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Uncharted waters

Uncharted Water

Our global ocean will change dramatically over the next few decades. What might it look like, and how will humans adapt?

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Uncharted Waters

Uncharted Water

Our global ocean will change dramatically over the next few decades. What might it look like, and how will humans adapt?

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The many lifetimes of plastics

plastics by the numbers

Infographics strive to give us a sense of how long plastic goods will last in the environment. But is this information reliable? The findings of a new study from WHOI may surprise you.

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WHOI joins effort to accelerate marine life protection technology

right whale video

WHOI has teamed up with Greentown Labs and Vineyard Wind to launch the Offshore Wind Challenge. The program, which is also partnering with New England Aquarium, calls on entrepreneurs to submit proposals to collect, transmit, and analyze marine mammal monitoring data using remote technologies, such as underwater vehicles, drones, and offshore buoys.

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Now you see me, now you don’t

sand lance

Marine biologists tackle an unsettling mystery surrounding sand lance–eel-like, dive-bombing fish that have become a cornerstone forage species for a wide range of marine animals in the Gulf of Maine and northwest Atlantic Ocean.

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Spock versus the volcano

brain

Five hundred meters below the calm surface waters of the Aegean Sea off Santorini Island, Greece, lies an active submarine volcano. There, a decision-making robot equipped with artificial intelligence searches for life and danger.

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Understanding the Melting Arctic

Glaciologist Sarah Das explains why surface melting and runoff across Greenland’s mile-thick ice sheet sped up dramatically in the 20th and 21st centuries, showing no signs of abating.

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Sea anemones with jet lag?

WHOI scientists investigate the internal body clocks of sea anemones to determine if fluctuating temperatures play a role in their daily rhythms.

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The Ocean Twilight Zone’s crucial carbon pump

Ken Buesseler

When CO₂ enters the ocean, where does this heat-trapping gas go? WHOI geochemist investigates how much carbon from the surface ocean is dispatched to the ocean twilight zone–the midlayer of the ocean–and on to the deep ocean.

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Bioacoustic alarms are sounding on Cape Cod

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and its Marine Mammal Rescue Team in Yarmouth, Mass. have responded to a record high of more than 464 marine mammals stranded on Cape Cod since January this year. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) believe patterns from animal sound data may be the key to curbing these numbers.

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Ocean acidification gets a watchful eye in New England aquaculture ‘hot spot’

Shells

Shellfish aquaculture is thriving in New England, but future growth in the industry could be stunted as coastal waters in the region become more acidic. Researchers at WHOI have developed a way to link nutrient load reductions to improvements in the health of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, which may an important step toward cleaner and less acidic harbors in the Baystate.

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The Rise of Orpheus

orpheus

WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.

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Falling in love with foraminifera

WHOI Senior Scientist Joan Bernhard holds a synthetic model of a foram species known as Astrammina

A marine geobiologist falls for the ‘brains’ and beauty of an ancient single-celled creature that can change its shell into a variety of geometric shapes.

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The Rise of Orpheus (Part 2)

orpheus

WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.

Read More

The Rise of Orpheus

Orpheus

WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.

Read More

The Rise of Orpheus (Part 1)

WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.

Read More