Building an Ark

Coral reefs aren’t threatened by a flood, but they are dying because changes are brewing in the ocean. A team that includes several Grainger Engineers is designing materials and structures to help save and restore those reefs.

A decade ago, many considered the prospect ridiculous. Breeding coral larvae and seeding them into the ocean to restore reefs? There were just too many factors working against it. Capturing delicate eggs and sperm, coaxing them to their larval state, and then setting those pinhead-sized clusters of cells loose to slosh around in the giant, powerful ocean? Expecting them to find an appropriate place to land and the biochemical conditions that allow them to grow? They’re tiny and fragile and slow to mature.