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Student Research

Oceanus Magazine

Dye Sheds Light on Jet-Propelled Salps

December 11, 2009

The boat loaded, we push off from shore. We are headed out for a nighttime blue-water scuba dive in search of salps off the Pacific coast of Panama. Salps are…

A Most Ingenious Paradoxical Plankton

A Most Ingenious Paradoxical Plankton

November 25, 2008

Everybody has a unique place in the world, a job to do, a niche to fill. When you are a tiny phytoplankter, your place is in the ocean, and your…

Shellfish's Mysterious Pathways to Adulthood

Shellfish’s Mysterious Pathways to Adulthood

November 19, 2008

With a cool ocean breeze under a cloudless sky, children weave small sailboats through the channel. Larger boats scurry out of Waquoit Bay to fish in Nantucket Sound or spend…

A Tag Fit for a Porpoise

A Tag Fit for a Porpoise

November 13, 2008

In 2003, Stacy DeRuiter arrived as a graduate student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where a new device developed at WHOI was sparking a revolution in marine mammal research:…

One Man's Swamp Is a Fish's Nursery

One Man’s Swamp Is a Fish’s Nursery

October 15, 2008

A parade of schoolmaster snapper swims by me, their neon yellow fins directing traffic. Echoing in the background is the rhythmic crunch of striped parrotfish nibbling on coral polyps. I’m…

Testing the Waters and Closing Beaches

Testing the Waters and Closing Beaches

September 3, 2008

On a warm, tranquil evening this summer, Falmouth resident Annette Hynes took a friend down to Wood Neck Beach. It is one of Annette’s favorite local beaches, with a long,…

Biochemical Warfare on the Reef

Biochemical Warfare on the Reef

August 26, 2008

Just beneath the tranquil, clear waters of the tropical Caribbean, unseen by all but a few keen-eyed divers, two foes have engaged in a life-and-death struggle every day for thousands…

Eavesdropping on Whales' Mealtime Conversation

Eavesdropping on Whales’ Mealtime Conversation

August 9, 2007

Like a knife slicing through denim, the black dorsal fin broke the surface of the icy water quickly, and then disappeared into the depths. “Off the port bow,” yelled Ari…

What Does It Take To Break a Whale?

What Does It Take To Break a Whale?

June 20, 2007

The ship hit the whale with a force that snapped her 14-foot jawbone like a toothpick and left a 4-foot-long crack in her skull. Known as 2150 among scientists, she…

Graduate Student Discovers an Unusual New Species

Graduate Student Discovers an Unusual New Species

February 10, 2006

Sheri Simmons gets into the rugged wilderness as often as she can, backpacking in Newfoundland, the Sierras, the Adirondacks, and Alaska—where she once encountered a grizzly bear on a trail.…