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UF expert: Tropical storm Fay leaves mold worries behind

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — You can’t tell a storm’s spit by its punch, the old maxim goes. Florida is used to stronger weather systems than August’s tropical storm Fay, but its seven-day deluge made it the fourth wettest storm to ever hit the state.

Filed under Research, Environment, Florida on Thursday, September 25, 2008.

Wolves show scientists are barking up the wrong tree

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The common notion is that dogs evolved a special sensitivity to their human masters during domestication.

Filed under Research, Environment, Sciences on Tuesday, September 23, 2008.

Bad sign for global warming: Thawing permafrost holds vast carbon pool

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially mammoth contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws.

Filed under Research, Environment, Sciences on Wednesday, September 3, 2008.

UF experts encourage butterfly watching to take wing with new publications

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Butterfly lovers used to catch and collect the insects, but in recent years, just watching them has become popular — and University of Florida experts say it could boost scientific research and economic development.

Filed under Research, Environment, Florida on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Florida mosquito populations are booming, but diseases aren’t

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sometimes, the tiny vampires cover Alan Curtis’ legs in writhing black. Other times, only a few come for a nibble.

Filed under Research, Health, Environment, Florida on Wednesday, August 13, 2008.

Researchers find cancer-inhibiting compound under the sea

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers have discovered a marine compound off the coast of Key Largo that inhibits cancer cell growth in laboratory tests, a finding they hope will fuel the development of new drugs to better battle the disease.

Filed under Research, Health, Environment, Florida on Thursday, August 7, 2008.

Scientists close in on source of X-rays in lightning

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida and Florida Institute of Technology engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike.

Filed under Research, Engineering, Environment, Sciences on Tuesday, July 15, 2008.

Research shows contraception could control problem parakeets

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When monk parakeets began to infiltrate the United States in the 1960s, some feared they would ravage farm crops as they often had in their native South America.

Filed under Research, Environment, Florida on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

New study points to agriculture in frog sexual abnormalities

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A farm irrigation canal would seem a healthier place for toads than a ditch by a supermarket parking lot.

Filed under Research, Environment, Agriculture on Thursday, July 3, 2008.

Major evolutionary study rewrites bird ‘tree of life’

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The flamingo looks like it should be closely related to the stork or crane, but its closest relative may actually be the diminutive, modest grebe.

Filed under Research, Natural History, Environment, Sciences on Thursday, June 26, 2008.