Scientists Find Way to Reverse Coral Bleaching

Scientists may have found a possible lifeline for dying coral: In a lab, sick coral made an unexpectedly fast comeback—with help from a healthier neighbor. Stanford researchers report that when heat-bleached coral fragments physically touched genetically identical, healthy ones for five days to a week, algae from the healthy coral rapidly moved in, per a release. Within seven weeks, all the bleached samples had regained their color, even those that had been separated from their healthy neighbors immediately after the algae transfer.

The work, published in Science Advances, involved a single species (Pocillopora damicornis) and only worked between genetically-identical clones, meaning it's no instant fix for reefs being hit by more frequent marine heat waves, per the New York Times. But the finding that healthy algae can invade bleached coral and rapidly multiply points to something "conceivably really useful," says study co-author Stephen Palumbi. Researchers hope to eventually find ways to transfer healthy algae between distinct corals without direct contact, per Euronews. Even so, experts stress that any such interventions are no substitute for tackling the root problem: rising ocean temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions.