THE prestigious scientific publication Science Magazine has featured the Philippines’ establishment of strong science, research and development programs through coordination among government offices, science and engineering firms.

The story, “Philippines Plans Research Revival” written by Dennis Normile also cited the activities of the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) in its December issue.

COMSTE is part of major initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and members of Congress under Senator Edgardo Angara and Cavite Representative Joseph Abaya.

The Science Magazine article highlighted the “Balik Scientist” program of the DOST, which encourages repatriation of Filipino scientists and engineers by offering them positions in the country’s science and technology communities.

The article also featured heads of science and engineering departments, such as DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro, COMSTE Executive Director Fortunato de la Peña and Mapua Institute of Technology President Reynaldo Vea.

Returnee Filipino doctor Edsel Salvana was also cited in the article.

Salvana graduated from the University of the Philippines but worked abroad, particularly in the Medical College of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University.

By Agence France-Presse

CHICAGO — Scientists have discovered a more efficient way of building a synthetic genome that could one day enable them to create artificial life, according to a study released Wednesday.

The method is already being used to help develop next generation biofuels and biochemicals in the labs of controversial celebrity US scientist Craig Venter.

Venter has hailed artificial life forms as a potential remedy to illness and global warming, but the prospect is highly controversial and arouses heated debate over its potential ramifications and the ethics of engineering artificial life.

Artificially engineered life is one of the Holy Grails of science, but also stirs deep fears as foreseen in Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel “Brave New World” in which natural human reproduction is eschewed in favor of babies grown in laboratories.

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Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Partnership with private sectors will answer the commercialization problems in research and development (R&D) institutions, the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) said.

Universities and institutions should partner with private sector to help commercialize technology that will benefit the people, DoST Secretary Estrella Alabastro at the opening of the National Biotechnology Week.

Research and development in biotechnology, for one, has yet to attract more investments from private sector, Alabastro said.

Senator Edgardo Angara agreed, as he pointed out the lack of incentives for investors to pour resources in biotechnology research and development.

“Biotech will not be successful if support system is not in place,” Angara added.

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By Agence France-Presse

MEXICO CITY — Mexican scientists have turned the country’s national tipple tequila into diamonds, and are seeking applications for their discovery, with the crystals too small to be used in jewelry.

The tequila diamonds could be used to “detect radiation, coat cutting tools or, above all, as a substitute for silicon in the computer chips of the future,” Miguel Apatiga, one of three researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico who made the discovery this summer, told AFP Tuesday.

The scientists found that the heated vapor from tequila blanco, when deposited on a stainless steel base, can form diamond films.

They began experimenting some 13 years ago with synthetic diamonds — made by a technological process, as opposed to natural diamonds, produced by geological process — from gases like methane.

Later they produced diamonds from liquids, and then noticed that the ideal compound of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent water was similar to the proportion used in tequila.

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By Kenneth Hartigan-Go

MUCH of the clamor now in the pharmaceutical sector, both globally and locally, calls for transparency in pricing to lower the cost of medicine. International and local organizations and alliances have been formed to clamor for it. Prices are monitored and compared within and between regions throughout the world. Various mechanisms have been placed to demand transparency in pricing worldwide. However, prices remain high and thus the clamor remains.

An important factor to consider why prices remain high is the inability of the government to systematize a transparent pricing mechanism. It is as if the imperfection of the market, its profit-maximizing nature, is irreversible and thus has to be accepted as innate. This should not be the case. There can be a better equitable way out of this. The government must put up a transparent mechanism in medicine pricing to influence the market to respond to the public’s call and moderate their profit-orientation. Though this first action will address the imperfection of the system, it is not enough. The second half of action involves addressing the market failure by developing a proper and responsive competitive pharmaceutical sector capable of undertaking science and technology activities.

The Philippine Government has tried to respond to the call for transparency. The Department of Health and PhilHealth have come up with Drug Price Reference Index (DPRI). It works basically under the principle of informing the public of the prices of medicines, as being sold in the market, thus giving them the choice. However, though the intention is good, it does not really address the problem of high medicine prices. The DPRI is not enough. It accepts that the market may impose high prices as long as there is a cheaper counterpart. And that regulation will be left with the market forces. Further, the assumption of the PhilHealth that the public is objective enough to choose a cheaper counterpart may not be completely true, as they may be shaped by the misleading advertisements. DPRI is only a short-term solution. Drug pricing in the Philippines remain non-transparent and drug prices remain high and access by the public is adversely denied.

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