by Jessica Aldred Tiny bits of plastic rubbish ingested by marine worms is significantly harming their health and will have wider impact on ocean ecosystems, scientists have found.Microplastic particles, measuring less than 5mm in size, have been accumulating in the… Read More ›
Scientific Adventure
540 Scientists Predict “Hot, Sour, Breathless” Oceans
Seth Borenstein reports for Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) — Greenhouse gases are making the world’s oceans hot, sour and breathless, and the way those changes work together is creating a grimmer outlook for global waters, according to a new… Read More ›
Microscopic Life in the Plastisphere
VAST AMOUNTS OF of plastic debris floating in the ocean are supporting new forms of microscopic life and whole new ecosystems. Scientists writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology are collectively calling this new life the ‘plastisphere’. Previous studies have thoroughly… Read More ›
A Fleet of Drones Explore Atlantic Ocean
By WILLIAM HERKEWITZ ATLANTIC CITY — Five miles offshore from the Golden Nugget casino, Michael F. Crowley, a marine scientist at Rutgers University, heaves three lifeboat-yellow drones off the back of his research vessel. The gliders, as he calls them,… Read More ›
Sea Urchins Used for Acidification Research
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The violet bottom-dwelling, prickle-backed spheres wriggling in the tank in Gretchen Hofmann’s lab aren’t really known for their speed. But these lowly sea urchins adapt so quickly they’re helping answer a question that’s key to understanding ocean acidification:… Read More ›
Ancient Ocean Conditions May Hint at Future
“Today, we are facing rising carbon dioxide contents in the atmosphere through human activities, and the amount of oxygen in the ocean may drop correspondingly in the face of rising seawater temperatures,” added Lyons. “Oxygen is less soluble in warmer water, and there are already suggestions of such decreases. In the face of these concerns, our findings from the warm, oxygen-poor ancient ocean may be a warning shot about yet another possible perturbation to marine ecology in the future.”
X Price Launches Ocean Ambassador Program
XPRIZE (www.xprize.org), the global leader in incentivized prize competitions, today announced its largest commitment to date – a multi-year effort to launch three additional ocean XPRIZEs by 2020, as part of the XPRIZE Ocean Initiative. To accompany the Initiative, XPRIZE… Read More ›
Monster Volcano Discovered in Pacific Ocean
The biggest volcano ever found on Earth—one of the biggest we know of in the solar system—has been hidden for ages. But now scientists have found it, just chillin’ beneath the sea. It’s a monster. Tamu Massif sits on the… Read More ›
Oceans Turning Acidic At Unprecedented Rate
Editor’s Note: More news about the state of ocean acidification from the Washington Post this morning: The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what’s likely the fastest pace in 300 million years. Scientists tend to think this is a troubling… Read More ›
Will the Atlantic Ocean Disappear?
Ker Than for National Geographic Published June 19, 2013 A newly discovered crack in the Earth’s crust could pull North America and Europe together and cause the Atlantic Ocean to vanish in about 220 million years, scientists say. A new… Read More ›