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Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry


The Scientist and the Poet

The Scientist and the Poet

Alice Alpert, a graduate student in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program, studies what the chemistry of coral skeletons can tell us about the ocean in the past. Before coming to WHOI,…

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Radioisotopes in the Ocean

Radioisotopes in the Ocean

» 日本語版 The release of radioisotopes from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in March 2011 amounts to the largest-ever accidental release of radiation to the ocean. It came mostly…

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ABCs of Radioactivity

ABCs of Radioactivity

<!– // –> » 日本語版 To the average layperson, “radioactivity” is a harsh and scary word. But the fact is that radioisotopes, both natural and artificial, are all around us.…

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Japan’s Triple Disaster

Japan's Triple Disaster

» 日本語版 The chain of calamity now known as Japan’s Triple Disaster began with a massive rupture in the ocean floor. At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, below the…

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Lyme Disease Bacteria Have Quirky Needs

Lyme Disease Bacteria Have Quirky Needs

Scientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme disease—unlike any other known organism—can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes. Instead…

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The Synergy Project, Part II

The Synergy Project, Part II

Back in my high school, and maybe yours too, kids naturally separated into cliques—jocks, punks, preppies, hippies, and at the extremes of the mythical left- and right-hemisphere brain spectrum, nerds…

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The Synergy Project

The Synergy Project

Back in my high school, and maybe yours too, kids naturally separated into cliques—jocks, punks, preppies, hippies, and at the extremes of the mythical left- and right-hemisphere brain spectrum, nerds…

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The Retreat of the Gualas Glacier

The 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…

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The Glacial Chronicles

The 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…

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River Quest

River 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…

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Bacteria Exhibit Altruistic Behavior

Bacteria 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…

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Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

Japan’s “triple disaster,” as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health…

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Elemental Journeys

Elemental 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…

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Deep-sea Detectives

Deep-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…

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Deep-sea Detectives

Deep-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…

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Deep-sea Vents Yield New Species

Deep-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…

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Do Oil and Corals Mix?

Do 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.…

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