University of Florida News

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Desalination is often touted as one solution to the world’s water woes, but current desalination plants tend to hog energy.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For thirsty consumers tired of choking down water with an earthy or musty flavor, the solution may lie within the water itself, a team of University of Florida researchers has found. The team has identified a type of bacterium that can quickly and inexpensively remove a foul-tasting, foul-smelling compound. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Water Research.

SANFORD, Fla. — Inmates at the Seminole County Correctional Facility, who have been growing their own vegetables for more than 10 years, are now raising thousands of beneficial bugs that attack insect pests and feed on troublesome weeds in Florida.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — This Halloween, there are lots of treats out there for hungry bats.

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Built to withstand winds of more the 140 miles per hour, the University of Florida’s “hurricane house” survived Hurricane Frances when the eye of the storm passed through St. Lucie County.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An old adage says you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But the burrowing owl has come up with another alternative: manure.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Spraying viruses on plants is the last thing gardeners typically want to do, but University of Florida researchers say that just might be the solution to one of the world’s most persistent plant diseases.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Once just a hobby for those with the time, money and patience to care for exotic plants, orchids are now the fastest-growing segment of the nation’s $13 billion floriculture industry, and University of Florida researchers have developed a way to clone the plants to help preserve native and endangered species in the wild.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sea grasses — essential to Florida’s marine ecology — are changing near the mouths of rivers on the state’s west coast, and nutrients in runoff from farms, yards and septic tanks may be the cause, according to University of Florida researchers.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — To fight mad cow disease and other deadly animal illnesses, a new computerized animal identification system will allow state and federal officials to quickly track potential disease threats from farm to plate.