By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

GRACE Christian High School won a gold medal at the 6th World Robot Olympiad held on Nov. 18 in Taiwan. The team’s project called Operation Security Guaranteed is composed of a city diorama that has a group of security-based robots that fight fire, catch criminals and ensure building protection from would-be terrorist attacks.

The Grace Christian High School team is composed of Bryan Lao, Alyssa Sheena Tan and Mark Ian Tan. They won the gold medal in the Open Category for the Junior Level.

The team also presented their winning entry at the newly opened Science Discovery Center at the SM Mall of Asia.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

THE FILIPINO delegation to the 3rd International Mathematics Invitational Competition has garnered the most number of medals and awards in all the math competitions joined by the Philippines this year.

Forty-four out of 59 Filipino elementary and high school students won a total of 11 gold, 12 silver, 21 bronze and 15 merit awards at the 3rd IMC held in Singapore on August 18.

The Philippine team, trained by the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild Philippines (MTG), competed against China, India, Malaysia and Singapore. The names and details regarding the 3rd IMC can be seen on the MTG website.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

HERE’S a video of me receiving a plaque of appreciation from Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro and Science Undersecretary Fortunato T. de la Peña on behalf of INQUIRER.net.

INQUIRER.net was the lone recipient in the online category, while our mother company, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was among the newspapers cited in the print category.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania on July 16, 2007 at the Dusit Hotel Nikko in Makati City.

By Jaymee T. Gamil
Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau

DARAGA, Albay–No one else was doing it, so she took it upon herself to pursue research on embryo-cultured makapuno (ECM), the “mutant” coconut with the soft, jelly-like meat commonly used for sweets.

The conventional growing of makapuno has been hit-and-miss and has proven to be low yielding.

But Erlinda Paje-Rillo of the Philippine Coconut Authority Albay Research Center (PCA-ARC) said “it is now possible to achieve purely makapuno bunches from ECM palms when they are planted together and isolated from other coconut palms.”

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

BALDOMERO OLIVERA’S name may not ring a bell for many Filipinos. He is not an actor or a politician — and he certainly is not a criminal whose name lands in the headlines of local newspapers. Yet he has given Filipinos all over the world a reason to be proud by being named Harvard Foundation’s 2007 Scientist of the Year.

Dr. Olivera is a distinguished professor of biology in the University of Utah. The man is so popular and respected in that institution that a research laboratory is named after him. Olivera’s scientific research into the medicinal aspects of the ubiquitous but deadly cone snails landed him the distinction of being named Scientist of the Year. In keeping with his modesty, Olivera did not expect to win the award but merely worked hard to come up with comprehensive studies on the cone snails.

[Read the rest of this entry »]