Stanford researchers challenged the boundaries of sustainability, by protecting coral reefs and designing a sunscreen better for the skin and the planet.
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Revolutionary Techniques Using Environmental DNA Are Analysing Entire Ecosystems 26/04/2021
Representative image of an underwater ecosystem. Photo: Hung Tran/Pexels
Hilary Starks couldn’t wait to get her first three samples of the day. She was standing expectantly on the deck of the 117-foot research vessel
Western Flyer in 2015, searching the waters of California’s Monterey Bay below. The winch on deck started moving as pulleys and wires slowly lifted what she was waiting for: a five-foot submersible carrying large plastic bottles full of seawater.
Starks, then a lab technician at Stanford University, knew that there were myriad bits of genetic information floating in the one-liter bottles, hidden to human eyes. And modern DNA-deciphering machines would later reveal secrets about the ecosystem the