From TheGreenGeek comes word on the works marine biologist Thomas Goreau and engineer and architect Wolf Hilbertz, who have been experimenting with a new type of artificial reef for over a decade in order to help re-populate the world’s disappearing coral reefs.

This Biorock technology…

Arose from experiments in the 1970s when Hilbertz was studying how seashells and reefs grow, by passing electrical currents through sea water. What he found was that as the sea water electrolyses, calcium carbonate slowly forms around the cathode, eventually coating the electrode with a material as strong as concrete. Later experiments showed that the coatings could be grown at up to a thickness of 5cm per year. As long as the power is flowing, the structure would continue to get larger and stronger as time passed. It can also heal itself if damaged, something ordinary concrete can’t do.