Feature
Behold the ‘Plastisphere’
Plastic debris provides living space for a variety of marine microbes.
Read MoreDropping a Laboratory into the Sea
Scientists at WHOI deploy moored robotic laboratories in the Gulf of Maine for long-term monitoring of red tide algae
Read MoreCall of the Whales
Robotic gliders equipped with acoustic monitoring devices can now eavesdrop on whales, enabling researchers to locate the elusive animals before they surface and to warn ship pilots in the area to slow down to reduce the chances of a deadly collision.
Read MoreThe Return of the Seals
WHOI biologist Rebecca Gast examines whether the recovered and thriving population of gray seals in Cape Cod waters has affected water quality off the beaches they frequent.
Read MoreThe Decline and Fall of the Emperor Penguin?
Climate change is shifting conditions on which Emperor penguins in Antarctica depend to sustain their populations.
Read MoreWhat Doomed the Stromatolites?
About a billion years before the dinosaurs became extinct, stromatolites roamed the Earth until they mysteriously disappeared. Well, not roamed exactly. Stromatolites (“layered rocks”) are rocky structures made by photosynthetic…
Read MoreAn Oddity about Lyme Disease Bacteria
The bacterial species that causes Lyme disease avoids a key human defense by not requiring iron. For a WHOI microbial chemist, that raised a big question: What does it use instead of iron?
Read MoreCorals’ Indispensable Bacterial Buddies
Coral reefs, like human beings, may be superorganisms that depend on communities of microbes living within and around them for their survival.
Read MoreTiny. Ubiquitous. Vital. Delicate. Vulnerable.
An Ocean That’s No Longer Wild
Like most fathers, Simon Thorrold plays tag with his young daughter. But Thorrold, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, also plays tag with 30-foot-long whale sharks, like the one…
Read MoreSassy Scallops
MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Meredith White examined how increasingly acidic ocean waters affect scallop shells in their critical early stages of development.
Read MoreA Quest For Resilient Reefs
Anne Cohen’s forte is corals. From the skeletons of massive corals, she has extracted long-term records of changing ocean and climate conditions. In lab experiments and expeditions, she is investigating…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Kakani Katija Young
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Elder and Fournier
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreThe Harshest Habitats on Earth
With help from ROV Jason and a new, high-tech sampling instrument, scientists discover that even in a hyper-saline realm, with no light and no oxygen, under crushing pressure, life still finds a way.
Read MoreWhy Haven’t the Cod Come Back?
A WHOI biologist is analyzing fish scales dating back to the 1930s to unravel changes in the ecosystem of Georges Bank, one the world’s most productive fisheries.
Read MoreAn Ocean Instrument Is Born
Every new ocean instrument goes through growing pains. But the Submersible Incubation Device, nicknamed SID, has been a particularly long time coming. It started more than 30 years ago as…
Read MoreSeabirds Face Risks from Climate Change
The research expedition ended in near-disaster. Stephanie Jenouvrier, aboard the ship Marion Dufresne II, was heading to the Southern Ocean to study seabirds. On Nov. 14, 2012, while making a…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Carroll & McCartney
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreA War of Knowledge to Save Sharks
Derya Akkaynak hails from a town called Urla in Turkey, and like most graduate students who come from foreign lands to study oceanography in Woods Hole, she keeps track of…
Read MoreSwimming with Sharks
Amy Kukulya’s clients often have curious requests, but this was among the oddest. As an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), she has operated autonomous underwater vehicles beneath Arctic…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Kurt Uetz
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a major upgrade and overhaul to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreCaller IDs for Whales
Imagine extraterrestrials come to Earth, seeking to understand human life. They dangle recording devices beneath the clouds or occasionally tag people with retrievable recorders. They collect thousands of bits of…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Al Suchy
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read More