-
3 days ago | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson |Stephanie Baum |Robert Egan
On occasion, it is of vital importance to consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live on. Take coral reefs, for example. Given how much they've been studied, you'd think we've learned just about everything about them by now. But talk to a marine biologist, and they will quickly disabuse you of this notion.
-
1 month ago | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson
The seagrass is greener along Florida's Nature Coast … figuratively, that is. A new study published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series shows that seagrass ecosystems along the northern half of Florida's Gulf Coast have remained relatively healthy and undisturbed for the last several thousand years.
-
1 month ago | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson
About 3.7 billion years ago, a string of naturally occurring amino—the same kind that astronomers have found in meteorites and just recently in a stellar nursery near the center of the Milky Way—reacted with a naturally occurring catalyst and began the fateful process of self-assembled replication.
-
1 month ago | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson
The Florida Museum of Natural History has partnered with 35 herbarium collections across the United States to create a web portal for ferns. Wait! Hear me out. You're probably thinking, "Ferns? The plants with the curly leaves that grow in shady places? Why should I care?"I'm glad you asked.
-
2 months ago | 
floridamuseum.ufl.edu | Jerald Pinson
The Florida Museum of Natural History has announced the winners of its annual Austin, biodiversity and Bullen graduate student awards, given for significant contributions to the development of museum collections, programs and research. Maria Vallejo-Pareja is this year’s recipient of the Austin a
-
Mar 26, 2025 | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson
A new study led by NatureServe reveals that more than 22% of native pollinators in North America are at an elevated risk of extinction. This first-of-its-kind, taxonomically diverse assessment evaluated nearly 1,600 species—including bees, beetles, butterflies, moths, flower flies, bats and hummingbirds—shedding light on the growing biodiversity crisis affecting ecosystems and food security.
-
Mar 18, 2025 | 
phys.org | Jerald Pinson
When Jeff Kneebone was a college student in 2002, his research involved a marine mystery that has stumped curious scientists for the last two decades. That mystery had to do with thorny skates in the North Atlantic. In some parts of their range, individuals of this species come in two distinct sizes, irrespective of sex, and no one could figure out why. At the time, neither could Kneebone.
-
Sep 9, 2024 | 
news.ufl.edu | Jerald Pinson
Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are radically reshaping the way humans analyze and ingest information. To keep pace with these changes, the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida – home to more than 40 million specimens and artifacts, and one of the nation’s largest natural history collections – recently created the first curatorial positions for AI.
-
Jul 30, 2024 | 
chronicleonline.com | Jerald Pinson
Isolated thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 73F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Isolated thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 73F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Partly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 93F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
-
Jul 9, 2024 | 
floridamuseum.ufl.edu | Jerald Pinson
The United States has lost its only stand of the massive Key Largo tree cactus in what researchers believe is the first local extinction of a species caused by sea level rise in the country. The Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii) still grows on a few scattered islands in the Caribbean, including northern Cuba and parts of the Bahamas. In the United States, it was restricted to a single population in the Florida Keys, first discovered in 1992 and monitored intermittently since.
