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Answers from the abyss

How new discoveries in the deep could change life at the surface

Titanic sinking with mummy's tomb Ocean & Human Lives

A mummy, a myth, and the Titanic

A 1986 handwritten letter to Bob Ballard revisits one of the Titanic disaster’s strangest myths

wave in the ocean Ocean Tech

Turning motion into power: Wave energy converters for sustainable ocean monitoring

In the rapidly evolving world of ocean technology, wave energy is emerging as…

Ocean Life

The world’s most abundant fish once thrived in an extreme climate

Fossilized teeth show bristlemouth fish evolved during one of the ocean’s hottest periods

Oleander through two rocks Ocean Life

How a cargo ship is tracking hidden ocean life in the Atlantic

With funding support from CMA CGM, ocean observations aboard Bermuda Container Line’s M/V Oleander now include a window into microscopic life

Alvin and the swordfish Ocean Tech

Alvin vs. the swordfish

During a 1967 dive off Florida, a startled swordfish rammed the famed submersible Alvin—lodging its sword in the hull and forcing the crew to abort the mission

The entrance to Room 71. (Photo by Daniel Hentz, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Ocean Tech

Inside Room 71: WHOI history in seven artifacts

Some of the technology, art, and gifts that tell the story of the institution’s early days

Allan Hills, Antarctica How the Ocean Works

A scientist’s quest to find Earth’s oldest ice

After recovering ice that dates back 6 million years, Sarah Shackleton hopes to dig deeper into Earth’s history from a remote Antarctic moraine

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spilhause projection
How the Ocean Works

It’s the most ocean-friendly map ever created. Why haven’t more people seen it?

Discover the Spilhaus Projection, a radical world map that reveals Earth as one connected ocean—and reshapes how we see the planet.

Climate & Weather

Luxury cruises with a side of climate science

A new partnership gives scientists rare access to remote Antarctic glaciers—and a new way to engage the public

Larry Madin and Kelly Sutherland Ocean Life

Tiny drifters, massive impact

How salps shuttle carbon to the deep

Ocean & Human Lives

The unseen toll of war on science

As the changing climate accelerates the spread of toxic algal blooms in the Arctic, the Russia–Ukraine war is cutting off critical international collaboration needed to understand and protect vulnerable ecosystems and communities.

Climate & Weather

The human cost of Brazil’s floods

New research maps social vulnerability after the 2024 deluge

medicine bottles Ocean & Human Lives

Healing on the High Seas

A look back at shipboard medicine on R/V Atlantis

Sunset over Cape Cod Bay (photo by Kara Dodge, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Tracking the hidden currents of Cape Cod Bay

Scientists are using drifters and ocean models to better understand how water, nutrients, and pollutants move through the bay

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 communication

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 30, 2025….

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

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WHOI reef solutions field team
Ocean Life

Inside the Solomon Islands’ hidden mega coral — a 300-year-old ocean giant

WHOI’s Reef Solutions team journeys to the world’s largest coral colony

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

blue straws Ocean & Human Lives

Breaking down plastics together

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

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 Sustainable Ocean

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

ship
Ocean & Human Lives

Breakthroughs below the surface

How ocean science is reshaping our world

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers Ocean Tech

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers

“Very few women go into engineering,” said Anna Michel, “because girls just don’t get the…

The Hot Spot Below Yellowstone Park How the Ocean Works

The Hot Spot Below Yellowstone Park

WHOI scientist Rob Sohn brought an arsenal of deep-sea technology normally used to explore the seafloor to the bottom of Yellowstone Lake, where a team of researchers investigated the subsurface geothermal activity hidden from view in the national park.

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…

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