Word: reefs
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...medicines and exotic living materials like the bark of the Pacific yew tree, from which scientists extract Taxol, shown to be effective against ovarian cancer cells. The researchers are looking for "natural" cell killers harvested from such remote locations as the Brazilian rain forest and Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Even ground-up seashells, sponges and coral starfish are studied for chemicals that might show some ability to fight cancer...
...concert stage were a reef in some Sargasso Sea of raging teen hormones. Wood and his four pals, collectively known as the New Kids on the Block, dance, sing, break and rap together while thousands of mostly pre- and early pubescents trip over their own ecstasy. The audience shrieks. Screams. And clutches at its authorized New Kids T shirts ($20). Jangles its authorized New Kids buttons (three for $8). Finally departs, hoarse, sweaty, satisfied and somewhat lighter in the purse. This group has found the perfect place for contemporary pop icons: close to the heart and close to the cash...
...this case, samples came from a coral reef off Barbados. Carbon 14 and uranium-thorium dating largely agreed for pieces of coral up to about 9,000 years old. But for older pieces the findings diverged, with a maximum disparity of 3,500 years for coral about 20,000 years...
Gibson, an avid snorkeler, first became interested in the reef's fate in 1985, when she was working as a volunteer for the Belize Audubon Society. After drawing up a plan to create the marine reserve, she gradually gained the support of local fishermen, developers, business owners and government officials and then obtained the necessary funding from the World Wildlife Fund and the U.S. Agency for International Development...
...Chan reserve -- the first of its kind in Central America -- includes beds of sea grass, which prevent silt from settling on the reef, and seven mangrove cays that serve as nursery areas for many of the species living there. "Reef, mangroves, sea grass -- they're all linked," Gibson notes. "If you touch one part, it affects the whole." The area appears to be sufficiently guarded against further damage: it is well patrolled, all regulations are being enforced, and fishing and collecting in the area have ceased. "We've seen an incredible rise in the diversity of fish life," Gibson says...