Skip to content

Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

Life Dwells Deep Within Earth's Crust

Life Dwells Deep Within Earth’s Crust

August 19, 2016

Aboard a drillship in the Indian Ocean, geologists pursued their mission to bore a hole thousands of feet through the seafloor to reach the Moho, the mysterious and never-before-penetrated boundary between Earth’s crust and underlying mantle. For microbiologist Virginia Edgcomb,…

Attracted to Magnetics

Attracted to Magnetics

August 18, 2016

Maurice Tivey has probably endured more than a few bad puns, like the one in our headline, after he tells people what he does for a living. A geologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Tivey specializes in the magnetic…

The Quest for the Moho

The Quest for the Moho

August 8, 2016

For more than a century, scientists have made several attempts to drill a hole through Earth’s ocean crust to an interior layer of rock in Earth’s interior called the mantle.

Beneath the Sea, the Galápagos Reveal More Marvels

Beneath the Sea, the Galápagos Reveal More Marvels

June 1, 2016

The Galápagos Islands have offered biologists a natural laboratory ever since Charles Darwin’s day, but they’re also a frontier for geologists and volcanologists to test theories. The thirteen major volcanic islands in the Galápagos archipelago are just the tips of…

Can Animals Live Without Oxygen?

Can Animals Live Without Oxygen?

June 1, 2016

In 2010, a research team garnered headlines when it published evidence of finding the first animals living in oxygen-free conditions at the bottom of the sea. But a new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists proposes an…

News Releases

New study provides insight into how some species thrive in dark, oxygen-free environments

January 16, 2025

New research on single-celled organisms sheds light on deep-sea energy sources

NUI Robot Arm

Newly published study reveals diversity of novel hydrothermal vent styles on the Arctic Ocean floor

December 19, 2024

Research offers potential understanding of habitability on ocean worlds in the outer solar system

Drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution

Mantle rock recovery may reveal secrets of Earth’s history

August 8, 2024

Scientists unravel the role of our planet’s mantle in volcanism and global cycles

new vent

Warm water could persist within icy ocean worlds

June 24, 2024

A new study investigates how the influence of low gravity, as found on ocean worlds in our solar system, impacts flow of water and heat below their seafloors.

Titan

Wave activity on Saturn’s largest moon

June 20, 2024

MIT, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers find wave activity on Saturn’s largest moon may be strong enough to erode the coastlines of lakes and seas.

News & Insights

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…

per

Finding medical answers in the ocean

March 19, 2020

The test being used to diagnose the novel coronavirus—and other pandemics like AIDS and SARS—was developed with the help of an enzyme isolated from a microbe found in marine hydrothermal vents as well as freshwater hot springs.