The world’s coral reefs do more for the planet than provide underwater beauty. They protect shorelines from the effects of hurricanes. An estimated 500 million people earn their livelihood from the fishing stocks and tourism opportunities reefs provide. The tiny animals that give rise to reefs are even offering hope for new drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.

Despite their importance, warming waters, pollution, ocean acidification, overfishing, and physical destruction are killing coral reefs around the world. So now scientists around the world are looking for all kinds of ways to protect and maybe even revive(复苏) corals. In the Bahamas, Ross Cunning, a research biologist at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, is focusing on corals with genes that could make them natural candidates for restoration projects. He recently published a study of two Bahamian reefs, one that seemed to survive an intense 2015 heat wave, and one that didn’t.“It sets the stage to find out which genes are responsible for thermal tolerance,” says Cunning, adding that he hopes discovering those genes will help scientists one day breed more heat-tolerant coral.

In Massachusetts, Cohen’s research has found two key elements that seem to protect corals. The first: internal(内部的) waves beneath the ocean’s surface that bring cooler currents to heat-struck corals, essentially air-conditioning them as temperatures rise. The second: adaptation, a quality that corals found in Palau’s warm lagoons(环礁湖) seem to display.On average, these lagoons submerge(淹没) coral in water that is two degrees Celsius warmer than the water outside the lagoons. “We think the fact that they can deal with these higher temperatures is built into their genetics and allows them to deal with the heat waves.”

She’s also found evidence of corals evolving more quickly in the past two decades to withstand rapidly warming temperatures. The big question scientists are now enquiring into, says Cohen, is whether there’s a cap on how much more heat corals can adapt to. Cohen calls these regions with heat-adapted corals as “super reefs,” and like Friendlander, advocates for using marine reserves to protect them.

Made out of thin air

The world has experienced a lot of extreme weather this year due to climate change, which carbon emissions are believed to be most responsible for. 【小题1】

Meat made from air

It is hard to imagine that food consisting of protein could be produced from CO2, but that is exactly what Solar Foods is working on. To create the protein, the company uses renewable energy to split water cells into hydrogen and oxygen. 【小题2】 This is fed to microbes(微生物), which in turn create an eatable food, according to science website Futurism. This process makes alternative protein 100 times more climate- friendly than other sources of protein, the company said.

【小题3】

What about wearing a pair of shoes made of carbon emissions? On Running, a Swiss sports shoe brand, is trying to make foam(泡沫) for its shoed from captured carbon. In November, it announced it was teaming up with US-based company LanzaTech to make ethanol(乙醇) out of waste CO2, which would otherwise be burned, releasing CO2. On Running hopes to produce its first pair of shoes made wholly from carbon sometime next yeat. 【小题4】

Turning CO2 into perfume

What is the smell of a perfume made from CO2? New York-based startup Air Company is selling perfume made from CO2. Perfume has an alcohol base. When mixed with a bit of water and fragrance(芳香) oil, it becomes perfume. Ethanol is widely used in perfume production because it has a neutral smell. This means you only smell the oil. 【小题5】 And with the addition of water and fragrance oil, you get perfume made mainly from air.

Durham County will use a combination of recycled tyres and plastic waste to create more long-lasting and environmentally friendly road surfaces.

Concrete and cement (水泥) are responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions (排放) globally and with a lot of the cement produced today used for the surfacing of roads, many organizations are looking for alternative materials that are less costly to the environment.

In a bid to reduce their carbon foot print, Durham has announced that they will be working with the road surfacing builder, Rainton Construction, to create roads that will be resurfaced with plastic and tyre waste.

A typical single truck load of the surfacing material amounts to 1, 064 plastic bags and 51 car tyres. Rubber from tyres was previously an un-recyclable material, but Rainton Construction will combine waste from the tyre recycling process, with plastic and tarmac (柏油路) to create a more long-lasting road surface.

The combination of the rubber and the plastic improves the performance of the road. The materials provide a water-resistance surface that reduces the damage caused by freezing weather and is less likely to break and change shapes in hot weather. The new surface is also expected to last longer than traditional materials and when the road surface needs replacing, the materials can be reprocessed and used again.

Managing director of Rainton Constructions, David Elliot said, “It is great for us as a business to have a partner like Durham County who are as enthusiastic as we are about the re-use of end of life wastes, that would normally be got rid of. We have and will continue to spend money on the development of these products in order to maximize our findings and obtain the best value both economically (经济上) and environmentally.”

In related news, researchers at the University of the West of England, Bristol, stated that recycled waste material could play a major role in the construction of roads in Europe, bringing both environmental and economic benefits.