Ocean & Human Lives
Up From the Seafloor Came a Bubbling Brew
Eleven days after the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010,…
Shifting Sands and Bacteria on the Beach
Most coastal communities in the United States test the water at beaches for the presence…
Four Men. Twelve Hours. One Crucial Sample.
The prize they coveted amounted to nothing more than about four gallons of natural gas…
A Plume of Chemicals from Deepwater Horizon
Along with the torrent of hot gas and oil spewing from the bottom of the…
Of Predators, Prey, and Petroleum
Protists are the Rodney Dangerfields of marine microbes. Although marine bacteria emerged as heroes in…
Life and Death in the Deep Sea
It was an experiment they hoped would never happen. But when it did, they were…
A Small Sip from a Big Gusher
How much oil gushed out of the Deepwater Horizon well and into the Gulf of…
Oil, Microbes, and the Risk of Dead Zones
In the scramble to get to the Gulf of Mexico to study the Deepwater Horizon…
Does Oil Affect Animals’ Cellular Machinery?
Ann Tarrant has a soft spot for a tiny, tentacled creature. So what if starlet…
Engineer Par Excellence: Donald Koelsch
Dave Ross should have been sleeping. He was on a research ship in 1975, at…
Gliders Tracked Potential for Oil to Reach the East Coast
In the initial days of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a spotlight shone on a little-known…
After the Oil Spill, Finding a Drop in the Ocean
In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April, marine chemist Elizabeth Kujawinski recognized…
Scientists Use “ESP” to Track Harmful Algae
Researchers in biologist Don Anderson’s lab are celebrating a new arrival—a gleaming, 3-foot-high robotic instrument…
Tracking a Trail of Oil Droplets
In the days after oil began gushing from the Deepwater Horizon well, scientists sought quick…
A Titanic Tale
<!– –> In June of 1985, news came that Bob Ballard aboard the research vessel…
Plastic Particles Permeate the Atlantic
Recent reports of a “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the subtropical waters of the North…
Lessons from the Haiti Earthquake
When I was a boy growing up in China, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake near the city…
How to Survive a Tsunami
In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean that devastated villages and…
Shipwrecks Offer Clues to Ancient Cultures
Brendan Foley hunts for shipwrecks, but he’s not searching for gold or jewels. The sunken…
The Hunt for Microbial ‘Trojan Horses’
In summer, Wood Neck Beach in Woods Hole, Mass., teems with tourists, but only a…
While Oil Gently Seeps from the Seafloor
I investigate what happens to oil spilled into the ocean—with an eye toward finding better…
Hurricane Hunter
Soon after they married, Jon Woodruff asked his new wife Akiko Okusu if she’d like to…
How Does Nature Deal with Persistent Pollutants?
Why would I choose to spend my years in graduate school up to my elbows…