How the ocean works
To Catch a Hurricane
On Aug. 25, 2011, the line projecting Hurricane Irene’s path up the East Coast barreled smack into Woods Hole, Mass., spurring a whirlwind in Jeff Donnelly’s lab at Woods Hole…
On the Trail of Mercury in the Ocean
I returned from Hawai’i in mid-December with 700 bottles of seawater. The bottles hold what…
Powerful Currents in Deep-Sea Gorges
On my first major research cruise, the ship was hit by a hurricane. On the…
Searching for Life on the Seafloor
Smaller than a fingernail, like bits of downy red feathers, baby tubeworms cling to a…
Tracking an Elusive Chemical: Estrogens
On a crisp October morning, our small boat bobbed gently 10 miles offshore. The sun…
The Ocean’s Tiny Chemists
Once as I was flying cross-country over the middle of the United States, the woman…
Shifting Sands and Bacteria on the Beach
Most coastal communities in the United States test the water at beaches for the presence…
Once More Unto the Rift
In the beginning, there was the Garden of Eden. It was a lush primordial oasis…
Shallow Water Diving
multimedia, why scientists use SCUBA in shallow water
Another Piece in the Arctic Puzzle
It’s spring again, and while most of us are putting away our winter coats and…
Oil, Microbes, and the Risk of Dead Zones
In the scramble to get to the Gulf of Mexico to study the Deepwater Horizon…
Engineer Par Excellence: Donald Koelsch
Dave Ross should have been sleeping. He was on a research ship in 1975, at…
Of Wings, Waves, and Winds
“Great albatross! The meanest birds Spring up and flit away, While thou must toil to…
Exploring the Arctic in the Midst of Change
Chief Scientist Bob Pickart and his 26-member science team were in the hangar at the…
Stanley Watson
Biologist, businessman, benefactor (Courtesy of WHOI Archives) Institutional buildings are usually named after a person…
Recycling Rare, Essential Nutrients in the Sea
In the vast ocean where an essential nutrient—iron—is scarce, a marine bacterium that launches the…
A Hunt for Unusual Seafloor Animals and Vents
The first expedition to search for deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Cayman Rise deep in…
Will More Acidic Oceans Be Noisier?
In 2008, a group of marine chemists raised a red flag: As the ocean becomes…
How Does Toxic Mercury Get into Fish?
Most everyone has heard by now that we should limit our consumption of certain fish…
The Call of the Sea
Marshall Swartz’s lab is a Santa’s workshop of engineering gadgetry. Computer keyboards and circuit boards…