Two Filipina scientists Maribel Nonato and Rizalina de Leon garnered this year's Gregorio Y. Zara Awards for Basic and Applied Research, respectively, for their forays into the study of plants native to the Philippines. Nonato studied the phytochemistry and biological activities of pandan plants, while De Leon pursued methods to produce bioethanol using local varieties of fungi as alternative sources of ethanol additives in place of food crops such as corn. News story from ABS-CBN.