Michael Philben
Who benefits from more CO2? Harmful algae.
Climate change will produce both winners and losers, but we might not like who ends up winning! New research shows that toxic cyanobacteria can rapidly adapt to increasing CO2 concentrations and outcompete other more desirable types of algae. Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am […]
Do coral reefs help fight climate change?
Coral reefs are called the rainforests of the sea for their stunning biodiversity. But can they, like forests on land, absorb CO2 and help reduce global warming? Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am now a postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I research the […]
The Dirty Blizzard: how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill reached the seafloor
Oil floats on water, yet oil spills are still devastating for marine life living on the seafloor. How does it get there? A new study shows that it can hitch a ride on sinking particles during an algae bloom, turning marine snow into a “dirty blizzard”. Read on to find out more! Michael PhilbenI recently […]
Why iron fertilization hasn’t worked
Fertilizing the ocean with iron to help algae store more carbon in the deep sea was once heralded as a solution for global warming. But decades of research has suggested it doesn’t work as advertised. What went wrong? Read on to find out! Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University […]
Dust detectives: tracing the origins of Antarctic ice core debris
Tiny dust particles punch above their weight by delivering nutrients to remote ecosystems. A new study uses the chemical fingerprint of dust particles to retrace their origins and how this important process has changed over the last 800,000 years. Read on to learn more! Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the […]
Manipulating ship wakes to reflect light could help fight climate change
The tiny bubbles produced by ship’s wakes reflect light and cool the planet. Could they be manipulated to counteract global warming? Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am now a postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I research the effects of climate change on soil […]
A cloudy future for climate engineering
Pumping reflective aerosols into the atmosphere may hold promise for cooling the climate. But once we start, we won’t be able to stop. Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am now a postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I research the effects of climate change […]
Was the California drought the worst in history?
California has seen longer droughts and drier years in the past, but a new reconstruction shows that 2012-2015 was the driest 4-year period in the last 2000 years. Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am now a postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I research […]
How we broke radiocarbon dating
CO2 from fossil fuel burning doesn’t contain C-14. That’s bad news for the future of radiocarbon dating. Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and am now a postdoc at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I research the effects of climate change on soil organic matter in boreal […]
Oil spill first responders: how tiny algae cultivate oil-degrading bacteria
After an oil spill, millions of oil-degrading bacteria are on the scene almost immediately. But how do they survive in regions with no oil pollution? A new study shows that tiny cyanobacteria produce enough oil to maintain a small population of oil-degraders, capable of rapidly multiplying in response to the sudden influx of oil from […]
Estimating carbon sequestration from plankton poop
Copepod fecal pellets—plankton poop—transport carbon from the ocean surface to the deep where it is stored for thousands of years. A new study presents a framework for scaling up our understanding of this process from observations of single organisms to the global ocean. Michael PhilbenI recently completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University […]
Microbes foil attempts to increase deep ocean carbon sequestration
Most carbon emitted to the atmosphere ends up in the ocean, much of it in organic molecules. While most is quickly respired back to CO2, a fraction is transformed by microbes to apparently stable compounds that persist in the ocean for centuries. Could we manipulate the microbial community to hold even more? A new study […]
by oceanbites 4 days ago
Being on a research cruise is a unique experience with the open water, 12-hour working shifts, and close quarters, but there are some familiar practices too. Here Diana is filtering seawater to gather chlorophyll for analysis, the same process on- by oceanbites 1 month ago
This week for #WriterWednesday on #oceanbites we are featuring Hannah Collins @hannahh_irene Hannah works with marine suspension feeding bivalves and microplastics, investigating whether ingesting microplastics causes changes to the gut microbial community or gut tissues. She hopes to keep working - by oceanbites 2 months ago
Leveling up - did you know that crabs have a larval phase? These are both porcelain crabs, but the one on the right is the earlier stage. It’s massive spine makes it both difficult to eat and quite conspicuous in - by oceanbites 2 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday on #Oceanbites we are featuring Cierra Braga. Cierra works ultraviolet c (UVC) to discover how this light can be used to combat biofouling, or the growth of living things, on the hulls of ships. Here, you - by oceanbites 2 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday at #Oceanbites we are featuring Elena Gadoutsis @haysailor These photos feature her “favorite marine research so far: From surveying tropical coral reefs, photographing dolphins and whales, and growing my own algae to expose it to different - by oceanbites 3 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday on Oceanbites we are featuring Eliza Oldach. According to Ellie, “I study coastal communities, and try to understand the policies and decisions and interactions and adaptations that communities use to navigate an ever-changing world. Most of - by oceanbites 3 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday at #Oceanbites we are featuring Jiwoon Park with a little photographic help from Ryan Tabata at the University of Hawaii. When asked about her research, Jiwoon wrote “Just like we need vitamins and minerals to stay - by oceanbites 3 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday on #Oceanbites we are featuring @riley_henning According to Riley, ”I am interested in studying small things that make a big impact in the ocean. Right now for my master's research at the University of San Diego, - by oceanbites 3 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday at #Oceanbites we are featuring Gabby Stedman. Gabby is interested in interested in understanding how many species of small-bodied animals there are in the deep-sea and where they live so we can better protect them from - by oceanbites 4 months ago
This week for #WriterWednesday at #Oceanbites we are featuring Shawn Wang! Shawn is “an oceanographer that studies ocean conditions of the past. I use everything from microfossils to complex computer models to understand how climate has changed in the past - by oceanbites 4 months ago
Today we are highlighting some of our awesome new authors for #WriterWednesday Today we have Daniel Speer! He says, “I am driven to investigate the interface of biology, chemistry, and physics, asking questions about how organisms or biological systems respond - by oceanbites 5 months ago
Here at Oceanbites we love long-term datasets. So much happens in the ocean that sometimes it can be hard to tell if a trend is a part of a natural cycle or actually an anomaly, but as we gather more - by oceanbites 5 months ago
Have you ever seen a lobster molt? Because lobsters have exoskeletons, every time they grow they have to climb out of their old shell, leaving them soft and vulnerable for a few days until their new shell hardens. Young, small - by oceanbites 6 months ago
A lot of zooplankton are translucent, making it much easier to hide from predators. This juvenile mantis shrimp was almost impossible to spot floating in the water, but under a dissecting scope it’s features really come into view. See the - by oceanbites 6 months ago
This is a clump of Dead Man’s Fingers, scientific name Codium fragile. It’s native to the Pacific Ocean and is invasive where I found it on the east coast of the US. It’s a bit velvety, and the coolest thing - by oceanbites 7 months ago
You’ve probably heard of jellyfish, but have you heard of salps? These gelatinous sea creatures band together to form long chains, but they can also fall apart and will wash up onshore like tiny gemstones that squish. Have you seen - by oceanbites 7 months ago
Check out what’s happening on a cool summer research cruise! On the #neslter summer transect cruise, we deployed a tow sled called the In Situ Icthyoplankton Imaging System. This can take pictures of gelatinous zooplankton (like jellyfish) that would be - by oceanbites 8 months ago
Did you know horseshoe crabs have more than just two eyes? In these juveniles you can see another set in the middle of the shell. Check out our website to learn about some awesome horseshoe crab research. #oceanbites #plankton #horseshoecrabs - by oceanbites 8 months ago
Feeling a bit flattened by the week? So are these summer flounder larvae. Fun fact: flounder larvae start out with their eyes set like normal fish, but as they grow one of their eyes migrates to meet the other and - by oceanbites 8 months ago
Have you seen a remote working setup like this? This is a photo from one of our Oceanbites team members Anne Hartwell. “A view from inside the control can of an underwater robot we used to explore the deep parts
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