Streaming Science

Nick, an international master’s student from Saudi Arabia, talks about his experience as a student funded by his employer. With only 30% of his salary to live on, Nick must support his wife, who is unable to work due to visa restrictions, and his 5-year-old daughter, while also being a full-time student. 

Juan, an international Ph.D. student from Columbia who also completed a master’s degree in the United States, talks about his journey grappling with food insecurity and mental health awareness.  

Sarah, an international master’s student from Canada, talks about her experiences with food insecurity and how she maintains a strict budget.

This episode features Jay, an international Ph.D. student from Saudi Arabia.  Because he was a fully qualified Veterinary surgeon but still unable to find work back home, Jay decided to pursue higher education in the United States to improve his career prospects. After nearly 12 years in the United States, Jay reflects on food insecurity and unique challenges faced as a Muslim student. 

Noah, an international Ph.D. student from Nigeria, talks about visa restrictions and how building a community helped him navigate issues with food insecurity. 

When it comes down to research, DNA and genetics are almost always implicated in it. Horse gaits have physical and genetic components to them. In this episode, Dr. Samantha Brooks, and graduate student Maddy Smythe, both in the UF/IFAS Department of Animal Sciences, discuss how artificial intelligence was used in their study of horse gaits. They want to discover which genes are responsible for gait in horses. AI is used to pinpoint certain joints to measure the horse’s stride. Without it, it would take weeks of going through the videos to get these measurements. 

DNA makes up our genes, influencing everything from the color of our eyes to the likelihood that we're impacted by certain diseases. 

Today's featured episode of the #StreamingScience podcast highlights a conversation between Aljae Lewis, an undergraduate researcher majoring in Biotechnology, and undergraduate student Natalie Rodriguez about the importance of including the ancestral and genetic background of cells in DNA research. They explore how this work can address racial disparities relating to different diseases and even save lives.

Have you ever thought about where your milk comes from? In a conversation with UF student Morgan Sheehan, UF Animal Sciences PhD student Emily Lidner gave an update on the state of the dairy industry and what their plans are to educate the public about calf production and milk. She also gave an overview of her research on dairy calf performance. 

How will artificial intelligence impact genetics? How is the equine industry incorporating artificial intelligence? University of Florida student Natalie Rodriguez dove into these questions with researcher Dr. Samantha Brooks and graduate student Maddy Smythe. They explored scientific breakthroughs relating to equine genetics of sport horses. 

 Feeding the world is no easy job, and, unfortunately, some of the challenges that farmers are facing are not going to improve in the coming decades. A rising population along with a degrading natural environment are going to put significant added pressure on a system that is already exploiting too many resources. Tie Liu, Undergraduate Advisor, and Assistant Professor discusses genetics, genomics, and systems biology tools to explore the mechanisms of how transcriptional regulators integrate environmental cues and interact with signaling pathways to modulate plant growth. In an interview with Maggie Murphy, an undergraduate student at the University of Florida, Tie Liu sits down with us to discuss his research on the study of postharvest biology of broccoli senescence and potato tuber dormancy for the improvement of agronomic properties in order to reduce food waste. Tie Liu and Maggie Murphy further discuss Tie’s background in science, the importance of artificial intelligence, and the impact of food waste on the environment and society. This episode was made in partnership with the UF/IFAS Office of the Dean for Research.