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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

Tracking a Trail of Oil Droplets

Tracking a Trail of Oil Droplets

September 17, 2010

In the days after oil began gushing from the Deepwater Horizon well, scientists sought quick information on where the oil was traveling in the depths and how it might be affecting tiny marine life. Biologist Cabell Davis dispatched to the…

Salps Catch the Ocean's Tiniest Organisms

Salps Catch the Ocean’s Tiniest Organisms

August 13, 2010

Salps are sometimes called “the ocean’s vacuum cleaners.” The soft, barrel-shaped, transparent animals take in water at one end, filter out tiny plants and animals to eat with internal nets made of mucus, and squirt water out their back ends…

A Torrent of Crabs Running to the Sea

A Torrent of Crabs Running to the Sea

July 16, 2010

Joanna Gyory’s Ph.D. plans changed completely when she saw the crabs. It was her third or fourth day at the Liquid Jungle Lab, a research facility on an undeveloped island off Panama’s Pacific coast. After a dry season lasting several…

Holography and Oceanography

Holography and Oceanography

June 5, 2010
Inside the Open Ocean

Inside the Open Ocean

April 16, 2010

News Releases

Researchers awarded for identifying first evidence of possible language-like communication in dolphins

May 16, 2025

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and partners take home prestigious award

Tica hydrothermal vent

Scientists in Alvin witness seafloor eruption on the East Pacific Rise

May 2, 2025

Long-awaited event sets the stage for scientists to learn more about physical, chemical and biological processes in the deep ocean East Pacific Rise, Pacific Ocean (May 2, 2025)  – Scientists diving in the human-occupied vehicle Alvin recently witnessed a rare…

Jeff Adams

Researchers to map the genome of the invasive European green crab

April 2, 2025

Washington Sea Grant will work with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to shed light on a highly invasive species

Mark Hahn March 2025

WHOI’s Mark Hahn named AAAS Fellow

March 27, 2025

American Association for the Advancement of Science welcomes 471 scientists and engineers in the class of 2024

Emperor Penguins

New study calls for uplisting emperor penguins to threatened on IUCN Red List

March 25, 2025

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution among research groups that offer findings to support protection of species

News & Insights

Valentine’s Day Courtship Tips from the Ocean

February 10, 2025

Are you an ocean lover? Go a little deeper with these courtship tips from beneath the waves!

Recognizing Massachusetts Right Whale Day

April 24, 2023

April 24 marks the first-ever Right Whale Day in Massachusetts. WHOI biologist and veterinarian Michael Moore recently met with the resident who brought this special recognition about– and explains why it’s important to raise awareness about the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales Getting Smaller, New Research Finds

June 10, 2021

A report out this week in Current Biology reveal that critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are up to three feet shorter than 40 years ago. This startling conclusion reinforces what scientists have suspected: even when entanglements do not lead directly to the death of North Atlantic right whales, they can have lasting effects on the imperiled population that may now number less than 400 animals. Further, females that are entangled while nursing produce smaller calves.

right whales

Rare Drone video shows critically endangered North Atlantic right whales

May 10, 2021

May 10, 2021   During a joint research trip on February 28 in Cape Cod Bay, Mass., WHOI whale trauma specialist Michael Moore, National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, and scientists from New England Aquarium, witnessed a remarkable biological event: North…

Unicorns of the Arctic face a new potential threat

December 1, 2020

Narwhals and other marine mammals could be vulnerable to a new threat we’ve become all too familiar with: COVID-19