Feature
Barnacles and Biofilms
As long as sailors have been going down to the sea in ships, they have been coming back with their ships’ hulls coated with barnacles, algae, and slimy gunk. And…
Read MoreThe Retreat of the Gualas Glacier
Like many mountain glaciers, the Gualas Glacier in the Patagonian region of Chile has retreated fast during the past century in the face of climate change. But not only for…
Read MoreThe Glacial Chronicles
Graduate student Benjamin Linhoff spent several months in the summers of 2011 and 2012 studying a glacier at a remote camp on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Here are some excerpts…
Read MoreRiver Quest
Max Holmes and Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink spend a lot of time upriver—one day bundled in a parka on the icy banks of the Fraser River in Canada, another day paddling in…
Read MoreStorms, Floods, and Droughts
The source of the rain that filled your town reservoir, or flooded your nearby river, or never arrived to water your crops, is most likely the ocean. The ocean contains…
Read MoreBacteria Exhibit Altruistic Behavior
When it comes to bacteria protecting themselves, it’s all in the family. A new study shows that marine bacteria can produce antibiotic compounds that kill unrelated bacteria but do not…
Read MoreElemental Journeys
Humans have changed the face of the Earth by significantly altering the natural movements of chemicals on the planet’s surface, according to a new study by geochemists at Woods Hole…
Read MoreCalculating Evaporation from the Ocean
Illustration by Amy Caracappa-Qubeck, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Imagine you turn on the tap in the morning and water pummels out and spills over your sink. Later you go out…
Read MoreWhat Is the Sound of 130 Wind Turbines Turning?
Federal officials examined a long list of potential impacts from the nation’s first offshore wind farm, slated to begin construction in Nantucket Sound in 2013: effects on ocean vistas, airplane…
Read MoreNew Weather-Shifting Climate Cycle Revealed
Scientists have uncovered evidence for another natural cycle that, like El Niño and La Niña, shifts Pacific Ocean winds and currents and rearranges rainfall and weather patterns around the globe.…
Read MoreDeep-sea Detectives
Links to related materials Mid-Ocean Ridges—Articles, illustrations, and video showing how new seafloor crust forms Mapping the Seafloor with Multibeam Sonar Profile of Marshall Swartz Story of the SDSL Data-Link…
Read MoreDeep-sea Vents Yield New Species
Call it “midnight at the OASES.” Neither permanent darkness nor extreme pressure and heat cause problems for a host of new deep-sea species found in January by an international research…
Read MoreDo Oil and Corals Mix?
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) helped find strong evidence that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 had impacts on deep-sea coral communities in the Gulf of Mexico.…
Read MoreFollow the Carbon
“Carbon is the currency of life,” said David Griffith, a marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). “Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re…
Read MoreInternship Pairs Scientists and Students
Falmouth Academy has established an internship program with scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The program requires students in grades 9 to 12 to apply to their chemistry, physics…
Read MoreMentors for Budding Scientists
For the fourth consecutive year, local high school students interested in science spent part of their summer vacations working on projects undertaken with Delia Oppo’s lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic…
Read MoreClimate Change Spurred Fall of Ancient Culture
The Harappans may be the most advanced ancient civilization that most Westerners have never heard of. They flourished in the Indus River basin on the Indian subcontinent around the same…
Read MoreNew Laboratory Opens at WHOI
Scientists and engineers began moving into the newest laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in August—a 27,000-square-foot, “green”-designed building that will provide space for major effort to create long-term…
Read MoreUnderneath and Overlooked: Groundwater
Matt Charette has been pulling off the sheetrock in Earth’s basement to reveal a hidden plumbing system that pumps water into the ocean. Rivers carry most of the rain that…
Read MoreShifting Tactics in Shifting Shoals
The best-laid plans of scientists often go awry when they actually get into the field. “That’s when designing an experiment becomes adapting an experiment,” said Peter Traykovski, an oceanographer at…
Read MoreA Robotic Albatross?
Oceanographer Phil Richardson formally retired in 1999, but that hardly diminished his passion and curiosity. Last year, he combined his scientific knowledge with longstanding interests in sailing and flying to…
Read MoreSymbiosis in the Deep Sea
Mobs of pale shrimp clamber over each other, jockeying for position in the swirling flow of black-smoker vents on the seafloor where ultra-hot fluids from Earth’s interior meet cold seawater.…
Read MoreA Serendipitous Seafloor Sample
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation. The pillow lava display and coffee table were funded by the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute at WHOI.
Read MoreBrown Tides and Redfielders
Come spring, Louie Wurch’s mind turns toward softball and another, less idyllic seasonal phenomenon: brown tides. Both scientist and shortstop, Wurch spearheaded the creation of the Biology Department’s team in…
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