Media Tip Sheet – September 2025

SEPTEMBER 2025 MEDIA TIP SHEET

Welcome to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s media tip sheet. Our goal is to provide an advanced or detailed look at stories we believe are impactful or trending and offer WHOI experts if you’re interested in a deeper dive.

Heavy metal with a travel itinerary: From Asia’s air to the ocean’s food web

A new study led by WHOI and POSTECH tracked industrial mercury from Asia into the Pacific Ocean, showing that much of it transforms into bioavailable forms that become toxic methylmercury in marine food webs. By analyzing isotopes in plankton, researchers traced how mercury moves through the air and the ocean. The findings show mercury’s pathways are traceable and highlight the need for policies that target the most harmful, bioavailable forms to protect ecosystems and human health.

Learn more about the study in the WHOI Press Room.

Rivers, tides, and a dash of sediment make up the secret recipe for urban civilization

A new WHOI-led study challenges long-held ideas about the rise of Sumer, showing that southern Mesopotamia’s first cities were shaped as much by shifting rivers, tides, and coastlines as by human ingenuity. Researchers reconstructed how the dynamic environment at the head of the Persian Gulf created fertile, resource-rich landscapes that enabled urban life to take root. Instead of a static “cradle of civilization,” the findings reveal a constantly changing setting where natural forces drove settlement patterns, trade, and growth. This fresh perspective reframes the origins of urban civilization, underscoring how the environment itself was a powerful engine of history.

Step back to the past– and check out the full study in the WHOI Press Room.

Photos available for use with credit can be found here.

Back to school! WHOI’s new Ocean Learning Hub is here for educators, lifelong learners

Just in time for back to school, WHOI launched the Ocean Learning Hub, an interactive digital platform providing teachers, students, and lifelong learners with accessible ocean science, technology, and engineering resources. Drawing on nearly a century of WHOI’s educational materials, it offers interactive modules on topics such as hydrothermal vents, ocean life, and climate impacts. Designed with educators and aligned to national science education standards, it allows filtering by grade level, science practices, and literacy principles, with integration into Google Classroom. Teaching children ocean science in schools helps them recognize the ocean’s impact on human life and sparks interest in future careers.

Other Stories:

• WHOI’s Jennifer Johnson receives Fulbright Specialist Award
• New program aims to improve hurricane predictions with ocean data

On the September Calendar:

September 5: WHOI x The Yawkey Foundation: Jaws on the Lawn

September 12: World Dolphin Day

September 17 World Manta Day

September 21-28: Climate Week

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