Oceans

Tamara Schwent and Kevin Curtis, PhD from Sirenas bringing in samples from the deep sea. This was a joint expedition with Chapman Expeditions and the Carmabi Research Station.

Will the Next Big Cancer Drug Come From the Ocean?

A California startup “bioprospects” for sponges, algae and other organisms whose chemistry may be useful to the world of medicine

Surface water seasonality between October 2014 and October 2015 in the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Dark blue indicates permanent surface water; light blue indicates seasonal surface water.

High-Resolution Satellite Images Capture Stunning View of Earth's Changing Waters

An unprecedented mapping project shows the elusive patterns of Earth's surface water over 30 years

Bathochordaeus charon

Scientists Finally Spot Giant, Slimy Sea Blob First Found Over a Century Ago

Discovered in 1899, the creature recently popped up in Monterey Bay

The shipworm, scourge of sailors everywhere, is actually a kind of ghostly saltwater clam.

How a Ship-Sinking Clam Conquered the Ocean

The wood-boring shipworm has bedeviled humans for centuries. What's its secret?

Turtle grass may rely on tiny crustaceans as pollinators.

Meet the Newly Discovered Pollinators Under the Sea

The tiny crustaceans are challenging previous assumptions about how plants grow underwater

Erich Fitzgerald and Tim Ziegler with a 3D model of Alfred's skull.

The Earliest Baleen Whales Literally Sucked

No offense to toothy whale ancestors

One Hundred Years Ago, the Titanic's Sister Ship Exploded While Transporting Injured WWI Soldiers

Bad luck seemed to follow the White Star Line’s infamous steam liners

Legacy is scheduled to be on display at the Ontario Science Centre beginning in 2017 before embarking on an international tour.

This Whale Sculpture Was Modeled After a Beached Orca

Canadian artist Ken Hall built <em>Legacy</em> based on 3D scans of the skeleton of Hope, an orca that died on the coast of Washington in 2002

Blue petrel, one of the seabird species that mistakes the smell of algae on plastic as food

Why Seabirds Eat So Much Plastic

A new study suggests that algae growing on plastic in the oceans makes it smell like dinner

A NOAA illustration shows how La Niña usually affects winter weather.

It’s Back: La Niña Has Returned

What the phenomenon may mean for winter weather

Mustard gas from wars past is decaying in the world's oceans—but scientists don't yet know how dangerous it could be. Here, U.S. Navy ship prepare for scheduled deployment in the Pacific Ocean in 2014.

Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean After World War II Could Threaten Waters Worldwide

How worried should we be? Chemists are racing the clock to find out

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Canada Can’t Figure Out Why the Ocean Floor Is Beeping

A mysterious sound has baffled residents of a far-flung hamlet

Brian Helmuth and his lab at Northeastern University engineered the little black data loggers from polyester resin.

Robot Shellfish May Tell Us About Climate Change's Impact on Marine Species

Climate scientists at Northeastern University have developed "robomussels" with sensors to track temperatures in mussel beds

View from under the sea ice of the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

World's Largest Marine Sanctuary Declared Off Coast of Antarctica

The 25 parties to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources voted to protect 600,000 square miles of the Ross Sea

Mangroves are rich and biodiverse coastal ecosystems that flood and emerge with the tides. Now villagers are burning these trees to better their lives.

Madagascar's Mangroves: The Ultimate Giving Trees

Locals already use the trees for food, fuel and building materials. Now they're burning them to make lime clay

Not all clothes are created equal.

Doing Laundry Can Be Deadly for Clams, Mollusks and Other Marine Animals

Pick your wardrobe carefully—the lives of sea animals may depend on it

Coming Soon: Otter-Inspired Wetsuits

A team at MIT has figured out exactly how otter and beaver fur keeps the animals warm in cold water

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How Earthquakes and Volcanoes Reveal the Beating Heart of the Planet

The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program has stitched together a visual archive of the world’s earthquakes and volcanoes

A remote-controlled hexacopter captured this image of two northern resident killer whales photographed from 100 feet. Scientists use the unmanned drone as a cost-effective, non-intrusive method for monitoring the health of whales.

How Drones in the Sky Unlock Secrets of the Sea

Researchers are using aerial technology to track coastal erosion, map coral reefs and even give whales a breathalyzer

Kure Atoll, the northernmost reef in the Hawaiian archipelago, hosts mesophotic reefs with the most species unique to a specific location found in any marine ecosystem on Earth.

Here’s What Scientists Found in Hawaii’s Mysterious “Twilight Zone”

Deep coral reefs reveal their secrets in a study two decades in the making

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