Darwin in a lab: Coral evolution tweaked for global warming

By CALEB JONES
Associated Press

COCONUT ISLAND, Hawaii (AP) — Scientists are trying to speed up coral’s evolutionary clock to build reefs that can better withstand the impacts of global warming. For the past five years, researchers in Hawaii and Australia have been conducting experiments to prove their Darwinian theories work. They say they do, and now they’re getting ready to plant selectively bred and other lab-evolved corals back into the ocean to see if they can survive in nature. If successful, the scientists say the more heat tolerant corals could help save vital reefs that are dying alongside climate change.