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How shipwrecks helped a cold-water anemone move south

Researchers find fluffy anemones spreading south via shipwrecks, revealing how artificial reefs and ocean currents connect marine habitats

Aerial of campus Sustainable ocean

WHOI joins Manresa Wilds Project to help restore part of Connecticut’s coastline

Development of a new coastal green space and public park opens up access to ocean science in Long Island Sound

mackerel recipe

Recipe: Roasted peppers with smoked mackerel, mace, and mint

This seafood recipe by chef and author Barton Seaver is a great introduction to sustainable seafood

Emily Peacock Ocean life

Sampling Gulf Stream plankton, one teaspoon at a time

Three questions with marine research technician Emily Peacock

petrels Ocean life

These seabirds fly toward cyclones, not away from them

New GPS tracking on petrels reveals a surprising survival strategy hidden in the eye of the storm

water going down the drain Ocean & human lives

Are big spills the main source of ocean oil?

Evidence shows that smaller leaks on land contribute far more oil to our oceans

Sustainable ocean

Reclaiming knowledge from the sea

Jordan Kennedy combines Indigenous knowledge, engineering, and observation to rethink how coastal landscapes are studied and restored. Her work on clam gardens and autonomous mapping systems explores how revitalizing these ancient systems can also reclaim knowledge and relationships between people, place, and practice.

Sunita Williams

3 questions with a former NASA astronaut

WHOI Corporation Member Sunita Williams discusses space exploration, ocean science, and environmental stewardship

Answers from the Abyss
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Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.

Cargo ships and tankers sitting at anchor outside a busy commercial port
Ocean life

Ships in the Strait of Hormuz are becoming invasive species breeding grounds

Beneath the waterline of every ship stalled in the Persian Gulf, a thriving underwater city takes shape—barnacles, algae, mussels, sea squirts. Some of those hitchhikers could reach coastlines they’d never find on their own.

Hercules

Is the ocean carbon sink at risk of faltering?

WHOI scientists explain how the ocean mitigates climate change—and could be compromised by it

whale shark and diver Ocean life

3 questions with Cam Braun

Marine biologist Camrin Braun explains why the world’s largest fish visit waters off Cape Cod—and what their epic migrations reveal about a changing ocean

Lori Hepner Ocean tech

Lux in abyssum

Artist Lori Hepner transforms seafloor data into ethereal light paintings

lobster trap Ocean life

Is underwater noise from construction affecting the American Lobster?

WHOI’s Sensory Ecology Lab investigates whether an industrialized soundscape impacts the health of a New England icon

Bosun Oscar Sisson (left) and WHOI engineers Sean Kelley, Mike Skowronski, and Isaac Vandor deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry  Ocean tech

Exploring Atlantic seeps

AUV Sentry leads the way in mapping and monitoring methane bubbling from the seafloor

Quest was purchased by Shackleton Ocean tech

A once-in-a-generation dive into polar history

40 years after helping reveal the Titanic, Alvin returns to the North Atlantic to document two other legendary shipwrecks

Eyes on the deep submarine background Ocean tech

Eyes on the deep

How ocean imaging is accelerating the pace of deep-sea discovery

campaign launch event

Campaign for Our Ocean Planet

WHOI launches an audacious fundraising effort for ocean science

Plastic waste entangled beneath the Mediterranean's surface, highlighting marine pollution.

Deep-sea dustbins

The marine debris concentrating in the Northwest Atlantic’s underwater canyons

Hadal Snailfish Ocean life

Squishy survivor

How the snailfish survives the ocean’s most extreme pressures

Mar de Plata canyon Ocean tech

Answers from the abyss

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

Bathyopsurus-isopod2 Ocean life

A hadal zone mystery solved

An upside-down swimming isopod shows how tightly we are connected to the deep ocean

Oceanus-Covers

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illustration of weddell seal mother in the water
Ocean life

A mother seal dives

Follow a Weddell seal as her body adapts to foraging in deep, frigid waters

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 a promising…

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

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

Illuminating an Unexplored Undersea Universe Ocean life

Illuminating an Unexplored Undersea Universe

Twenty-five years ago, the Hubble Telescope was launched to look out to the vast darkness…

Mummified Microbes Ocean life

Mummified Microbes

Scientists have found evidence that microbes can thrive deep below the seafloor—sustained by chemicals produced…

A New Eye on Deep-Sea Fisheries Ocean tech

A New Eye on Deep-Sea Fisheries

Imagine that officials charged with setting deer-hunting limits had to assess the herd’s abundance by…

A Luxury-Laden Shipwreck from 65 B.C. Ocean & human lives

A Luxury-Laden Shipwreck from 65 B.C.

Scientists returned in 2015 and 2016 to the wreck of a 180-foot ship that sank…

A New Whale Species Is Discovered in the Wild Ocean life

A New Whale Species Is Discovered in the Wild

Scientists have discovered a thriving population of Omura’s whales—a species that hadn’t even been identified…

Not Just Another Lovely Summer Day on the Water Ocean & human lives

Not Just Another Lovely Summer Day on the Water

It looks like nice summer day on the water, but Alexis Fischer (right) and Alice…

Coral Coring Ocean life

Coral Coring

Off a small island in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean, Woods Hole Oceanographic…

See Those Black Dots? They’re Penguins. Now Count Them. Climate & weather

See Those Black Dots? They’re Penguins. Now Count Them.

That’s exactly what a team of researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) did on…

A Faster Way to Better Reactions How the ocean works

A Faster Way to Better Reactions

Finding new chemical reactions to synthesize commercial products more efficiently is big business and a major source of innovation. A new study offers a way to make the search faster, cheaper, and greener.

Endangered Whales Get a High-Tech Check-Up Ocean life

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, they can fly close to whales without disturbing them, bringing back incredibly detailed photographs and samples of microbe-rich blow.

Ocean tech

Remembering Knorr

After an iconic, 44-year career, the research vessel Knorr left the dock at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in March for the last time. It also left a place in the hearts of many who sailed on the ship or who had simply seen it in Woods Hole. A few of the people who watched it depart shared their memories of Knorr in this audio postcard.

Our Ship Comes In Ocean tech

Our Ship Comes In

The long-awaited newest research vessel in the U.S. academic fleet—and the latest in a long line of WHOI-operated ships—arrives in Woods Hole on Wednesday.

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