Plants and animals are dying off at an unprecedented rate on Earth. Some scientists are looking to outer space for a solution.
The idea is called a lunar biorepository, a facility that maintains and stores plant and animal cells. But instead of on Earth, this would be on the moon.
Why the moon?
“There’s no place on Earth cold enough to do it,” explained Mary Hagedorn, a senior research scientist with the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Hagedorn has spent the last two decades studying and theorizing modern ways to try and save coral reefs. She is an expert in cryopreservation, the process of freezing biological materials like animal cells at a temperature so cold, it allows them to remain frozen but alive for hundreds of years.
“Let’s imagine that, unfortunately, climate change wiped out 90% of the Great Barrier Reef. Well, in 100 years, we might be able to just give them back all that diversity,” …