Tag Archives: Philippines

2024 RW1: Tiny asteroid strikes Earth and disintegrates above the Philippines

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Predicted trajectory of asteroid CAQTDL2 over the Philippines

Catalina Sky Survey/ESA

The asteroid struck Earth and burned up in the atmosphere east of the Philippines. Astronomers spotted it just hours before it streaked across the sky in a bright fireball, but many on the ground couldn’t see it because of cloudy skies caused by Typhoon Enteng.

The asteroid, estimated to be about one meter in diameter, was a NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. It was originally designated CAQTDL2 and was later renamed 2024 RW1.

As expected, the asteroid struck the east of the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago at around 1645 GMT, 1745 London time, 1245 New York time, or 0045 local time. The impact speed was predicted to be 17.6 kilometers per second, or 63,360 kilometers per hour. Alan Fitzsimmons. That’s average for such an object, says a researcher at Queen’s University in Belfast, UK. “Don’t be fooled by Hollywood movies where you see something screaming into the sky and you have time to run out the house, grab your cat, hop in your car and drive somewhere. You don’t have time for that,” he says.

Asteroid CAQTDL2 can be seen moving across the sky in a purple circle.

Catalina Sky Survey

Luckily, no evacuations were necessary: NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office posted on social media that the asteroid “safely impacted Earth’s atmosphere.”

“Something that small wouldn’t do any damage on the ground because the Earth’s atmosphere blocks that,” Fitzsimmons said. Video shared on social media from Cagayan province in the northern tip of the Philippines shows a flickering green fireball appearing behind a cloud, followed by an orange tail, before disappearing a few seconds later.

Fitzsimmons said two to three objects this size hit Earth every year, and early detection is becoming more common – astronomers detected the first near-Earth asteroid before it fell to Earth in 2008. 2024 RW1 will be the ninth asteroid to be accurately predicted to hit Earth.

“The really good thing about this is that our survey telescopes are now good enough to detect these objects as they approach and to provide a warning,” he says. “In other words, if this object was bigger and potentially threatening to people on the ground, it would have appeared brighter and projected farther. So this is a really cool demonstration that our current survey systems work really well. Right now, we’re probably averaging about one asteroid per year that gets detected before it hits the atmosphere, and survey systems are getting better and better.”

Not only is Earth developing and improving its early warning systems, but in 2022 NASA’s Dual Asteroid Reorientation Test (DART) spacecraft proved it could potentially save Earth from a catastrophic impact with a larger object. DART struck the 160-meter-wide moonlet Dimorphos, slowing it slightly, demonstrating that in theory such a disaster could be averted. Next month, the European Space Agency will launch the Hera mission to study the consequences of the impact in detail and further our understanding of planetary defense.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Golden Rice, Genetically Modified, Poised for Success in the Philippines

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Golden rice is genetically modified to produce beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A

Ili

Farmers in the Philippines may be able to continue growing golden rice, which has been genetically modified to fight malnutrition, despite a court ruling revoking permits to grow it.

Adrian Duboc, a member of the Golden Rice Humanitarian Committee that guided the production of Golden Rice, said the Philippine government would oppose the decision. “A challenge will be filed in the Court of Appeals and I think it will probably be successful,” he says.

Golden Rice was developed to combat vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of disability and death worldwide. As a result, it is estimated as follows. Up to 500,000 children go blind every yearHalf of them die within a year.

This is completely preventable if the child eats sufficient amounts of vitamin A or foods containing vitamin A precursors such as beta-carotene. This orange pigment, found in vegetables such as carrots, is converted into vitamins in the body.

In the 1980s, a group of scientists set out to genetically modify rice to contain beta-carotene, and it became known as golden rice because of its color.

The project became a major target for campaigners against genetically modified crops, and adoption of Golden Rice was significantly delayed. “The suspicions raised by Greenpeace were very effective,” Dubock said.

In 2021, the Philippines became the first country to approve the cultivation of golden rice (locally known as Marsog or healthy rice). It was previously approved as safe to eat. It is also approved for human consumption in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Rice cultivation and consumption is promoted by the Philippine Rice Institute, a government corporation.

This means that over the past three years, those who could benefit from that rice have finally been able to eat it. For example, the city of San Mateo introduced golden rice this year to its school lunch program for severely underweight infants.a recent research One in six children under the age of five in the Philippines has been found to be vitamin A deficient.

However, on April 17, the Philippine Court of Appeals revoked Golden Rice's permit following a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and other groups.

“This decision is a monumental victory for Filipino farmers and Filipinos who have been fighting against genetically modified (GM) crops for decades,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia activist Wilhelmina Peregrina. stated in a statement.

Dubock said it is his understanding that the court's decision was based on a specific technical error that occurred during the approval process. “We have to assume that the Philippine government will win the appeal,” he says.

in a statementthe Philippine Rice Research Institute said it is reviewing the impact of the court's decision to prepare a response.

Scientists have also applied for permission to grow golden rice in Bangladesh, but the country has been delaying a decision since 2017. “The need is greater than the Philippines,” Duboc said.

There is also significant vitamin A deficiency in many African countries, he says.

In his own research, Dubock compared the health outcomes of children eating golden rice to other types of rice, and hopes the results will encourage more countries to adopt golden rice.

topic:

  • Genetic recombination/
  • nutrition

Source: www.newscientist.com

Preserving the Philippines’ largest flower for future generations

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Rafflesia panchoana on Mount Kemalgon in the Philippines

Chris Thorogood

rafflesia It is a parasitic plant that spends most of its life cycle inside its host tropical vine, emerging only to flower. Its flowers are the largest in the world, reaching a length of one meter. Despite this, little is known about its life cycle and it is almost impossible to grow.

Deceiver of Rizantes, a relative of Rafflesia in the hill forests of Bengkulu, Sumatra

Chris Thorogood

half of Rafflesia species Most of the organisms known to science have been described in the past 20 years, and since then most of them have come close to extinction. This is a plant at risk. On a recent visit to the Philippines, I saw the population shrinking to make way for agricultural crops. As is often the case, small farmers were in charge. They are simply people trying to make ends meet.

view of bungkulu

Chris Thorogood

What's the solution? Protecting habitat is the best safeguard.However, this only works if you know the location rafflesia It happens first. In many cases, this is not the case. Local community action groups are essential to monitor the population in this regard.

Showing the size of Rafflesia arnoldi in southern Bengkulu

Chris Thorogood


Beyond habitat conservation, most plants can be protected in seed banks and botanical gardens.but rafflesia It is a refractory parasite. The only botanical garden where it has been successfully cultivated is in Bogor, Indonesia. rafflesia-Infected vines are grafted onto new uninfected rootstock.

Chris Thorogood, Freddy Chavez, Adrian Tobias, and Pastor Malabrigo Jr. with Rafflesia grafts in the Sierra Madre Mountains of the Philippines.

Chris Thorogood

In 2022, my colleagues Pastor Malabrigo Jr. and Pastor Adrian Tobias from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and I went to Bogor to learn how to grow what cannot grow. When we returned to the Philippines, we conducted the first attempt in the history of this country. rafflesia Breeding within forest reserves.If our R. Panchoana If the transplant is successful, a template for propagation is created. rafflesia This species is on the verge of extinction in the Philippines.

Chris Thorogood (@thorogoodchris1) is Deputy Director of the Oxford University Botanic Garden and author of the following books: pathless forest

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Exploring the Cosmic Landscape: Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

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This Copernicus Sentinel 2 image shows the Nueva Vizcaya province in the Philippines, highlighting its agricultural landscape and urban areas through a false color composite. The image depicts different seasons in different colors, revealing intricate details about crop growth stages, flooded rice fields, and urbanization. Credit: Contains corrected Copernicus Sentinel data (2022-23) processed by ESA. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

This pseudocolor satellite image from Copernicus Sentinel 2 brightens the center of Nueva Vizcaya province on Luzon, the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.

The image’s color is due to it being a multitemporal composite consisting of three Copernicus Sentinel 2 images acquired in the mission’s near-infrared channel over a 10-month period. Each acquisition is assigned a different color. Red is the acquisition in May 2022 during the hot dry season, green is the acquisition in September 2022 during the rainy season, and blue is the acquisition in March 2023 during the cool dry season.

This combination highlights different characteristics such as crop type and changes that occur between acquisitions indicating different growth stages.

A patchwork of brightly colored farmland stands out from the center of the image to the bottom left. Areas of red and green shades mean that plant growth took place in May and September, respectively. The fields visible in shades of blue, which make up most of the image, indicate that plant growth occurred mainly in March, during the cool dry season.

Perhaps due to intensive rice production, there are irrigation canals between the fields, and most fields remain flooded all year round. A bright white area, such as the one in the middle of a field, indicates a zone covered with dense vegetation.

Straight lines and gray areas represent roads and urban areas. These include Nueva Vizcaya’s largest town, Solano, visible in the lower left surrounded by blue fields, and Bayombong, the provincial capital further south.

The dark curving lines represent rivers, the largest of which is the Magat River, flowing northeast through the image. If you look closely, you can see different colors along the river’s flow. This is probably due to changes in water levels and river channels at different times of the year.

Copernicus Sentinel 2 has 13 spectral channels and is designed to provide data that can be used to map and monitor agricultural land, as the mission frequently revisits the same areas and has high spatial resolution. , changes in inland waters can be closely monitored.

In January 2023, ESA and the European Commission signed an agreement to build the first Copernicus mirror site in Southeast Asia in the Philippines. This new initiative will strengthen the Philippines’ response capacity and resilience to natural and man-made disasters through the strategic use of space data.


Source: scitechdaily.com