April 2008 ( Vol. 46 No. 2 )
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Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.
DNA in Shipwrecked Jars Reveals Clues to Ancient World
Scraping inside clay jars recovered from a 2,400-year-old shipwreck, two researchers found DNA fragments that revealed the jars’ long-disappeared probable cargo: oregano, olive oil, and wine. The genetic technique, developed…
Susan Avery Takes the Helm at WHOI
With the first hints of autumn reaching Woods Hole last October, change of a different sort was in the air. On the same day that Harvard University trumpeted the installation…
Capital Campaign Heads into Homestretch
With $180 million already committed, the WHOI $200 million Depth of Leadership campaign has reached 90 percent of its goal, heading into its final year. “This is a remarkable achievement,…
Arctic Voyage Tests New Robots for Ice-covered Oceans
In the summer of 2007, an international team led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution sailed to the Arctic Ocean aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden. Their missions: to test…
WHOI Scientists Earn Laurels
WHOI geochemist Stanley Hart is the 13th recipient of the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for making lasting contributions to the…
The Oceans Feel Impacts from Acid Rain
The release of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere by power plants and agricultural activities is making seawater more acidic, especially in coastal waters, according to a study published September…
Ocean Observatories Initiative Poised to Launch
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was awarded a $97.7 million grant to help build a decades-long dream of ocean scientists: networks of ocean observatories that can monitor conditions in critical…
New System to Take Long Seafloor Cores Is Ready to Go
Over five years, engineers had designed, built, and tested components for a new, one-of-a-kind system to extend the length of sediment samples cored from the sea floor. In September, they…
Some Things New Under the Sea
New microbe species discovered In the quest to explore the remarkable diversity of microbial life on Earth, a German-American team of scientists has discovered seafloor bacteria that can “eat” natural…
WHOI Ship Hunts for Revolutionary War Wreck
One of the fiercest battles of the Revolutionary War raged off the coast of Flamborough Head, England, on Sept. 23, 1779, pitting the American ship Bonhomme Richard against the British…
Melting Ice Threatens Polar Bears' Survival
The Department of Interior’s imminent decision on whether to place polar bears on the federally protected endangered species list has focused attention on a recent study that documents for the…
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…
Robot Paints Stunning Map of Deep-sea Volcano
Painting with sonar, each brushstroke a “ping” of sound reflected off the seafloor, the robotic underwater vehicle called ABE created a masterpiece of a landscape—one that is submerged about a…
Submerged Autonomous Launch Platforms
Amy Bower wanted to investigate an elusive and unpredictable phenomenon in a remote ocean. Off the west coast of Greenland, large, spinning rings of warm water, called eddies, occasionally form…
OceanInsights for the Blind
WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower brought along a few extraordinary passengers when she set out to the Labrador Sea aboard the research vessel Knorr in September: Kate Fraser, a science…
Plumbing the Plume That Created Samoa
Matthew Jackson began his journey to the center of the Earth on lonely gravel roads in Montana. Uninterested in motorcycles and horses, and miles from neighbors and friends, Jackson roamed…
Coral Catastrophe on the Corner Rise Seamounts
A research team has found that deep-sea coral communities that provide lush habitats for fish and other marine life were extensively damaged, mostly likely by deep-sea fishing trawlers, atop two…
A Mysterious Disease Afflicts Lobster Shells
In the late 1930s, lobstermen in Rhode Island began to notice strange black spots on the shells of lobsters being held in tanks. By the 1980s, a similar condition, now…
Put the D-tag on the Manatee
When boats hit manatees, the outcome is often grim. Bones are broken and skins sliced. Despite regulations designed to prevent collisions, dozens of manatees in Florida continue to be injured or…
A Warm Eddy Swirling in the Cold Labrador Sea
Amy Bower is traveling to the Labrador Sea to install a mooring with novel carousels that will autonomously release profiling floats into passing warm eddies. She has also forged an innovative outreach partnership with the Perkins School for the Blind, including an expedition Web sight for students with visual impairments.
The Ocean—Captured in a Box
Claudia Cenedese prides herself on thinking inside the box. Her boxes are made of Plexiglass, and they contain the oceans—but on a miniature scale. Most oceanographers make tiny observations in…