UF I ICBR News and Announcements – Page 15

AI to improve plant breeding at Gulf Coast Research and Education Center

By Brad Buck UF/IFAS BALM, Fla. — Kevin Wang trained as an engineer and gave little thought to agriculture. But then, life took a few turns. Born in Tianjin, China, Wang was raised in an urban area and went to the China Agricultural University in Beijing. He lived in Beijing...

Why We Love Wordle, According to Science

from UF News Social psychologist Matt Baldwin wakes up thinking about the yellow and green boxes of Wordle, the free, once-a-day word game that has gained millions of fans since its public launch in October. Unlike most players, though, he understands why our brains crave it. Baldwin, a University of Florida professor,...

UF/IFAS study: Forget the queen, kill the brood to eliminate subterranean termite colonies

By Lourdes Mederos UF/IFAS DAVIE, Fla – Taking an extended look inside a subterranean termite colony is a rare and almost non-existent opportunity unless you raise one. But scientists like Thomas Chouvenc rear colonies from a king and queen, allowing them to produce thousands of eggs that grow to full maturity. In...

Dengue’s Dance: Host Immunity Drives Viral Evolution

DeLene Beeland UF EPI New research by a team of University of Florida investigators, and others, provides evidence that host immunity drives evolution of the dengue virus. The work, published Nov. 18 in Science, retrospectively analyzes two decades of dengue virus genetic variation from Thailand, alongside population-level measures of infection...

Some Nonnative Fish That are Released into Lakes and Rivers Thrive in Florida; Alter Ecosystem

By Brad Buck UF/IFAS RUSKIN, Fla. — Nonnative fish eat away at the banks of rivers and lakes – one reason University of Florida researchers caution people not to release unwanted fish. People sometimes put fish from their aquariums into nearby waterways. Each year, nonnative species can cause $120 billion...

Hippos’ Constant Defecating Turns African Pools into Communal Guts

Lauren Barnett UF CLAS Hippopotamuses can eat nearly 100 pounds of food daily — and, as a result, they fill the pools where they spend much of their lives with huge amounts of poop. All that excrement, new research has found, turns the pools into extensions of the hippos’ guts,...

Hot Tumors: The Turbo Engine That Immunotherapy Needed

by Maja Aganovic UF Innovate Immunotherapy is a hot topic of conversation when it comes to cancer treatment. Pediatric oncologist Dr. Elias Sayour and his team have found a way to make a hot tumor, their way to make immunotherapy, an alternative to chemotherapy, more effective. “I spend the bulk of my...

UF Study: Consumers like Shelved Tomato Juice More than a Refrigerated Product

by Brad Buck UF/IFAS Tempted by the tangy taste of tomato juice? Consumers may prefer a product sold from grocery store shelves over a minimally pasteurized refrigerated product, but only by a small margin, new University of Florida research shows. Researchers at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences made...

Even at the Cellular Level, Ancestry Matters

by Emily Cardinali UF News Diseases impact different populations with varying prevalence, which is reflected in health disparities that are seen for illnesses like lupus, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. To create effective medical treatments, researchers need representative population samples. Even though disease impacts everybody, medical research samples are often not...

Two Common Compounds Show Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Virus in Early Testing

by Doug Bennett UF Health A pair of over-the-counter compounds has been found in preliminary tests to inhibit the virus that causes COVID-19, University of Florida Health researchers have found. The combination includes diphenhydramine, an antihistamine used for allergy symptoms. When paired with lactoferrin, a protein found in cow and...

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