By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

STUDENTS from Grace Christian High School and the Philippine Science High School will lead the Philippine contingent for the upcoming 2007 World Robot Olympiad to be held in Taipei, Taiwan.

The students from the two schools were the top winners during the recently held 6th Philippine Robotics Olympiad at the Alabang Town Center in Muntinlupa City. They beat 69 other schools to become the country’s representatives for the 2007 WRO.

Winning in the elementary level is Grace Christian High School “Team A” composed of Carlos Cheng, Jordan Chua and Kyle David Dee, with their coach Warren John Ong. They won the Best in Robo Rally category, as well as the Best of the Best category.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

HERE’S a great video from ReelNASA that shows the two solid rocket boosters that power the Space Shuttle.

Follow their journey from launch to splashdown.

By Agence France-Presse

PARIS–A man’s testicles could one day provide a plentiful and accessible supply of adult stems cells to help him fight off disease or regenerate damaged organs, according to a study published Wednesday.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York have already isolated the multi-purpose cells in mice, and successfully coaxed them to grow into cardiac cells, brain cells and working blood vessel tissue.

If the same technique can be extended to men, the study points out, it would sidestep the morally charged debate over using embryonic stems cells for the same purpose.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

THE NATIONAL Program for Sustainable Upland Farming Through Conservation Farming Villages (CFV) will be receiving P30.2 million from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Likewise, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), a sub-agency of the Department of Science and Technology, will provide a counterpart fund of P8.5 million.

The total amount will be used put up model CFVs, otherwise known as “Barangay Sagip-Saka” in selected land degradation hotspots in the country to enhance the transfer of conservation farming technologies and practices anchored on participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation processes at the community level.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MOST people would still think that making robots feel is within the realm of science fiction, but few know that science is better than fiction. A young and upbeat Filipino scientist, John John Cabibihan, is paving the way to making robots “feel.”

In scientific terms, it is called “tactile sensing,” the detection and measurement of physical objects through contact. It is a subset of the general research on robotics, particularly with artificial limbs. Tactile sensing gives these machines the ability to feel objects in the real world.

Tactile sensing is also subset field of bionics (or biomimetics), which is generally a study to imitate natural systems and their subsequent artificial application.

[Read the rest of this entry »]