While the temptation is great, don’t stare at Monday’s solar eclipse without the right eye protection. That’s according to Dr. Alexandra Konowal who joins Gulf Coast Live today. We’ll ask exactly what makes a solar eclipse so dangerous for eyes and learn how our understanding of its effects has grown since the last total solar blackout- 38 years ago.

Fundraising effort are underway for the humble honey bee, as the University of Florida’s Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory reaches toward just shy of its $3.5 million goal to build a state-of the-art facility for scholars and Florida beekeepers to study the behavior, husbandry, ecology, biodiversity, and conservation of the honey bee.

The historic neighborhoods that line McGregor Boulevard are filled with architectural beauty and stories of days past, inviting passers-by to admire and wonder. Who built these beautiful homes? Who lived here over the years? And what do they look like inside.

A saliva swab collected from a patient’s cheek can tell doctors what kinds of drugs will work best for a patient. It's the promise of pharmacogenomics , the science behind matching a patient's genetic profile with right medicine—and avoiding drugs that could actually harm them.

We often hear that trees and rainforests and plant life are the things that make our planet breathe- taking in Carbon Dioxide and releasing Oxygen. It happens at the smallest level on leaves- but have you ever wondered exactly what’s happening in each of these leaves ? Have you ever considered the long-buried leaves from millennia ago- ancient forests which are now mined as other products like rubber, coal and oil?

What motivated early Floridians to move into the swampy, mosquito-infested area of South Florida? How did the Seminoles and other Native American peoples thrive in such a demanding environment? Questions from Curious Gulf Coast listeners spurred a look at life in Florida before modern conveniences.

The Audubon Florida’s Eagle Watch Program is one of the most popular citizen science programs in the state, and you could become part of it. This Thursday the statewide director of the program will be in town for volunteer training at the Southwest Florida Masonic Center in Fort Myers.

Despite growing in popularity for over a decade, only 20 percent of Americans listen to podcasts in 2017 . While podcast fans tend to listen to hours of audio across multiple shows, most radio listeners have yet to discover the on-demand variety podcasts have to offer, even when produced in their own back yard.

They’re called last-chance dogs, and they’re learning manners and basic obedience from inmates at the Lee County Jail. The Cell Dog program takes dogs that Lee County Domestic Animal Services has had for a while- the ones that don’t get adopted because they’re too rambunctious or too shy- and pairs them with inmates who spend their time grooming these canine companions for “life on the outside.” After the training program, the dogs go up for adoption.

After the weekend’s violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia the Lee County NAACP once again calls for Confederate symbols to be removed from Lee County. There’s a Robert E. Lee statue on Monroe Street in Fort Myers and a portrait of the Confederate General hanging in the Lee County commission chambers. The removal of a statue of Lee from a park in Charlottesville led to the white supremacist rally.