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Breaking down plastics together

Through a surprising and successful partnership, WHOI and Eastman scientists are reinventing what we throw away

Jane Ruckert, a technical diver Ocean Life

From ruin to reef

What Pacific wrecks are teaching us about coral resilience—and pollution

Ocean Life

One researcher, 15,000 whistles: Inside the effort to decode dolphin communications

Scientists at WHOI analyze thousands of dolphin whistles to explore whether some sounds may function like words

Tatiana Schlossberg Climate & Weather

Remembering Tatiana Schlossberg, a voice for the ocean

Environmental journalist and author Tatiana Schlossberg passed away after battling leukemia on December…

Juli Berwald Ocean Life

As the ocean warms, a science writer looks for coral solutions

Scientist-turned-author Juli Berwald highlights conservation projects to restore coral reefs

A satellite image of Tahaa in French Polynesia Climate & Weather

How an MIT-WHOI student used Google Earth to uncover a river–coral reef connection

Google Earth helps researcher decode how rivers sculpt massive breaks in coral reefs

Ocean Tech

A new underwater robot could help preserve New England’s historic shipwrecks

WHOI’s ResQ ROV to clean up debris in prominent marine heritage sites

WHOI reef solutions field team Ocean Life

Inside the Solomon Islands’ Hidden Mega Coral — A 300-Year-Old Ocean Giant

An expedition to the world’s largest coral colony

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Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.

Heidi Sosik
Ocean Life

The little big picture

WHOI senior biologist Heidi Sosik on the critical need for long-term ocean datasets

Brian Skerry
Ocean Life

Lessons from a lifetime of exploration

Award-winning ocean photographer Brian Skerry shares insights from a career spent around ocean life and science

Climate & Weather

The ocean weather nexus, explained

The vital role of ocean observations in extreme weather forecasting

Carl Hartsfield Ocean Tech

Three questions with Carl Hartsfield

Captain Hartsfield, USN retired, discusses the role ocean science plays in our national defense

WHOI marine ecologist Camrin Braun

Hooked on change

Charting a new course for fisheries in a warming world

underwater coral Ocean Life

Reef RX

Using human health protocols to find and aid ailing reefs

Whale detection camera Ocean Tech

Whale aware!

New tech and industry partnerships help ships steer clear

from Tuna

Music for the Ocean

Immersive classical performances to spark global concern for the ocean

ship

Breakthroughs below the surface

How ocean science is reshaping our world

ocean and swimmer How the Ocean Works

The Ocean (Re)Imagined

How expanding our view of the ocean can unlock new possibilities for life

Ocean Life

Body snatchers are on the hunt for mud crabs

WHOI biologist Carolyn Tepolt discusses the biological arms race between a parasite and its host

Ocean Tech

A polar stethoscope

Could the sounds of Antarctica’s ice be a new bellwether for ecosystem health in the South Pole?

blue mud lab Ocean & Human Lives

Secrets from the blue mud

Microbes survive—and thrive—in caustic fluids venting from the seafloor

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gwyneth packard

Deep-sea musings

Roboticist Gwyneth Packard on the need for ocean exploration today

Green crab
Ocean Life

Top 5 ocean hitchhikers

As humans traveled and traded across the globe, they became unwitting taxis to marine colonizers

Ostrander Climate & Weather

Fires, floods, and forgotten places

Finding home with author Madeline Ostrander

ship Ocean Tech

Following the Polar Code


Crew of R/V Neil Armstrong renew their commitment to Arctic science with advanced polar training


truck Sustainable Ocean

Harnessing the ocean to power transportation

WHOI scientists are part of a team working to turn seaweed into biofuel

morning catch Sustainable Ocean

Casting a wider net

The future of a time-honored fishing tradition in Vietnam, through the eyes of award-winning photographer Thien Nguyen Noc

gold mines

Gold mining’s toxic legacy

Mercury pollution in Colombia’s Amazon threatens the Indigenous way of life

WHOI senior scientist Dennis McGillicuddy holds a jarred Sargassum sample

How do you solve a problem like Sargassum?

An important yet prolific seaweed with massive blooms worries scientists

shells

Ancient seas, future insights

WHOI scientists study the paleo record to understand how the ocean will look in a warmer climate

the landfall
Climate & Weather

Rising tides, resilient spirits

As surrounding seas surge, a coastal village prepares for what lies ahead

Back to Bikini How the Ocean Works

Back to Bikini

WHOI scientists returned to the Pacific islands of Bikini and Enewetak in 2015 to study radioactive contamination nearly 70 years after the U.S. used the islands for nuclear weapons testing. What they learned could also be applied to a more recent nuclear disaster: the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi reactor meltdown in Japan.

PlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS Ocean Life

PlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS

Much of marine life begins as microscopic larvae—so tiny, delicate, and scattered in hard-to-reach parts…

When the Hunter Became the Hunted Ocean Life

When the Hunter Became the Hunted

In waters off Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) engineers deployed the REMUS…

Extreme Climate Climate & Weather

Extreme Climate

Extreme climatic events such as unusually severe storms and droughts can have profound consequences for life both on land and in the ocean. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution climate scientist Caroline Ummenhofer studies the ocean’s role in the global water cycle and its effects on extreme weather and climate.

Fresh Water Below the Seafloor? Ocean & Human Lives

Fresh Water Below the Seafloor?

Using a new method to distinguish fresh water from oil or salt water, scientists are exploring beneath the continental shelf off New England to look for large pockets of trapped fresh water. This water may be continually filling from groundwater flowing from land or, alternatively, may have been left behind by ice ages glaciers.

Ocean & Human Lives

Blue Holes and Hurricanes

Scientists are digging into clues that settle into sinkholes in the seafloor to learn about hurricane patterns in the past and in the future.

Ancient Skeleton Discovered Ocean & Human Lives

Ancient Skeleton Discovered

International researchers discovered a human skeleton during ongoing excavations of a ship that sank around…

To Forecast Rain, Look to the Ocean How the Ocean Works

To Forecast Rain, Look to the Ocean

Ever since humans have existed on Earth, they have looked to the heavens to forecast…

Inside the Sunken USS Arizona Ocean Tech

Inside the Sunken USS Arizona

Mike Skowronski (above left) pilots a remotely operated vehicle into the remains of the battleship…

Illuminating the Ocean with Sound Ocean Tech

Illuminating the Ocean with Sound

WHOI’s new research vessel Niel Armstrong is equipped with an EK80 broadband acoustic echo sounder. Using a…

The Amazing Acquired Phototroph! Ocean Life

The Amazing Acquired Phototroph!

There are autotrophs, such as plants, that can make their own food. There are heterotrophs, such as animals, that consume other organisms. And then there are curious organisms called mixotrophs, which can do both, switching how they get food depending on the conditions in their environment.

The Hotspot for Marine Life Ocean Life

The Hotspot for Marine Life

The continental shelfbreak in the waters off New England is an area where a spectacular abundance and diversity of marine life aggregate year-round. The Pioneer Array, a part of the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative, was placed there to help scientists explore the processes that make the shelfbreak so productive.

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