Behind The Science Podcast

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Cirilo Ybañez Jr. about his review of grouper (lapu-lapu) aquaculture in Asia. Groupers are prized as luxury seafood, and high market demand has driven the growth of grouper farming across the region. The review draws on 153 published studies from 1989 to 2023. It recorded 48 grouper species used in aquaculture in Asia, plus 16 hybrids (offspring of crosses betwee...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Jhonnel Villegas about his study examining the conservation of the Philippine brown deer (Rusa marianna Desmarest, 1822) in Davao Oriental with a focus on the perspectives and traditions of the Mandaya Indigenous people. The deer, considered sacred and a cultural symbol, faces declining populations due to poverty-driven hunting and deforestation. Through interview...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Aris Paolo Castro, an instructor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences, UP Diliman, about his study tracking how Mayon Volcano's lava dome grew and collapsed during its 2023 eruption. Using free satellite images from Landsat and Sentinel-2, the study tracked Mayon's summit from August 2022 to December 2023 and identified five phases where the do...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Karl Fritze S. Sampiano, an entomologist and faculty member at Davao Oriental State University, about his study on the risks and policy responses needed for the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) invasion in the Davao Region. First detected in the Philippines in 2019, this invasive pest — native to the Americas and capable of flying up to 100 kilometers in a si...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Michael Jeriel Bersaldo, a marine biology instructor at SPAMAST, about his study on the fishery status of imbao, the mangrove clam that's one of the most sought-after shellfish in Davao region. A 2010 assessment had found the fishery over-exploited, leading to a policy regulating the size of clams that gleaners are allowed to harvest. Using transect and quadra...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Karol Mark Yee, Executive Director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), about the growing problem of diploma mills in Philippine higher education — schools that hand out real-looking diplomas without delivering real education. Dr. Yee explains that the Philippines is especially exposed because it has one of the largest higher education sy...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kerby Alvarez, a historian at the Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman, about his study tracing the history of Philippine meteorology. Long before PAGASA existed, the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila (OMM) — founded by Jesuit priests in 1865 — and its successor, the Philippine Weather Bureau (PWB) spent nearly a century turning typhoons...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Carlo Arcilla, a geologist and former director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences, about whether the Philippines is ready for nuclear energy. He explains why the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents people associate with nuclear energy are not likely to happen Bataan. He also addresses the geologic...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Jude Vito Custodio Agapito about his study on whether Project NOAH, the Philippine government's flagship disaster risk reduction program, actually saved lives. Using counterfactual analysis of hazard data from 1986 to 2024, the study compares fatalities and damages before and after operations research was embedded into the government's Pre-Disaster Risk As...

In this episode, we talk with Ms. Eulah Araullo, Creative Lead at Canva and one of the Philippines' top educational content creators (@eulahexplains), about the design principles behind coats of arms, logos, and seals. We discuss the distinction between these three symbols, and how colonial history continues to shape Philippine seals today.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Roy Joshua Gerona about the Doctors To The Barrio (DTTB) Program, what a day in rural healthcare actually looks like, the challenges of serving underserved communities, and why he chose this path.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Renerio Gentallan Jr. about his study on the taxonomic identity of "lagundi", a group of medicinal shrubs long confused with one another due to decades of conflicting nomenclatural revisions. Despite lagundi-based products generating hundreds of millions of pesos in sales in the Philippines, the exact species being used and studied has remained ambiguous...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Ramil Ramos about his study on flood and landslide susceptibility mapping in the City of Mati, Davao Oriental. Using a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis integrated with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (MCDA-AHP), the study generated hazard susceptibility maps and examined how urban expansion from 2017 to 2024 has increasingly encroached into high-risk zo...

We talk with Dr. John Jefferson Besa and Dr. Ella Mae Masamayor about their study on prolonged hospital stays among internal medicine patients admitted at the Philippine General Hospital. By reviewing the medical records of 386 patients admitted in 2019, prolonged length of stay was found in almost a fifth of emergency admissions and a quarter of elective admissions. They also discussed the factor...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Nicko Caluya about his study on whether the size of the overlay field of view (OFOV) in head-mounted displays affects a person's ability to memorize spatial locations. OFOV refers to the small window through which virtual objects are visible in optical see-through AR headsets, and narrower OFOVs are often criticized as a limitation of the technology. Using a s...

In this episode, we talk with Victor Anastacio, stand-up comedian and host of the podcast Intellectwalwal, about whether there's a formula for making people laugh. A former banker who left the corporate world to pursue comedy full-time with Comedy Manila, Victor shares his perspective on what makes comedy work, drawing from his years on stage and behind the mic.

In this episode, we talk with Nicko R. Caluya about his study on the design of Igpaw: Intramuros, a smartphone- and tablet-based augmented reality game that teaches Philippine history through an adventure game format set in the walled city of Intramuros, Manila. 📚Reference: Rodrigo, M. M. T., Caluya, N. R., Diy, W. D. A., & Vidal, E. C. E., Jr. (2015). Igpaw: Intramuros — Design of an augment...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Janine Patricia G. Robredo about her thesis on stunting among children under five in nutrition aid-recipient communities in the Philippines.

In this episode, we talk with Diether C. Montejo about his study on predicting how university entrants perform in the State University Aptitude and Scholarship Test (SUAST) — the college admission exam of Davao Oriental State University. Despite a 54% passing rate over a five-year period, non-passers continued to be accepted due to policy changes, raising questions about what factors actually dete...

In this episode, we talk with Mr. John Fungo about his journey in science, PhD research in Taiwan, and life outside the laboratory. PS. Hindi pala nag save ang video recording kaya audio episode muna tayo.

In this episode, we talk with Mary Rose P. Gabuyo about her study on using low-cost fish finders — the kind used for recreational sport fishing — to detect and map submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in coastal waters. SGD refers to all direct discharge of subsurface fluids across the seafloor, including fresh groundwater, recirculated seawater, and gases like CO₂ and methane. Despite its ecolog...

In this episode, we talk with Madeleine Santos about her study on how sea ice in the Canadian Arctic has changed over the past 13,000 years and what it tells us about where the Arctic is headed. By analyzing lipid biomarkers — chemical compounds preserved in seafloor sediments that serve as fingerprints of past environmental conditions — from two sediment cores collected from the Beaufort Sea, the...

In this episode, we talk with Elisha Jane M. Maglalang about her study on the possible occurrence of gas hydrates in offshore western Luzon — the first of its kind in the Philippines. Gas hydrates are ice-like substances that trap methane gas within their molecular structure and form naturally on the seafloor under high pressure and low temperature. They are of significant interest both as a poten...

In this episode, we talk with Alyzza Calayag about her study on the diversity, seasonality, and global distribution of viruses in the Arctic Ocean. Viruses play critical roles in ocean ecosystems but very little is known about viral communities in polar waters. Using water samples collected monthly for four years, the study identified 5,662 viral groups, found that viral abundance is 8-fold higher...

In this episode, we talk with Ms. Jamila B. Abuda about her study on using machine learning to predict when landslides are likely to occur along a mountain highway in Benguet, Philippines. Being able to predict when landslides will happen is critical for early warning systems. The study tested five machine learning algorithms using only rainfall data and documented landslide events, and found that...