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Oceans

A capture of the map showing how various countries' populations may be affected by sea level rise. For the full experience see the interactive infographic at the

Cool Finds

As Many As 3 Million Americans Could Soon Be Threatened by Sea Level Rise

Across the world, 650 million people could be at risk

Sunrise over the Straits of Malacca.

Cool Finds

The Waters Around Malaysia, Not Somalia, Are the World’s Worst for Pirates

More than 40 percent of pirate attacks over the last two decades took place in Southeast Asia

The vast unknown deep sea floor

Why We Must Explore the Sea

Robert Ballard, the famed explorer who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, ponders what else is on the ocean floor

None

Cool Finds

Thousands of Strange Green Balls Appeared Overnight on a Beach in Australia

Scientists believe that the balls are actually extremely rare algae congregations called marimo

The "skylight" appears as a light pink splotch atop this leatherback sea turtle's head.

New Research

Leatherback Sea Turtles Can Measure Sunlight Through Their Skulls

The anatomical skylight allows the turtles to synch up with the seasons

The oaten pipes hydroid (Tubularia indivisa) is a small colonial predator native to the North Atlantic.

Art Meets Science

College Students Studied These Mail-Order Sea Creatures in the Late 1800s

Restored glass models of marine invertebrates, made by artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, are on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

Introducing Dendrogramma, a deep sea creature that resembles a mushroom but has more affinity to a jellyfish.

New Research

Deep-Sea Mushroom Creatures Found Off Australia

Neither fungi nor fish, these oddball organisms collected in 1986 may represent an early branch on the tree of life

Pink Sands Beach, Harbour Island, The Bahamas

The World’s Most Colorful Beaches

From green sand to glass, here are some of the most eye-popping beaches around the world

A dense flock of starlings in the sky above Rome.

How Just One Bird Can Urge an Entire Flock to Change Directions

The equations that describe these movements are equivalent to those that govern waves

Switching testing scenarios used to take 20 minutes. Rolling waters can now be calmed in just 30 seconds.

The Navy Tests Its Ships in This Indoor Ocean

New technology can precisely recreate eight open-water conditions

Ask Smithsonian

What Are the Biggest Waves in Recorded History?

How do waves even get this big?

Seawater contains hundreds of viruses, revealed with dye in the flask on the right. Most are harmless, but some microbes living under the sea and amid the sand aren't.

Eight Diseases To Watch Out For At the Beach

Forget sharks: These potentially deadly pathogens and parasites can lurk in sand and sea

A blue shark near the Azores islands.

Shark Week

Bizarre Blue Shark Nursery Found in the North Atlantic

Rather than emerging in protected coves, baby blue sharks spend their first years in a big patch of open ocean

New Research

Seagrass Meadows Are Disappearing at the Same Rate as Rainforests

These underwater habitats are important for several species of sea life

Two-headed smooth-hound (Mustelus)

Shark Week

A Two-Headed Shark and Other X-Rayed Beauties at the Smithsonian

Sandra Raredon’s x-rays of fish specimens are critical records for scientists studying various species. And, as works of art, they are breathtaking

A 16th-century illustration of imaginary sea monsters from Cosmographia by Sebastian Mustern, based on creatures from Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus.

Shark Week

Sharks Were Once Called Sea Dogs, And Other Little-Known Facts

Centuries-old illustrations of sharks show just how much we’ve learned about the fish since our first sightings of them

A similar species of Irukandji jellyfish, but with the tentacles (and a fishy lunch inside).

Cool Finds

A New, Potentially Deadly Species of Jellyfish Was Discovered Floating Around Australia

The new species’ sting can cause Irukandji syndrome, which sometimes leads to stroke and heart failure

A great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) in South Africa shows its jaws.

Shark Week

The State of Sharks, 40 Years After Jaws

We could be at a tipping point for conserving the infamous predators, if we can keep up shark-friendly practices

Dogfish shark denticles viewed using a scanning electron microscope.

Shark Week

Why Are Scientists Trying To Make Fake Shark Skin?

Faux marine animal skin could make swimmers faster, keep bathrooms clean and cloak underwater robots

Two hurricanes, Iselle and Julio, that could hit Hawaii this weekend (seen here in a satellite image captured August 4) may have been influenced by an El Niño developing in the Pacific.

New Research

Ancient Clam Shells Show That What Drives El Niño Is Still Unclear

Earth’s path around the Sun may play a role, but other factors are still unknown

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