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Odom finds moss even outside the MagLab where he works
WHEN SPANISH MOSS EATS THE AIR IT MAKES A RECORD OF WHATS IN IT
Ordinarily, it's a silhouette in a horror movie stringy masses of Spanish moss dripping off swamp-swollen tree branches. But an FSU geologist has begun research that puts the moss in the spotlight.
Professor Roy Odom and his researchers are looking at the moss's habit of collecting airborne metals like lead and mercury as a way of measuring the metals' presence in the environment.
Preliminary research suggests that air currents carry those metal particles across oceans, far from their sources.
If that is true, Odom's research could open the door to further global cooperation on air pollution issues.
Florida State Supreme Court
FSU - SUPREME COURT TEAM MAKES THE LAW EASY TO WATCH
Florida State President Sandy D'Alemberte has made history as a longtime crusader for opening courtroom doors to television, and now he has steered FSU into a history-making project that lets viewers all over the world tune into action in Florida's highest court.
FSU is transmitting live coverage of debate on urgent issues in Florida's Supreme Court to the Internet and television stations throughout the state, and recording the oral arguments for classroom lessons.
"It's a form of worldwide broadcasting and publishing," said Patrick Keating, the director of broadcasting at WFSU. "That's pretty mind-boggling."
Aubry Boyd surrounded by fans and friends
HE CAN'T PLAY BALL ANYMORE SO HE HELPS KIDS WHO CAN
Aubry Boyd, one of the most endearing basketball players ever to grace Florida State, wants to give the world something more.
He gave Florida State his talent from 1987 to 1991 on the basketball court and in the classroom. He volunteered at Boys and Girls Clubs, at senior citizen centers and in his home town, Macon, Ga., at the Association for Retarded Citizens, where he worked with two people who were chained to wheelchairs.
And now, two years after he found himself in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down, Boyd, 28, continues to help others.
Already armed with a bachelor's degree in child development from FSU, Boyd returned to FSU to earn a master's degree in child development last fall. He hopes to coach at a youth league or a middle school one day and work with juveniles, "before they take that wrong turn in life."
FSU biologist Gregg Stanton and student Eleanor Allen
RESEARCHERS LOOK FOR THE CAUSE OF TUMORS IN FISH
Two Florida State University researchers are trying to discover the cause of grotesque tumors - reminiscent of the Elephant Man in the movie, but on fish instead of humans.
Robert Werner, an FSU animal researcher, is studying the problem with FSU biologist Gregg Stanton.
Tumors can grow all over fishes bodies and eventually kill them.
Werner and Stanton have tracked the disease in gray snappers, also called mangrove snappers, which are edible. But they say they have no reason to believe that people can catch neurofibromatosis by eating fish that have it.
A SAMPLE OF BOOKS BY FLORIDA STATE HISTORIANS
Four books about the CivilWar and Reconstruction.