Gadgetory

off the coast of Australia the world's largest living structure is slowly dying beneath the waves the Great Barrier Reef stretches 1,400 miles down the eastern coast of Australia it's home to more than 3000 individual reefs 600 types of coral and countless species of marine animals it's as big as Germany and it's dying on our watch hundreds of miles of coral bleached white an entire underwater Amazon turn to stone scientists have been warning about problems on the reef for years and in 2014 the issue was thrust further into the spotlight when Leonardo DiCaprio spoke about visiting the Great Barrier Reef and seeing what remains of this natural wonder a witness environmental devastation firsthand once it looked like an endless underwater utopia is now reeled with bleached coral reefs and massive dead zones it's not too late to save this fragile ecosystem in fact researchers are using a host of new technologies to map the reef engineer new corals and even recreate ocean life in 3d it's hard to save what you can't see especially when what you're saving is hidden underwater and that's why researchers from Australia's James Cook University and the Royal Australian Navy are using advanced sonar and laser systems to map out the ocean floor in 3d even NASA is involved the US Space Agency has spawned teams of scientists over the reef to capture light spectrum data that looked help them what's happening beneath the waves it's not just these large-scale mapping projects that are shedding new light on the GBR scientists are recreating the reef on land to show the world the dangers the real reef is facing the Australian Institute of Marine Science has created a massive sea simulator in Queensland that perfectly replicates reef life researchers use it to grow new corals and can mimic expected conditions as far ahead as the year 2100 scientists are even building coral in 3d computer models stitch together from hundreds of high-res coral photographs to track how they grow and erode over time but greater human intervention may be required so scientists are studying heat-resistant coral in Western Australia with the hope that they can transplant these resilient corals back to the GBR and hope the reefs survive the effects of climate change researchers are also looking at science seemingly pulled from a James Bond film they want to artificially brighten clouds to reflect light and keep water temperatures cooler for most of the world the crisis on the Great Barrier Reef feels so distant but big names like David Attenborough and companies like Google are helping to bring it home for people all across the world now anyone with a VR headset can experience the reef up close with Attenborough but a virtual die or go on a self-guided tour through the magic of Google Streetview none of these efforts alone will rescue the reef we have to make a choice to decide where the cutting carbon emissions is worth it in order to save our natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef and that's why technology is so valuable it provides a window into this underwater world and can open our eyes to what we might lose you