coral

Scientists in the southwestern Pacific Ocean have discovered the largest coral ever recorded. It's so big it can be seen from space. With the Pacific News Minute, HPR's Derrick Malama reports.

Shaun Moss, the executive director of Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s Oceanic Institute, shared the latest on an upcoming release of several hundred juvenile yellow tang in the waters off Windward Oʻahu.

How are state officials responding to large-scale cyberattacks?; Researchers link Nan Madol's demise to climate change

Concerns over the construction of a three-story judging tower at a famous Tahiti surf break for the 2024 Paris Olympics sent a team of scientists from Hawaiʻi to Teahupoʻo. Construction has begun, but the timeline for completion remains uncertain. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi explains what the controversy has meant to the surfing and science communities.

You've heard of organ transplants, but what about the benefits of sound transplants? For coral reefs, an acoustic footprint called a soundscape is a critical indicator of their health. The Conversation spoke to Nadège Aoki, the graduate student who led the new study, about using sound to rehabilitate coral reefs.

Scientists say there has never been another instance of a large urban fire burning next to a coral reef anywhere in the world. They don't know how chemicals and metals from burned plastics, lead paint and lithium-ion batteries will affect delicate reef ecosystems. But research now underway could provide the community a sense of how the ocean that shapes their lives is weathering the disaster.

Maui reef biologist Andrea Kealoha spoke to The Conversation about her efforts to monitor the effects of toxic ash in coastal waters. She is a new faculty member with the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Department of Oceanography. She lives on Maui and previously led the Water Quality Lab at UH Maui College.

The corals were damaged when a Navy plane overshot a runway and ended up in the water. Emergency restoration efforts will give some the best chance of survival.

For decades, conservationists have been warning about the harm wildfires inflict on coral reef systems. However toxic contaminants from the Lahaina fire may bring new complications for ocean health.

Scientists are one step closer to perfecting a method that could save hundreds of coral species from extinction. Researchers at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology have successfully cryopreserved and revived entire fragments of coral. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote has more.