. Suarez's project is in the field of biology and agriculture entitled "The Potential of Marine Bioluminescent Bacteria as Antibacterial Agents Against Two Major Rice Diseases Caused by Xathomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzicola." Suarez is also one of the nine Filipino high school students who was part of the Philippine delegation to ISEF 2007, and is also one of the six who won an award. The other winners are Hester Mana Umayam from the Philippine Science High School-Cagayan Valley, Melvyn Carlo Barroa from Capiz National High School, as well as Philippine Science High School students Ivy Razel Ventura, Janine Cindy Santiago, and Mara Elaine Villaverde. The Special Award received by Suarez is sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent.

GEE, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Check out this story on some female sharks that are, well, apparently capable of virgin births:

A team of American and Irish researchers have discovered that some female sharks can reproduce without having sex, the first time scientists have found the unusual capacity in such an ancient vertebrate species.

Their report that sharks can produce asexually through the process known as parthenogenesis is being published online today in the British journal Biology Letters. Researchers have observed parthenogenesis in certain species of birds, reptiles, amphibians and bony fishes, but the new finding suggests that vertebrates' ability to reproduce without sex evolved much earlier than scientists had thought. Scientists began their investigation after a female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in December 2001, in a tank that held three adult, female hammerheads but no males. The 7-inch-long baby was killed within a day its birth, apparently because another fish in the tank, most likely a stingray, attacked it.

FIVE Filipino students recently bagged major prizes in the recently held Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The first winner was Hester Mana Docasao Umayam, a 15-year-old student from Philippine Science High School-Cagayan Valley Campus, who was one of the seven fourth place winners in the individual Behavioral and Social Sciences category. Umayam's winning project is entitled "Ethnomathematics in the Geometric Patterns in Woven Fabrics of the Indigenous Kalingas in the Philippines." As described in the title, Umayam used mathematical techniques, particularly the relatively new ethno-mathematics, in analyzing the cultural significance of patterns used in fabrics created by the people of Kalinga. Umayam also won $500 for her work. Another individual winner is 16-year old Melvyn Carlo Torres Barroa of Capiz National High School. His winning project, entitled "Fish Mucus: Its Potential Antimicrobial Effects on Human Pathogens and Possible Role in Innate Immunity," won him fourth prize in the Microbiology category. Barroa's project won him $500. The Philippine delegate to the ISEF is also proud for bagging a fourth-place award in the Team category; three students from the Philippine Science High School Quezon City won $500 for their work entitled "Screening Isolation and Characterization of Fluorescent Proteins from Nudibranchs." Students Ivy Razel Bernardo Ventura, Janine Cindy Santiago, Mara Elaine Villaverde focused on almost pure research of how to obtain fluorescent proteins from the sea creatures called nudibranchs. The protein extracts are then used for medical research as these are known to have antibacterial uses. The Intel ISEF is the most prestigious student competitions for the sciences. This year's event, held from May 13 to 19, drew over 1,500 students from 40 countries.

SCIENTISTS are testing a robot in one of the world's deepest sinkholes, which happens to be located in El Zacaton, Mexico. Here's an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times story:

EL ZACATON, MEXICO--NASA is testing a robot in one of Earth's deepest sinkholes in a first step toward searching for life on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. El Zacaton, near the Gulf Coast of northeastern Mexico, is about 328 feet wide and 1,000 feet deep. Over the next two weeks, scientists plan to map and take samples in the dark, water-filled fissure with the 1.5-ton DEPTHX robot. It's a prelude to the proposed navigation of Europa's ice-capped oceans in about 20 years.

THINK they'll induct Voltes V, Mazinger Z and Daimos? Or how about the Transformers, heh :) Check out this excerpt from a CNET News.com story:

Aside from its Robot Hall of Fame, CMU has unique outreach projects to engage mainstream America with robots. It has hosted RoboCup, a global soccer tournament played by robots, and most recently released DIY robot recipes that allow anyone to make robots from off-the-shelf parts through its Terk program. The people behind CMU's unique Robotics Institute have also become a hot topic for analysis since the release of a nonfiction book about them by Lee Gutkind. On Tuesday, Matt Mason, the director of the Robotics Institute at CMU announced the 2007 inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame. The honor, which is judged by a jury of both leading science and science fiction experts, was created in April 2003 to call attention to the contributions robots and their creators make to society.

DOES dark matter really exist? Scientists have found more proof that it does. Here's an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse story:

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster some five billion light-years away from Earth, which measured some 2.6 million light-years across.

"This is the first time we have detected dark matter as having a unique structure that is different from the gas and galaxies in the cluster," said James Jee, a member of NASA's team of astronomers. Astronomers have long suspected there must be some substance holding galaxy clusters together, otherwise galaxies would only have the gravity from their visible stars, which would not be enough to keep them from flying apart.

ALAS poor Aegyptopithecus zeuxis! We knew you well. Check out this story on The Australian:

THE brain of an ancestor of humans, apes and monkeys has been reconstructed for the first time, suggesting that the sophisticated mental capacity of modern primates evolved later than generally thought.

The discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved skull belonging to Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which lived around 29 million years ago, has given scientists important insights into a critical phase in the evolution of humans and their closest animal relatives. The fossilised skull of the small primate, which lived in Africa at a time before the evolutionary split between the Old World monkeys and the apes, is only the second to be found.

WHEW, where can I get one of these goggles, heh. Here's an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse story:

YOKOHAMA, Japan--Japanese scientists who want to be in tune with their work can now stand in the eye of a typhoon or observe close-up walls of whirling wind -- with the help of some goggles.

In what is billed as unique technology, Japanese researchers have created three-dimensional images from stocks of data culled over the years and fed into computers. "Thanks to this system, we can discover so much more new data -- it's like discovering diamonds!" said Tetsuya Sato, a professor who heads the project at the state-run Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

HERE'S an interesting lingering effect of the Ice Age: reduced gravity in northern Canada. Check out this excerpt from the CBC News article:

Moving to northern Canada won't make it any easier to fit into your old swimsuit, but it will help fool your bathroom scale into thinking you've lost a gram or two, thanks to a lower force of gravity in some regions.

That's according to researchers studying the impact of a massive glacial sheet that covered Canada during the last Ice Age. According to a study published Friday in the journal Science, the crushing weight of a massive glacier more than three kilometres thick caused rock beneath to compress and sink, displacing some of the semi-fluid mantle underneath the Earth's crust.

IN A FEW days, nine Filipino high school students will be meeting 1,500 of their counterparts from over 40 countries for the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the annual Intel Philippine Science Fair, the local version of the ISEF, which picks the country’s best young scientists and engineers in high school. The country’s delegation to ISEF 2007, to be held on May 13 to 19, will compete in the Team and Individual categories and will be vying for scholarships, research grants, scientific field trips, internships and the grand prize of a $50,000 college scholarship. Most of the winning entries that will represent the Philippines in ISEF 2007 are in the field of biology while one is focused on a mathematical project. As in previous years, topics in biology are the most commonly used topics by ISEF hopefuls. Click here for the project abstracts. The group of Jane Suede, Charlotte Gamelong and Verna Joy Cabanero from Dona Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School in Negros Occidental will be joining in the Team category. Their project involves the use of an extract from the oregano plant that can attract the parasitic wasp-like insect trichogramma that lays eggs in the bodies of crop-destroying stem borer insects. Trichogrammas have been used by horticulturists to kill stem borers so what the students did was to attract more trichogrammas into crop fields to destroy stem borer populations. The second group for the Team category is composed of students from the Philippine Science High School Diliman Quezon City. These are Ivy Razel Ventura, Janine Santiago and Mara Elaine Villaverde and their research is heavy on pure research rather than on direct practical application. They focused on coming up with extraction process of fluorescent proteins from the sea slug nudibranch. The students said that nudibranchs may produce high concentrations of fluorescent proteins, which are used for biomedical research. The Philippines will have three students joining the Individual category. Luigi John Suarez from Dona Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School will show his project that involves creating antibacterial agents against rice diseases with the use of bioluminescent bacteria extracted from certain types of fish. Like his colleagues from the same school who are also hoping to protect rice fields from stem borers, Suarez’s project also hopes to do the same but this time, targeting certain types of rice diseases. Likewise, Melvin Carlo Barroa is also aiming to extract antibacterial materials from fish mucus that can be used as antibiotics or to build immunity for humans. Having known that fish produce high concentrations of mucus that protect them from bacteria in water, Barroa stated that the same extract can be utilized by people against diseases. The most distinct among the nine representatives is the project of Hester Mana Umayam from the Philippine Science High School Cagayan Valley Campus, whose project is in the very new field of “ethnomathematics,” a study of the relationship between human cultures and math. Umayam, who is hoping to get a degree in statistics in the University of the Philippines, said that her research brought her to the famed fabric weavers of Kalinga Apayao, where she found that the repeating patterns created in the fabric represent the social class, beliefs and practices of the Kalinga people and not just random weaving. All of the students are hopeful that some of them would be winning in this year's ISEF. Not surprisingly, the Philippines has been successful in winning at least one award every year since it joined.

TALK about a massive undertaking. A free website will catalogue the planet's 1.8 million known living creatures, allowing scientists from all over the world to collaborate online. Here's an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse article:

The site "will provide valuable biodiversity and conservation information to anyone, anywhere, at any time," said James Edwards, a biologist picked to head the project. "Through collaboration, we all can increase our appreciation of the immense variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity," he said. Edwards told Agence France-Presse he hopes the Encyclopedia of Life will have the same catalytic effect the Human Genome Project has had on biology. "Making the information about the genetic sequences of organisms public has . . . revolutionized the way we do molecular biology and genetics," he said.

OVER 80 percent of Asians are aware of the availability of alternative fuels for vehicles and many are aware of such programs being done by Japanese car makers Toyota and Honda, according to a report by Hong-Kong based research firm Synovate. The Synovate Motoresearch Alternative Fuels report covered China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines, which showed that many Asians are also willing to purchase cars that use fuels other than gasoline. Synovate Motoresearch global director Jon O’Loughlin said the study also revealed negative perceptions regarding the cost of owning a vehicle using alternative fuels, the availability of the fuel source, and the reliability of the vehicles. "The survey reveals a need for government and companies to familiarize respondents with details about alternative fuels, including the positive aspects of these vehicles’ performance and reliability," O’Loughlin said. The report noted that Taiwanese and Thais were among the most aware about battery electric vehicles while Indonesians and Filipinos having the most awareness about direct-fuel injection for gasoline-powered vehicles. Despite positive findings on consumer awareness of alternative fuels, there is still a need for global consolidation of alternative fuel technology before any major changes in purchasing behavior among consumers. "Until a leading technology emerges, in-depth knowledge and purchases of alternative fuel cars is likely to remain relatively limited for at least the next three to five years as no company wants to promote a technology that may end up redundant," O’Loughlin said. O’Loughlin said the short-term outlook for "green vehicles" in Asia may not be upbeat for now but concerns over global warming and high oil prices would cause alternative fuel cars to mature more quickly, particularly in Asia.

ASTRONOMERS have observed stars exploding before, but this supernova is the most, well, super so far. Here's an excerpt from the Agence France-Presse story:

"Of all exploding stars ever observed, this was the king," said Alex Filippenko, one of the leaders of the NASA-backed operations which observed the phenomenon that began last fall, in a statement presenting the find.

"We were astonished to see how bright it got, and how long it lasted," said Filippenko, who headed teams at the Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton, California, and the Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The supernova, named SN 2006gy, was likely caused by "the death of an extremely massive star," said Dave Pooley of the University of California at Berkeley, who headed the overall observation project by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

THE ASIAN Development Bank will be setting aside $2 billion in grants for the new Enhanced Sustainable Development for Asia (ESDA) initiative that will focus on promoting investment that tackles climate change and energy efficiency. The announcement was made by ADB Board of Governors chairman Koji Omi during the opening of the 40th annual ADB meeting in Kyoto, Japan last Sunday. Omi, who is also the Japanese Minister of Finance, said ADB initially partnered with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which will be tasked to distribute the $2-billion grant to Asian countries over five years. Japan and ADB will also establish two funds; the Asian Clean Energy Fund and the Investment Climate Facilitation Fund. Omi said Japan will contribute as much as $100 million through these two funds to support all ADB assistance in Asian countries where the agency is present. Omi has identified concerns for the Asian economy and the effects of climate change in justifying the $2-billion grant: "The economy in the Asia Pacific region has continued rapid growth in recent years. However, there are still about 600 million people living in poverty in the region and poverty reduction remains an important agenda." On the concerns over climate change, Omi stressed that economic growth should also co-exist with environmental protection: "With Asia's role in the world economy growing, carbon dioxide emissions from Asia are having a increasing environmental impact. At present, Asia accounts for about 30 percent of global energy consumption. Asia's energy consumption in 2030 will have doubled from its current level. More efficient use of the energy and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in Asia are necessary for achieving sustainable growth not only in the region, but also in the world." Omi also noted that innovations in science and technology should be further enhanced to address both economic and climate change concerns. He said that striking a good balance between economic activity and environmental protection would need the help of scientists and researchers in Asia. "Joint research between developed and developing countries and capacity building in developing countries will make a crucial long-term contribution to the prosperity of humankind… In this regard, I believe it may be worthwhile to direct a portion of overseas development assistance to cooperation in research activities and capacity building in science and technology," Omi said.

THE ASIAN Development Bank (ADB) has launched a facility that aims to raise $250 million to help finance clean energy projects in developing countries in Asia Pacific. Called the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, the initiative aims to fast-track clean energy projects in the region. "This facility encourages ADB's development partners to cooperate in the financing of clean energy projects in the region," said Werner Liepach, principal director of ADB's office of co-financing operations. The facility provides a platform to pool grants, low-interest loans, guarantees, or other forms of contributions for clean energy projects. The facility will support technical assistance, investment projects and other activities that may be agreed upon between financing partners and ADB. Contributions will be accepted from countries, institutions and sources such as companies and foundations. "As its population grows and countries industrialize, the Asia and Pacific region is experiencing rapid growth in the demand for energy services," said Woo Chong Um, director of ADB's regional and sustainable infrastructure division. "The steady increase in the consumption of conventional energy and traditional fuels has resulted in serious environmental and economic consequences at both the local and global levels. This facility will help address this problem," he added.

THE MOLAVE tree (Vitex parviflora) and teak (Tectona grandis), considered as high premium hardwood species, have been found to have the capability of being mass produced for conservation purposes. Researchers from the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) in Los Baños, Laguna have found that a process called clonal or vegetative propagation can be used to produce more of these trees that can be planted for the conservation and reforestation of the country’s tropical rainforests. Clonal or vegetative propagation is a process by which a small portion of a plant is cut from the parent and then planted somewhere else. This is a process most often used by horticulturists to create more commercially viable plant species. Compared to natural processes, most plants create offspring either by producing seeds or spores. In a statement, the ERDB said that 80 percent of tropical trees, such as the molave and teak, can be rooted as leafy stem cuttings and then planted just like seedlings. The researchers concluded that both trees can be easily rooted since these respond well without the application of rooting hormones, which are catalysts to ensure that stem cuttings do not die after rooting. On the other hand, the ERDB said that appropriate rooting hormones as well as simple and low-cost non-misting chambers may also be used to have a high rooting percentage. Wood obtained from molave and teak trees is primarily used for furniture and building homes because of their solid structure. However, these are also huge trees that are natural barriers against soil erosion, which have been blamed for many flash floods and landslides in the Philippines. The Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have been implementing conservation efforts in the country’s vast forests.

DID you love "Finding Nemo"? Well, based on the results of this research project, his dad Marlin probably shouldn't have worried; apparently, Nemo could have found his own way home. Here's an excerpt from the Reuters report that came out in Scientific American:

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Nemo, it seems, never needed finding. The orange and white clownfish star of the hit cartoon movie "Finding Nemo" really is able to find his own way home after spending months at sea, an Australian-led team of international researchers said on Friday. "When they are out in the open water they are actually quite sophisticated. They can swim well, they can smell, they can see, they can hear well, and they use a whole suite of senses," joint team leader Glenn Almany told Reuters.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net AS the summer sizzles to 35 degrees Celsius, indications point to the heat being caused by massive amounts of manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane emissions that result in ultraviolet rays from the sun being trapped into Earth’s atmosphere, thus causing global climate change. The climate change has greatly affected the environment, particularly extreme cold and hot temperatures in different parts of the world, more powerful storms, destruction of temperature-sensitive crops and animals, and rise in seawater level due to the melting of the polar ice caps, among others. Worsening weather The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) noted an increase in worldwide air temperature of 0.74 degrees Celsius from 1906 to 2005. While this is just a small figure, it already has major effects on the weather and seawater rise. PAGASA Acting Director Martin Rellin Jr. said that the past 11 years were the warmest in over a century and a half, and there have been more intense droughts since 1970. He also said that in the next two decades, warm temperature will have an increase of about 0.2 percent per decade. “What do we expect? Warmer and more frequent hot days and nights, more frequent rainfall and increase in tropical cyclones. We have pumped enough greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to warm the planet for many decades to come,” Rellin said. Mitigation plans Scientists under DOST said they are already conducting several studies and mitigation activities to curb the negative effects of global climate change. In a recent press conference, DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro and several of her agency directors presented several programs related to climate change. Alabastro said that there have been dozens of activities in the past related to climate change in the Philippines, notably those related to the El Niño phenomenon, one of the effects of global climate change. The Philippines was host to the first International Conference of Tropical Forests and Climate Change in 1998, then of another follow-up conference in 2003. Just late last year, the Philippines also hosted an extension conference regarding agriculture sustainability and land degradation and deforestation mitigation. Alabastro also said the DOST has been releasing annual papers on environmental management, all revolving around mitigating the effects of climate change. Alabastro noted one of their more important projects, which is the establishment of high-tech CO2 monitoring stations in at least three major sites in the Philippines. She noted that these will monitor longterm CO2 emission in forest ecosystems and investigate the biological responses of vegetation. Plants vs greenhouse effect Likewise, in his report, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) Executive Director Patricio Faylon said among the programs that they have started before include carbon sequestration through tree farms, which was started in Leyte and was done as a means of absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. PCARRD also conducted a study called "Biomass and Carbon Sequestration of Forest Tree Plantation Species" that identifies tree species that store biomass and actual carbon storage. Faylon noted that a new project that the PCARRD will be pursuing is called "Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Communities," which is expected to provide the basis in formulating strategies and mitigating measures to address impacts of climante change at the community level. "We’re working with the International Center for Research and Agroforestry, the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños for within the next three years,” Faylon said, adding that they have received a budget of P7.7 million to pursue the study. Along this line is a new anchor program that helps swine farmers manage cleanliness of their facilities and also double their opportunities by turning swine waste into biogas or fertilizer. Reduction of pollutants An ambitious effort to curb the production of greenhouse gases is to reduce the use of fossil fuels in vehicles, which is said to account for about 70 percent of all pollutants that destroy the atmosphere. This means the use of alternative fuel sources that produce less carbon dioxide but are equally effective as fossil fuels in terms of producing power for engines. Former Congressman Juan Miguel Zubiri started off with the passing into law of the Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Act. This led to research and development programs of the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) to identify alternative fuel sources. One such product that has potential is a local plant called Jatropha curcas, otherwise known as tuba-tuba or tubing-bakod, whose seeds produce the oil that can power up engines. PCIERD Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse has also signed an agrement with the Mapua Institute of Technology and several companies from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to develop the first commercially viable Philippine-made electric car. "These R & Ds in alternative fuels are now going forward and we expect that we’ll come up with viable products soon," Sabularse said. Multisectoral approach Alabastro said that climate change has made significant impact on the country’s environment but none of the end-of-days sort. However, Alabastro asked all levels of the society to do their part in reducing the effects of climate change, most especially by adopting a change in lifestyle. Alabastro noted that everyone should keep an open mind as to how to deal with climate change. "There’s a great number of ways to protect the environment and prevent any further effects of climate change. Every little bit helps," she said.

WE know that the Arctic ice cap has been melting, but what's alarming is that it now seems to be doing so at a much faster rate than previously thought. Here's an excerpt from the Scientific American article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.S. ice expert said on Tuesday.

This means the ocean at the top of the world could be free or nearly free of summer ice by 2020, three decades sooner than the global panel's gloomiest forecast of 2050. No ice on the Arctic Ocean during summer would be a major spur to global warming, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Center in Colorado.

THE DEPARTMENT of Science and Technology (DOST) last week signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) to assess and identify research and development requirements of alternative fuels. The DOST was represented by its sub-agency the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) while the PNOC was represented by its division Alternative Fuels Corporation (PAFC). Both will work on research and development on all aspects of alternative fuels, including biofuels, and will prepare a comprehensive research and development program from their current assessments. The PAFC will also be granting a 10.7 million peso initial grant for the program, starting with the establishment of a pilot demonstration plant on the processing of the plant Jatropha Curcas plant as biofuel. The DOST has been doing research on Jatropha for years but only implemented full-scale development for biofuel research for Jatropha late last year. The shrub is locally called tuba-tuba, tagumbao, sambo or tubang-bakod. Its seeds are the primary source of oil that can be used as biofuel. The signatories to the MOU are PAFC president and CEO Peter Anthony Abaya and DOST Undersecretary for R & D Graciano Yumul. The signing was witnessed by PCIERD Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse and PAFC executive Clovis Tupas.