Browsing: Environment

Mississippi State University will lead its new Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish through a five-year award, with an initial obligation of $8 million for the first year, from the U.S. Department of State to advance research and innovation that strengthen global aquatic food systems and create benefits for U.S. agriculture, industry, and food security.

We see pollinators at flowers, and marvel as they collect nectar and pollen. Besides bees and wasps, we may not know what many are and only see them when they visit blossoms. But where do they come from and where do they go? Visiting flowers is only one part of their lives. Oh, and what is a pollinator in the first place? These are the unseen aspects and questions about the multitude of pollinators that fill our world. This is the story of why we owe them our lives.

The phrase “the largest, unobstructed, free-flowing river in the lower 48 states” is known by many people that love and promote the Pascagoula River. Largest, refers to the volume of discharge at the river’s mouth, that drains 9,600 square miles or one fifth the area of Mississippi, and small parts of Alabama. Three large tributaries and countless small streams contribute water to the Pascagoula that flows 82 miles from its headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.  But that phrase we know so well today did not come out of nowhere or spread without a spark that started fifty years ago. 

Andrew Wilson’s love of weather has taken him from a Mississippi State classroom to a TV station and now into a hurricane.

Seeds can fly – I kid you not! I have witnessed this force of nature on many occasions and admire the strategy of the plants that launch their precious projectiles toward a future life. OK, OK, I may have stretched the definition of fly a bit, so let’s just say sail instead. A variety of plants have evolved fruit that upon drying, explode open to expel their cargo into the air – flying, if you will.

Russet, bright orange, deep red, gold, brown, dark purple, and varying shades of green … those are the colors of…

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is an atmospheric teleconnection— in which weather at one location relates to weather at another, sometimes thousands of miles away — that involves the direction and strength of the trade winds. 

My series of short stories about the creepy crawly and green pieces and parts of our natural world is based on my lifelong curiosity about nature, regardless of if I knew what they were. I grew up in the 60s in south Louisiana, before air conditioning was a thing. I do not recall being hot but outdoors was where I spent most of my time, looking for stuff! That was the origin of my Qu’est Que C’est journey.

I’ll admit that serious birdwatching is new to me. After moving to an old farm place in Union County, the amazing array of beautiful birds we encountered just flew into our hearts, so to speak. It was a natural process, but before we knew it, we were feeding, watching, and documenting every new bird species we encountered out here on Buttercup Hill.

Somehow, summer has passed and birds are starting to migrate to winter homes. It is still hot, mind you, but birds are attuned to their annual timetable that drives many species hundreds and thousands of miles across continents and oceans. For those of us along the shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico, it can be a fun time to spot birds that we may have missed when they came by last spring. 

Want to join a project that is educational, fun, and contributes to celebrating nature? It is as easy as using the free iNaturalist app to record what you see at some of your favorite nature trails, or better yet, new trails that you can enjoy. You will be helping grow knowledge of biodiversity along the Pascagoula River Basin as part of the Discover Nature on the Singing River Project.

There are certain sounds that seem to follow us through our entire lives. For me, one of those is the sound of cicadas.

As August begins to give way to September, a familiar splash of yellow starts appearing along Mississippi roadsides, fields and…

I love to forage for wild fruit. I love to eat them right off the plant. But if the pickings are plentiful, I am just as apt to collect what I can to make jelly. And late summer is prime time to collect a number of my favorites, including Muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia), the most common of seven species in the southeast. The taste is out of this world.

Gulf Blue Navigator has been recognized by TIME and Statista as one of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators 2026, placing the Mississippi-based program among the nation’s top-performing startup support organizations.

It’s pollinator season across the great state of Mississippi where bees are buzzing, butterflies are fluttering, and late summer and early fall gardens are starting to bloom. Without pollinators, plants would not be able to produce seeds, so it is time to celebrate them.