Skip to content

News Releases


Study Pumps Up the Volume on Understanding of Marine Invertebrate Hearing

A new study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and their colleagues examined behavioral responses to sound by cuttlefish, a type of shell-less mollusk related to squid and octopi.  The study is the first to identify the acoustic range and minimum sound sensitivity in these animals. Their findings, published in the Journal for Experimental Biology, can help decision makers and environmental managers better understand the impacts of noise in the ocean.

Read More

Nereid Under Ice Vehicle: A Powerful New Tool for Polar Science

Scientists studying the harsh and rapidly changing Arctic environment now have a valuable new tool to advance their work—an innovative robot, designed and built at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) that is changing the way scientists can interact with and observe the polar environment.

Read More

New Museum Exhibit Explores Deep Ocean Environment

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in collaboration with the Ocean Explorium in New Bedford, Mass., has created new digital content for museum-based spherical display systems that brings high-definition images and video of dynamic, deep ocean ecosystems to the public.

Read More

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Honors Two WHOI Scientists

Chris German

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany, has recognized two Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists with honors: Chris German received a Humboldt Research Award and Caroline Ummenhofer was chosen for a Humboldt Research Fellowship.

Read More

Scientists Urge Protection of World’s Deltas

Scientists call for maintenance efforts to be started now to avert the loss of vast expanses of coastline, and the consequent losses of ecological services, economic and social crises, and large-scale migrations.

Read More

Underwater Robot Sheds New Light on Antarctic Sea Ice

The first detailed, high-resolution 3-D maps of Antarctic sea ice have been developed using an underwater robot.  Scientists from the UK, USA and Australia say the new technology provides accurate ice thickness measurements from areas that were previously too difficult to access.

Read More

Chief of Naval Operations Visits WHOI

Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, visited Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Nov. 6 for firsthand discussions with scientists and engineers conducting research and building technology with potential to enhance Naval capabilities and operations.

Read More

Fukushima Radioactivity Detected Off West Coast

Monitoring efforts along the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada have detected the presence of small amounts of radioactivity from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident 100 miles (150 km) due west of Eureka, California. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found the trace amounts of telltale radioactive compounds as part of their ongoing monitoring of natural and human sources of radioactivity in the ocean.

Read More

New Study Finds Oceans Arrived Early to Earth

Earth is known as the Blue Planet because of its oceans, which cover more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface and are home to the world’s greatest diversity of life.  While water is essential for life on the planet, the answers to two key questions have eluded us: where did Earth’s water come from and when?

Read More

Study Provides Some Answers to Fate of Deepwater Horizon Oil

Nearly five years after the Deepwater Horizon explosion spilled roughly 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists are still working to answer the question: Where did all the oil go?

A paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides a piece of the puzzle with an analysis of the oil that ended up on the seafloor, establishing its footprint, rough quantity and likely deposition mode, and pegging its source to that deep ocean plume of oil.

Read More

Stunning Finds from Ancient Greek Shipwreck

A Greek and international team of divers and archaeologists has retrieved stunning new finds from an ancient Greek treasure ship that sank more than 2000 years ago off the remote island of Antikythera. The rescued antiquities include tableware, ship components, and a giant bronze spear that would have belonged to a life-sized warrior statue.

Read More

David Gallo Selected for Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award

David Gallo

The Explorers Club has chosen David Gallo, Director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), as one of the recipients of this year’s Lowell Thomas Award. He is among six recipients who will be honored for their “imagination in exploration” at a dinner on October 11, 2014, at the Bowers Museum in Southern California.

Read More

New Collaborative Effort to Gauge National Marine Biodiversity

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers are part of a collaborative effort to understand and monitor changes in marine biodiversity within U.S. coastal waters. Marine biodiversity is a key indicator of ocean health and critical to sustaining natural resources such as fisheries.

Read More

WHOI Announces 2014 Ocean Science Journalism Fellows

Eight writers, filmmakers, and multimedia science journalists from the U.S., England, and The Gambia have been selected to participate in the competitive Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Science Journalism…

Read More