skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, June 23, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Security guard kills MI church gunman, preventing 'large-scale mass shooting'; NM Pride celebrations urge 'resilience' after U.S. v. Skrmetti ruling; Beleaguered L.A. affordable housing proposal goes before judge; Data change means ID saw largest college enrollment drop in spring term.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

U.S. awaits Iran's response following strikes on three nuclear sites. Department of Homeland Security warns about possible attacks here, and advocates call for resilience as LGBTQ rights face threats around the nation.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Giant data centers powering artificial intelligence want cheap rural land but some communities are pushing back, Hurricane Helene mobilized a North Carolina town in unexpected ways, and Cherokee potters make ceramics that honor multiple generations.

TX Researchers Help Preserve Work of World-Class Botanist

play audio
Play

Monday, April 25, 2022   

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas has been awarded over $500,000 to help preserve the work of a famous American botanist.

In a career as an explorer and professor that spanned more than 30 years, Sherwin Carlquist photographed and studied thousands of plants and trees - in Texas and around the world - before his death late last year.

Now, much of his work will be digitized in a four-year project that starts in June. Ana Niño - the Botanical Research Institute of Texas's librarian - said it's a project that can open doors for collaboration between natural history and science archives, and cultural heritage.

"So, we're kind of blazing a new path forward, which just - which is exciting," said Niño. "But it also means there's no there's no one to look up to. We're just kind of figuring it out as we go along, and relying on our peers to help make this happen."

The archival materials and nature photography will be digitized at BRIT. The California Botanic Garden will digitize the plant and wood specimens Carlquist collected in his decades of research.

One goal of the project is to work with interns from communities that have traditionally been under-represented in museums and libraries, to create a public exhibit of the work.

Carlquist became an expert in plant anatomy and won numerous academic honors. Mare Nazaire, administrative curator at the California Botanic Garden, said his death was a blow to the field of botany, and his peers view him as a "giant" in the field.

"He published prolifically, with well over 300 research papers on evolution, biogeography," said Nazaire. "He named lots of different plant species and even some genera."

She said she the hope is that making Carlquist's work more accessible will allow the next generation of scientists to expand on his theories.

The Botanic Research Institute of Texas in Fort Worth is home to 100,000 of his field photographs, as well as microscope slides and research notebooks.




get more stories like this via email
more stories
Advocates said prison gerrymandering gives voting districts with a correctional facility an unfair advantage in the West Virginia political system. They want state lawmakers to make changes before the 2030 Census. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Prison policy advocates are urging West Virginia lawmakers to put an end to "prison gerrymandering," which they said distorts political representation…


play sound

As Congress debates the GOP's sweeping budget reconciliation bill, some lawmakers are working to include a provision which would delay a methane …

Health and Wellness

play sound

More St. Louis County libraries are teaming up with the American Heart Association to offer blood pressure cuffs for checkout, to help people take …


According to federal data, SNAP benefits cover 34,000 children and 9,000 seniors in South Dakota. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Federal data show roughly 75,000 South Dakota households rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table and hunger-fighting groups paint a troubling p…

Environment

play sound

From poultry to beer, Minnesota has an avid interest in producing food with ingredients and practices mindful of the state's water resources and the …

The Venice Dell project, if built, would add 120 units of affordable housing to the Venice Beach neighborhood. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Los Angeles faces a severe shortage of affordable housing but Monday, the city is asking a judge to put a hold on a lawsuit which aims to clear the …

play sound

As outdoor recreation picks up for summer, a clean-water advocacy group reminds people that some fish around Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River are …

Social Issues

play sound

Advocates for immigrants' rights in Washington state are voicing concerns about the possible expansion of the H-2A visa program, which they say …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021