Much like scientists can read the rings of trees to determine climate changes that tree has endured, researchers can "read" coral. For example, by analyzing the coral's strontium-calcium ratio, scientists can measure how much rain fell as much as 6500 years ago. In a recent study, in fact, researchers with the British Antarctic Survey concluded that the periodic and normal increase in monsoons in the Indian Ocean paradoxically result in stronger droughts in Indonesia and Australia.

While this trivia may not have much import for the typical suburban mom, the implications of this research are fairly staggering. Simply, corals provide a giant, untapped library of information about the planet's past. According to Nerilie Abrams of the British Antarctic Survey, "There is a lot more we can learn from the corals. It's a matter of analyzing them." Of course, we can't analyze them if we're destroying them.