Focus: Hidden - Florida

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UF/IFAS scientists toil for years creating and enhancing many of the foods we consume and plants we enjoy. When it comes to plant breeding, UF/IFAS is a global leader. In fact, UF/IFAS is ranked as a top-10 horticulture program in the 2017 Center for World University Rankings. Many of UF/IFAS’ tastiest creations will be available for consumption or on display at this year’s Flavors of Florida event.

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Bacteria are everywhere. And despite widespread belief, not all bacteria are “bad.” However, to combat those that can cause health issues for humans, there has been an over-reliance on the use of antibiotics – so much so, that many of them are now proving ineffective due to bacteria developing increased resistance to them. This paradigm led researchers at NSU to take another look at how bacteria do what they do to see if there was another way to approach this issue.

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Many people love their avocados – not to mention guacamole dip. So it was bad enough when scientists said a beetle was ravaging avocado trees in South Florida. Then scientists found out that the redbay ambrosia beetle -- originally determined to transmit laurel wilt -- is rare in avocado groves but that six other beetle species could carry the laurel wilt pathogen.

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Consumers want produce that tickles their taste buds and is easy on the eye, but they think quality fruits and vegetables are a matter of luck, according to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers.

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When it comes to mathematics, girls rate their abilities markedly lower than boys, even when there is no observable difference between the two, according to Florida State University researchers.

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For decades, American waistlines have been expanding and there is increasing cause for alarm. Researchers make the case that metabolic syndrome is the new “silent killer,” analogous to hypertension in the 1970s. As it turns out, the “love handle” can be fatal.

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This good news comes as Florida growers head into the heart of blueberry season.

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Male jumping spiders will try to mate with any female, but that lack of discretion could cost them their lives, says a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher.

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The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate has accepted UNF among its 22 new graduate schools of education as members into the consortium. UNF joins over 100 schools of education across the country in the important work of redesigning professional practice preparation.

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Environmentally, proper lawn care can help prevent nutrients from flowing into nearby waterways, said Jason Kruse, a UF/IFAS associate professor of environmental horticulture. Mowing helps increase canopy density, increases soil stability and prevents soil erosion. These changes in the lawn will help limit fertilizer and other nutrients from flowing into waterways, Kruse said.

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The researchers found that individuals were more likely to be arrested and convicted when they adopted the code of the street or lived in areas where this belief system was more entrenched in the community.

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Compelling evidence shows females prefer mates with better cognitive abilities in a number of animals and even humans. For male songbirds, their ability to sing complex songs has been suggested to signal cognitive ability and is vital for attracting females as well as repelling rival males. What’s not clear is how female songbirds can judge the cognitive abilities of potential mates, which is a necessary first step if smarter mates are preferred over their not-as-smart counterparts.

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Two Florida State University researchers are determined to chip away at a stubborn problem that has vexed concerned social scientists for decades: why is there such a vast and enduring gender disparity in STEM fields?

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Baby sea turtles don’t have an X or Y chromosome, and their sex is defined during development by the incubation environment. A crucial step in the conservation of these animals is estimating hatchling sex ratios, which remains imprecise because of their anatomical makeup.

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"UF/IFAS is making a difference with our limited water resources,” said Laura Warner, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of agricultural education and communication. “Seemingly small drops in the bucket really add up when we look at the big picture across the state and over time.”

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Researchers based their assessment on responses to a survey of 1,052 respondents. The poll shows 46 percent are “water considerate;” 44 percent of the participants are what researchers classified as “water savvy conservationists” and 9 percent are not concerned about water conservation.

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More than 35 million Americans are trying to quit smoking. Experts reassure clinicians and their patients that varenicline, whose brand name is Chantix, is a safe and effective way to achieve smoking cessation and that failure to use this drug has caused preventable heart attacks and deaths from cardiovascular disease. Just a few months ago, the FDA removed the black box warning from varenicline.

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FAU’s SNMREC is focused on advancing science and technology to recover energy from the oceans’ renewable resources with special emphasis on those resources available to the southeastern U.S., initially focusing on ocean currents and thermal resources.

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FSU Assistant Professor of Geography Sarah Lester partnered with more than 20 institutions on a multiyear research project that found only 9 percent of marine protected areas (MPAs) report having adequate staff. MPAs — such as marine reserves, sanctuaries, parks and no-take zones — are areas designated to protect marine species and habitats from both global and local threats.

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FAU's Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering recently hosted the 2017 ASCE Southeast Student Conference.

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Florida’s winters are usually dry, but the wet winter of 2015-2016 helped spread pathogens that destroyed ornamental plants in Miami-Dade County. That’s a problem in an area where the industry generated an estimated $998 million annually in sales in 2015, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers say.

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A Florida State University researcher has been awarded a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies — the preeminent representative organization for American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences.

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A majority of Floridians would like to expand the Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as Obamacare) or keep the law as is, while nearly three-quarters of them are concerned that people would lose their health insurance if the law is repealed, according to a statewide survey by the FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI).

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An international team of researchers found that fossil-like objects grew in natural spring water abundant in the early stages of the planet. But, they were inorganic materials that resulted from simple chemical reactions.

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According to a national survey conducted by UF/IFAS researcher Joy Rumble, consumers could be more aware of Florida's growing peach population. But Rumble also found consumers like to eat peaches as a snack, which she sees as a marketing opportunity.

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A new poll of registered voters in Florida by the Public Opinion Research Laboratory (PORL) at the University of North Florida shows that, when asked about the 2018 election, 44 percent of Florida registered voters said they would vote to re-elect Sen. Bill Nelson, while 38 percent said they would vote for Gov. Rick Scott and 12 percent were undecided.

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Even after an insecticide bait weakens Formosan subterranean termites, a neighboring colony will invade the same area and meet the identical lethal fate, new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences research shows. The research finding is key for a pest that accounts for much of the $32 billion annual cost caused by subterranean termites worldwide.

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From human behavior such as mother/infant bonding, addiction and communication disorders to devastating brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, neuroscientists and other researchers from FAU’s Brain Institute are at the forefront of innovative research that will generate knowledge to benefit society.

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Moffitt Cancer Center and its community partners will once again host the annual Men’s Health Forum on Saturday, March 18, from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the University of South Florida Marshall Student Center. This marks the 17th year of the forum and baseball legend Ken Griffey Sr. is scheduled to appear.

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They are known as gloomy scales, and these insects can make a red maple tree’s life downright dreary. This is because the arthropods feed and thrive on them, especially in warm and dry urban landscapes.

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Eyewitnesses testimonies are extremely compelling forms of evidence. But, it’s not foolproof — just ask the 242 people mistakenly identified by eyewitnesses who served years in prison for crimes they did not commit until they were exonerated thanks to the introduction of DNA testing. A study gives new meaning to the notion of “guilt by association” and shows how memory in humans as well as police use of mugshots and subtle innuendo can contaminate eyewitness testimonies.

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Minority women who traditionally earn less than their white and Asian counterparts can earn just as much money, if not more, after serving in the military, according to a new Florida State University study

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In an article published today in Scientific Reports, FSU Associate Professor of Biological Science Steven Lenhert takes a step forward in the understanding of nanoparticles and how they can best be used to deliver drugs.

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Across the board, Americans are less sexually active than ever with the sharpest decline among people in their 50s, people with a college degree, people with school-aged children, people in the South, and those who do not watch pornography.

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In response to 23 million U.S. veterans, this project will identify resources and come up with solutions to decrease and ultimately eliminate some of the challenges veterans and their families encounter such as continuity-of-care in services, difficulty navigating the system and inadequate healthcare services.

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As we head into allergy season, you may feel less likely to grab a hanky and sneeze. UF/IFAS research shows a probiotic combination might help reduce hay fever symptoms.

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Water conservation will be one of many topics at this year’s UF/IFAS Urban Landscape Conference, scheduled for March 16-17 in Gainesville, Florida. Protecting the water Floridians will need for the 15 million additional residents projected to live here 50 years from now means getting today’s 20 million Floridians to conserve water, says University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences professor Michael Dukes.

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As we head into allergy season, you may feel less likely to grab a hanky and sneeze. That’s because new University of Florida research shows a probiotic combination might help reduce hay fever symptoms, if it’s taken during allergy season.

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More than 20 million Americans have gained health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act and do not have to pay for 15 preventive screenings. Yet, despite this advantage, many are not utilizing them and are contributing to this nation’s soaring health care costs, which reached a whopping $3 trillion in 2014.

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A groundbreaking study offers a fascinating finding: machine learning can predict with 80-90 percent accuracy whether someone will attempt suicide as far off as two years into the future.

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During the first 100 days of any presidential administration, national political coverage is often dominated by pundits sounding off about the ways a president discharges his executive duties. Carol Weissert, the Florida State University LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar and Chair of Civic Education and Political Science, said that this heightened level of national attention is nothing new.

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Focused on sensing and smart systems, FAU’s REU site is designed to engage high-potential undergraduates in meaningful research activities in order to encourage their pursuit of graduate study in STEM disciplines.

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“We really look at this study and South Korea as information to see if we can increase younger consumers in other countries,” said Lisa House, a UF/IFAS professor of food and resource economics and a study co-author. In addition to eating grapefruit, South Koreans also use grapefruit in beer, tea and ice cream, so marketing opportunities abound.

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A Florida State University researcher will lead a joint U.S.-Russia project that will examine the effect of space travel on astronauts’ vision, an ongoing problem that NASA has been eager to solve.

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In the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Jeroen Ingels, a researcher at the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory, explains that small organisms called meiofauna that live in the sediment provide essential services to human life such as food production and nutrient cycling.

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We all do it; we all need it – humans and animals alike. Neuroscientists have been studying Mexican cavefish to provide insight into the evolutionary mechanisms regulating sleep loss and the relationship between sensory processing and sleep.

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Florida avocados bring a $100 million-a-year impact to Florida’s economy, UF/IFAS economists say. They grow almost entirely in southern Miami-Dade County, but growers have battled the laurel wilt fungus, which can kill redbay and avocado trees, since it arrived in Georgia in 2003.