Fibre-optic cables line the coasts of the continents and criss-cross the oceans, carrying signals that are the backbone of communication in the modern world.
The NYC Media Lab announced the availability of new immersive educational content for all US-based educators. Developed in partnership with Verizon for the $1M Museum Initiative, over 50 augmented reality (AR)- and virtual reality (VR)-focused lesson plans are available on Verizon Innovative Learning HQ (verizon.com/learning)—the free online education portal that brings next-gen learning to all.
A new study provides the first observational evidence of the stabilization of the anti-cyclonic Beaufort Gyre, which is the dominant circulation of the Canada Basin and the largest freshwater reservoir in the Arctic Ocean.
Scientists at Flinders University have used sub-surface imaging and aerial surveys to see through floodplains in the Red Lily Lagoon area of West Arnhem Land in Northern Australia.
With glaciers melting at unprecedented rates due to climate change, invertebrates that live in the cold meltwater rivers of the European Alps will face widespread habitat loss, warn researchers.
For decades, scientists have looked to seaweed as an indicator of the health of coral reefs lying underneath. But what if the seaweed was misleading them? New UBC research reveals it was, and scientists need new ways to determine whether human activity is harming a particular reef.
The North Pacific “Garbage Patch” is home to an abundance of floating sea creatures, as well as the plastic waste it has become famous for, according to a study by Rebecca Helm from Georgetown University, US, and colleagues, publishing May 4th in the open access journal PLOS Biology.
A study in Florida Bay, one of the largest global contiguous seagrass systems, examined if a phytotoxin that accumulates as seagrass ecosystems become more enriched in nutrients prevents a marine seagrass, turtlegrass, from recruiting into open bare sediment following die-off events. While they do “bounce back,” long-term monitoring indicates the timeframe for recovery after major die-off events is at least a decade. Turtlegrass can successfully recruit into open bare sediment following die-off events due to biomass partitioning.
In the face of global warming and other environmental changes, corals in the Atlantic Ocean have declined precipitously in recent years, while corals in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are faring better.
A recent study by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators found that many of the fossils from Germany’s Posidonia shale do not get their gleam from pyrite, commonly known as fool’s gold, which was long thought to be the source of the shine. Instead, the golden hue is from a mix of minerals that hints at the conditions in which the fossils formed.
After capturing the world’s attention on expeditions around East Africa, the Flipflopi project continues to find ways to inspire communities, governments and businesses to take action against environmental pollution. Now, a model of the traditional ‘dhow’ style vessel has arrived in Lisbon in Portugal from Dundee in Scotland as part of a travelling exhibition.
Researchers, including from NTNU, are breeding bacteria-free fish fry. This pursuit is more important than you might think. The researchers have studied how bacteria affect the growth, genes and mucous membranes of the fish.
he Spring Members’ Meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) included discussions of data collection and dissemination from renewable energy platforms and new and up-and-coming uncrewed systems, as well as the latest information from the large-scale effort to better understand the Gulf’s Loop Current System.
Contrary to what is stated in biology textbooks, the growth of fish doesn’t slow down when and because they start spawning. In fact, their growth accelerates after they reproduce, according to a new article published in Science.
Dungeness crab fishermen are at high risk for on-the-job injury, but having a metal bar to bang crab pots against as they harvest can help them prevent injury, an Oregon State University study found.
A team of international researchers led by Federico Baltar of the University of Vienna and José M González of the University of La Laguna has identified a previously unknown group of bacteria, called UBA868, as key players in the energy cycle of the deep ocean. They are significantly involved in the biogeochemical cycle in the marine layer between 200 and 1000 meters. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
By studying green algae in Swedish lakes, a research team, led by Lund University in Sweden, has succeeded in identifying which environmental conditions promote multicellularity.
A microsatellite for maritime communications developed by the Satellite Technology And Research Centre (STAR) under the National University of Singapore’s College of Design and Engineering (NUS CDE), and A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), has been successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikotta, India, on 22 April 2023, at 4.50pm (Singapore time).
The microsatellite – Lumelite-4 - will test the VDES technology for potential maritime applications, such as real-time maritime traffic and asset tracking for better predictive analysis, as well as secured and reliable ship-to-ship or ship-to-port communication for enhanced navigational safety and port efficiencies.
Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The alga Melosira arctica, which grows under Arctic sea ice, contains ten times as many microplastic particles as the surrounding seawater. This concentration at the base of the food web poses a threat to creatures that feed on the algae at the sea surface.
His fluid lensing mapping of the ocean promises to improve the resilience of coastal areas impacted by severe stormsas well as assess the effects of climate change on coastal areas around the world.
Sea level rises could lead to the flooding of sea turtle breeding grounds in Australia, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and the USA, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that flooding could contribute to the loss of turtle nesting sites and that leatherback turtle nests may be particularly vulnerable.
A group of researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil have grown microalgae under controlled conditions in a laboratory in order to use their metabolites, especially lipids, with the prime purpose of producing biofuel.
Two University of Washington researchers are using very different methods to investigate the issue of marine microplastics. For Earth Day, UW News asked them to discuss their research.
Scientists have discovered a parasite is behind a severe die-off of long-spined sea urchins across the Caribbean Sea, which has had devastating consequences for coral reefs and surrounding marine ecosystems.
In early 2022, long-spined sea urchins in St. Thomas began to quickly die in large numbers. Scientists rushed in to find the cause and have discovered that a microscopic parasite swarms the body and spines of the urchins, eating them alive.
The researchers describe a system of floating geotextile filters that efficiently remove suspended solids, algae and the nutrients from a shallow lake.
On the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, the ruins of a Danish sugar plantation built from harvested coral bricks could be the key to understanding how and why the area was decimated by the 18th-century transatlantic slave trade.
Ocean-based hydrophones in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)’s seismic-acoustic monitoring network could provide a better look at how ocean temperatures are changing over time, according to a presentation at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)’s 2023 Annual Meeting.
The high seas have been colonized by a surprising number of coastal marine invertebrate species, which can now survive and reproduce in the open ocean, contributing strongly to the floating community composition.
Scientists have discovered extensive, ancient deep-sea coral reefs within the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR) – the first of their kind ever to be documented inside the marine protected area (MPA) since it was established in 1998.
PCB has been banned in most countries since the 1970s, but that doesn't mean it no longer exists. Now, deep-sea researchers report that they have found PCB at the bottom of the Atacama Trench in the Pacific Ocean.
The Virginia Tech media relations office has the following experts available for interviews surrounding the environment, energy, and sustainability. To schedule an interview, please contact [email protected]. Rising seas threatens U.S. coastlines and cities A recently released report from the U.N. on climate change found that rising sea levels are "unavoidable for centuries to millennia due to continuing deep ocean warming and ice sheet melt, and sea levels will remain elevated for thousands of years.
Research led by UC San Diego and Harvard has traced the evolutionary adaptations of octopus and squid sensing capabilities. The researchers describe for the first time the structure of an octopus chemotactile receptor, which octopus arms use for taste-by-touch exploration of the seafloor.
Killer whales (also known as orcas) are intelligent predators. While it’s known that killer whales in the Pacific Northwest exploit widely different food types, even within the same region, we know much less about the feeding habits of those found throughout the North Atlantic.
Until recently, fish that eat coral — corallivores — were thought to weaken reef structures, while fish that consume algae and detritus — grazers — were thought to keep reefs healthy.
Brian McDermott, a Case Western Reserve scientist, is reporting a discovery about unexpected asymmetry on the hair cells of zebrafish that allow them to detect movement with greater sensitivity from the back than the front. “This shows that fish have hair cells that are actually tuned to sense different water directions,” McDermott said. “In humans, our cochleas have hair cells that are similarly tuned to be able to hear different frequencies.” McDermott said the finding also advances our understanding of “the long-sought mechanotransduction (Mec) channel” in living creatures.
Rutgers geneticists, working with an international team of scientists, have conducted the most comprehensive sequencing yet of the complete DNA sequence of the little skate – which, like its better-known cousin, the stingray, has long been viewed as enigmatic because of its shape. The scientists, writing in Nature, reported that by studying the intricacies of Leucoraja erinacea’s genome, they have gained a far better understanding of how the fish evolved from its ancestor – which possessed a much narrower body – over a period of 300 million years to become a flat, winged bottom-dweller.
To better understand which factor has the greatest impact on the concentration of dissolved oxygen, researchers at Penn State used a deep learning model to analyze data from hundreds of rivers across the United States.
A wax that is derived from a commonly grown marine microalga could be the next big thing in cosmetics and personal care products, thanks to a recent license agreement between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Western Washington University (WWU)—which jointly own the patents—and Upwell Cosmetics, a start-up materials company founded in Woods Hole, Mass.
Natural disasters can devastate a region, abruptly killing the species that form an ecosystem’s structure. But how this transpires can influence recovery. While fires scorch the landscape to the ground, a heatwave leaves an army of wooden staves in its wake. Storm surges and coral bleaching do something similar underwater.
New research reveals the progress scientists at The University of Toledo are making in their ongoing efforts to capture and remove invasive grass carp from the Great Lakes.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today that Monica P. Medina, the first diplomat in the U.S. designated to advocate for global biodiversity, has been named WCS President and CEO, effective June 1, 2023.
The Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region (CINAR), led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), is pleased to announce the appointment of four CINAR Fellows in Quantitative Fisheries and Ecosystems Science, which is supported in part by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. The fellows are Robert Griffin, School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth; Lisa Kerr, University of Maine; Kathy Mills, Gulf of Maine Research Institute; and Mei Sato, WHOI.
The seas surrounding the Arctic are important fisheries and ecological regions; they are also among the areas most affected by climate change. The effects of warming waters and loss of sea ice on the biodiversity of these waters, and hence their ecology, is still not fully understood.