Gulf Coast Life

As our loved ones get older it becomes increasingly important to have what can often be difficult conversations about their hopes and intentions around end-of-life issues. May is Older Americans Month, so today we’re going to have a conversation about ways to have those conversations. We learn about a program called Elderoscopy which is essentially a guide with tips for conversations between older adults and their loved ones that examines their wants and needs, and getting a handle on their hopes and intentions for things like end-of-life plans, finances, relationships driving, and more.

As the country continues to react to the disclosure by Politico of the draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade, reportedly circulated by Justice Samuel Alito, we are revisiting a conversation we had last October on the history of the legality, and criminality, of abortion in the United States going all the way back to its founding.We also get a snapshot of the work being done by Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.

We talk with a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University who is working with a team of researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland to try and help the World Health Organization decrease the number of deaths and disabilities caused by venomous snakebites by half by 2030. Their team has developed a web-based app called Snake ID that uses visual pattern recognition algorithms to help doctors and patients identify venomous snakes. The technology can also be used to help healthcare systems determine what kinds of antivenom treatments to have on hand in particular geographic areas.

As Florida Gulf Coast University’s academic year comes to a close, we reflect back on the first year of the university Journalism program’s “Democracy Watch” initiative. It’s a collaboration between FGCU’s Journalism BA program and the WGCU-FM news team designed to give exceptional upper-level students real-world experience reporting in the field while also enhancing and expanding WGCU’s coverage of important local government actions that often go overlooked and unreported. We reflect back on this first year of the program with members of the inaugural class of “Democracy Watch” fellows.

As April marks Autism Acceptance Month, we talk with the founders of the Southwest Florida-based nonprofit Family Initiative about the broad scope of services they provide to empower ASD kids and their families.

Innovators and scientists recently traveled from around the world to Fort Myers hoping to earn top honors at the Edison Awards for their inventions and new products. This year the Edison Awards also honor important Black innovators as they present the inaugural class of the Lewis Latimer Fellowship Program.

The risk of harm from pesticide exposure in the U.S. is up to five times greater for people of color and that a weak regulatory environment and lax enforcement of existing protections play a significant role in the disproportionate risk faced by Black, Indigenous and people of color, as well as people in low-income communities. We’ll explore the comprehensive study’s findings and recommendations.

For more than a decade researchers and growers have been exploring the potential efficacy and economic impact of developing a commercial-scale olive industry in Florida. In recent years, they’ve been making advances in identifying olive varieties that can thrive even in Florida’s warmer southern regions. We’ll explore the latest research findings with Florida Olive Council founder and President Michael O’Hara Garcia.

Wildlife biologist, photographer, journalist and author Douglas Chadwick shares his philosophy on the interconnectedness between humans and nature. His latest book is titled, "Four Fifths a Grizzly: A New Perspective on Nature that Just Might Save Us All."

Pollinators are responsible for assisting about 80% of the world's flowering plants to reproduce, and that includes quite a few crops grown for food. We learn about the work being done by pollinators all around us, and get some tips on how to attract them to our yard, and how to keep from harming them by misusing pesticides.