Ocean Life
WHOI CSI Lab Investigates Rare Whales
Two seldomly seen deep-diving whales called True’s beaked whales were found dead on a beach on Long Island, N.Y. Why did the whales, an adult female and male juvenile,die?
Read MoreIsland Hopping
On a recent cruise aboard Pangaea Exploration’s vessel Sea Dragon, members of WHOI biogeochemist Anne Cohen’s lab sailed across the…
Read MoreResilient Reefs
WHOI post-doctoral scholar Kathryn Shamberger (left) and an employee of the Palau International Coral Reef Center collect a water sample…
Read MoreSurprising Trigger Causes Phytoplankton Blooms in North Atlantic
By Lonny Lippsett :: Originally published online January 14, 2014
Read MoreDown Time
After a trying day of bathymetric surveys, a science party from WHOI and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology…
Read MoreWhat Causes the Atlantic to Bloom?
Every spring, waters in the North Atlantic Ocean explode into green and white patches as countless microscopic marine plants bloom.
Read MoreProof of Concept
Matt Long sets up the prototype of his new eddy correlation hydrogen ion and oxygen exchange system (ECHOES) on Great…
Read MoreNew Study Finds Extreme Longevity in White Sharks
Great white sharks—top predators throughout the world’s ocean—grow much slower and live significantly longer than previously thought, according to a new study led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). In the first successful radiocarbon age validation study for adult white sharks, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four females and four males from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Age estimates were up to 73 years old for the largest male and 40 years old for the largest female.
Read MoreArctic Spring
Something surprising is happening in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska. In 2011 a team of scientists aboard the Coast…
Read MoreHistory of SeaWiFS and its launch
By Amanda Kowalski, Ari Daniel :: Originally published online January 1, 2014
Read MoreOnline Science Expedition Brings Deep Sea Vents to the Computer Screen
Scientists and engineers using advanced technology and a unique robotic vehicle to study the deep sea will also be using their computers to interact with students, teachers, and the public about the research they are conducting.
Read MoreLush Life, Deep Down
Scientists find an active ecosystem of bacteria, archaea, and fungi in the sediments far beneath the sea floor.
Read MoreAgainst the Odds
In the western Pacific Republic of Palau, abundant corals live in conditions that are warmer and more acidic than normal—conditions…
Read MoreBehold the ‘Plastisphere’
Plastic debris provides living space for a variety of marine microbes.
Read MoreA Healthy Mystery
Lush, diverse, healthy coral reefs in Palau are living where they shouldn’t be—under lower-than-normal pH levels that are equal to…
Read MoreCall of the Whales
Robotic gliders equipped with acoustic monitoring devices can now eavesdrop on whales, enabling researchers to locate the elusive animals before they surfaceâÂÂand to warn ship pilots in the area to slow down to reduce the chances of a deadly collision.
Read MoreThe Ocean’s Hidden Predators: Revealed
Marine biologist Greg Skomal and engineer Amy Kukulya discuss the importance of sharks in the ecosystem, the threats they are…
Read MoreThe Return of the Seals
WHOI biologist Rebecca Gast examines whether the recovered and thriving population of gray seals in Cape Cod waters has affected water quality off the beaches they frequent.
Read MoreThe Decline and Fall of the Emperor Penguin?
Climate change is shifting conditions on which Emperor penguins in Antarctica depend to sustain their populations.
Read MoreWhat Doomed the Stromatolites?
About a billion years before the dinosaurs became extinct, stromatolites roamed the Earth until they mysteriously disappeared. Well, not roamed…
Read MoreAn Oddity about Lyme Disease Bacteria
The bacterial species that causes Lyme disease avoids a key human defense by not requiring iron. For a WHOI microbial chemist, that raised a big question: What does it use instead of iron?
Read MoreCorals’ Indispensable Bacterial Buddies
Coral reefs, like human beings, may be superorganisms that depend on communities of microbes living within and around them for their survival.
Read MoreDolphin Assist
For scientists studying marine mammals in the wild, data-logging tags are invaluable tools that allow them to observe animals’ movements…
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