Dr. Elora López-Nandam is a young evolutionary biologist and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, whose work spans the ecology, evolution, and conservation of marine ecosystems. Her work has ranged from studying the sustainability of sea cucumber fisheries in Fiji, to the mysteries of coral bleaching in American Samoa, and how we can restore coral populations. Now, at the California Academy of Sciences, she combines cutting-edge genomics with hands-on aquarium husbandry to guide how we can better steward and reintroduce vulnerable marine life.

In this conversation with Anirvan Ghosh, she talks about the biology and diversity of corals, their role in sustaining marine ecosystems, and how they are being decimated by rising ocean temperatures. She also discusses the fascinating and groundbreaking work she and her colleagues are doing to grow coral in labs and reintroducing them into the oceans to restore coral populations