University of Florida News

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Anyone who has heard a radio crackle during a storm knows lightning emits radio signals. But in a series of unique experiments that involved firing wire-trailing rockets into storm clouds, a team of Florida researchers has found that “triggered” lightning also emits waves of energy much higher up the frequency scale - X-rays, or possibly gamma rays or relativistic electrons.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One of Florida’s lesser-known swamp monsters, the rare American crocodile, is making a comeback. And University of Florida scientists say the return of the big, toothy reptile can tell us a lot about the health of the Everglades.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s consumer confidence fell sharply in January, reflecting growing uncertainty over the possibility of war with Iraq and lack of confidence in business investment festering from the recent rash of corporate accounting scandals, University of Florida economists report.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As ecotourism becomes more popular, poor countries in Asia have a unique opportunity to preserve natural destinations while eliminating part of their debt to other countries or international banks, a University of Florida researcher says.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A drug that suppresses the immune system and prolongs the survival of donated kidneys in patients in the first months after transplantation also has the ability to block organ rejection over the long haul, University of Florida researchers have found.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Disadvantaged children who attend preschools developed for poor kids are exposed to fewer books and have less opportunity to learn to read and write than other preschoolers, a study by a University of Florida researcher shows.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fog-related pileups such as last month’s 71-car collision in Texas could become a thing of the past with roadside “smart beacons” that use the latest wireless technology to sense wrecks and warn motorists of danger ahead.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Hollywood lens has shifted stereotypes of blacks from the shiftless or brutal characters of yesteryear to that of second-string players whose roles only boost those of whites in modern movies, a new book by University of Florida researchers finds.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As many as one in 10 Florida voters feel angry at the idea of a Jewish presidential candidate, and this hostility could be repeated nationally with Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman running for the nation’s top position, a new University of Florida study shows.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Black students attending the nation’s historically black colleges and universities say they make greater strides in a broad range of academic and social areas than their counterparts at predominantly white institutions indicate they attain, a University of Florida study shows.