Feature on News & Insight
Arctic Science Mission Wraps Up as Research Ship Docks in Germany
After a year spent drifting across the top of the world, frozen in sea ice, a German research ship returned home on Monday, ending the largest Arctic science expedition in history.
Read MoreRising Sea Levels Push Woods Hole Science Community To Prepare for Change
Three world-renowned science institutions in Woods Hole are preparing their ocean-front facilities for the threats of climate change and will soon release an adaptation plan.
Read MoreWant to Save the Whales? Eavesdrop on Their Calls
“Moorings are typically made from chain, so they clank a lot,” says Mark Baumgartner, whale ecologist and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who helped develop the technology.…
Read MoreA New Ship’s Mission: Let the Deep Sea Be Seen
Mr. Dalio was thinking of buying the Alucia when a team of WHOI experts used the vessel and an undersea robot to find the shattered remains of Air France Flight 447, which…
Read MoreWhat did we learn from the Deepwater Horizon disaster?
All existing tests on the efficacy of dispersants had been conducted on the surface of water, says Elizabeth Kujawinski, a chemical oceanographer at WHOI. There was no guarantee that they…
Read More‘SharkCam’ films basking sharks off Scotland
A robot camera has been used in UK seas for the first time to monitor the behaviour of basking sharks. WHOI’s SharkCam was deployed off the west coast of Scotland…
Read MorePenguins Are Nature’s Best Snugglers
It turns out that penguins execute their huddles with a high degree of mathematical efficiency, as Blanchette and his team discovered. More recently, Daniel Zitterbart, a physicist at Woods Hole Oceanographic…
Read MoreHot ocean waters along East Coast are drawing in ‘weird’ fish and supercharging hurricane season
Warm waters are a major concern with Hurricane Isaias forecast to ride up the Eastern Seaboard. Glen Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer at WHOI, describes Gulf Stream fish being caught off Block…
Read MoreIn another significant ruling for right whales, a federal judge rules that Massachusetts is violating the Endangered Species Act
Michael Moore, director of the Marine Mammal Center at WHOI, lauded the ruling, saying the “judge understands the simple truth that if there is rope in the water column, and…
Read MoreThe Deepwater Horizon Disaster Fueled a Gulf Science Bonanza
Chris Reddy is an expert in oil spill science who in 2010 helped determine the size, heading, and chemical composition of the underwater plume from an oceanographic research vessel and…
Read MoreKatharine, the Great White Shark Who Ghosted Her Trackers, Resurfaces
Simon R. Thorrold, a senior scientist in the biology department at WHOI in Falmouth, Mass., said it was “not crazy surprising” that a signal was picked up.
Read MorePlastics’ impact on oceans under scrutiny
“We have an opportunity now, where there is public awareness,” said Mark Hahn, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “They (plastics) don’t belong there (in the ocean).”
Read MoreHow Big Oil and Big Soda kept a global environmental calamity a secret for decades
The threat to human health is complex and poorly understood. “There are a lot more questions than answers at this point,” says Mark Hahn, a toxicologist at WHOI who studies microplastics.
Read MoreNuclear Tests Marked Life on Earth With a Radioactive Spike
In October 2019, Gaylord unveiled an exquisitely clear version of the bomb spike in New England.
Read MoreGlobal heating supercharging Indian Ocean climate system
Scientists meeting in Portland say right whales on the way to extinction
The future continues to grow ever darker for the highly endangered right whale, a species that has been in decline every year since 2010 and is at the heart of…
Read MoreA Tiny Camera Could Help Shellfish Farmers Avoid Big Losses
Cape Cod’s shellfish farmers face many challenges, and one of the biggest is dealing with harmful algal blooms, which can damage shellfish and be poisonous for humans to ingest. But…
Read MoreThousands of barrels of oil are contaminating Brazil’s pristine coastline. Authorities don’t know where it’s coming from.
WHOI researcher Christopher Reddy has been trying to crack the mystery. Some Brazilian colleagues recently contacted him to help determine the source of the oil, and he’s now analyzing 14…
Read MoreStudy: Styrofoam Might Last Only Decades, Not Millennia, in the Ocean
Researchers from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say that sunlight can break down polystyrene within a few decades.
Read MoreWhere do you park when you dive thousands of feet into the ocean?
WHOI biologist Stace Beaulieu forgets all bodily needs when chasing creatures in her tiny submarine.
Read MoreNew Species of ‘Bubblegum Coral’ Discovered at Imperiled Undersea Monument
Ocean Twilight Zone may be key to feeding and protecting life on earth
You may think of the twilight zone as a frequently-revived TV sci-fi series, but it also refers to that deep, dark, mid layer of the ocean between 200 and 1000 meters, a part of the ocean that has been largely ignored—until now.
Read MoreTo let the right whale thrive and swim free, pass HR 1568
Once it was a common sight on the East Coast, but today, the very existence of the entire species is at risk: fewer than 100 reproductively-active females remain.
Read MoreA surprising new picture of ocean circulation could have major consequences for climate science
Quotes (Bob Pickart)
Read More