Oceans
- Climate
Climate change may be speeding up ocean circulation
Circulation in the top 2,000 meters of the world’s oceans has increased as a result of faster winds around the globe, a study suggests.
- Life
Ocean acidification could degrade sharks’ tough skin
Nine weeks of exposure to acidic seawater corroded the toothlike denticles that make up a puffadder shyshark’s skin, a small experiment found.
- Earth
Flooding Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen may not have needed a triggering event
Building an oxygen-rich world doesn’t require volcanism, supercontinent breakups or the rise of land plants — just nutrient cycling, a study finds.
- Climate
How the Arctic’s poor health affects everyday life
A new NOAA report features testimony from indigenous communities in Alaska who are weathering the impacts of Arctic warming.
- Oceans
Stealthy robots with microphones could improve maps of ocean noise
Recordings from underwater microphones on stealthy robotic gliders could create a better “soundscape” of noises throughout the ocean, researchers say.
- Earth
Plastics outnumber baby fish 7-to-1 in some coastal nurseries
Ocean slicks serve as calm, food-rich nurseries for larval fish. A new study shows that slicks also accumulate plastics, which get eaten by baby fish.
- Animals
Humpback whales use their flippers and bubble ‘nets’ to catch fish
A study reveals new details of how humpback whales hunt using their flippers and a whirl of bubbles to capture fish.
- Science & Society
This year’s SN 10 enjoy the journey, not just the discovery
Meet 10 young researchers who combine persistence and passion to make headway on science’s big questions.
- Climate
How climate change is already altering oceans and ice, and what’s to come
A new IPCC report gives the lowdown on how climate change is already wreaking havoc on Earth’s oceans and frozen regions, and how much worse things could get.
- Life
Climate change may be throwing coral sex out of sync
Several widespread corals in the Red Sea are flubbing cues to spawn en masse.
- Earth
Ancient crystal growths in caves reveal seas rose 16 meters in a warmer world
The Pliocene era cave formations on the Spanish coast of Mallorca offer hints about how oceans could respond to human-driven climate change.
- Earth
How Kilauea’s lava fed a massive phytoplankton bloom
Kilauea’s heavy flow of lava into the ocean in 2018 added both food and heat to fuel a sudden bloom of ocean algae.
