Behind The Science Podcast

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 ecological significance, mapping SGD remains a challenge because conventional methods are costly, tedious, and require specialized equipment. This study tested whether recreational-grade echosounders could do the job — and they did.
📚Reference: Gabuyo MRP, Siringan FP. 2022. Utility of low-cost recreational-grade echosounders in imaging and characterizing bubbly coastal submarine groundwater discharge. Journal of Hydrology X. 14:100118.

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 study reconstructed sea ice cover, sea surface temperatures, salinity, and terrestrial input throughout the Holocene.
📚Reference: Santos M, Bröder L, O'Regan M, Hernández-Almeida I, Tesi T, Bigler L, Haghipour N, Nelson DB, Fritz M, Lattaud J. 2026. Holocene sea ice and paleoenvironment conditions in the Beaufort Sea (Canadian Arctic) reconstructed with lipid biomarkers. Climate of the Past. 22:187–203.

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 potential alternative energy resource and as a geologic hazard. Their dissociation can release large amounts of methane into the atmosphere and trigger underwater landslides. By reinterpreting existing multi-channel seismic reflection data from the Manila Trench, the study identified bottom simulating reflectors, which is the primary seismic signature of gas hydrate presence, across a total area of approximately 15,400 km² in the Manila Trench forearc region.
📚Reference: Maglalang EJM, Armada LT, Santos MC, Sayen KF, Dimalanta CB, Hsu S-K, Yumul GP Jr. 2023. Bottom simulating reflectors in the Manila Trench forearc and its implications on the occurrence of gas hydrates in the region. Marine and Petroleum Geology. 158:106538.
🤝Behind The Science Podcast is in partnership with the UP Resilience Institute

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 summer than the rest of the year, and discovered that 42% of these Arctic viruses also peak in abundance in high-latitude regions of the Southern Ocean
📚Reference: Calayag AM, Priest T, Oldenburg E, Muschiol J, Popa O, Wietz M, Needham DM. 2025. Arctic Ocean virus communities and their seasonality, bipolarity, and prokaryotic associations. Nature Communications. 16:6427.
🤝Behind The Science Podcast is in partnership with the UP Resilience Institute