Archinect - News 2024-11-21T18:44:21-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/149940897/the-scientists-trying-to-assist-evolution-and-breed-super-coral The scientists trying to assist evolution and breed "super-coral" Nicholas Korody 2016-04-15T12:47:00-04:00 >2016-04-15T13:05:00-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/2j/2jf77tqghizlgmpt.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>&ldquo;A lot of people want to go back to something,&rdquo; [said Ruth Gates]. &ldquo;They think, If we just stop doing things, maybe the reef will come back to what it was. [...] Our project is acknowledging that a future is coming where nature is no longer fully natural.&rdquo; [...] The power of selective breeding is all around us. Dogs, cats, cows, chickens, pigs [...] But the super-coral project pushes into new territory. Already there&rsquo;s a term for this sort of effort: assisted evolution.</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>&ldquo;'I</em><em>n the food supply, in our pets, you name it&mdash;everywhere you turn, selectively bred stuff appears,' Gates observed. 'For some reason, in the framework of conservation&mdash;or an ecosystem that would be preserved by conservation&mdash;it seems like a radical idea. But it&rsquo;s not like we&rsquo;ve invented something new. It&rsquo;s hilarious, really, when you think about it.'&rdquo;</em></p><p>As the world heats up, seas begin to rise, and farmland goes dry, our inherited ideas of "nature" are put under pressure. Here's some Archinect-exclusive features on unnatural nature and other aspects of life in <a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/112035318/archinect-s-lexicon-anthropocene" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Anthropocene</a>:</p><ul><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/149934079/timothy-morton-on-haunted-architecture-dark-ecology-and-other-objects" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Timothy Morton on haunted architecture, dark ecology, and other objects</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/109656462/architecture-of-the-anthropocene-part-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Architecture of the Anthropocene, Part 1</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/114117296/architecture-of-the-anthropocene-pt-2-haunted-houses-living-buildings-and-other-horror-stories" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Architecture of the Anthropocene, Pt. 2: Haunted Houses, Living Buildings, and Other Horror Stories</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/126783591/architecture-of-the-anthropocene-pt-3-getting-lost-in-the-ozone" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Architecture of the Anthropocene, Pt. 3: Getting Lost in the Ozone</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/142453636/ways-of-seeing-in-the-anthropocene-review-of-the-geological-imagination-and-the-underdome-guide-to-energy-reform" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ways of Seeing in the Anthropocene: Review of "The Geological Imagination" and "The Underdome Guide to Energy Reform"</a></li><li><a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/125765734/between-sampling-and-dowsing-field-notes-from-grnasfck" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Between Sampling and Do...</a></li></ul>