Skeletons in the Corals

Nathan Mollica (left), a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, and WHOI scientist Weifu Guo examine a sample cored from the skeleton of a coral. They put the cores in a 3-D Computerized Tomography (CT) scanner to image the coral skeletons. The CT images reveal annual growth bands, much like rings on a tree. The images helped the scientists identify a detailed mechanism showing how ocean acidification affects coral skeleton growth. It gives scientists a way to predict more precisely where corals will be more vulnerable. Mollica, Guo, and WHOI scientist Anne Cohen co-authored a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Photo courtesy of Anne Cohen Lab, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)