Ocean Life
The Harshest Habitats on Earth
With help from ROV Jason and a new, high-tech sampling instrument, scientists discover that even in a hyper-saline realm, with no light and no oxygen, under crushing pressure, life still finds a way.
Why Haven’t the Cod Come Back?
A WHOI biologist is analyzing fish scales dating back to the 1930s to unravel changes…
An Ocean Instrument Is Born
Every new ocean instrument goes through growing pains. But the Submersible Incubation Device, nicknamed SID,…
Seabirds Face Risks from Climate Change
The research expedition ended in near-disaster. Stephanie Jenouvrier, aboard the ship Marion Dufresne II, was…
Marine Mammals Meet Modern Medicine
Whales do not make the easiest patients, but CT scans, MRIs, ultrasound, hyperbaric chambers, and…
A War of Knowledge to Save Sharks
Derya Akkaynak hails from a town called Urla in Turkey, and like most graduate students…
Swimming with Sharks
Amy Kukulya’s clients often have curious requests, but this was among the oddest. As an…
Caller IDs for Whales
Imagine extraterrestrials come to Earth, seeking to understand human life. They dangle recording devices beneath…
The Scientist and the Poet
Alice Alpert, a graduate student in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program, studies what the chemistry of…
Art Meets Science in a Book called Bloom
When conditions of light and nutrients align in the surface waters of the ocean, tiny…
Decoding the Mystery Fish
Few marine animals capture biologists’ imaginations more than the mysterious, almost mythical coelacanth, a 5-foot-long…
Fungi Flourish Below the Seafloor
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown diversity of fungi living far beneath the seafloor throughout…
Seismic Studies Capture Whale Calls
In November 2012, the California Coastal Commission met to consider a request by Pacific Gas…
Bacteria Hitchhike on Tiny Marine Life
Amalia Aruda knows that tiny marine creatures have big impacts. Some can kill you. Aruda…
A Day in the Life of a Phytoplankter
Earth’s vast oceans teem with innumerable microscopic plants that make the fertility and abundance of…
Barnacles and Biofilms
As long as sailors have been going down to the sea in ships, they have…
Bacteria Exhibit Altruistic Behavior
When it comes to bacteria protecting themselves, it’s all in the family. A new study…
What Is the Sound of 130 Wind Turbines Turning?
Federal officials examined a long list of potential impacts from the nation’s first offshore wind…
Deep-sea Detectives
Links to related materials Mid-Ocean Ridges—Articles, illustrations, and video showing how new seafloor crust forms…
Deep-sea Vents Yield New Species
Call it “midnight at the OASES.” Neither permanent darkness nor extreme pressure and heat cause…
Do Oil and Corals Mix?
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) helped find strong evidence that the Deepwater Horizon…