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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

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

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

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.

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Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.

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

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

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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

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

How the Ocean Works

Two Chemical Roads Diverge in an Open Ocean

An infographicon biomineralization

Minerals Made by Microbes How the Ocean Works

Minerals Made by Microbes

Some minerals actually don’t form without a little help from microscopic organisms, using chemical processes that scientists are only beginning to reveal.

Through the Looking-Glass of the Sea Surface How the Ocean Works

Through the Looking-Glass of the Sea Surface

Scientists are using new technology to make previously impossible measurements at the turbulent ocean surface—a crucial junction for energy exchange between the air above and the sea below.

A Mighty Mysterious Molecule How the Ocean Works

A Mighty Mysterious Molecule

What gives sea air its distinctive scent? A chemical compound called dimethylsulfide. In a new study, WHOI scientists show that the compound may also be used by marine microbes to communicate with one another.

Recipes for Antibiotic Resistance Ocean Life

Recipes for Antibiotic Resistance

MIT-WHOI graduate student Megan May is investigating how microbes naturally develop resistance to antibiotic compounds in the marine environment and how human activities, including overuse of drugs and pollution, may be affecting the dynamic.

Seal Whiskers Inspire Marine Technology Ocean Life

Seal Whiskers Inspire Marine Technology

The night approaches quickly. A harbor seal plunges into the water, diving deep as the…

HABCAM Ocean Tech

HABCAM

A towed underwater vehicle equipped with cameras, sonar, and sensors paints vivid portraits of life on the seafloor.

Sex, Games, and the Evolution of Gender Gaps Ocean Life

Sex, Games, and the Evolution of Gender Gaps

Population models can help us plan breeding programs for endangered species and understand the evolution of sex ratios.

How Did Earth Get Its Ocean? How the Ocean Works

How Did Earth Get Its Ocean?

Adam Sarafian overcame a learning disability and surmounted heights as a an All-American pole-vaulter—all before launching a scientific career that has now allowed him to hurtle across the universe and back through time to the period when Earth was still forming.

Specks in the Spectrometer How the Ocean Works

Specks in the Spectrometer

Mass spectrometer facilities can be a rite of passage for scientists—as well as for the samples analyzed inside the mass specs.

Epiphany Among the Manta Rays Ocean Life

Epiphany Among the Manta Rays

There’s a great need to collect ocean temperature data. And there are millions of scuba divers out there.

Carbon Cycle How the Ocean Works

Carbon Cycle

Carbon is a building block for all life and plays a key role in regulating Earth’s climate. It shuttles throughout the planet in two major cycles.

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