By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

WHAT do the sheep Dolly, the dog Snuppy and Amy the cow have in common? They’re all clones, exact copies of their parents from a single cell. Now the Philippines is hoping to replicate the same cloning techniques to deliver the country’s first cloned carabao or water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis carabanesis).

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and the Department of the Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD) are working together to create a breed of cloned “super buffalos” for use primarily to improve the country’s livestock supply.

These super buffalos are actually the regular carabaos that have been naturally bred specifically to yield more milk and meat while resistant to carabao diseases. They have not been genetically modified in any way.

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By Louise Daly
Agence France-Presse

CHICAGO–It sounds like something out of “Star Trek” — a tropical plant that uses toxic and come-hither odors and rising temperatures to ensure pollination.

But in fact, this scenario is straight out of nature.

In a paper released Thursday, US biologists report that the Australian cycad, a primitive tropical plant with large seed cones, uses a novel “pull-push” method to manipulate the tiny flying insects, or thrips, that it relies on for pollination.

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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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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:

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