Dhahran To Host 25th Asian Physics Olympiad With Participants From 30 Nations
RIYADH, April 27 (Bernama) -- Saudi Arabia is set to host the 25th Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO 25) in Dhahran from May 4–12, welcoming 240 top high school physics students from 30 nations across Asia and Oceania, including Malaysia.
Chairman of the APhO 25 Organising Committee, Badr Al-Majrathi, said Saudi Arabia's hosting of this prestigious international scientific forum reflects its growing capabilities in nurturing talent and promoting innovation.
'This event is a testament to the Kingdom's strategy to invest in human capital and to elevate national talents.
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'It also showcases the confidence of international institutions in our organisational expertise and scientific infrastructure,' he said in a statement to Bernama.
APhO is a prestigious annual competition for high school students from Asia and Oceania, established in 2000 at the initiative of Indonesia. It features a five-hour theoretical exam and five-hour experimental tests. Each country can nominate up to eight students to compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals, as well as honourable mentions.
According to the APhO 25 Organising Committee, Malaysia, a consistent and prominent participant in the APhO, brings to the competition a rich history of academic excellence and strong performances.
Malaysia also hosted the 24th edition of the Olympiad in 2024, reinforcing its pivotal role in advancing physics education across the region.
Organised by the Ministry of Education, the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), APhO 25 will be held on the university campus, with exclusive sponsorship from Saudi Aramco.
Founded by Professor Yohanes Surya and the then-president of the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), the APhO made its debut in Indonesia in 1999 with 12 participating countries.
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P. gombakia was officially named in 2015 by entomologist Lesly Ballantyne at the Natural History Museum in London, based on the first specimen of the species collected in 1921 from the area now known as Genting Sempah in Gombak, Selangor. Tan said the firefly specimen he collected last October was initially assumed to be of a species from the genus Colophotia, which is commonly found in Bukit Kiara. But later when he examined it closely on Jan 9, it looked different. "So I took some photos through the microscope and sent them to my academic supervisor Dr Wan Faridah (Akmal Jusoh). After discussions, we found out it was actually a bent-winged P. gombakia (from a different genus),' he told Bernama recently. Tan said he, together with Dr Wan Faridah - a firefly taxonomist and senior lecturer in Biodiversity and Conservation at Monash University Malaysia - returned to Bukit Kiara to do more research. "Whenever we saw their flashing lights (usually at twilight), we would catch the fireflies, observe their features, record their species and then release them,' he said. MANGROVE SPECIES According to Wan Faridah, who is also the co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission Firefly Specialist Group, P. gombakia belongs to the genus Pteroptyx, which is usually found in mangrove habitats and known for its synchronous flashing displays in large congregations. She added there is a group of Pteroptyx called 'bent-winged' fireflies, named after their folded wings, which are also mostly found in mangroves. She said she was surprised when Tan showed her the specimen collected from the Bukit Kiara urban forest as it was "the first bent-winged Pteroptyx ever found outside of mangroves'. "This suggests that the species can actually survive outside that ecosystem,' she told Bernama. Wan Faridah also said she did not realise Tan's specimen was the bent-winged Pteroptyx until she examined its microscopic images. "The difference (between P. gombakia and the more common Colophotia) was spotted in the (P. gombakia) firefly's light-producing organ called the 'lantern', which is located in the insect's abdomen,' she said. She explained both P. gombakia and Colophotia have bipartite light organs, meaning the structure is divided into two distinct sections. However, P. gombakia lacks a median carina, a ridge that separates the organ into two halves. "Indeed, it's truly magical we have this rare group of fireflies living in the heart of our city,' she said. She also said out of the 14 known bent-winged Pteroptyx species, nine are found in mangrove ecosystems. The habitats of the remaining species, including P. gombakia, remain unclear due to a lack of ecological data. 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Wan Faridah noted that most fireflies found flying in both mangrove and terrestrial habitats are males while some females are flightless, remaining on the ground while the males fly and use light signals to locate and attract them. While congregating fireflies in mangrove swamps are well-known as ecotourism attractions in Malaysia, Wan Faridah said solitary fireflies also exist in other forest types. The Bukit Kiara urban forest, for instance, is now home to nine firefly species, including Lamprigera - the world's largest female firefly species - and the latest discovery P. gombakia. EXTINCTION Wan Faridah said unlike most Pteroptyx species, the bent-winged firefly species recently discovered in Bukit Kiara does not appear to congregate in large numbers. "We don't have enough data about this species and we still have many unanswered questions. "What worries us is that we may have discovered a species (P. gombakia) which is on the brink of extinction. So currently, we are racing against time to find the answers,' she said. According to Wan Faridah, threats to P. gombakia include habitat loss due to urban development and artificial lighting at night, which causes light pollution and disrupts the flashing signals fireflies use to communicate with each other. "Every rediscovered firefly species is evidence that extinction is possible but it can still be prevented if we act. "If more people become aware of these endangered fireflies, perhaps more efforts will be made to protect their habitats,' she said. Wan Faridah also said despite the potential of fireflies as ecotourism assets, one of the main challenges for researchers in Malaysia is the lack of a proper species inventory and natural history collection, which would serve as a valuable archive of insect diversity. She said research on fireflies in Malaysia is limited, making conservation efforts more difficult. 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T he leaves tell the story. Laid side by side in a research glasshouse at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in Serdang, Selangor, the two paddy leaves look alike at first glance. But under the sharp gaze of principal research officer Dr Zulkifli Ahmad Seman, the difference is obvious. One leaf is almost all yellow, a sickly sign of bacterial blight – a disease that has afflicted Malaysian rice fields for decades and caused losses amounting to hundreds of thousands of ringgit. The other is almost entirely green, save for a faint yellowing at the tip. It comes from a rice line Zulkifli and his team edited using CRISPR-CS9 technology. 'So with the host, the protein (blight) can't attach because of where we've mutated it. So when it cannot attach, that's where it will stop,' he told Bernama in the meeting room at MARDI's headquarters. Since 2021, Zulkifli and other MARDI scientists have been involved in a project to develop new genetically edited rice varieties with targeted traits, such as resistance to disease and tolerance to climate challenges like extreme heat and drought. He said they now had a potential gene-edited (GE) paddy line, which is currently undergoing the screening phase. He said so far, their research has shown that blight would only affect 11 percent of the leaves of GE paddy. The line is not just a scientific breakthrough. It is the first GE plant for MARDI and Malaysia. But as Zulkifli's team approaches the fifth generation of the disease-resistant seed, they are coming closer to confronting an arguably worse challenge than blight: Malaysia's regulatory gray zone. GRAY ZONE Malaysia is one of Asia's highest per capita consumers of rice but it does not grow enough of it. In 2023, per capita consumption was 76.7 kilogrammes per year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. The numbers have decreased from 2022, showing a 4.7 percent decrease in rice production, from 2.28 million tonnes in 2022 to 2.18 million tonnes in 2023. According to the same statistics, local rice production can only meet 56.2 percent of local demand, leaving the country vulnerable to price shocks and supply disruptions. For paddy farmers like 57-year-old Puteh Hassan in Kedah, the worsening weather patterns and recurring disease outbreaks have made harvests increasingly uncertain. 'There was one season we were badly hit (by bacterial blight). We lost 60 percent of our paddy. When it (blight) strikes, there's nothing inside (the paddy husks)… it's empty,' she said over the phone. Zulkifli's research, should it be allowed to continue, may be able to save Puteh's paddy field from another disastrous attack. But the issue putting the research in limbo is whether current regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should apply to GE crops or not. Unlike genetically modified organisms, GE crops do not contain foreign DNA, such as Bt corn, which has the DNA from the bacterium Bacillus Thuringiensis to make it pest-resistant. Instead, they involve precise deletions or tweaks to existing genes a process some researchers argue is closer to accelerated natural selection. As such, scientists and biotechnologists argue they cannot be judged according to the same standards. So far, the regulatory framework has not caught up. Malaysia's Biosafety Act 2007 governs GMOs but when the law was passed, there was no CRISPR technology or any effective way to edit the genome. The scientists are in a quandary – they are doing ground-breaking work with the potential to help the nation feed its people, but will their GE rice even see the light of day? Bernama contacted the National Biosafety Board (NBB) for clarification but the board did not respond before press time. THE YELLOW FIELDS Puteh remembers the season her paddy fields turned yellow. Born in Kedah and raised by paddy farmers, she then married a paddy farmer. Managing her own paddy field for the past 15 years, Puteh has seen plenty of bad years. But she still remembers when the blight wiped out almost all of her income in 2019. 'It was terrible. I lost one tonne of paddy that season,' she said. She had hoped the ensuing seasons would be better but she found that her yields either improved marginally or got worse. In recent years, extreme temperatures and sudden floods have become more common. 'Climate change is really bad now; all kinds of natural disasters, rain, then, water shortages,' she said. On top of that, blight is still there. Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae, spreads quickly in flooded paddies and thrives in warm, humid environments like Malaysia's. It browns and withers paddy leaves and cuts grain production, leaving farmers with rotten fields. At the same time, farmers are growing less rice. According to National Association of Smallholders Malaysia president Adzmi Hassan, many smallholders have shifted to more lucrative crops like oil palm. 'Have you ever heard of paddy as a commodity that can increase income for small businesses?' he asked. 'But we eat rice. There is demand for it here.' He added Malaysia should not just look at technology, it should also look at enriching and encouraging paddy farmers to grow the staple crop. One way would be to ensure there is a consistent and predictable yield year by year. For two years in a row, beginning in the 2023/24 season, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had predicted Malaysia's rice production would be below average. At MARDI's research centre, the GE padi stands as a potential solution. Until they get more information, MARDI researchers are operating under the assumption that their GE rice will not be subject to the same burdensome approval process that stymied past biotech efforts involving GMO products. But, still, the fear is there. The scientists remember all too well efforts to conduct open field trials of a pesticide-resistant strain of GMO padi in Perlis in 2019. Nearby communities and environmentalists protested against holding the trials, in accordance with NBB guidelines. In the end, the project was shelved. MARDI senior research officer Dr Mohd Waznu Adly said Malaysia should follow Japan's and a few other countries' lead, which exempts certain gene-edited crops from GMO regulation if no foreign DNA is present. These countries treat GE crops as normal crops as the gene-editing process works just like natural mutations, only faster. He also said the benefits for the world outweighed any potential risks. 'We hope this rice that we produce through gene-editing technology can somehow help our (scientists) to produce new varieties because we know, outside, there are many issues, like climate change and new emerging pests,' he said. But many disagree, seeing GE foods and GMOs as the same. Third World Network biosafety programme coordinator Lim Li Ching indicated to Bernama that they were prepared to protest should GE crops be allowed to stage open field trials without any oversight. 'Just because we can do it doesn't mean we should,' she said via Google Meet from her home in the United Kingdom. While CRISPR technology may work within a plant's own genome, she warned that it can bypass the slow, regulated nature of evolutionary change — introducing traits or gene interactions that may not have natural precedents. She added that even seemingly minor edits could cause unintended effects at the molecular level. Marrying food and technology has rarely if ever received unequivocal support from everyone. While many think the fears surrounding GMOs and now GE technology are overblown, Lim and other environmentalists insist they are not here to stymie biotechnology research or Malaysia's advancement in these sciences. CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows scientists to make precise changes to an organism's DNA. In plants, the process involves several steps, including causing a break or deletion of a DNA strand, and allowing the plant's natural repair mechanisms to fix the break. This will hopefully result in the desired genetic change. This method enables the development of crops with improved traits, such as disease resistance, drought tolerance and increased yield, without introducing foreign DNA. Despite the supposed benefits, Lim said they may turn into a curse later. 'We still need to assess these crops to check for unintended impacts. That's the bare minimum,' she said. GLOBAL GE or GMO While Malaysia grapples with regulatory uncertainties, other countries are moving forward with GE crops. India has released two genome-edited rice varieties aimed at enhancing yield and resilience against environmental stresses. These varieties were developed using genome editing techniques that allow for precise modifications in the plant's DNA without introducing foreign genes. In contrast, Mexico has taken a more cautious approach. In March 2025, the Mexican government amended its constitution to prohibit the use of genetically modified corn seeds, citing concerns over biosafety and the protection of native corn varieties. The ban just applies to GMOs, however, not GE foods. For Malaysia, the adoption of GE crops like MARDI's blight-resistant rice could play a crucial role in enhancing food security. Food security expert at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Assoc Prof Saiful Irwan Zubairi told Bernama that events since 2020 have shown that food supply chains are vulnerable to shocks. "So how is Malaysia's preparedness? Food wise? Food wise, I would say not so good in terms of preparedness of any (additional) crisis," he said. Malaysia has set the target of a rice self-sufficiency rate of 80 percent by 2030, but without intervention, be it via technology or other methods, the nation will likely not meet its goal anytime soon. Puteh, meanwhile, said she would be interested in trying out a GE crop that is resistant to blight. "But we need to have discussions first. It may not be suitable for our soil here or the costs may be high. But if it's blight-resistant, we are willing to try,' she said.
