Mak Saito
Solving climate challenges, one innovation at a time
WHOI researchers report progress on projects funded by the Ocean Climate Innovation Accelerator
Extreme Measures
THE OCEAN DOESN’T REVEAL ITS SECRETS EASILY. By observing natural phenomena, throwing instruments over the side of ships, and diving to ever-greater depths, humankind has gleaned an impressive understanding of our watery planet. Yet stubborn…
Proteomics Reveals Ocean’s Inner Workings
In a new study, WHOI scientists have demonstrated how the emerging biomedical technique of measuring proteins—a field called proteomics—can be applied to the ocean to reveal the inner biochemical workings of microbial life and ocean ecosystems.
WHOI Scientists Garner Awards in 2013
As the year 2013 ends, we profile scientists who recently received awards and recognition for their work.
An 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?
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 of iron, the bacteria substitute…
Scientists Discover the “Vitamin B12 Claw”
Scientists have revealed a key cog in the biochemical machinery that allows marine algae at the base of the oceanic food chain to thrive. They have discovered a previously unknown protein in algae that grabs…
Psychotherapy for Plankton
The scene: A diatom is out of its oceanic habitat and on a couch, talking to a therapist. The diatom is stressed. It can’t ever seem to get enough nutrients. And it’s feeling underappreciated … …
Recycling Rare, Essential Nutrients in the Sea
In the vast ocean where an essential nutrient—iron—is scarce, a marine bacterium that launches the ocean food web survives by using a remarkable biochemical trick: It recycles iron. By day, it uses iron in enzymes…
Growing Marine Plants Need Their Vitamins
Your mother was right: You need your vitamins. And that turns out to be true for life in the oceans, too. B12—an essential vitamin for land-dwelling animals, including humans—also plays a vital and previously overlooked…