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The Gulf Coast Citrus Growers Association, which represented growers in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties, announced it was closing down last month. It’s another sign of the decline of Florida’s citrus industry, which once produced about 80% of the nation’s citrus, but right now produces less than 17%. For context, in 2003–2004, the state's growers had a record crop of more than 240 million 90-pound boxes of oranges. Based on the latest forecast, they'll produce about 18 million boxes this season. We discuss what the Gulf Coast Citrus Growers Association was, and to try and look into the future of Florida’s citrus industry.

The United States has become increasingly polarized in recent years. New research published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace seeks to better understand what happens when democracies become ‘perniciously polarized’ — that’s when polarization has divided a society into two mutually antagonistic political camps, where each side sees the other as a threat to the country’s future. According to this research, polarization in the United States reached the level of pernicious in 2015 and remains so to this day.

Kratom is currently legal in the U.S. but a better scientific understanding is needed about its safety, efficacy, and potential therapeutic applications for opioid use disorder and withdrawal. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $650,000 grant to University of Florida and its Institute of Food & Agricultural Science to study the kratom plant’s genome, gene expression and metabolites to try and get a better handle on how it affects the body, and help researchers begin to understand whether it could someday be used as a more formal way of addressing opioid addiction and withdrawal. We talk with one of the researchers to learn more.

We get some insight into the world of dementia caregiver support — and we we learn about a relatively rare form of dementia called Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD). It’s a type of dementia that affects the areas that control behavior, personality, language, and decision-making. People with FTD might start acting differently, like becoming rude or impulsive, or they may have trouble speaking and understanding language. It usually appears in people younger than 65, and unlike other forms of dementia, memory problems aren't usually the first sign, but instead changes in behavior or communication skills are more noticeable early on.

Maternity group homes for young pregnant women and mothers who are homeless or lack support have existed in the United states since the 1800s. The number of these group homes declined starting around 1970 after the U.S. Supreme Court made birth control legal through two landmark decisions. But the number of maternity homes has grown by nearly 40 percent in the past two years. We talk with the reporter whose recent feature in the New York Times “These Maternity Homes Offer Sanctuary, but It Can Feel Oppressive” highlights how some of these homes in Florida are licensed and regulated, and are subject to oversight and inspections — while others don’t face oversight or inspections that are made public.

It’s not uncommon for hurricanes to spawn tornadoes. For instance, according to the National Hurricane Center, in 2022 Hurricane Ian produced 14 tornadoes in Florida, mostly with magnitudes of EF0 — that’s the lowest — but one that was an EF2. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 holds the record for the most tornadoes spawned by a hurricane in the United States, with 118 confirmed twisters, but that was across nine states. When it comes to hurricanes spawning tornadoes just here in Florida, then Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, 2024 is record breaking. We learn what about Milton led to both a record number of tornadoes, as well as more stronger ones than we typically see during strong tropical storms.

While lots of research has been conducted on how being in space affects plant biology, no research had ever been done on exactly what the trip up into space does to a plant and its genes. That is, until last Thursday, when UF Space Biologist, Dr. Rob Ferl, loaded himself and some small tubes with plants in them that are specially designed to allow him to freeze their genes in place at specific times — which he did at certain points of the flight on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. This process will allow him and his research team to see exactly how that transit up into space, and then back down again, causes the plants to turn certain genes on or off to adapt to that voyage. We talked with him just a few hours after he returned to Earth.

Southwest Florida is a great place to produce food and other ag products — but only if growers are able to remain profitable. In order to assess what local growers and producers think about the future of Southwest Florida’s agriculture industry, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Center for Agribusiness recently wrapped up a large study titled “Agribusiness in Southwest Florida: The Next 25 years.” A team of researchers conducted in-depth interviews with representatives from 30 local farm operations and compiled what they found in the new report. We talk with the study’s three co-authors to get an overview of what came out of those conversations.

Thunderstorm Aversion or storm anxiety is when dogs experience significant fear or anxiety during storms. Loud noises are the most obvious trigger, but dogs can react to other storm-related cues like lightning flashes, the sounds of wind or rain hitting the home, changes in barometric pressure, and even static electricity in the air. We learn about Thunderstorm Aversion and ways veterinarians try to help dogs and their owners. And we learn about a three-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a new treatment that’s hoping to become a medical solution.

The fear of deportation is growing for hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country after a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allows the Trump administration to revoke their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The Trump administration also continues efforts to make good on its pledge to deport 3,000 people per day. Florida leads the country in the number of local law enforcement agencies partnering with ICE to deport undocumented people. And recently, the Trump administration has enacted sweeping travel bans and restrictions on citizens from some countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. To help us understand these new immigration policies and the impact here in our state, we talk with Fort Myers Immigration Attorney Ricardo Skerrett.