Coral Clocks

Uranium dating of coral tools used by the earliest settlers of the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga offers unprecedented precision in reconstructing their history.

About 3,000 years ago, inhabitants of New Guinea set their sights east and headed out to sea, sparking an expansion of humanity across thousands of miles to islands scattered across the South Pacific. Archaeologists have been able to track the migration of these pioneers, a group called the Lapita, by their distinctive pottery. But now, researchers are using advanced chemistry involving the coral tools used by these early explorers to more accurately reconstruct their maritime peregrinations.

Total Solar Eclipse - Australia 14 November 2012

A total eclipse of the Sun is arguably nature's most spectacular and awe-inspiring phenomenon. Australia will play host to such an event next week and all eyes will be on the horizon overlooking the Coral Sea in Tropical North Queensland as the total solar eclipse casts an incredible shadow across the region on November 14.

Port Douglas and Cairns will be the best places in the world to witness this natural phenomenon and well known Australian astronomer Dave Reneke, writer and publicist for Australasian Science magazine, will be on hand to record it all.

Great Barrier Reef loosing coral

Half of the Great Barrier Reef's coral has been wiped out in the last 27 years, a new study says.

If the mass die-off continues, the study warns, less than 25 percent of the coral cover would exist in 2022.

Published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study was conducted by researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Wollongong.

Coral Hotspots Found in Deepwater Canyons off Northeast US Coast

For the first time in decades, researchers have conducted an extensive exploration for deep-sea corals and sponges in submarine canyons off the northeastern coast of the US. The survey revealed coral "hotspots," and found that a new coral habitat suitability model could help predict where corals are likely to occur. The model is being developed by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and the National Ocean Service's Biogeography Branch.

Among the canyons surveyed during the July 6-18 cruise aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow were Toms, Middle Toms, and Hendrickson canyons off New Jersey, and Veatch and Gilbert canyons off Georges Bank.