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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Beyond tourism concern, the trouble in Australia's Great Barrier Reef could spell trouble for mankind. It may seem far removed but the slow death the giant coral structure is experiencing could also foreshadow the doom that awaits the human society.... This is even more alarming as the Great Barrier Reef is reported to have suffered from massive coral bleaching — the second of such event in two years.... All is not lost, however. Scientists agree that the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble and may be dying but it is not dead yet. It is not yet time to write the obituary.... "This is a fatalistic, doomsday approach to climate change that isn't going to engage anyone and misinforms the public," coral reef expert Kim Cobb from Georgia Tech said. Cobb is convinced that a portion of the giant barrier reef and coral reefs around the world will stay beyond 2050. Kim Cobb is a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.