Dr. Lawrence Zettler has studied orchids in the high Andes Mountains of South America and along the deforested hills of Madagascar, and he's studied the elusive Ghost Orchid found in South Florida, Cuba, and other parts of Central and South America. As director of the Orchid Recovery Program at Illinois College , Dr. Zettler specializes in preserving these rare and unique flowers by understanding the fungus these orchids rely on to survive.

In a Sarasota neighborhood with no doctor’s offices and little access to health care, a new clinic in Newtown is bringing medical care and so much more.

Florida's rainy summer season began with a sopping wet June, which saw nearly twice the amount of rainfall across South Florida compared to past years. The heavy rain caused water emergencies in some areas of South Florida that saw as much as 200 percent of their average rainfall. Now the South Florida Water Management District is back pumping into Lake Okeechobee amid a flurry of efforts to control the water across the region.

About half of a household's water is used to water lawns, according to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency. A new study from Florida Atlantic University found an effective way to cut that water use by as much as 60 percent: a simple sign telling residents how much rainfall was already providing the roughly inch-per-week of water their lawns need.

An international crew of "aquanauts" just returned from a NASA mission right here on Earth. The spent ten days living at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, conducting experiments and simulating space walks off Florida's coast, as part of research efforts the agency says will prepare astronauts living and working in space and even with a manned mission to Mars.

Florida is home to more than 2.3 million small businesses, employing more than 3 million people. The federal Small Business Administration found 43 percent of Florida jobs came from entrepreneurs employing anywhere from a handful to dozens of people. But can entrepreneurship be taught?

Bob H. Lee spent more than three decades as a Florida game warden, and in his second book , he collects stories from across Florida of fellow officers tracking poachers, chasing illegal fishing operations, and mounting a rescue after a jet crashes in the Everglades.

Rates of reported domestic violence in the U.S. have declined by nearly three-quarters over the last two decades, but physical and psychological domestic abuse remain a prevalent and often hidden problem. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of violence by an intimate partner. Domestic violence recently made headlines after Cape Coral Mayor Marni Sawicki's ex-husband was arrested on charges of domestic battery and

Florida’s orange crop is less than a third what is was 20 years ago , and most farmers blame citrus greening for the decline . The greening of the iconic orange fruit is caused by bacteria spread by a tiny insect called a psyllid. The bacteria constricts the plant’s vascular system, cutting off its ability to get nutrients and leaving blotchy yellow leaves and green oranges. But now an Immokalee research group is hoping to use another insect to combat greening: lady bugs.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has claimed more than 35 million lives across the globe. In the US, the CDC estimates roughly 40,000 new cases of HIV infection are diagnosed annually. South Florida has some of the highest number of HIV cases per capita in the nation. That's led state health officials to pushing for regular testing for anyone under the age of 65 with free testing events this month.