Many people have an aversion to human interventions into the natural world. However, as Corals: On the Brink explores, this mindset can overlook both the responsibilities humans already bear for the state of the world around them, and the potentially extraordinary consequences of inaction. Centred on the work of Line Bay, a research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and Ryan Phelan, Executive Director of the conservation organisation Revive & Restore, the short documentary details their efforts to leverage emerging technologies to engineer coral species that are more resilient in the face of dire threats posed by man-made global warming. Situated at the nexus of genetics, climate and risk management, the piece makes a compelling case that the only way to save coral ecosystems, which are invaluable to human and nonhuman animals alike, may be human intervention and innovation.
Video by Science Communication Lab
Producers: Shannon Behrman, Regina Sobel
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Physics
Imagining spacetime as a visible grid is an extraordinary journey into the unseen
12 minutes
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War and peace
A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?
9 minutes
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Language and linguistics
The little Peruvian guide to public speaking that conjures up a grandiose world
7 minutes
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Engineering
For one of nature’s great builders, finding a mate means weaving the perfect nest
4 minutes
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The ancient world
Archeological discoveries animate the life of the warrior queen who took on Rome
6 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Preserving memories of a Japanese internment camp, and the land where it stood
8 minutes
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Making
Trek to a remote Himalayan village where artisans craft teapots fit for kings
11 minutes
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Political philosophy
Beyond the veil – what rules would govern John Rawls’s ‘realistic Utopia’?
6 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
The unique fellowship between teens and young puffins on a remote Icelandic island
20 minutes