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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

A Pioneering Vision

A Pioneering Vision

December 12, 2017

In 2005, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution devised a revolutionary plan: They would deploy about 150 scientific instruments in coastal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard to try to understand what makes that region of the ocean teem with life—from…

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers

June 19, 2017

“Very few women go into engineering,” said Anna Michel, “because girls just don’t get the message that they could be engineers.” Michel, a scientist in the Applied Physics and Ocean Engineering Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), got the…

PlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS

PlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS

June 1, 2017

Much of marine life begins as microscopic larvae—so tiny, delicate, and scattered in hard-to-reach parts of ocean that scientists have had a tough time illuminating this fundamental stage of life in the ocean. To see what’s out there, scientists have…

When the Hunter Became the Hunted

When the Hunter Became the Hunted

June 1, 2017

In waters off Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) engineers deployed the REMUS SharkCam, a torpedo-shaped robotic vehicle with a special system to track and film great white sharks in the ocean. “We wanted to test the technology…

Ancient Skeleton Discovered

Ancient Skeleton Discovered

May 1, 2017

International researchers discovered a human skeleton during ongoing excavations of a ship that sank around 65 B.C. off the Greek island of Antikythera in the Aegean Sea. It is the first skeleton from this shipwreck found in the era of…

News Releases

Expedition captures first detailed imagery of Robert Falcon Scott’s last ship, Terra Nova, using cutting-edge Canadian Voyis 3D technology

July 14, 2026

The Heroic Age Expedition, led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, reveals the famed Antarctic explorer’s last ship, Terra Nova in stunning detail

Atlantis and Alvin

Heroic Age Expedition to survey two of the world’s most famous shipwrecks

July 1, 2026

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, in partnership with WHOI, will undertake “once-in-a-generation” expedition to survey Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Quest and Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova

CUREE autonomous underwater vehicle

Autonomous underwater robot discovers hidden coral reef “hotspots”

May 13, 2026

New underwater robot opens new possibilities in coral reef conservation by autonomously identifying biodiversity “hotspots”

WHOI Scientist Catherine Walker Joins NASA-Selected EDGE Satellite Mission

February 12, 2026

Satellite measuring land, polar, and coastal regions could launch by 2030

Sargassum Patch

Study reveals dramatic decline in historic sargassum populations, with WHOI scientists helping unravel basin-scale changes

December 4, 2025

The findings point to warming ocean temperatures, shifting nutrient regimes, and changing circulation patterns as likely contributors to this emerging basin-scale redistribution of Sargassum.

News & Insights

WHOI builds bridges with Arctic Indigenous communities

February 10, 2021

NSF program fosters collaboration between indigenous communities and traditional scientists, allowing WHOI’s autonomous vehicles to shed light on a changing Arctic

WHOI-assisted study finds ocean dumping of DDT waste was “sloppy”

October 29, 2020

An investigative report this week in the LA Times features the work of WHOI’s marine geochemistry lab in identifying the discarded barrels and analyzing samples from the discovery.

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