In 2024, a survey of Japanese beaches uncovered plasticorals—a material in which melted plastic entered the pores of and mechanically fused to coral skeletons.

Plastic debris across the ocean aids the spread of invasive species

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

Microplastics have been found everywhere there is liquid or vapor water, from the oceans and tropical waters to polar ice and the air we breathe, posing growing risks to wildlife and ecosystems.

When diving and snorkeling in environments containing reefs, avoid touching reefs, anchoring on them, or using sunscreen with active ingredients harmful to marine life.

Synthetic textiles and tires account for more than 60% of ocean microplastic pollution, which enters the seas via runoff and wastewater discharge.

Synthetic pheromones may protect coral reefs by attracting their predators

Japanese scientists have developed an eco-friendly plastic that naturally dissolves in hours, leaving behind molecules containing phosphorus and nitrogen, which fertilize soil.

Through coral IVF, researchers have collected coral eggs and sperm from healthy reefs, grown baby corals in lab pools, and then released them to help repopulate damaged or lost reefs.

After swallowing 23 pieces of plastic, seabirds experience a 90% death rate

Mermaid tears are a long-lasting and hazardous form of ocean microplastic pollution, whose chemical composition enables them to contain higher concentrations of certain toxins than the surrounding environment.

View the estimated decomposition times for various everyday plastic products, which often fragment into smaller microplastics as molecular bonds are weakened by sunlight.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

The three types of coral reefs—fringing, barrier, and atoll—are categorized by where they form.

Stony corals form a type of calcium carbonate called aragonite from ions brought to the ocean by rivers that have broken down terrestrial rocks.

Plastic's history began with an inventor seeking a $10,000 prize offer

Coral reefs are built by thousands of coral polyps—tiny animals whose mouths both consume food and expel waste.

Microplastics have been found across all of Earth's depths and altitudes, from plastic debris in the Mariana Trench to fragments found in snow samples near the summit of Mount Everest.

Microplastics 101: What we know about the contaminants invading our bodies

Research shows that over 1,000 metric tons of microplastics fall on national parks every year—equivalent to 120 million bottles of water.

How plastic manufacturing could be sustainable again

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

Track where your plastic trash will be in 20 years

Some algae have helped remove microplastics from water after being bioengineered to clump together with these contaminants, forming an easily collectible microplastic-algae sludge.

From soil to beer, microplastic pollution is all around us

Pearls form when a saltwater oyster or a freshwater mussel coats a parasite or other irritant that has entered its shell with concentric layers of calcium carbonate and organic protein.

From 2023 to 2025, coral reefs experienced their fourth global bleaching event and the largest such event through 2025.

How billiard balls catalyzed the 'Plastics Century'

Using AI to track plastic pollution in real time

The history of natural and synthetic plastics

Research has found that when their symbiotic algae are not producing oxygen via photosynthesis, corals twirl hairlike structures to circulate water and draw oxygen into their outer tissues.

The global plastic crisis in images

The prevalence of microplastics came from plastic’s affordability and versatility

In Indonesia, microplastics rain down when trash is burned, and people may ingest the equivalent of 3 credit cards per month—on average.

How existing technology could prevent nearly 80% of plastic pollution

Most plastics are not biodegradable because breaking their chemical bonds requires temperatures lethal to most microbes, and these organisms have not been exposed to plastic long enough to evolve the necessary enzymes.

Deep water corals—located throughout the world's ocean basins at depths beyond 200 meters (660 feet)—slowly build small coral gardens in the dark with the help of underwater worms.

Watch a time-lapse of staghorn coral polyps—a type of hard coral—over several weeks in an aquarium, slowly forming the foundational component of a coral reef.

Inside Australia's National Sea Simulator, scientists are cross-breeding coral species and using CRISPR to genetically engineer heat-resistant corals to withstand warming reefs worldwide.

View a collection of glass sculptures of corals threatened by fishing and deep-sea mining.

A UN-led treaty may establish rules to phase out plastic globally

An analysis of fossilized reefs from northern Africa and Germany suggests that shallow water corals and photosynthetic algae formed the mutualistic partnership seen today between 419 and 359 million years ago.

The world's largest coral, as seen from space

The first coral reefs formed hundreds of millions of years ago from the carbonate skeletons deposited by hard corals.

As of 2023, more than 130 nations have enacted bans or restrictions on plastic items, starting with Bangladesh's ban on plastic bags in 2002.

Some corals absorb harmful ultraviolet radiation and re-emit it as visible light, thereby protecting symbiotic algae within their tissues and providing them with energy for photosynthesis.

The first appearance of bioluminescence was at least 540 million years ago

Research shows that microplastics and nanoplastics can accumulate in major arteries, and patients with these deposits are significantly more likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, or death.

During coral bleaching, corals sacrifice their food source and expel colorful microorganisms to protect themselves, a phenomenon that resembles an organism's immune system attacking itself.

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—photosynthetic algae that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

How chemical recycling could create 'infinite' plastic