A simple touch can bring dying corals back to life in just 7 weeks

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSeverely bleached corals can recover fully in seven weeks just by touching a healthy coral that is genetically identical, ScienceDaily reports on a new laboratory study.

2. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThey just touched. That's all it took. I'm sorry, I need a second, because that is the most beautiful sentence I have read out loud.

3. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorFive days of contact was sometimes enough to start the healing, and the algae began moving between the fragments within three days.

4. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThree days! Folks, I've known people for ten years who wouldn't share a booth with me, and these little guys are sharing algae.

5. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe best part is how it started.

6. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorTwo fragments from the same colony, one healthy, one bleached, tipped over in a tank and landed against each other.

7. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThey fell over. Nobody pushed them, nobody planned it, and it still got more done than most of our meetings.

8. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe fragments were only about one to one and a half centimeters long. Tiny, and they still saved each other.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe researchers say it can't restore whole reefs yet, since each bleached coral needs a healthy identical partner.

10. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorSo the lesson is, the people who can help you are the ones lying right next to you.

11. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorI'm going to tip over beside Vera at the next staff meeting.