Oceans

Blue whale earplugs can reveal some of these aquatic giants’ life events.

Blue Whale Earwax Reveals Pollution Accumulated Over a Lifetime

Earwax collected from a beached whale shows that the creature ingested a host of toxins, such as DDT and mercury, throughout its life

Oceanographer Gareth Lawson, who studies pteropods, was able to identify Kavanagh’s sculptures to species, such as this Limacina helicina.

The Gorgeous Shapes of Sea Butterflies

Cornelia Kavanagh's sculptures magnify tiny sea butterflies—ocean acidification's unlikely mascots—hundreds of times

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What’s Behind That Jellyfish Sting?

If you're headed to the beach this weekend: with Jellyfish populations rising, what should you do if you are stung, and why do stings hurt so much?

New research shows that abnormally cool waters in the Pacific, part of a natural cycle, have masked the warming we should have seen due to greenhouse gas emissions. When the waters go back to normal, global warming will likely accelerate.

Why Global Warming Has Paused—And Why It Will Soon Start Up Again

Abnormally cool waters in the Pacific, part of a natural cycle, have masked the underlying warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels

By analyzing a piece of fish’s DNA, researchers have found that roughly a third of U.S. seafood is mislabeled.

How DNA Testing Can Tell You What Type of Fish You’re Really Eating

By analyzing a the DNA of fish sold across the country, researchers have found that roughly a third of U.S. seafood is mislabeled

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Waters Around Antarctica May Preserve Wooden Shipwrecks for Centuries

Some capsized ships may linger on the ocean floor indefinitely

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Why Are So Many Dolphins Washing Up Dead on the East Coast?

A Smithsonian marine biologist investigates the sudden die-off of bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic—and suspects that human activity may play a role

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What Can Old Menus From Hawaii Tell Us About Changing Ocean Health?

A study of vintage menus reveals the drastic decline of the state's local fish populations between 1900 and 1950

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These Ocean Waves Look Like Liquid Sculptures

Photographer Pierre Carreau captures waves mid-break, showing the surf's delicate balance of power and fragility

New research shows that bottlenose dolphins are capable of long-term memory, recognizing the distinctive whistles of tankmates up to 20 years after they last lived together.

Dolphins Can Remember Their Friends After Twenty Years Apart

Tests on captive animals reveal that the marine mammals now hold the record for retaining memories longer than any other non-human species

Individual sharks, like people, possess their own distinct personalities.

Do Sharks Really Have Personalities?

A popular online quiz matches you with the shark species that best represents you, but individuals within a species can vary greatly, experts say

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Sharks Made Out of Golf Bags? A Look at the Big Fish in Contemporary Art

Intrigued by the powerful hunters, artists have made tiger sharks, great whites and hammerheads the subjects of sculpture

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Top Ten Stories About Sharks Since the Last Shark Week

Shark tourism, cannibalistic shark embryos, wetsuits designed to camouflage from sharks and more

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VIDEO: Mantis Shrimp vs. Octopus

Watch as the popular crustacean gets snared by its predator's tentacles. Will it survive?

New work suggests that dolphins each have their own distinctive whistle, and respond to hearing their sound made by calling right back.

Do Dolphins Use Whistles to Call Themselves by Unique Names?

Audio experiments show that the marine mammals each have their own whistle, and respond to hearing their distinct whistle by calling right back

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The End of the World Might Just Look Like This

Artist Ron Miller presents several scenarios—most of them scientifically plausible—of landscapes imperiled and of Earth meeting its demise

A community of glass sponges under Antarctica’s ice.

Glass Sponges Move In As Antarctic Ice Shelves Melt

Typically slow-growing glass sponge communities are popping up quickly now that disappearing shelf ice has changed ocean conditions around Antarctica

Who do you think is the bigger threat in this picture?

A Turn in the Tide for Sharks and Their Public Image

Nearly 40 years after Jaws gave sharks a bad rap, the fish are the ones that need saving, not the beachgoers

The Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula has seen vast reaches of ice crumble into the ocean. New research suggests that this and other dramatic episodes of ice shelf collapse might be caused by the ocean below eating away at the ice above.

Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Dissolve Thanks to Warm Water Below

The ocean bathing the underside of massive sheets of floating ice is slowly melting ice shelves, making them vulnerable to collapse

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The Vibrant Patterns of Portuguese Men-of-War

Beachgoers despise the stinging animals, but photographer Aaron Ansarov finds surreal beauty in them

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