Corals, coolness and clouds: protecting the Great Barrier Reef

Since 2016, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced five mass bleaching events. This is compared to just two in the past 30 years. Coral bleaching involves the loss of the algae that inhabit the corals, causing them to lose their characteristic color and turn a ghostly white. Due to the symbiotic nature of the relationship, if it is prolonged, the corals have considerably less chance of recovery. One catalyst for this is extreme heat waves, which are now occurring more often and at higher temperatures due to climate change.

Dr. Dante McGrath, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Climate Repair, cites watching Finding Nemo as a child as his inspiration to work on Great Barrier Reef conservation. This fascination resonates with millions of tourists worldwide, making the Great Barrier Reef a popular destination. However, its future is uncertain; McGrath believes coral bleaching could soon mean “the whole reef could be lost”. To prevent this, he is working on a technique called marine cloud lighting. This involves spraying a salt mist into the atmosphere, providing a cooling effect that provides relief to the reef as low-altitude clouds become more reflective, allowing a greater proportion of sunlight to be deflected into space.

“Marine cloud warming is not without controversy, as it has the potential to affect large-scale weather patterns and climate.”

However, marine cloud brightening is not without controversy, as it has the potential to affect large-scale weather patterns and climate, meaning it could cause a detrimental effect in regions where the technique is not applied. However, the work of McGrath and the RRAP team of which he is a part is concentrated in the microcosm of the Great Barrier Reef and therefore does not pose as great a risk. However, they admit that this is somewhat of a band-aid, as divestment from fossil fuels must still be the primary goal to mitigate the effects of climate change. The team conducted their experiment by spraying plumes of salt fog from a boat for four to six hours, while using a drone and an aircraft to collect data on the cloud and atmospheric properties. Although the results have yet to be evaluated, initial analysis suggests that the plumes are hitting low-level clouds, which is extremely promising for the future of the Great Barrier Reef.

The feeling of attachment or contrition after seeing exhibits of skeletal or extinct animals on public display is probably quite fleeting. Cambridge University’s Museum of Zoology hopes to stimulate greater interest in biodiversity conservation by allowing visitors to converse with exhibits using AI. A collaborative effort with Nature Perspectives, the AI ​​technology allows the animals to talk to visitors about themselves and answer their questions, adapting their register and approach based on the demographic they’re talking to. Some of the specimens include a dodo skeleton, a red admiral butterfly and an American beetle. The focus is currently on observing how people interact with this technology and whether it is effective in stimulating interest in nature, although the team hopes that in the future it could be used to undermine common preconceptions about these animals. Nature Perspectives co-founder Gal Zanir wants this technology to be implemented as a proxy for nature in “legal processes, policymaking and beyond.”

The treatment does not show effectiveness for some types of blood cancer. When treating myeloma, a cancer of the plasma, the CAR-T cells killed some healthy brain cells instead of the cancer cells. As a solution, Dr. Mike Chapman, the mastermind behind the operation, proposes the idea of ​​developing an “on-off gate” that causes the CAR-T cell to turn off if it detects a cell that should be left intact. However, the fact that with CAR-T therapy what is predicted “actually happens” is extremely promising for the future of cancer treatment.