Bleached corals thrive within days when touching healthy neighbour (nature.com)
182 points by alkyon a day ago
anakaine 40 minutes ago
Having been a diver on the Great Barrier Reef numerous times, the scale of bleaching events means that there is often no non-bleached neighbour for vast distances. Healthy propagation rarely occurs before the brown sludge sets in, then its game over.
verelo 16 minutes ago
This kills me. I saw the reef for the first time around 2007. I went back twice, and the last time I was there (2017) I honestly couldn't believe what I saw. Wasteland? An under water desert? I don't have words for it, but I don't really want to go back because it hit me so hard. Our planet is dying and we're sitting here debating why/who and not doing anywhere near enough to fix it.
I'm so glad we have space rockets, flying cars and drone warfare...but I'd trade it all in for the reef to come back.
ryandrake a few seconds ago
> Our planet is dying and we're sitting here debating why/who and not doing anywhere near enough to fix it.
If only we were just debating why/who! Thanks to Social Media, filter bubbles, and “alternative facts,” we are back to debating whether it is actually even happening or not.
Nux 2 minutes ago
"The planet is fine, the people are fscked!"
nomel an hour ago
> This incredible new result
Only if you've never talked to anyone remotely involved with propagating coral, including those in the saltwater fish-tank community!
dcrazy an hour ago
I remember hearing that the concern with our best techniques for rescuing coral reefs is that they would create a monoculture, and monocultures tend to be very susceptible to specific diseases.
Okkef 2 hours ago
Only if they are clones - genetically identical. So not much use in practice, unfortunately.
smallerize 2 hours ago
I think the article says they just haven't tested other cases. I wouldn't expect the symbiotic microalgae to be that picky.
Edit - The article makes Okkef's point, I just missed it.
ceejayoz an hour ago
The article says otherwise.
> Fragments from different species and even different animals of the same species did not fuse together, and so did not nurse the bleached piece back to health.
kulahan 2 hours ago
Sounds like a solution is still well within our reach. Normally I wouldn’t suggest something as extreme as using cloning techniques to restore wild creatures, but of course it was extreme actions that got us here in the first place, so I think this balances it out.
deadbabe an hour ago
We don’t use cloning enough IMO.
linuskendall an hour ago
idontwantthis 2 hours ago
We could create a bank of coral clones tagged to each individual location.
fosterfriends 2 hours ago
Some good news :) anything to bring back coral reefs
0c3ca83 19 minutes ago
Anything but reducing the amount of fossil fuels we burn.
kylehotchkiss an hour ago
My first thought when reading the headline... horizontal gene transfer?
asjkff 2 hours ago
Could this also, have anything to do with, Nikola Tesla's resonance theory on dark matter and consciousness, in play in living matter?
More intelligent individuals should look more into this field.
aappleby an hour ago
No. Tesla's resonance theory has nothing to do with dark matter, consciousness, or living matter.
tcdent 2 hours ago
I'm all about the concepts you're presenting, but care to elaborate on how you think the corals relate?
asjkff 2 hours ago
Disclaimer: I am still finding my way in life, so take this theory with a grain of salt.
New age movement, claim everything on earth is actually a hologram of the universe, experiencing itself.
So perhaps, just being in close proximity with another coral, the hologram frequency was now more in tuned.
rbn3 an hour ago
hmokiguess 2 hours ago
patmorgan23 36 minutes ago
No that's ridiculous woo woo. It's just that some of the symbiotic algae from the healthy coral transfer over to feed and revive the sick coral.