The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected Mississippi State University to host its new Cooperative Institute in the Northern Gulf of America, an award valued at up to $100 million over five years.

Michael Twardowski, Ph.D., an internationally recognized expert in optical oceanography and marine sensing technologies, has been named the Edwin A. Link Ocean Technology and Defense Endowed Professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. 

Tiny plantlike organisms called phytoplankton that form the base of marine food webs topped by orcas, whales, and sharks usually get eaten or slowly sink to the seafloor, carrying carbon as they go. 

Across most of the ocean, the descent from sunlit surface layers takes weeks. But in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea, scientists have found that a convergence of currents pushes phytoplankton from under the ice to the seafloor at four times the usual speed. 

Two new papers led by researchers in the lab of Stanford biological oceanographer Kevin Arrigo detail this unusual descent and reveal that blooms of phytoplankton, which use energy from the sun to grow, can be 10 times denser in the darker waters below thick sea ice than out in the open water.

UBC-led research uncovered tiny marine spiders that suck the juice out of jellyfish and other hydroids, helping fill gaps in our understanding of coastal biodiversity

Plesiosaurs swam into river deltas to vomit up shells and other indigestible elements of their marine meals, suggests new research published by Cambridge University Press. The behaviour resembles that of today’s fur seals and marine crocodiles.

While the Discovery Channel's annual shark week event has given the public more familiarity with the species, there is much about sharks—from their mysterious love lives to how their eating habits bring them into conflict with recreational anglers—that remains a mystery to scientists. Now, two new studies led by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst peer into these important aspects of shark biology to help guide real-world conservation strategies.

Seawater zinc-air batteries (SZAB) could provide safe, high-energy power for marine applications, but Cl⁻ in seawater can poison the catalysts that drive oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Researchers from Hainan University and collaborators designed an FeSn dual-single-atom catalysts (FeSn-DSACs) in which Sn neighbors tune Fe active sites through p-d orbital hybridization. The catalyst simultaneously accelerates ORR and suppresses Cl⁻ adsorption and corrosion. In SZAB, it delivered a peak power density of 255.6 mW cm⁻² and operated for more than 500 h, offering a design strategy for durable seawater ORR catalysis.

A new study in Macao reveals that stormwater drains carry significant microplastic pollution into coastal waters. Concentrations reached over 53 particles per litre, with hazardous polymers like PVC posing high ecological risks. The research highlights how land use and rainfall drive this pollution pathway in subtropical coastal cities.

Smoke from African agricultural fires brightens clouds over the southeast Atlantic—but new research from scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science shows that the same weather pattern carrying the smoke also thins and reduces cloud cover, effectively offsetting its cooling effect.