Skip to content

Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

Turning Carbon Dioxide Gas into Rock

Turning Carbon Dioxide Gas into Rock

October 22, 2009
The Hunt for Microbial 'Trojan Horses'

The Hunt for Microbial ‘Trojan Horses’

October 2, 2009

In summer, Wood Neck Beach in Woods Hole, Mass., teems with tourists, but only a few seagulls kept Matt First company as he walked through the brown-gold marsh grass last November. Armed with a small red cooler containing sampling tubes,…

corer-250_92511.jpg

Noah’s Not-so-big Flood

August 14, 2009

A long time ago, whether your time frame is biblical or geological, the Black Sea was a large freshwater Black “Lake.” It was cut off from the Mediterranean Sea by a high piece of land that dammed the entry of…

Hurricane Hunter

Hurricane Hunter

February 13, 2009

Soon after they married, Jon Woodruff asked his new wife Akiko Okusu if she’d like to take a trip to her native Japan. Not for a belated honeymoon, but to help him drag several hundred pounds of mud from the bottom…

A Tale of Two Oceans, and the Monsoons

A Tale of Two Oceans, and the Monsoons

December 5, 2008

Every summer, the continent of Asia takes a big breath. This inhalation pulls moisture-laden air from the Indian Ocean over India and Southeast Asia, causing torrential rains known as the monsoons. For as long as there have been people in…

News Releases

Researchers help solve mystery of clockwork-like earthquake system deep beneath the Pacific

May 14, 2026

Study of Gofar transform fault on the Pacific seafloor points to mitigating effects of “barrier zones” that keep ruptures from spreading.

A new study finds Jupiter’s moon Europa’s quiet seafloor may still hold keys for life

January 6, 2026

A new study suggests Jupiter’s icy moon lacks geophysical activity, changing how scientists think about life there

Black shale

A new study reveals how oxygen first reached Earth’s oceans

December 9, 2025

Researchers use vanadium isotopes to track the rise of oxygen in ancient seas

europa clipper

WHOI selected by NASA to investigate ocean worlds and their organic carbon cycles

December 3, 2025

The Investigating Ocean Worlds project will seek to improve the analysis of data related to carbon-rich molecules that could be an indicator of biological activity.

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth

October 29, 2025

This is the most significant discovery to date for COLDEX, an NSF Science and Technology Center funded in 2021 to explore the Antarctic ice sheet, which is the largest ice mass on the planet.

News & Insights

Scientists tap ‘secret’ fresh water under the ocean

September 12, 2025

First-of-its-kind research expedition studies massive freshwater aquifer under the ocean floor off Cape Cod

The Search for Life

February 17, 2021

This week, NASA’s Perseverance Rover lands on Mars to continue the search for life on the Red Planet. At the same time, WHOI scientists and engineers are applying their experience exploring the deepest parts of planet Earth to the quest…

greenland ice

Will melting glaciers cool the climate?

July 29, 2020

As glaciers melt at unprecedented rates, WHOI’s Simon Pendleton is looking back to historical records to predict whether this new cool runoff will slow ocean circulation and cool the northern hemisphere––findings which could mean adjustments to some climate predictions.

Art Maxwell

Celebrating an oceanographic life

July 1, 2020

WHOI looks back at the legacy of co-founder of MIT-WHOI Joint Program, former Director of Research and Provost at WHOI, Art Maxwell

Working from home: Chris German

April 30, 2020

As I reached the end of April, I realized that too much of my time was getting consumed by zoom calls and email in a bid to over-compensate for not being able to interact with people on-site at WHOI. So…

Scroll To Top