By Queena Lee-Chua
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, I visited a Muslim vendor at the Greenhills Shopping Center tiangge. I asked her if she had experienced any repercussions, but she assured me: “We are fine. We are all friends here.”

For many years, Muslim and Christian stall owners have been engaged in friendly competition, as they ply their trade side by side.

At an international conference, I asked a Singapore educator how their country had managed to remain peaceful despite the variety of ethnic groups and religions there.

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By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer

ILOILO CITY–If life’s a lotto, science teacher Josette Biyo has won it several times.

On Sept. 19, she copped another grand prize, the Presidential or Lingkod Bayan award, given by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to government workers in recognition of their commitment to the ideals of public service.

And Biyo, 49, who is also the director of the Philippine Science High School in Western Visayas, exemplifies that dedication as a government employee.

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By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON–Scientists have sequenced the DNA in the hair of woolly mammoths dating back 50,000 years, paving the way to further research on many extinct species, according to a study published Thursday.

“Hair shafts are a promising source of DNA,” said the authors of the study from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Copenhagen, published in the September 28 edition of Science.

The research, which examined short fragments of mitochondrial DNA from the hair shafts of 13 Siberian mammoths stored in museum collections around the world, could open up vast new possibilities.

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By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON–Men with deep voices have more children, probably because they have a wider choice of mates, according to a study released Tuesday.

“We found that men with deep voices have more children than their high-pitched counterparts,” said Coren Apicella, a graduate anthropology student at Harvard University, who spent six months in northern Tanzania last year, studying the nomadic, hunter-gatherer Hadza people.

The study, a collaborative effort between Harvard University in Massachusetts, McMaster University in Canada and Florida State University, was the first to try to determine if there is a link between voice pitch in men and “Darwinian fitness” in humans.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Lito Atienza is asking mobile phone users to be careful when disposing of their mobile phones, batteries, and chargers, warning that these could have potentially toxic chemicals.

These chemicals can leak into waterways or escape into the air and could cause danger to human health.

Likewise, some of the parts from mobile phones can mix with other harmful substances in dump sites or sanitary landfills, posing even more danger.

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