After several long years of financial angst, people the world over are weary from recession depression. The prolonged economic drag has plenty of pundits asking: “What in the world happened?”

Spring weather signals all kinds of changes in nature. Trees sprout leaves. Plants bloom. But weather that brings nature back to life can also kill the fish in ponds.

Georgia cattle farmers, both large and small scale, will find useful knowledge at the annual University of Georgia Mountain Beef Cattle Field Day April 21 in Blairsville, Ga.

In the shadow of a rundown block building in Los Palis, Haiti, children wearing tattered clothes bit into half-ripened mangoes they picked from the ground and wondered about the strange men toiling around in the field.

Have you ever noticed flies buzzing around your favorite restaurant? No big deal, right? Wrong. “People view flies as a nuisance, but the evidence shows they are much more than that,” said Ludek Zurek, faculty member with the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Agriculture. “House flies may be the link of bacteria between food animals and residential areas.”

Food science and food safety have become hot topics in recent years. David Lineback, a food scientist and carbohydrate chemist at the University of Maryland, will speak on both at the annual J.G. Woodruff Lecture on April 8 in Athens.

Home gardeners who want to try their hand at growing organic vegetables should lower their expectations just a little and be prepared to put in more “sweat equity.”

University of Georgia research isn’t done just by professors in laboratories in Athens, Ga. It’s also conducted in fields, orchards and gardens statewide by UGA Cooperative Extension agents, who look to solve problems for the people in their counties.

On April 3, southern gardeners will have a new tool to help them in the garden. “Your Southern Garden” with Walter Reeves, a new educational television show, will premiere to help gardeners of all levels learn new tips, get fresh ideas and visit interesting sites. The show will air weekly on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. and repeat at 6:30 p.m. on Georgia Public Broadcasting stations and select northern and central Florida public television stations.