Coral reef restoration with 3D printing
Scientists and conservationists are beginning to utilize 3-D printers to help save the ocean’s coral reefs. Artificial reefs have been composed of everything from used tires, to retired ships to manufactured concrete structures, but up until now none have exactly replicated the structures of coral exoskeletons. Scientists believe that 3-D reefs may be less vulnerable to climate change than natural reefs. Experiments in reef colonization is occurring now in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Persian Gulf, and Australia.