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.

In a new study, cats and dogs showed a short-term preference for kibble containing some protein derived from microorganisms over kibble containing only standard, animal-derived protein. Ally Motta de Matos and A.L.B. Cruz of MicroHarvest—a European company that produces protein ingredients through fermentation, with pet food as its first market—present these findings in the open access journal PLOS One on September 23, 2026.

A new study shows that fish swimming in schools can avoid danger just by seeing their neighbors escape. UC San Diego researchers studied how individuals identify their social partners’ actions by imaging the brain activity of translucent glassfish swimming in a virtual reality environment.

A landmark study, the largest combined bat genome and fossil study ever undertaken, finds that bats most likely originated in Europe around 65 million years ago, before spreading across the world. The work also reveals that echolocation, like flight, evolved near the dawn of bat evolution, and lays the groundwork for research into the genetic basis of bats' exceptional longevity and disease resistance, with potential relevance to human health.

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