Ocean Life
Big Whale, Big Sharks, Big Stink
A shipping tanker first spotted the whale on Sept. 9 about 24 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass. It floated belly up—species unknown, cause of death a mystery. Like a detective,…
Building an Automated Underwater Microscope
A conversation with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution biologist Heidi Sosik about her work studying phytoplankton…
In and Out of Harm’s Way
Just a few more miles or a few more minutes. That’s what scientists and some…
A Whale Expert is Called in to Decipher Odd Elephant Calls
An article about work done by WHOI postdoctoral investigator Stephanie Watwood to analyze atypical sounds…
Settling on the Seafloor
People may search for a long time, but they know it when they see it—the…
On the Seafloor, a Parade of Roses
Third generation of scientists finds third generation of hydrothermal vent sites.
Checking the Forecast for ‘Marine Snow’
The "rain" of tiny particles from sunlit surface waters to the deep ocean could play…
Transparent Salps May Play Conspicuous Ecological Role
WHOI biologist Larry Madin led an expedition to waters off Antartica to learn about little-known…
Ocean Life Institute
The oceans cover 70 percent of the planet?s surface and constitute 99 percent of its…
Down to the Sea on (Gene) Chips
The genomics revolution has reached the oceans. New genomic techniques are being used to find…
Voyages into the Antarctic Winter
At the extreme ends of the Earth, Antarctica is a vast, rocky continent, mostly ice-covered…
How to See What Whales Hear
On summer nights, if you sit quietly at the edge of a field or watch…
Big Trouble from Little Squirts
Welcome to the online version of Oceanus, the magazine that explores Earth's last frontier. Oceanus…
A Lone Voice Crying in the Watery Wilderness
And speaking of whales, here is a story of whales speaking—or more precisely, one whale,…
Even Sperm Whales Get the Bends
It seemed only natural for deep-diving sperm whales to be immune from decompression illness, or…
Playing Tag with Whales
The challenge of designing a device to learn what marine mammals do on dives is…
Run Deep, But Not Silent
For the first time in history, we can accompany a whale on its dive, hear…
Little Things Matter A Lot
One group of bacteria—the cyanobacteria—has completely transformed Earth's environment through their long history. Three billion…
The Deeps of Time in the Depths of the Ocean
Wherever we have looked in the oceans, we have found previously unknown microorganisms. We have…
Tracking Fish to Save Them
For decades, the Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) was one of the most sought-after fish species…
Mistaken Identity
Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found that two chemicals accumulating in the…
Coral Gardens in the Dark Depths
The words "coral reefs" conjure up images of a tropical paradise: shallow, warm, aquamarine waters,…
The Coastal Ocean Institute
We are all stewards of the coastal ocean. For some of us, the connection to…
Do Marine Protected Areas Really Work?
Today, Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs—areas of the ocean temporarily or permanently closed to harvesting—are…