Michael Moore
Scientists Reveal Secrets of Whales
Researchers have known for decades that whales create elaborate songs. But a new study has revealed a component of whale songs that has long been overlooked-sort of a booming baseline to go along with the…
Whale-safe Fishing Gear
WHOI engineers are developing a new kind of lobster trap buoy that could help keep whales from getting tangled in fishing gear.
Endangered Whales Get a High-Tech Check-Up
Drones seem to be everywhere these days, from backyards to battlegrounds. Scientists are using them too: in this case, to assess the health of endangered North Atlantic right whales. Since drones are small and quiet,…
Marine Mammals Meet Modern Medicine
Whales do not make the easiest patients, but CT scans, MRIs, ultrasound, hyperbaric chambers, and other medical tools are making it easier to learn about them.
Are Jellyfish Populations Increasing?
Delicate but armed, mindless yet unstoppable, jellyfish sometimes appear abruptly near coasts in staggering numbers that cause problems and generate headlines: Jellyfish fill fishing nets in Japan, sinking a boat. Jellyfish clog nuclear plant water…
The Latest Fashion in Bowhead Whale Songs
Whales, it turns out, are dedicated followers of fashion. There’s a style to the song they sing to attract mates, and that style shifts. To keep up with their very latest crazes, you need an…
To Free a Tangled Whale
Scientists successfully used a new sedative delivery system for the first time on a large whale in the wild. It calmed the 40-foot, 40,000-pound whale so that rescuers could approach safely by boat and cut…
Sea Life Is Accumulating Pathogens
An unprecedented survey of seabirds, marine mammals, and sharks on the U.S. East Coast has revealed that marine wildlife contains a wide variety of disease-causing microbes—including many that have developed resistance to antibiotics and several…
Scientists Investigate Mysterious Duck Die-offs
Andrea Bogomolni was in a skiff near shore when she saw the ducks in October of 2007: “It was surreal,” the biologist remembered. “You could see hundreds of lifeless brown, black, and white lumps on…
Stranded Marine Mammals Stir Tough Decisions
A seal, sick or injured, is found stranded on a beach. What should be done? That depends on whom you ask. An animal welfare advocate would urge efforts to help the disabled animal. A scientist…
Following Whales Up a Creek
Michael Moore is accustomed to working solo (or nearly so) in remote places, but this was a very public endeavor. The WHOI marine mammal biologist and veterinarian flew across the country on short notice in…
WHOI Scientists Provide Congressional Testimony
Susan Humphris, chair of the Geology and Geophysics Department, testified May 4, 2006, before the House Committee on Resources, one of several WHOI scientists to appear this spring before members of Congress or their staff….
Mass Strandings Keep New Marine Mammal Facility Busy
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s new Marine Research Facility (MRF) opened its doors just in time for a terribly busy winter season. An unprecedented number of fatal dolphin and whale strandings near Cape Cod brought many…
Big Whale, Big Sharks, Big Stink
A shipping tanker first spotted the whale on Sept. 9 about 24 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass. It floated belly up—species unknown, cause of death a mystery. Like a detective, Michael Moore, a biologist at…
Even Sperm Whales Get the Bends
It seemed only natural for deep-diving sperm whales to be immune from decompression illness, or the bends?the painful, sometimes fatal condition that human divers suffer when they surface too rapidly. But the whales may be…