Oceans

  1. ocean glider
    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.

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  2. filefish
    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.

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  3. humpback whale bubble net
    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.

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  4. SN 10 illustration
    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.

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  5. tidewater glacier Greenland
    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.

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  6. coral reef environment
    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.

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  7. stalactites
    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.

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  8. Hawaii's Big Island
    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.

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  9. diatom
    Earth

    Ocean acidification could weaken diatoms’ glass houses

    Ocean acidification may lead to smaller, lighter diatoms in seawater, which could also shrink how much carbon the tiny ocean algae can help sequester.

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  10. coral
    Life

    How a newly identified bacterium saps corals of their energy

    A parasitic bacterium that preys on corals quickly reproduces when it senses more nutrients in its host.

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  11. a map showing El Niño over the Pacific Ocean
    Climate

    Climate change may make El Niño and La Niña less predictable

    Atlantic Niñas and Niños have been fairly reliable bellwethers for severe El Niño and La Niña events in the Pacific. A warming world may change that.

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  12. right whales
    Animals

    Southern right whale moms and calves may whisper to evade orcas

    Mother-calf whale pairs call to each other quietly to stay in touch while avoiding attracting the attention of predators, a study suggests.

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