Coral reefs are truly magnificent ecosystems that support an abundance of marine life. Sadly, climate change is the biggest threat to coral reefs. As oceans warm, corals experience heat stress and become “bleached” as a result of the algae expelling from their tissues. Can we use modern genetic tools, like CRISPR-Cas9, as a way to help us understand coral biology and perhaps make corals more adaptive to climate change?
Dr. Tshaka Cunningham is a molecular biologist and a Black man of faith. In this short film, the Science Communication Lab explores Dr. Cunningham’s personal and professional identities, and how they unite to help him promote community health through personal genomics.
In this short film, we explore the complicated question of using biotechnology to make forests more resistant to climate change. We look to the story of the American Chestnut as an example of how scientists are trying to bring a once-abundant tree back from near extinction through genetic engineering. We also consider the budding genome-editing technology CRISPR Cas-9 as a more precise tool with great promise but also great uncertainty. Can we do it and should we do it? This short film is the second video of a 2-part series called “The Future of Forests.”
What does a redwood forest look like, and sound like, in the wake of a devastating fire? See a forest in a new way in this new cinematic short from the Science Communication Lab. Walk through a fire-ravaged redwood forest with experts Beatrix Jiménez, a Land Stewardship Associate at the Sempervirens Fund, Ian Bornarth, a Bay Area-based photographer documenting post-fire recovery, and Alex Jones, the UC Santa Cruz Campus Natural Reserve Manager. Their observations make visible the forces of destruction and regrowth throughout the redwoods ecosystem.
