Breeding Heat Tolerant Corals

    2023 was a scorching year for many that set a record for the hottest average land and ocean surface temperature. The reason for this is because of climate change. Now climate change didn't only cause sweaty and stinky people in the bus, but it also made corals sweat algae. Wait, slow down, corals sweat algae!? 

Algae don't like the heat so they decide to leave the corals body when it gets hot. This is a problem because corals have a special relationship with algae. The coral give the algae poop and a home while the algae give the coral some sugar. The sugar that they give is equal to 90% of the corals diet, so without algae the coral is more desperate for food than I am for the last slice of pizza. Scientists can tell which corals are starving because they turn white. Read more about corals or their reefs in the previous links.

Back to the story, some scientists decided to collect coral and plant them in tanks. There the corals get warmed and then cooled continuously by scientists letting them experience heat stress. If they don't end up like a cooked lobster, they can make "eggs" after 5 years just so that their children can be selectively bred again. The hope is that once you plant these corals, their genes will mix with the local coral to produce climate change tolerant babies.

I was wondering if you can genetically modify corals. Tell me if that exists in the comments!