News Stories - Page 174

Hurricane Irma strengthened to a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 mph as of Monday, Sept. 5. It’s moving west-northwest on its present track, but longer-term models project that it will make a sharp turn to the north later this week, which could threaten parts of the Southeast, including Georgia.

Molecular biologist and agricultural technology advocate Nina Fedoroff will visit the University of Georgia on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to deliver the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ D.W. Brooks Lecture at 3:30 p.m. in Mahler Hall at the UGA Center for Continuing Education and Hotel on the university's Athens campus.

Fall is perfect for playing football, picking pumpkins and killing fire ants. Tackling the stinging pests now will cut down on the number you encounter next spring and summer, according to entomologists with the University of Georgia.

Everyone loves to have good shade trees in their yard, but once summer is over, most people despise dealing with fallen leaves. There is an option that avoids having to rake leaves altogether: Let your mower do the work.

During the summer, we think of flowers like petunias as those fragrant, spilling or tumbling flowers cascading over the rims of baskets and mixed containers. That same show of incredible color coupled with tantalizing fragrance can be achieved during the cool season with pansies like those of the Cool Wave series.

While walking around the Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden at the Historic Bamboo Farm in Savannah, Georgia, I was caught up in the beauty of grass that was so picturesque when it was backlit by the sun. It was a muhly grass, but not the pink, cotton-candy-looking kind admired in the fall. This was bamboo muhly native to Arizona. Plants native to Arizona aren’t often considered as adaptable to the hot, humid Southeast, but bamboo muhly is like having a piece of fine art in the garden.

On Sept. 22, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) will induct former Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Wayne Shackelford and pioneering poultryman Bill Baisley into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.

As concerns grow over the ability of the Upper Floridan Aquifer to keep up with demands for water from residents, farms and forests, four universities are teaming up to look at the economic sustainability of agriculture and forestry in north Florida and south Georgia that rely on this water supply.

Researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center have developed Brain Glue, a substance that could one day serve as a treatment for traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs.