Behind The Science Podcast

How can a fungus help control one of the Philippines’ most destructive crop pests? In this episode of Behind the Science Podcast, Marcela M. Navasero and Melissa P. Montecalvo of UPLB’s National Crop Protection Center share how Metarhizium rileyi is being studied as a biological control agent against fall armyworm, along with the real-world challenges of turning lab research into sustainable pest...

I talked with Engr. Raymond Lagria about his study on classifying and ranking social media posts to prioritize disaster response. 📚Reference: Lagria, R., et. al. “A Text Mining Framework for the Classification and Prioritization of Disaster-Related Tweets for Disaster Response”. Philippine Engineering Journal 2022 Vol. 43, No.: 65-88 🤝Behind The Science Podcast is presented to you by Marine &amp...

I talked with Ms. Cielo Luz C. Mondejar about practical, low-cost ways to improve rice seed quality using organic fertilizers. 📚Reference: Mondejar CL. 2025. Comparative Effects of Organic-Based Seed Treatments on Seed Viability and Vigor of Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) Varieties . The Philippine Agricultural Scientist. 108(4):305–312. 🤝Behind The Science Podcast is presented to you by Marine & E...

What happens when you drop 2 quantum particles of different sizes at the same time? 📚Reference: Flores PCM, Galapon EA. 2019. Quantum free-fall motion and quantum violation of the weak equivalence principle . Physical Review A. 99(4). ‌ 🤝Behind The Science Podcast is presented to you by Marine & Earth Science Learning Hub, UP Resilience Institute, The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, The P...

Kwento ko lang paano ito nagsimula hanggang sa kung ano na ito ngayon.

In this episode, I talked with Dr. Rafaela Jane Delfino about her research on how climate change influences super typhoons in the Philippines. Using high-resolution climate models, her study examines how Super Typhoons Goni (2020) and Rai (2021) respond to past and future climate conditions. 📚Reference: Delfino RJP, Bagtasa G. 2025. Response of super typhoons Goni (2020) and Rai (2021) to past an...

I talked with Dr. Cherrie May Olaya, a postdoctoral researcher at the RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics in Japan. She explains her work on how light behaves at metal surfaces, focusing on a phenomenon known as the photonic spin Hall effect. Using surface plasmon resonance, her study demonstrates a new way to directly measure tiny light shifts that are usually difficult to detect. We discuss why...

Dr. Mary Joy Abit shares their research that examines how nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations can influence the growth of water hyacinths. 📚Reference: Abit MJ, Pilar RF, Ramirez AH. 2025. Influence of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Rates on the Growth of Water Hyacinth ( Pontederia crassipes Mart.) . The Philippine Agricultural Scientist. 108(1):7–12.‌ 🤝Behind The Science Podcast is presented to you...

Dr. Gerry Bagtasa shares their study on developing an AI-based model for forecasting tropical cyclone rainfall in the Philippines using historical data from 1951 to 2015 to train the model. 📚Reference: Mesias CG, Bagtasa G. 2025. AI‐Based Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Forecasting in the Philippines Using Machine Learning . Meteorological Applications. 32(4). ‌ 🤝Behind The Science Podcast is presente...

In this episode, I talk with Ms. Alexandra Hulog about a new microfluidic method that creates uniform alginate microbeads for cell encapsulation. Traditional batch emulsion techniques often produce beads of uneven sizes, which affects how much medicine, nutrients, or cells each bead can carry. Their microfluidic platform solves this problem by controlling droplet size during formation, resulting i...

Dr. Edison Macusi discusses the most pressing issues facing the small pelagic fisheries and milkfish aquaculture industries in the Philippines over the next 30 years, and the solutions to these problems. 📚Reference: Macusi ED, Nallos IM, Santos MD, Geronimo RC. 2025. Climate and Non-climate Related Hazards in Small Pelagic Fisheries and Milkfish Aquaculture: Expert Opinion Survey in the Philippin...

Mr. Marco Ibañez shares what it takes to become a storm chaser for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, and his experience chasing Super Typhoon Uwan. 📚 Check out Marco's research papers: [1] Ibañez MP, Pura AG, Sajulga RA, David SJ. 2023. Raindrop Size Distribution (RSD) Characteristics during the Southwest Monsoon Period in Western Luzon, Philipp...

I talked with Dr. Arah Narida about a breakthrough in coral conservation. Their team achieved the world's first successful production of adult corals grown from cryopreserved larvae. 📚Reference: Arah Narida, Tsai S-Y, Hsieh W-C, Wen Z, Wang L-H, Huang Cc, Lin C. 2023. First successful production of adult corals derived from cryopreserved larvae . Frontiers in Marine Science. 10.‌ 🤝Behind The...

I talked with Ms. Angelyn Marmeto about her study on the genetic interaction between BT corn and traditional maize varieties in the Philippines. Their team discovered the first evidence of natural cross-pollination, where insect-resistant traits from genetically modified corn were transferred to a native variety known as Silangan. We discuss how this gene flow happened, what it means for insect re...

I talked with Mr. Gifford Jay Agudo about his study on land cover change and flood exposure in Quinali A Watershed, Albay. Using satellite remote sensing and flood modeling, his research tracks three decades of landscape transformation — from the loss of forests and brushlands to the rapid expansion of croplands and urban areas. The results reveal that urban growth is encroaching into flood-prone...

Scab diseases make fruits like mango, citrus, and sweet potato unappealing and unmarketable, but what if we could decode the fungus behind them down to its DNA? In this episode of Behind The Science Podcast, Dr. Leilani Sumabat-Dacones talked about her team’s discovery of the genes that make the fungus Elsinoë such an effective plant pathogen. Using bioinformatics, they analyzed fungal genomes to...

Dr. Reginald Bernardo shares how his recent study uses the hunting behavior of the Philippine Eagle as inspiration for optimizing cosmological models that describe the expansion of the universe. 📚Reference: Bernardo RC, Enriquez EA, Mendoza R, Reyes R, Velasco AC. 2025. Nature-inspired optimization, the Philippine Eagle, and cosmological parameter estimation . Astronomy and Computing. 54:101026....

Dr. Evelyn Ame evaluates how the Gentleman’s Agreement — an informal management agreement among fishers — is holding up in practice for managing the stocks of aramang in Aparri, Cagayan. Using catch data, gear analysis, and participatory appraisal, Dr. Ame reveals that fishing mortality rates are much higher than natural mortality, and the current exploitation level (E = 0.66) already exceeds sust...

In this episode, I talked with Prof. Floirendo Flores about his research on fortifying rice with vitamin A. His study looked at how β-carotene can be better preserved and released using β-cyclodextrin microencapsulation. By testing different methods, the research shows how rice can be made more nutritious. This study also received the NAST PHL Outstanding Scientific Paper Award. Prof. Flores also...

In this episode, I talked with Dr. Angelo Macario about his study on how fishhook size affects catch variation, size selectivity, and bycatch in bottom-set longline fisheries targeting nemipterid fishes in the Philippines. His research shows that the choice of hook size plays a crucial role in determining the sustainability of fish stocks and the livelihood of small-scale fishers. Angelo also shar...

In this episode of Behind the Science Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Carlos Primero Gundran to talk about disaster preparedness and response in the Philippines. He shares insights on the role of simulation training in preparing agencies for emergencies, the challenges of limited resources, and overlapping mandates. Drawing from his background in emergency medicine, Dr. Gundran highlights practical s...

In this episode, I talked with Dr. Edjohn Aaron Macauyag about his research on developing a low-cost technique to synthesize Bst DNA polymerase —an enzyme for detecting diseases like COVID-19— and reducing costs by over 90% using home ingredients like egg whites and powdered milk. 📚Reference: San Pedro VM, Cañas VA, Garcia JR, Lopez C, Zulueta M, Macauyag EA. 2025. A low-cost production method fo...

In this episode of Behind the Science Podcast, we talk with Dr. Melanie Villarao about her study “Reproductive Biology and Population Dynamics of Largehead Hairtail ( Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758) in Babuyan Channel, Philippines.” They analyzed nearly 2,600 specimens of T. lepturus to determine sex ratio, fecundity, spawning seasonality, length at first maturity, and key population parameter...

In this episode of Behind the Science Podcast, we talked with Dr. Maria Victoria M. Sumagang about her study, “A P-graph Approach for Planning Sustainable Rice Straw Management Networks”, which received the 2025 Outstanding Scientific Paper Award by the National Academy of Science and Technology. The Philippines generates over 15 million tons of rice straw annually, much of which is still burned i...

In this episode, I talked with my twin brother Dr. Philip Flores about his research on developing a method to discriminate chiral molecules by shining a laser to the molecule and measuring the ejected electron's spin. 📚Reference: Flores, P. C. M., Carlström, S., Patchkovskii, S., Ivanov, M., Mujica, V., Ordonez, A. F., & Smirnova, O. (2025). Enantiosensitive locking of photoelectron spin and...