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Research suggests A study of longevity Diets and long-term

progress in getting and health in dogs weight loss: Several
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SCIENCE MEDICINE TECHNOLOGY HEALTH TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024 D1

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The Cattle Move Out

And a Park Moves In
To create a vital conservation area in Colombia, an
established community of ranchers had to be convinced
that it was worthwhile. BY JENNIE ERIN SMITH | PAGE 4

FEDERICO RIOS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Cattle being driven out of the newly established Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Manacacías in Colombia in November. The park, a vast tropical savanna, is intended to protect a crucial link with the Amazon rainforest.

Crochet Coral Reef

Grows Hyperbolically
A craft and science project
thrives on convoluted math
and a sea of volunteers.
By SIOBHAN ROBERTS
Every year after the full moons in late Octo-
ber and November, Australia’s Great Barri-
er Reef begins its annual spawning — first
the coral species inshore, where waters are
warmer, then the offshore corals, the main
event. Last year, this natural spectacle co-
incided with the woolly propagation of two
new colonies of the Crochet Coral Reef, a
long-running craft-science collaborative
artwork now inhabiting the Schlossmu-
seum in Linz, Austria, and the Carnegie Mu-
seum of Art in Pittsburgh.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID PAYR FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES To date, nearly 25,000 crocheters
Christine Wertheim, left, an artist and writer, and her twin sister, Margaret Wertheim, a science writer, started the project in 2005. (“reefers”) have created a worldwide archi-
pelago of more than 50 reefs — both a paean
to and a plea for these ecosystems, rain-
forests of the sea, which are threatened by
climate change. The project also explores
mathematical themes, since many living
reef organisms biologically approximate
the quirky curvature of hyperbolic geome-
try.
Within the realm of two dimensions, ge-
ometry deals with properties of points,
lines, figures, surfaces: The Euclidean
plane is flat and therefore displays zero cur-
vature. By contrast, the surface of a sphere
displays constant positive curvature; at all
points, the surface bends inward toward it-
self. And a hyperbolic plane exhibits con-
stant negative curvature; at all points, the
surface curves away from itself. Reef life
thrives on hyperbolism, so to speak; the
curvy surface structure of coral maximizes
CONTINUED ON PAGE D8