Ocean & Human Lives
Do Oil and Corals Mix?
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) helped find strong evidence that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 had impacts on deep-sea coral communities in the Gulf of Mexico.…
Brown Tides and Redfielders
Come spring, Louie Wurch’s mind turns toward softball and another, less idyllic seasonal phenomenon: brown…
The Quest to Map Titanic
Bill Lange was aboard Knorr in 1985 when the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research vessel…
To Catch a Hurricane
On Aug. 25, 2011, the line projecting Hurricane Irene’s path up the East Coast barreled…
Lessons from the 2011 Japan Quake
When the ground in Japan started shaking on March 11, 2011, the Japanese, who are…
Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Oil Spills
I don’t do San Francisco like most people. I skip the cable cars, Lombard Street,…
Scientists Solve a Deepwater Horizon Mystery
Right after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, 2010, marine scientist Monty Graham…
Every Chromatogram Tells a Story
Where is this mountainous landscape? Actually, that’s the wrong question. It’s a landscape, all right,…
At Deepwater Horizon, Basic Research Was Applied
“Basic research, directed simply toward more complete understanding of nature and its laws, embarks upon…
Up From the Seafloor Came a Bubbling Brew
Eleven days after the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010,…
Shifting Sands and Bacteria on the Beach
Most coastal communities in the United States test the water at beaches for the presence…
Four Men. Twelve Hours. One Crucial Sample.
The prize they coveted amounted to nothing more than about four gallons of natural gas…
A Plume of Chemicals from Deepwater Horizon
Along with the torrent of hot gas and oil spewing from the bottom of the…
Of Predators, Prey, and Petroleum
Protists are the Rodney Dangerfields of marine microbes. Although marine bacteria emerged as heroes in…
Life and Death in the Deep Sea
It was an experiment they hoped would never happen. But when it did, they were…
A Small Sip from a Big Gusher
How much oil gushed out of the Deepwater Horizon well and into the Gulf of…
Oil, Microbes, and the Risk of Dead Zones
In the scramble to get to the Gulf of Mexico to study the Deepwater Horizon…
Does Oil Affect Animals’ Cellular Machinery?
Ann Tarrant has a soft spot for a tiny, tentacled creature. So what if starlet…
Engineer Par Excellence: Donald Koelsch
Dave Ross should have been sleeping. He was on a research ship in 1975, at…
Gliders Tracked Potential for Oil to Reach the East Coast
In the initial days of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a spotlight shone on a little-known…
After the Oil Spill, Finding a Drop in the Ocean
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April, marine chemist Elizabeth Kujawinski recognized…
Scientists Use “ESP” to Track Harmful Algae
Researchers in biologist Don Anderson’s lab are celebrating a new arrival—a gleaming, 3-foot-high robotic instrument…