Science

The comet known as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as seen over the Caloosahatchee River on Tuesday night, Oct. 15, 2024, in Fort Myers. The comet was first discovered in 2023 by observers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa. The comet can be seen about 45 minutes after sunset each day through the end of October. It can be seen without special equipment but the best view is through a pair of binoculars. The comet isn’t expected to be visible again for 80,000 years.

As mosquito season keeps buzzing away, so do serious illnesses like dengue fever, which has affected nearly three hundred Floridians this year alone.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are the most commonly seen woodpeckers in Florida in part because they are generalists that forage for insects, spiders, small lizards, and fruit in trees and on the ground in our yards and parks. Unfortunately, they are about the size of European Starlings and Starlings often usurp their cavities.

The White Ibis is a resident wading bird in Florida whose populations swell in winter with arrival of migrants from farther north. At one time it was a popular game bird, but it is now protected. Its populations have declined greatly as a result of losses of wetland habitats.

A robotic hand to help the blind and deaf communicate. Earbuds that allow a blink of the eye or nod of the head to control digital devices.A therapy to treat glaucoma. A software device to help people with PTSD. A cheaper way to make holograms. A more efficient way to raise aquaculture.These were just a few of the winners of the Edison Best New Products announced last week at the Edison Awards in downtown Fort Myers.

Today’s total solar eclipse will make landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast and cross into Texas and 14 other U.S. states, before exiting over Canada.It will last almost twice as long, with an even wider audience, than the total solar eclipse that stretched coast-to-coast in the U.S. in 2017.The moon will shroud the sun for up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds, a spectacle normally unfolding in remote corners of the globe but this time passing over major cities like Dallas, Indianapolis and Cleveland.

Math enthusiasts around the world, from college kids to rocket scientists, celebrate Pi Day on today — March 14 or 3/14 — which is Pi, or the first three digits of an infinite number with many practical uses.Around the world many people will mark the day with a slice of pie — sweet, savory or even pizza.

In David Auburn's proof, sisterly bonds and romantic relationships are put to the test when a female college drop-out authors a groundbreaking mathematical discovery that everyone ascribes to her recently-deceased father.

In the Gulf of Mexico, seven and a half miles due west of Bonita Beach and 30 feet below the surface grows an artificial reef complex created by The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. This is the latest dispatch from Kimberly’s Reef. Six months after its deployment, the scientific studies have begun.

No matter how much the world cuts back on carbon emissions, a key and sizable chunk of Antarctica is essentially doomed to an “unavoidable” melt, a new study found.