With Sunday night's full moon, coral polyps let forth a huge swathe of sperm and egg, to seed the next generation. The event was short-lived - only about 30 minutes - but so vast in its scale that it turned the sea water pink.
Scientists from Palau, Australia and the UK are studying the practicality of collecting coral larvae to help restore damaged reefs elsewhere.
A major Buddhist temple has withdrawn from plans to host Japan's opening stage of the Olympic torch relay.
Zenkoji Temple, in the city of Nagano, had been due to serve as the starting point for the parade on 26 April. An official said the monks were worried about safety but also linked the decision to concern over recent unrest in Tibet.
Meanwhile the torch has arrived in Thailand in preparation for a parade through the capital city, Bangkok. The relay has been dogged by protests over Tibet, with chaotic scenes in London, Paris and San Francisco.
What more do they need to understand that Tibet must be free?
Normally fragile and brittle silicon chips have been made to bend and fold, paving the way for a new generation of flexible electronic devices.
The stretchy circuits could be used to build advanced brain implants, health monitors or smart clothing.
The complex devices consist of concertina-like folds of ultra-thin silicon bonded to sheets of rubber. Writing in the journal Science, the US researchers say the chip's performance is similar to conventional electronics.
"Silicon microelectronics has been a spectacularly successful technology that has touched virtually every part of our lives," said Professor John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the authors of the paper. But, he said, the rigid and fragile nature of silicon made it very unattractive for many applications, such as biomedical implants.
"In many cases you'd like to integrate electronics conformably in a variety of ways in the human body - but the human body does not have the shape of a silicon wafer."
An exhibition of the works of J.M.W. Turner is to go ahead at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow later this year. Tate Britain is lending over 100 of the artist's works for the show which will run from November until February.
The Pushkin exhibition, which is being sponsored by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, will feature over 100 of Turner's works. It marks the first time any of Turner's paintings have been seen in Moscow since the 1970s.
"The generations have changed since Turner was last in Moscow and it's important that the young see him," said Ainaida Bonami, the Pushkin's deputy director. The paintings on loan will include Norham Castle, Sunrise, one of Turner's most popular works, and a self-portrait.
The authorities on Easter Island have detained a Finnish tourist on suspicion of trying to steal an earlobe of one of the world-famous moai stone statues.
Police on the Pacific island, which is an overseas territory of Chile, said a woman had seen him rip off the earlobe, which then fell and broke into pieces. Marko Kulju could face seven years in prison and a fine if convicted under laws protecting national monuments.
The statues of Polynesian ancestors are believed to be up to 1,000 years old.
The man wanted a souvenir for …Santa Claus!!!
