The legends might have been true after all.
Adidas to award first 50 pairs of recycled ocean trash sneakers
The company has chosen to award the shoes via a raffle system on Instagram
First solar-powered boat to cross the Atlantic embarks on historical journey
A little ship braving the ocean on its own.
Huge waves of foam wash over Froggy Beach after last week’s storm
Stormy weather has an unusual upside if you happen to live on Australia’s eastern coasts: giant waves of sea foam.
Are cephalopods taking over the oceans?
Human activity has been wreaking havoc on ocean life. One group however seems to thrive where others struggle to survive: new evidence shows that cephalopods’ numbers have significantly increased over the last six decades.
Underwater maintenance robot-snakes look scary but are actually quite cool
Eelume company developed a snake-like robot for underwater maintenance tasks. The deceptively simple robots could drastically reduce operating costs for deep sea rigs.
Containing Asia’s coasts is out best bet for plastic-free ocean
Plastic bags, bottle caps and plastic fibres are among the myriad of micro plastic debris that wash out into the Pacific Ocean. These get ingested by the marine life like fish, mammals and birds which are dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Moreover, some are toxic pollutants that are absorbed, transported, and consumed in the food chain eventually reaching humans. The most effective way to contain microplastics is to raise floating nets around Asia’s coats, not around the Great Pacific Garbage patch, researchers reckon.
High-resolution spectroscopy could revolutionize seawater uranium capture
New imaging techniques might revolutionize the technologies currently used to capture uranium from seawater, as researchers gain a better understanding of the way the compounds that bind the atoms interact with them.
How some fish use polarized light to make themselves invisible to predators
You’d think there’s not much a little fish can do to hide from predators in open waters. But when rocks, algae and other marine nooks and crannies are nowhere to be found, fish turn to manipulate the physical interactions of light to balance the scale. For instance, some open ocean fish species employ specialized skin cells that reflect polarized light. This reflection is most effective, not coincidentally, at the ‘chase angle’ or from the predator’s point of view. It’s so effective that the US Navy is funding work that might shed light how exactly some fish do this and how this can be applied to make submersibles equally inconspicuous.
Ocean acidification could destroy shelled animals by 2030
Ocean acidification, one of the often ignored dangers associated with climate change is becoming increasingly worrying. As our climate becomes hotter and hotter, the oceans become more and more acidic, and this threatens some animals’ ability to create and maintain carbonatic shells.
Ocean trek reveals the massive diversity of the oceanic plankton [with photos]
In what’s perhaps one of the most amazing marine science study, a team of researchers scoured the world’s oceans fishing for microbes, viruses and other tiny life during a three and a half year trip aboard a schooner. The trip was long and arduous for sure, but ultimately it paid out – big time! The team collected 35,000 samples at 210 stations over the voyage, and found 35,000 species of bacteria, 5,000 new viruses and 150,000 single-celled plants and creatures. Most of these are new to science. Only a small fraction of the newly discovered and known species alike had been genetically sequenced, but results so far show just how interconnected and symbiotic marine life is. It also means it’s also vulnerable in the face of environmental changes, particularly climate change.
Scientists measure internal waves under the ocean from ‘cradle to grave’; largest tops 500 meters
MIT researchers deployed intricate contraptions, including cables that run to the sea floor and an autonomous submarine, to measure internal weaves around the South China Sea. The researchers followed and measured these waves from their origin, until they dissipated, and in doing so have recorded the “largest waves documented in the global oceans.”
Full extent of plastic in world’s oceans quantified: over 5 trillions of pieces of plastic
We all know that our oceans are polluted, and one of the biggest problems is plastic pollution. But few people really realize just how much plastic is in the waters – a new study estimates that there are at least 5.25 trillion pieces which weigh an estimated 269,000 tonnes. The real number however may be even much larger than that. Plastic
Ocean Abyss hasn’t Warmed – Where’s All The Heat?
The ocean abyss hasn’t warmed significantly since 2005, according to a new NASA study, further deepening the mystery of why global warming has apparently ground to halt in the past couple of years. The researchers stress, however, that the findings do not indicate that there isn’t any man-made climate change; sea levels are still rising, it’s just the fine details that
Giant 500 km wide ocean whirlpools affect climate
Giant whirlpools or mesoscale eddies, as described in scientific literature, can grow between 100 km and 500 km in diameter, forming around islands where ocean currents become disrupted. These whirlpools carry immense amounts of water and heat, but up until now they’ve been largely ignored in climate models. A novel research, however, found that energy dispersed by the giant eddies shouldn’t
Ocean acidification could devastate the economy in the future
As if that would be our biggest concern in the first place, but it’s important to understand, especially for policy makers, that even though dumping CO2 as a byproduct of current energy production methods is a lot cheaper than “cleaner alternatives”, in the long run the balance of economics turn. A new report released today at the Third Symposium on
Cassini sees Saturn stressing out Enceladus, hinting at ocean
Images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have enabled scientists for the first time to create a correlation between spraying of jets of water vapor from fissures on Saturn’s moon Enceladus with Saturn’s gravity and the way it creates stress on the fissure. “This new work gives scientists insight into the mechanics of these picturesque jets at Enceladus and shows that Saturn
Insightful and beautiful infographics from Oceana
Oceana is the ocean conservation organization, and they’ve been doing a series of infographics which I found absolutely fantastic! So I’d like to share them with you, in the hope that you will too, as well as learn something. Infographic: Where Does Our Seafood Come From? Link Eighty-four percent of seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported, and it follows
Fool’s gold is ocean’s fertilizer
Bacteria and small plants at the bottom of the ocean require significant quantities of iron to survive and grow, just like us humans do. But their situation is extremely different, and they can’t just opt for an iron rich diet. So where does their iron come from ? Pyrite, or fool’s gold (as it is sometimes called) is a
Amazingly long fish filmed
Mark Benfield from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge was undertaking a survey when he spotted this amazing oarfish at about 10 meters long. The fish is one of the longest in the world, and it’s general aspect resembles that of a serpent, so it’s possible it lies at the basis of some sea serpent myths. Professor Benfield explains how they