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Engineering students develop ocean-going research tool to study seed migration

How do some plants cross oceans to take root on distant shores? There are lots of theories, but little hard evidence for support – because we can't ask those seeds to tell us about their journeys.

Until now.

As their senior design project, a team of undergraduate researchers in the FLC Physics & Engineering department created an ocean-faring platform to carry a GPS signaling system over long distances. The device even looks like a coconut, allowing it to both float like the real thing while being camouflaged from curious eyes that might cut its journey short.

Learn more from the undergraduate researchers themselves.