WHOI in the News
As if Yemen Needed More Woes, a Decrepit Oil Tanker Threatens Disaster
The task at hand is to keep a bad situation from getting worse, said Christopher M. Reddy, a marine scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “We have a problem, it has a potential for harm, so how do we do it to create the least amount of damage?” he said.
In Focus: Woods Hole Film Festival goes virtual
This year’s Woods Hole Film Festival, the 29th, is the first to be virtual. In going digital because of COVID-19, the WHFF follows such other summer fixtures on the local circuit. The WHFF runs from July 25-Aug. 1.
Scientists Discover A New Material For Cleaning Up Oil Spills
In the middle of a battle like an oil spill, you want to have a very predictable material that is easily deployed and creates no uncertainty, says Chris Reddy, at WHOI. And these natural products carry just a lot more uncertainty. Despite this uncertainty, he says, maybe hair can teach us how to make better materials. And Georgia Tech’s David Hu says the study made him look at hair differently.
60 Years After Don Walsh Dove To Earth’s Deepest Point, Son Kelly Repeats The Feat
He was involved with an acoustics experiment developed by Ying-Tsong Lin from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, that recorded a signal 13.5 miles away and seven miles below.
ROVs: A marine robotics paragon.
Carl Wirsen from WHOI, in his presentation, displayed how little we know about the deepest part of the oceans.
USA: Twelve Offshore Wind R&D Projects Selected for Funding
The U.S. National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) has selected twelve projects for contract negotiation, completing its first solicitation for offshore wind research and development technology projects.
Search-and-rescue algorithm identifies hidden ‘traps’ in ocean waters
Researchers at the MIT, WHOI and other institutions have developed a technique they hope will help first responders quickly zero in on regions of the sea where missing objects or people are likely to be.
Scientists are trying to save coral reefs. Here’s what’s working.
Without a mix of long-term cuts in emissions and short-term innovation, there’s a not-so-far-off future where coral reefs as we know them simply cease to exist, says Anne Cohen, a coral expert at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
New report details profitability, growth of marine economy
Blue technology companies have been in Woods Hole and other spots along the Massachusetts coastline for decades, and they have made valuable contributions to the Cape’s economy in terms of both employment and enabling other offshore industries.
MassCEC Joins the Offshore Wind Challenge as Enabling Partner, Will Provide Support to Startup Participants
Participants will also receive guidance from the experts at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the New England Aquarium.
WHOI Study: Fishing Restrictions Could Benefit Lobster Fisherman
Researchers at MIT, WHOI and colleagues announced the first successful trials of their new “TRAPS” system, a system they hope will provide faster, more accurate insights into the floating locations of missing objects and people by identifying the watery “traps” into which they’re likely to be attracted.
Where Does The Nitrogen We Breathe Come From?
Peter Barry of WHOI, and British and Italian colleagues, took samples of gases in various volcanic sites on Earth, in particular in Eifel (Germany) and Yellowstone (USA).
New algorithm computes how to find those lost at sea
A better way to find ships and people lost at sea
Mathematics can save lives at sea
In collaboration with a team of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, a group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the U.S. Coast Guard, the ETH team tested their new, TRAP-based search algorithm in two separate ocean experiments near Martha’s Vineyard near the north-eastern coast of the United States.
Researchers develop a new computer algorithm to locate people lost at sea by modeling ‘traps’ in the water that could pull them in different directions
A team of researchers have developed a new algorithm that could help search and rescue teams locate people lost at sea using ocean currents, wind speed, and wave direction.
The Ocean’s Carbon Cycle is Controlled by…Tiny Plankton?
The ocean plays a major role in the global carbon cycle. The driving force comes from tiny plankton that produce organic carbon through photosynthesis, like plants on land.
North Atlantic right whales ‘could be extinct within 20 years’ as krill they eat migrate away due to climate change and commercial fishing impacts their habitat
A comprehensive new study of North Atlantic right whales has found the species is significantly smaller and less healthy than southern right whales and could be wiped out in the next 20 years without intervention.
Archaeology: How historians were stunned by shipwreck skeleton in ‘incredible condition’
The startling find was made in 2016 by a group of archaeologists led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Plankton-seeking oceanographic probe plunges to the inky depths
Developed by a team from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the device is known as the EcoCTD.
Towable sensor free-falls to measure vertical slices of ocean conditions
Now researchers at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have engineered a lightweight instrument that measures both physical and biological features of the vertical ocean over small, kilometer-wide patches.
Marine Biologist and Inventor John Kanwisher Dies
He coinvented the first electronically controlled diving rebreather, measured the first electrocardiogram from a whale, and played a central role in transforming the study of animal physiology from the lab to the wild through the use of telemetry devices he invented.
The Long-Lasting Legacy of Deep-Sea
Mining for rare metals can involve a good amount of detective work. It can take time and skill to find the most abundant sources. But in the deep ocean, metallic deposits sit atop the seafloor in full view—a tantalizing sight for those interested in harvesting polymetallic nodules.
The Last Place on Earth We’d Ever Expect to Find Life
Microbial life, almost unbelievably resilient, abides in boiling hot springs and bone-dry deserts, in pools of acid and polar ice, kilometers up into the sky and kilometers below the ocean floor.
Study Shows Wetter Climate Is Likely To Intensify Global Warming
A study in the May 6th issue of Nature indicates the increase in rainfall forecast by global climate models is likely to hasten the release of carbon dioxide from tropical soils, further intensifying global warming by adding to human emissions of this greenhouse gas into Earth’s atmosphere.