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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

Boxer crab

5 unlikely ocean friendships

May 24, 2024

How certain marine species keep each other safe, fed, and healthy through symbiosis

wind farm

Are offshore wind farms harming whales?

May 9, 2024

WHOI whale biologist Mark Baumgartner weighs in

scallop and starfish

Is underwater construction noise leaving scallops defenseless?

March 7, 2024

Sea scallops expend a lot of energy reacting to noisy pile drivers

Maria Pachiadaki

Our eyes on the seafloor

February 29, 2024

A Q&A with WHOI marine microbiologist Maria Pachiadaki on sampling the deep ocean with Jason

Common Eider

Wintering Waterbirds

February 22, 2024

Winter doldrums? Take a local birding trip to encounter a diversity of seabirds this season

News Releases

New harmful algal blooms report

July 23, 2024

Updated national science strategy for harmful algal research and response builds on major accomplishments, findings.

Alexandrium cutlures

The Detection of a Massive Harmful Algal Bloom in the Arctic Prompts Real-Time Advisories to Western Alaskan Communities

July 10, 2024

The potent toxicity of the 2022 HAB event “posed an unprecedented risk to human and ecosystem health.”

Desertas Petrel

Groundbreaking Study Reveals Oceanic Seabirds Chase Tropical Cyclones

July 9, 2024

A new study reveals that the rare Desertas Petrels, a wide-ranging seabird in the North Atlantic, exhibit unique foraging behaviors during hurricane season.

Yawkey 2023

Yawkey Foundation and WHOI present: Ocean & Climate Outreach Series

June 25, 2024

Looking for a fun, free, interactive way to learn more about the mysteries of the ocean? WHOI & the Yawkey Foundation present the 2024 Ocean and Climate Outreach Series.

CTD Recovery

New Technologies Revise Scientists’ Understanding of the Oxygen Minimum Zone

May 21, 2024

A new technology detects trace amounts of oxygen in an environment where previously these life-supporting molecules were below the limit of detection.

News & Insights

The Rise of Orpheus (Part 1)

October 2, 2019

WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.

Michael Moore

After 33 years, Michael Moore is still free to be curious at WHOI

September 26, 2019

Michael Moore is a senior scientist and director of the Marine Mammal Center at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Summer Resident

Chris Linder wins Photography Award for story on Adélie penguins

September 25, 2019

Expedition Multimedia Specialist Chris Linder wins Nature’s Best Photography Magazine’s Conservation Story Award on Adélie penguins

grey seal in gillnet

Underwater cameras tackle tough questions for fishery

September 3, 2019

Scientists, in collaboration with commercial fishermen, are using underwater video cameras to document the behavior of seals and other animals in and around fishing nets just east of Cape Cod—an area that has seen steady growth in gray seal populations over the past few years. 

WHOI in the Christian Science Monitor: How the deep sea could unlock outer space

August 28, 2019

“When hydrothermal vents were discovered in 1977, it very much flipped biology on its end,” says Julie Huber, an oceanographer who studies life in and below the seafloor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on Cape Cod. “People knew that organisms could live off of chemical energy, but they didn’t imagine they could support animal ecosystems.”

Scientists like Dr. Huber have continued to study those chemical-munching microbes. And it turns out, she says, a diverse set of microbes can be really good at making a living where the sun doesn’t shine. They make use of the chemicals available to them, even at some of the harshest vents, known as black smokers.