Featured Post from University of Florida

UF astrobiologist partakes in her second NASA mission to Mars

May 9, 2023

2 min

By Halle Burton

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover mission is no easy task, yet its distinguished team has discovered signs of organic molecules, containing chemicals known for making life possible on Earth.

One of these long-term planners is University of Florida astrobiologist, Amy Williams.

“Organics make up life as we know it,” Williams said. “Seeing organic carbon on Mars sets us up to understand if the building blocks for life were present on the planet in the past through the lens of how life evolved on Earth.”

Williams and the Perseverance team were published in November’s Science magazine for their organic molecules analysis, after finding numerous organic carbons on the Jerezo crater floor.

Through NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Perseverance is studying the crater with collected rock samples planned to be sent to Earth during the Mars Sample Return mission.

Upon further research and testing on Earth, these rocks could determine compelling evidence of past life on Mars.

Several of the rock samples indicate altercations by water, making scientists propose that a water-infused Mars could have supported ancient life.

The Jerezo crater itself serves as an intriguing site to study past life on the terrestrial planet. The creation of the crater implies Mars contained a primitive river streaming into a lake billions of years ago.

Now, Williams is no stranger to working with the detection of organic molecules on Mars. In 2015, she worked with the Curiosity rover which also found organic carbon on the inner planet.

With her work diversified on the Perseverance team, evidence is closer than ever to proving the omnipresence of organic carbon on Mars.

“Seeing a consistent story is always reassuring as a scientist,” Williams said.

Connect with:

Amy J. Williams

Associate Professor

Amy J. Williams is searching for habitable environments and microbial life on Mars and outer world moons.

SpacePersverance RoverNASA Mars MissionsMars MissionsMars

Find Experts

Mar 27, 2026

3 min

New light-based chip boosts power efficiency of AI tasks 100 fold

A team of engineers has developed a new kind of computer chip that uses light instead of electricity to perform one of the most power-intensive parts of artificial intelligence — image recognition and similar pattern-finding tasks. Using light dramatically cuts the power needed to perform these tasks, with efficiency 10 or even 100 times that of current chips performing the same calculations. Using this approach could help rein in the enormous demand for electricity that is straining power grids and enable higher performance AI models and systems. This machine learning task, called “convolution,” is at the heart of how AI systems process pictures, videos and even language. Convolution operations currently require large amounts of computing resources and time. These new chips, though, use lasers and microscopic lenses fabricated onto circuit boards to perform convolutions with far less power and at faster speeds. In tests, the new chip successfully classified handwritten digits with about 98% accuracy, on par with traditional chips “Performing a key machine learning computation at near zero energy is a leap forward for future AI systems,” said study leader Volker J. Sorger, Ph.D., the Rhines Endowed Professor in Semiconductor Photonics at the University of Florida. “This is critical to keep scaling up AI capabilities in years to come.” “This is the first time anyone has put this type of optical computation on a chip and applied it to an AI neural network,” said Hangbo Yang, Ph.D., a research associate professor in Sorger’s group at UF and co-author of the study. Sorger’s team collaborated with researchers at UF’s Florida Semiconductor Institute, the University of California, Los Angeles and George Washington University on study. The team published their findings, which were supported by the Office of Naval Research, Sept. 8 in the journal Advanced Photonics The prototype chip uses two sets of miniature Fresnel lenses using standard manufacturing processes. These two-dimensional versions of the same lenses found in lighthouses are just a fraction of the width of a human hair. Machine learning data, such as from an image or other pattern-recognition tasks, are converted into laser light on-chip and passed through the lenses. The results are then converted back into a digital signal to complete the AI task. This lens-based convolution system is not only more computationally efficient, but it also reduces the computing time. Using light instead of electricity has other benefits, too. Sorger’s group designed a chip that could use different colored lasers to process multiple data streams in parallel. “We can have multiple wavelengths, or colors, of light passing through the lens at the same time,” Yang said. “That’s a key advantage of photonics.” Chip manufacturers, such as industry leader NVIDIA, already incorporate optical elements into other parts of their AI systems, which could make the addition of convolution lenses more seamless. “In the near future, chip-based optics will become a key part of every AI chip we use daily,” said Sorger, who is also deputy director for strategic initiatives at the Florida Semiconductor Institute. “And optical AI computing is next.”

Mar 26, 2026

3 min

Study: Many pregnant women uncertain of marijuana risks even as use increases

Many pregnant women are unsure if it’s safe to use marijuana or products containing cannabidiol, an active compound in marijuana, even as they increasingly turn to them to combat morning sickness, anxiety or insomnia, a recent University of Florida Health study shows. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises against the use of marijuana and cannabidiol, or CBD, during pregnancy. Marijuana use has been associated in some studies with adverse fetal neurodevelopmental outcomes. Evidence of cannabidiol safety is sparse in human studies, but researchers remain concerned that it might nonetheless pose a danger. CBD is not intoxicating. The UF Health researchers said their study shows a need for the medical community to better educate women about the potential hazards to the fetus from using marijuana, also called cannabis. One worry is that some people believe the spreading legalization of marijuana or CBD around the nation equates to the government giving its stamp of approval that the products are safe, researchers said. Medical marijuana is legal in Florida, although its recreational use is not. “If a medication is legal, we assume that maybe it’s safe, although other things like tobacco and alcohol are also legal and we know that those can be harmful to pregnancies,” said Kay Roussos-Ross, M.D., the study’s senior author and a professor in the UF College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “We see a good deal of data out there that shows that there is increased risk of psychiatric and behavioral issues related to marijuana use in pregnancy, but we need more,” she added. “We need more so that we can be correct in our assessments and our educational efforts to women of reproductive age who are using marijuana.” It’s difficult to quantify the rise of marijuana and CBD use during pregnancy, with most estimates showing an increase predating COVID-19. A 2021 federal survey reported 7.2% of pregnant women used marijuana. The UF Health study noted that emerging evidence from obstetrics care shows more pregnant women are trying the products, perhaps because of increased legalization. The study, published in Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids, surveyed 261 women and used focus groups to explore participants’ perceptions of the products. The women were either pregnant, breastfeeding or caring for a child 5 years old or younger, and reported use of marijuana or CBD products, such as vapes, smoking, tincture oils or ointments. “There seems to be a disconnect,” said Amie Goodin, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UF College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and the study’s lead author. “About one in six pregnant women are telling us, ‘Yes, I have used marijuana or a CBD product while I’m pregnant.’ But half are saying, ‘I don’t know what the risks are.’” About 40% of the pregnant women surveyed said they were unsure how risky it was to use marijuana once or twice a week during pregnancy, compared with 34.5% of women who were not pregnant when surveyed for the study but who had children. Asked the same question about CBD, more than 52% of pregnant women were unsure of the risk, compared with 41.8% for mothers who weren’t pregnant when surveyed. About 36% of pregnant women reported using marijuana, compared with 65% of mothers not currently pregnant, perhaps reflecting at least some increased caution among those in the former group. CBD use was 19.9% for pregnant women and 38.2% for women who were not pregnant. “Some women did mention that the legalization of marijuana has made marijuana more socially acceptable,” said study co-author Deepthi Varma, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Epidemiology. The researchers said they were especially concerned that women were even less sure of the safety of CBD use because it is widely available and often seen as harmless. “You might notice that it’s even something that you can buy at a gas station or a grocery store,” Goodin said. “CBD in a purified form has actually got an FDA approval to treat certain types of pediatric epilepsy on its own … but pharmaceutical-grade CBD is not quite the same thing as you would expect to get if you were purchasing CBD oil at a smoke shop or a gas station.”

Mar 23, 2026

3 min

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth. What’s more, the toothy appendage is likely used for mating. Found only in males, the forehead rod — called a tenaculum — is the ghost sharks’ only source of distinct teeth, and it seems to be used to grasp females in much the same way sharks use their toothy mouths in mating. “If these strange chimaeras are sticking teeth on the front of their head, it makes you think about the dynamism of tooth development more generally,” said Gareth Fraser, Ph.D., a professor of biology at the University of Florida and senior author of the study. “If chimaeras can make a set of teeth outside the mouth, where else might we find teeth?” The team, including scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Chicago, studied both fossils and living specimens to solve the mystery. A 315-million-year-old fossil showed the tenaculum attached to the upper jaw, bearing teeth incredibly similar to those in the mouth. Modern chimaeras collected from Puget Sound revealed the same tooth-growing process on the head, seen in modern-day shark jaws. And genetic testing confirmed they expressed the same tooth-specific genes as oral teeth. “What we found is that the teeth on this strange appendage look very much like rows of shark teeth. The ability to make teeth transferred onto that appendage, likely from the mouth,” Fraser said. “Over time, the tenaculum shortened but retained the ability to make oral teeth on this forehead appendage.” Fraser collaborated with Washington’s Karly Cohen, Ph.D., and Michael Coates, Ph.D., from Chicago on the study, which was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As experts in shark evolution and anatomy, the scientists were intrigued by these tooth-filled rods sprouting from the ghost shark foreheads. The central mystery: Is the tenaculum covered in true teeth related to oral teeth or more similar to the tooth-like scales plastering the skin of sharks and some ghost sharks? CT scans of the fossils and modern chimaeras gave the scientists unprecedented, detailed insights into the development of the tenaculum teeth, which looked remarkably similar to the teeth of today’s sharks. The nail in the coffin came from genetic evidence. The tenaculum teeth express genes found only in true teeth, never in shark skin denticles. "What I think is very neat about this project is that it provides a beautiful example of evolutionary tinkering or ‘bricolage,’” said Coates, a professor of biology at the University of Chicago. “We have a combination of experimental data with paleontological evidence to show how these fishes co-opted a preexisting program for manufacturing teeth to make a new device that is essential for reproduction." Cohen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs and first author of the paper, said scientists had never spotted teeth outside the mouth in this way before. “The tenaculum is a developmental relic, not a bizarre one-off, and the first clear example of a toothed structure outside the jaw,” she said. The bizarre path from a mouth full of teeth to forehead teeth used for mating demonstrates the impressive flexibility of evolution, the researchers say, always ready to repurpose structures for strange and unexpected new uses. “There are still plenty of surprises down in the ocean depths that we have yet to uncover,” Fraser said.