Research

As the national university, we champion and support innovative research that addresses the country’s most pressing challenges.

28 May 2025

UP Diliman

SPECIAL FEATURE: How did Filipino athletes cope with the Covid-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic deeply affected social and economic life around the world. To protect public health, many countries enforced lockdowns...

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21 May 2025

UP Diliman

Machine learning holds great promise for advancing hadron physics and deepening our understanding of the subatomic world

We investigated a peak signal around MeV in the invariant mass spectrum, which has intrigued physicists as a potential candidate...

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20 May 2025

UP Diliman

Cigarette demand varies with changes in price

This study looks into how recent tax reforms on cigarettes and fermented liquor in the Philippines have affected people’s consumption...

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08 May 2025

UP Diliman

There is a weak positive correlation between land surface temperature and concentrations of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide

This study looks at how land surface temperature (LST) from satellite data, elevation, and air quality parameters are related in...

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07 May 2025

Proper water management and soil sanitation can help prevent crop losses caused by the Paramyrothecium fungus

Paramyrothecium is a fungus that can cause plant diseases like coffee leaf spots, muskmelon crown rot, and eggplant crater rot....

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02 May 2025

Simulations show that rosette nanotube is a potential vehicle for anticancer drugs such as paclitaxel

Anticancer drugs such as paclitaxel (PTX) affect the healthy cells apart from the cancer cells, causing severe side effects. Targeted...

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30 Apr 2025

Leni Robredo’s presidential campaign offered supporters spaces that reflected their hopes by highlighting gender and sexuality issues

This paper examines how Leni Robredo’s presidential campaign during the 2022 Philippines elections used language and visuals to create a...

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30 Apr 2025

Researchers propose a modified inelastic bouncing ball model that includes collision time between the ball and its container

The behavior of granular materials subjected to shaking or vibration remains a complex puzzling phenomenon. A reliable strategy in science...

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25 Apr 2025

A method has been developed to determine the minimum aperture size that a digital micromirror device can accurately render

A digital micromirror device (DMD) is a programmable pixelated instrument that uses an array of tiny individually switchable mirrors as...

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25 Apr 2025

China’s projects aim not only to compete with the US but also to bring about positive change

This research looks at how China is becoming more influential in the world through projects like the Belt and Road...

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24 Apr 2025

Non-democratic states, even if they perform well in sports, receive less media attention than democratic countries

In this study, Panao and Gache delve into the fascinating world of sports and its connection to global politics. Essentially,...

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15 Apr 2025

Survivors of the 1974 Battle of Jolo wish to forget the tragedy but their memories expose the recent struggles of Muslim Mindanao

Moving beyond the disinformation surrounding Filipino memory construction of martial law this study delves into the experiences of civilians during...

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Research

Fossils are preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms, often turned to rock. Body fossils include parts like shells, teeth, or bones, while trace fossils (ichnofossils), such as footprints or burrows, reveal how ancient creatures lived and behaved. Trace fossils can even hint at the presence of animals we haven’t discovered yet through their bones or teeth.

We examined bite marks on a fossilized deer (Rusa sp.) shinbone (tibia) we discovered from a Pleistocene (2.6 million–11,000 years ago) river channel in northwestern La Union (Bacnotan-Balaoan), Luzon, Philippines. Other fossils found include bones and teeth of the Luzon tamaraw (Bubalus sp.), a wild boar tusk (Sus sp.), and a crocodile tooth.

Our analysis suggests a large carnivore made the bite marks. While consistent with crocodile feeding, some gnawing-like marks point to a mammalian carnivore, such as a big cat or wild dog. This possibility is fascinating, given the lack of body fossils or extant native species of these predators on Luzon Island.

Unlike Luzon, which has always been isolated, Palawan has yielded tiger fossils and may have been connected to Borneo and Sundaland during periods of low sea levels. Smaller carnivores like civets and leopard cats are likely more recent arrivals or were introduced by humans.

This study underscores how much we still have to learn about the prehistoric biodiversity of Luzon and the Philippines, knowledge that is increasingly important in light of modern biodiversity and climate crises. It shows the potential for further discoveries given the underexplored fossil record of Luzon and the Philippines, which can contribute to understanding the prehistoric biodiversity of the region and the broader dynamics of insular evolution and biogeography. This study also highlights the utility of examining trace fossils to infer other faunal members that body fossils may not represent.

Authors: Meyrick U. Tablizoa (Nannoworks Laboratory, National Institute of Geological Sciences, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), Rebekka Volmer (Ateneo de Manila University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Quezon City | Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, “The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans” (ROCEEH)), Allan Gil S. Fernando (Nannoworks Laboratory, National Institute of Geological Sciences, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), and Juan C. Rofes (School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman | Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique : Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements (AASPE, UMR 7209), CNRS/MNHN | National Museum of the Philippines)

Read the full paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753396923000642?via%3Dihub