Ocean Plants
Brown Tides and Redfielders
Come spring, Louie Wurch’s mind turns toward softball and another, less idyllic seasonal phenomenon: brown tides. Both scientist and shortstop, Wurch spearheaded the creation of the Biology Department’s team in…
Beneath Arctic Ice, Life Blooms Spectacularly
Scientists have discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea…
Scientists Discover the “Vitamin B12 Claw”
Scientists have revealed a key cog in the biochemical machinery that allows marine algae at…
Psychotherapy for Plankton
The scene: A diatom is out of its oceanic habitat and on a couch, talking…
New Ways to Analyze Ocean Imagery
<!– –> Moore Foundation grant sparks ocean informatics initiative Over the past decade, ocean scientists…
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…
Having Their Phosphorus and Eating It Too
Try naming the nutrients you need to be strong and healthy. Chances are phosphorus will…
A Most Ingenious Paradoxical Plankton
Everybody has a unique place in the world, a job to do, a niche to…
DMS: The Climate Gas You’ve Never Heard Of
For generations of mariners, a tangy, almost sweet odor served as a signal that land…
What Are the Possible Side Effects?
Most of the ocean food chain is too small to see, but that doesn’t mean…
Will Ocean Iron Fertilization Work?
In this age of satellites, it’s fairly easy to answer the basic question of whether…
Pilot Study Examines Ciguatera Fish Poisoning
It is one of the most common illnesses from eating seafood, sickening more than 50,000…
Growing Marine Plants Need Their Vitamins
Your mother was right: You need your vitamins. And that turns out to be true…
Ocean Microscope Reveals Surprising Abundance of Life
Towing an underwater video microscope across the Atlantic Ocean, two scientists found unexpected abundances of…
Building an Automated Underwater Microscope
A conversation with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution biologist Heidi Sosik about her work studying phytoplankton…
Little Things Matter A Lot
One group of bacteria—the cyanobacteria—has completely transformed Earth's environment through their long history. Three billion…
New Instrument Sheds Light on Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is ubiquitous in the oceans, and especially prevalent in coastal regions where nutrients are…
Life in the Arctic Ocean
Capped with a formidable ice and snow cover, plunged into total darkness during the winter,…
The Grass is Greener in the Coastal Ocean
Stretching from inland rivers and bays to the edge of the continental shelf, the coastal…