oceans

  • A blue whale's tail appears above the surface of the ocean.

    Whale poop may have been a key fertilizer for oceans

    New research finds that whale excrement contains significant amounts of iron, a vital element that is often scarce in ocean ecosystems.

  • A view of Earth from space shows white swirls in the oceans.

    The atmosphere affects ocean weather in surprising ways

    "It's actually more interesting than what people had previously thought."

  • Many pieces of plastic trash arranged in the shape of a fish on a white background.

    Plastic junk sounds like tasty food to some whales

    Animals like whales that hunt in the dark depths of the ocean using sonar may not be able to tell junk from squids, researchers find.

  • A neon sign reads "O2," the symbol for oxygen.

    Deep sea ‘dark oxygen’ raises questions about alien life

    Researchers have made a startling discovery: rocks are generating “dark oxygen” in an area being explored for deep-sea mining.

  • A bleached coral with fish swimming around it.

    Rising temps threaten the Great Barrier Reef’s existence

    New research documents unprecedented levels of ocean heat leading to bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, endangering a vital ecosystem.

  • A fossilized skeleton of a pliosaur, a marine creature from the early Jurassic period, shows its long neck and four flipper like appendages.

    Chemical clue helps explain Early Jurassic mass extinction

    "This event, and events like it, are the best analogs we have in Earth's past for what is to come in the next decades and centuries."

  • A humpback whale lifts its head out of water near a shore.

    Boat strikes are a major driver of whale strandings

    New research digs into Increased whale strandings on the east coast of the United States, which remain a concern for biologists and citizens.

  • Sea floor sediment shown in bright green, including single grains of sand.

    How burrowing ‘ecosystem engineers’ shape healthy oceans

    A new study shows how burrowing worms, clams, and shrimps are an essential part of keeping the world's oceans healthy.

  • Plastic trash arranged in the shape of a fish sits on a beach.

    Tiniest ocean microplastics may have evaded detection

    The tiniest, most abundant microplastics in ocean waters from the Caribbean to the Arctic aren't being detected by standard surveys.

  • A shot of Pluto against a black background shows a brown surface.

    New calculations offer a closer peek at Pluto’s ocean

    New research offers a peek at the ocean that likely covers Pluto under a shell of nitrogen, methane, and water ice.

  • A blue iceberg in the middle of frozen water.

    Antarctic sea warming contributes to rising sea levels in North Atlantic

    Human-induced environmental changes around Antarctica are contributing to sea level rise in the North Atlantic, researchers find.

  • A neon sign in the shape of a fish with the word "fresh" written on it in red.

    Seafood waste isn’t as bad as previously thought

    New research shows that previous estimates of seafood loss and waste in the United States were too high.