Ian Enochs at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration studies the reefs in the Keys. He says seeing so many corals die was a painful experience, but has only drove home the urgency of action.

Take Amy Apprill at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, who is working on different approaches to restoring coral ecosystems. There are lots of ideas. But one new approach her team is working on would use underwater sound.


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In tests at a reef in the Virgin Islands, the researchers found that broadcasting recordings of a healthy reef ecosystems underwater increased the rate at which coral larvae attached to the reef. This could help make coral restoration more effective in the face of rising temperatures.

In July and September, we teamed up with Coral Island developer Stairway Games and charity organization Coral Guardian to release a pair of limited-time charity DLC packs for the game: the Ocean Guardian and Ocean Explorer. 100% of developer and publisher proceeds from sales of these packs were donated to Coral Guardian in support of their mission to protect and restore coral ecosystems.

Our sincerest thanks to all of the Coral Island players who helped make this possible, whether you picked up the charity DLC or spread the word on social media and to your friends and family. While our individual actions can sometimes feel small, together it adds up to make a real, tangible impact for people and the environment.

Coral reefs in Florida have lost an estimated 90% of their corals in the last 40 years. This summer, a marine heat wave hit Florida's coral reefs. The record high temperatures created an extremely stressful environment for the coral reefs.

During one assessment dive, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researcher Katey Lesneski observed some critically endangered Elkhorn corals dying in what appeared to be a new and disturbing way.

As coral bleaching events become more common, scientists are working to understand which corals survive and why. And some are looking to use new research and technologies to help corals get stronger.

A coral is an animal, in the phylum Cnidaria (as in, related to jellyfish). It has a symbiotic relationship with a microscopic algae called zooxanthellae. The algae gets energy from the sun and shares it with the coral internally. The coral builds a rock-like structure of calcium carbonate, which makes up most of the reef, providing homes and food for many organisms that live there.

Coral bleaching is when the symbiotic relationship between the coral and algae breaks down. Without the algae, the corals appear white because the rock skeleton becomes visible through the animal's translucent tissue. If the stress (in this case, high temperature) declines, the algae and coral can recover. If the bleaching continues for an extended period, the corals can starve to death without the energy the algae provides.

"So if you were to take a photograph of a reef looking from top down, what we're seeing right now is only about 2% of that area being covered in hard coral and that's very, very low compared to typically healthy reefs or Florida reefs in the past that have had 50, 60, 70% coral cover," says Lesneski.

Research and nonprofit organizations in Florida are working to protect and maintain the coral reefs. In some cases, they're even working to restore coral reefs, to get the corals and ecosystem closer to historic levels. This can include research and conservation efforts to understand what is plaguing the reef, from disease outbreaks to coastal development impacts. It can also include harvesting coral spawn or larvae, or growing and outplanting coral fragments.

During the marine heat wave this summer, Ian Enochs, the lead researcher for the Coral Program at NOAA, inspected the corals at Cheeca Rocks, off the Florida coast. NOAA  hide caption

Ian Enochs is the lead of the Coral Program at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) at NOAA. He is one of many scientists working in collaboration to understand which species and which genotypes of coral will survive best in future scenarios. They are digging into the DNA of the coral to discover answers.

For example, coral reefs with a history of temperature variability will fare better, bleach less, survive more, under future variable temperatures. With that in mind, Enochs has created a complex matrix of aquariums where he can subject different types of corals to different environments and not only understand how they might survive, but perhaps help them to do so. A coral that makes it through Enochs' coral gym could be outplanted onto a wild reef to perhaps survive better than before.

Scientists say that this year's El Nio has started the cascade of hot ocean temperatures. In August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that almost half of the world's oceans were experiencing anomalously high temperatures. Other areas of the Caribbean and Red Sea coral reefs are currently also experiencing intense coral bleaching.

Florida is on the front lines of climate change. It is also on the cutting edge of restoration science. Many labs, institutions and other organizations are working nonstop to understand how to help the corals of South Florida survive. Coral restoration scientists moved many coral nurseries into deeper water and shore-based facilities during this marine heat wave.

There are some bright spots in the story, however. Some corals have recovered from the bleaching, and many did not bleach at all. In addition, researchers recorded coral spawning. Although it's not clear yet whether the larvae will be viable in the wild, it's a sign of recovery potential. If the baby corals survive, they will be able to regrow the reef. They just have to stave off one big boss: human-induced climate change.

Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral polyps, the animals primarily responsible for building reefs, can take many forms: large reef building colonies, graceful flowing fans, and even small, solitary organisms. Thousands of species of corals have been discovered; some live in warm, shallow, tropical seas and others in the cold, dark depths of the ocean.

Because of the diversity of life found in the habitats created by corals, reefs are often called the "rainforests of the sea." About 25% of the ocean's fish depend on healthy coral reefs. Fishes and other organisms shelter, find food, reproduce, and rear their young in the many nooks and crannies formed by corals. The Northwest Hawaiian Island coral reefs, which are part of the Papahnaumokukea National Marine Monument, provide an example of the diversity of life associated with shallow-water reef ecosystems. This area supports more than 7,000 species of fishes, invertebrates, plants, sea turtles, birds, and marine mammals. Deep water reefs or mounds are less well known, but also support a wide array of sea life in a comparatively barren world.

In the early days of undersea research at NOAA, scientists needed to surface regularly when SCUBA diving to study coral reefs and other habitats. This slowed down their progress, making it difficult to conduct longer studies. All that changed with the introduction of the HYDROLAB.

Shallow water, reef-building corals have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae, which live in their tissues. The coral provides a protected environment and the compounds zooxanthellae need for photosynthesis. In return, the algae produce carbohydrates that the coral uses for food, as well as oxygen. The algae also help the coral remove waste. Since both partners benefit from association, this type of symbiosis is called mutualism.

Deep-sea corals live in much deeper or colder oceanic waters and lack zooxanthellae. Unlike their shallow water relatives, which rely heavily on photosynthesis to produce food, deep sea corals take in plankton and organic matter for much of their energy needs.

Unfortunately, coral reef ecosystems are severely threatened. Some threats are natural, such as diseases, predators, and storms. Other threats are caused by people, including pollution, sedimentation, unsustainable fishing practices, and climate change, which is raising ocean temperatures and causing ocean acidification. Many of these threats can stress corals, leading to coral bleaching and possible death, while others cause physical damage to these delicate ecosystems. During the 2014-2017 coral bleaching event, unusually warm waters (partially associated with a strong El Nio) affected 70% of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Some areas were hit particularly hard, like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where hundreds of miles of coral were bleached.

Corals are able to recover from bleaching events if conditions improve before they die, though it can take many years for the ecosystems to fully heal. Scientists are also testing new ways to help coral reef ecosystems, such as growing coral in a nursery and then transplanting it to damaged areas.

Educators can use the resources in this collection to teach students about the science and beauty of corals. They can use these organisms and ecosystems to teach many scientific concepts including symbiotic relationships, reproduction strategies, food webs, chemistry, biotic and abiotic interactions, human impacts, and more. Additionally, educators can use corals to teach about conservation and stewardship of the environment. Even if you don't live near a reef, students can learn that they can help protect coral reefs in the United States and around the world. There are many actions, small and large, that everyone can take to help conserve coral reefs.

The AlphaGo Zero algorithm from DeepMind shocked the AI community when it became the first AIto beat a professional go player, using a relatively simple approach. Atits heart, AlphaGo Zero is a convolutional neural network (CNN) that parses the game board usingan input tensor similar to an image bitmap. Minigo is a different implementation of the design inthe AlphaGo Zero papers, and it uses only open-source tools and libraries. 0852c4b9a8

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