Life below water

It’s been around for just two or three generations, but plastic has become a pervasive part, not only of our lives but, as researcher Andrés Cózar confirmed in a study sponsored by BBVA Foundation, of our oceans, too. This includes, paradoxically, the one that washes the shores of one of the least populated places on earth: the Arctic Ocean.

There are over 200 coral species in the Mediterranean. They are not as spectacular and have not suffered in 2016 as much as the Australia’s battered Great Coral Reef, but they are essential to nurture marine life. Some live at depths of hundreds of meters and are seriously damaged. An research team funded by the BBVA Foundation studies how to heal them.