It was 2012 that the last visitors put their feet on Midway Island, the second most northerly atoll in the world, located 2000 km northwest of Hawaii. The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 239,165.77 ha are part of the larger Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It is the closest Island to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and receives substantial amounts of marine debris consisting of 90 percent plastic. Approximately 20 tons of this debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway every year. In 2020 marine biologists discovered a new cnideria species at the atoll, which they named after the Hawaiian name of the island, Kuaihelani, which literally translates into ‚the backbone of heaven‘.
The new species contains the bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis, which possesses the ability to degrade Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and use the degradation products as a sole carbon source for growth. In their research the scientists made another surprising discovery, the cnideria does as part of its digestive process separate the color molecules of the consumed miroplastic particles. To better understand and visualize this process the researchers developed a mathematical model to simulate this behavior. Some of the simulation results are published inside this book, featuring the beauty and diversity of the Cnideria Kuaihelansis.