Oceans
- Earth
Americas’ hookup not so ancient after all
Debate lingers over when the Isthmus of Panama formed and closed the seaway that separated North and South America millions of years ago.
- Climate
India’s monsoon winds trace back nearly 13 million years
The intense monsoon winds that carry torrential rain to India each year first started blowing around 12.9 million years ago, new research suggests.
- Science & Society
Sea life stars in museum’s glass menagerie
See Leopold and Rudolf Blaschkas’ delicate glass jellyfish, anemones, sea worms and other marine invertebrates at the Corning Museum of Glass.
- Animals
Pup kidnapping has a happy ending when a seal gets two moms
A female fur seal kidnapped another seal’s pup. But this turned out to be a positive the young seal, scientists found.
- Oceans
50 years ago, humans could pick the oceans clean
Scientists have long recognized that we might overfish the oceans. Despite quotas, some species are paying the price of human appetite.
- Oceans
Sea ice algae drive the Arctic food web
Even organisms that don’t depend on sea ice depend on sea ice algae, a new study finds. But Arctic sea ice is disappearing.
- Climate
Phytoplankton’s response to climate change has its ups and downs
In a four-year experiment, the shell-building activities of a phytoplankton species underwent surprising ups and downs.
- Oceans
Underwater city was built by microbes, not people
Submerged stoneworklike formations near the Greek island of Zakynthos were built by methane-munching microbes, not ancient Greeks.
- Animals
Lionfish invasion comes to the Mediterranean
Scientists had thought that the Mediterranean was too cold for lionfish to permanently settle there. But now they’ve found a population of the fish off Cyprus.
- Oceans
Coral bleaching event is longest on record
Widespread coral bleaching continues, in the longest episode, over the largest area to date.
- Oceans
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents more abundant than thought
Ecosystem-supporting hydrothermal vents are much more abundant along the ocean floor than previously thought.
- Climate
The ‘super’ El Niño is over, but La Niña looms
The 2015–2016 El Niño has officially ended while its meteorological sister, La Niña, brews.
