Restoring coral: sharing algae & natural artificial reefs

Thursday, 5 November 2026 - 8:30am
Bleached cauliflower coral (Pocillopora damicornis), being shared new algae by healthy coral (Photo by Danny Collins)

It’s all about saving coral this week: Linden shares an accidental discovery that bleached coral can be healed through contact with healthy coral; and Kate talks about the benefits of building artificial reefs from calcium carbonate instead of any old junk.

Daniel S. Collins et al., Rapid coral bleaching recovery via symbiont transfer from healthy corals. Sci. Adv. 12, eaeh1580(2026). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aeh1580

O’Sullivan B, Bamford R, Shannon MR, Mallela J, Perriman AW. Material design for artificial reef restoration: a novel calcium carbonate biocomposite. Biotechnology Design. 2026;4:e77. doi:10.1017/S2977905726100808

Chris, Stu, Linden & Claire
Thursday 8:30am to 9:00am
Entertaining news and discussion about research that has impact on society and providing a wide range of science and technology news. Distributed nationally on the Community Radio Network.

Presenter

Chris Lassig, Stuart Burns, Claire Farrugia and Linden Ashcroft.

Topic