A lot of people are trying to do something to help coral reefs, which are hugely important to marine life, and which are facing huge threats from climate change.
Now, the people trying to help these reefs are getting some help themselves… from a robot.
It’s called ReefRanger, and it’s the work of students at ETH Zurich.
The robot is designed to help with coral reef restoration, which is complicated work.
Coral in the wild can grow pretty slowly even in good conditions, so one of the ways environmental scientists try to help is by growing coral in more controlled spaces, basically underwater farms where they can grow more quickly.
But underwater coral farming is a lot like pretty much every other kind of farming: it takes time and effort to make sure the conditions are just right, so the coral can grow on these underwater structures in the nurseries.
This is where ReefRanger comes in: the robot comes with cameras and other sensors so that it can monitor the coral as they grow and feed them when necessary.
Those feeding pieces are soft, so that they don’t harm the corals.
And since ReefRanger is autonomous, the idea is that it will be able to help scale up coral farming by making it less time-intensive for humans.
That would mean more coral pieces that could be planted in more reefs, helping more marine species.
I’m looking forward to hearing more in the future.
Texas-based artist Montrel Beverly is winning lots of attention for eye-catching recreations of famous artworks… made of pipe cleaners.
There’s quite a range here: a pipe cleaner version of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” even a pipe cleaner version of the painting of those dogs playing poker!
I’m also a big fan of the pipe cleaner recreation of Cavity Sam from the board game Operation.
Robots that can climb trees or restore coral reefs (ETH Zurich)
Montrel Beverly recreates the biblical and art history with pipe cleaners (It’s Nice That)
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