NEWS | Pauli Basubas, a 28 year old Filipina scientist, was named a science ambassador by the Department of Science and Technology in the Davao region on October 15. She was honored at the opening of the region’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Week in Davao City. Basubas is a space biologist, which means she studies how living things survive in space, where gravity, radiation, air, and food are different from Earth.
Basubas grew up around nature in Cebu and Mindanao. She started as a biologist, then became a scientist who works on finding new medicines. Later, a chance to work in a space biology laboratory changed her path. One of her biggest moments came on a parabolic flight, where an airplane flies in steep arcs so the people inside feel almost weightless. Scientists use these flights to see how cells behave without gravity.
Her work could also help life on Earth. Studying how DNA gets damaged and repaired could help scientists design living things that do useful jobs in everyday life. She has also worked with groups in the Philippines and abroad to make it easier for developing countries like the Philippines to join practice space missions and weightlessness research. She encourages young Filipinos to try new fields of science, saying they have the skills to contribute.
Why This Matters
BMN thinks this is a good sign for Filipino students. Space science often sounds like something only rich countries do, with rockets and astronauts. A Filipina scientist working in it shows there are other doors, like biology and medicine. In early October, the Philippine Space Agency also finished its first all Filipino practice mission, a 24 hour test with a six person crew. BMN found no public details yet on funding for Filipino led space experiments. BMN thinks that until that exists, Filipino scientists will keep depending on programs from other countries.
The Philippines has the practice missions, the scientists, and now an ambassador. When will a Filipino experiment actually go to space?
