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.

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By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

DR. Baldomero Olivera, a Filipino award-winning scientist who has discovered new drugs for pain, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy in the Philippine wildlife, is set to visit the country next month.

Technology Business Incubator and the Brain Gain Network have invited Dr. Olivera to an innovation forum in Filipinas Heritage Library on July 6 to speak on his discoveries of new sources of painkillers, including deadly sea snails, among others.

Olivera was recently awarded by the Harvard Foundation as Scientist of the Year following his three decades of work in developing drugs from the animal wildlife, according to a copy of his brief profile.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

A FILIPINO project called the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc (AIDFI) won second prize in the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, an international contest instituted in the United Kingdom that identifies projects related to efficient energy management at small community levels.

AIDFI’s innovative “ram pump” technology won it the Ashden Awards second prize worth 10,000 British pounds (P928,000) for the Education and Welfare category.

Ram pumps are devices that draw ground water up to certain heights without the need for external power sources such as diesel pumps or manual pumping. Instead, ram pumps use the kinetic energy of falling water to draw up more water.

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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.

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A MARINE biologist and an environmental manager tied for the prestigious National Academy Of Science and Technology (NAST)-Hugh Greenwood Environmental Science Award, an annual event that recognizes outstanding scientific and technological research works on environmental protection and conservation.

This would also be the first time that there will be two recipients of the NAST-Hugh Greenwood Award, which normally has recognized one scientist every year for the last seven years.

Vertebrate ecologist and pest management scientist Dr. Pacencia Milan and marine biologist Dr. Marie Antonette Menez were awarded by the Department of Science and Technology-NAST on April 11 at the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City.

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