Creating Coral Reefs With 3D Printers! Is This The Answer To Saving Coral Reefs?

Did you know that coral reefs are the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world?

Yep.

And millions of people rely on the health of coral reefs for their jobs (fisheries, tourism, etc).

Yet, coral reefs are dying at a scary rate all around the world.

In fact, it has been estimated that 50% of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years (and 90% of the reefs may die in the next century if nothing drastic is done to reverse this trend).

So because we are incredibly interested in fixing this problem, we had coral reef expert Abbey Engleman from FSU on to discuss some of the potential solutions they are testing out when it comes to coral reefs…

In particular, using 3D printers to make new reefs.

Abbey and the team at 3D Sea are using today’s 3D technology to help improve marine research and conservation outreach.

And one of their big projects is trying to scale coral reef restoration using 3D printing.

Here’s an up-close picture of a 3D printed piece of coral.

Pretty wild stuff!

Check out the amazing interview we had with Abbey below.

We cover everything from how hurricanes hurt reefs, how boaters hurt reefs, and how sunscreen is hurting our reefs.

Enjoy.

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Conclusion

If we don’t act fast (and act in a BIG way), coral reefs won’t be around for our kids and grandkids…

Over 50% of them have died already, and it only seems to be getting worse.

And it’s not just due things out of our control.

In fact, even the sunscreen we use can have detrimental effects on coral reefs (check out this hard-hitting article on how chemicals in sunscreen are destroying reefs).

So it’s great to see groups such as 3D Sea doing some out of the box thinking on ways to improve and grow coral in our oceans.

To learn more about Abbey’s work and 3D Sea, click here.

To follow her on Instagram, click here.

Any questions on coral reefs and/or using 3D printers to build reefs?

Let us know in the comments below.

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