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UF/IFAS

UF/IFAS Researchers Will Use AI To Assess Livestock Mobility

Samantha Brooks, a UF/IFAS geneticist and associate professor of equine physiology – along with other UF researchers -- have been awarded a $49,713 grant from the Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI) for this research. The team will combine machine learning with gait analyses to speed their assessment of livestock mobility.

Florida’s Next Commodity: Tea?

It’s decidedly iced tea season in Florida, but whether you take your tea hot or iced, sweet or unsweet, black or green, the infused leaf in your cup could soon come from a Florida farm.

New Medicinal Plants Course Addresses Industry Needs

Emerging industries require a skilled workforce to function. Sometimes, the industry begins to boom before employers can hire a sufficient number of skilled employees. That was the case for many employers in the medicinal plant industry, which includes crops like hemp, kava and kratom. Faculty from two University of Florida colleges worked together to help meet that demand with a new course.

A First: Scientists Grow Plants in Soil From the Moon

Scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon, a first in human history and a milestone in lunar and space exploration. In a new paper published in the journal “Communications Biology,” University of Florida researchers showed that plants can successfully sprout and grow in lunar soil. Their study also investigated how plants respond biologically to the moon’s soil, also known as lunar regolith, which is radically different from soil found on Earth.

Rob Ferl Receives NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal

Rob Ferl, distinguished professor in the UF/IFAS horticultural sciences department and assistant vice president for UF research, has received one of NASA’s most prestigious honors, the Exceptional Public Service Medal.

Pushy Plants? Student Discovery ‘Adds New Dimension to Plant Biology’

A new University of Florida study conducted by mathematics and botany senior Camille Sicangco, has been accepted for publication in Current Biology and shows the plant exerts force on its own, not just in response to external forces such as climate and soil. It is rare for an undergraduate student to publish research in such a prestigious journal — let alone to do so using new methods of discovery — but advisor Dr. Francis E. “Jack” Putz encouraged the naturally creative and inquisitive Sicangco to follow her curiosity.