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Rare Find from the Deep Sea

Rare Find from the Deep Sea

February 20, 2018

For the first time ever, a team of international researchers were given the rare opportunity to observe and film a dumbo octopus – ”measuring just a few centimeters – ”hatching from its egg during an expedition to explore a chain of underwater mountains off the U.S. East Coast in 2005. Their findings were published Feb. 19, 2018, in the journal Current Biology.

Monitoring Bacteria on Whale Skin

Monitoring Bacteria on Whale Skin

February 14, 2018

Just like with humans, the skin on marine mammals serves as an important line of defense against pathogens in their environment. A new study sheds light on the skin microbiome – ”a group of microorganisms that live on skin – ”in healthy humpback whales, which could aid in future efforts to monitor their health.

WHOI Spins Off Local Technology Start-up

WHOI Spins Off Local Technology Start-up

February 5, 2018

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is selling its controlling interest in EOM Offshore, a mooring systems company based on technology developed by engineers at WHOI. The company was founded as a start-up in 2010 to commercialize highly stretchable, fatigue-resistant hoses to transmit power and data to and from undersea sensors.

WHOI Center for Marine Robotics Receives NextGEN Award

WHOI Center for Marine Robotics Receives NextGEN Award

January 29, 2018

The Center for Marine Robotics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was chosen to receive a NextGEN award by the Massachusetts TechHUB Caucus.

Scientists Pinpoint How Ocean Acidification Weakens Coral Skeletons

Scientists Pinpoint How Ocean Acidification Weakens Coral Skeletons

January 29, 2018

The rising acidity of the oceans threatens coral reefs by making it harder for corals to build their skeletons. A new study identifies the details of how ocean acidification affects coral skeletons, allowing scientists to predict more precisely where corals will be more vulnerable.

Feeling the Heat in the NW Atlantic

Feeling the Heat in the NW Atlantic

January 22, 2018

Rising temperatures along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean will force American lobsters (H. americanus) farther offshore and into more northern waters, according to a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Heidi Sosik Selected as a Fellow of The Oceanography Society

Heidi Sosik Selected as a Fellow of The Oceanography Society

January 16, 2018

Heidi Sosik, a senior scientist in the Biology Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has been named a 2018 Fellow of The Oceanography Society (TOS). Sosik’s accomplishments will be formally recognized on Feb. 13, 2018, during a ceremony at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

A Close-up Look at a Rare Underwater Eruption

A Close-up Look at a Rare Underwater Eruption

January 10, 2018

A new paper published January 10, 2018, in the journal Science Advances describes the first up-close investigation of the largest underwater volcanic eruption of the past century. The international research team led by the University of Tasmania and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) used the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry and the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason to explore, map, and collect erupted materials from the Havre volcano during a 2015 expedition. They found that the eruption was surprising in many ways.

Scientists Find Surprising Evidence of Rapid Changes in the Arctic

Scientists Find Surprising Evidence of Rapid Changes in the Arctic

January 3, 2018

Scientists have found surprising evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic: In the middle of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, they discovered that the levels of radium-228 have almost doubled over the last decade.

Moore Foundation Awards $3M to WHOI

Moore Foundation Awards $3M to WHOI

December 20, 2017

Scientists and engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will receive a two-year, $3 million award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to transform how the oceanographic community develops and deploys technology ranging from individual sensors to comprehensive, round-the-clock observing systems. By integrating new ideas and exploring new partnerships, WHOI researchers aim to foster an environment that reduces the cost of ocean science and engineering and that enables more flexible ocean observing systems that can rapidly incorporate new technologies to meet evolving science objectives and requirements.

WHOI Ship Atlantis Launches New Mission to Find Missing Argentinian Submarine

WHOI Ship Atlantis Launches New Mission to Find Missing Argentinian Submarine

December 6, 2017

The U.S. research vessel Atlantis will launch a search-and-recovery mission for the missing Argentinian submarine ARG San Juan, equipped with a U.S. Navy remotely operated vehicle (ROV) flown down to Argentina.

WHOI ship Atlantis Participates in Search for Missing Sub

WHOI ship Atlantis Participates in Search for Missing Sub

November 27, 2017

WHOI research vessel Atlantis joins search for missing Argentine submarine using equipment to survey the seafloor

Bay State Aquaculture Projects Get Green Light from National Sea Grant Program

Bay State Aquaculture Projects Get Green Light from National Sea Grant Program

October 31, 2017

Two new grants to the Woods Hole Sea Grant program totaling more than $650,000 are part of a national strategic investment in aquaculture and will support research aimed at expanding aquaculture production in Massachusetts.

Radioactivity Lingers from 1946-1958 Nuclear Bomb Tests

Radioactivity Lingers from 1946-1958 Nuclear Bomb Tests

October 30, 2017

Scientists have found lingering radioactivity in the lagoons of remote Marshall Island atolls in the Pacific Ocean where the United States conducted 66 nuclear weapons tests in the 1940s and 1950s.

Radioactivity levels  at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls were extensively studied […]

WHOI Led Research Team Receives Funding to Develop Ocean Temperature Forecast System

WHOI Led Research Team Receives Funding to Develop Ocean Temperature Forecast System

October 23, 2017

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was awarded a competive federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a forecast system that will predict seasonal and year-to-year changes in ocean temperatures on the Northeast U.S. Shelf. […]

Jim Ledwell

Jim Ledwell Selected as a Fellow of The Oceanography Society

October 17, 2017

Jim Ledwell, Emeritus Research Scholar at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has been named a 2017 Fellow of The Oceanography Society (TOS). The society noted his many achievements, in particular his “seminal contributions to the understanding of oceanic […]

Study Identifies Whale Blow Microbiome

Study Identifies Whale Blow Microbiome

October 10, 2017

A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues identified for the first time an extensive conserved group of bacteria within healthy humpback whales’ blow’”the moist breath that whales spray out of their blowholes when they exhale.

Fueling the Future

Fueling the Future

October 4, 2017

WHOI was awarded $5.7 million from ARPA-E’s Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) Program for two projects that develop tools and technology to advance the mass production of seaweed for biofuels and bio-based chemicals.

Scientists Find New Source of Radioactivity from Fukushima Disaster

Scientists Find New Source of Radioactivity from Fukushima Disaster

October 2, 2017

Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated’”in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.

WHOI Hosts Bilingual Science Symposium

WHOI Hosts Bilingual Science Symposium

September 7, 2017

The organizers of a new event at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) want to make ocean science more accessible to people who are not native English speakers by reaching out to two of the largest non-English-speaking communities on Cape Cod: those that speak Spanish or Portuguese. The symposium will feature short presentations in either language about marine research by students and scientists from WHOI and other science institutions in Woods Hole, Mass. The event is free and open to the public, and pre-registration is recommended.