Biology Chemistry Coastal Management
Whale earwax: a hearing aid & time capsule
How is whale earwax essential to whales, and how can it help whale conservation? Read more to find out!
Fisheries Methodology ocean engineering
Echoes in the deep: Robots with fish finders
You might call it the Batmobile of the sea: Scientists put sound based fish finders into an underwater robot to…
Book Review
Ringing in the New Year
Join us as we "Ring in the New Year" with a series of posts about sound in the ocean. Learn…
Conservation Science Communication
Blue New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions are a great way to work towards being the person you want to be. This year, why…
Chemistry
Please Pass the Plastic
Tiny shards and fibers of plastic termed “microplastics” accumulate in seafood with unknown consequences for human health. Now, they’re turning…
Climate Change Glaciers
Global Consequences of Melting the Pine Island Glacier
Melting Antarctic glaciers have major consequences on global climate. In this study, climate simulations reveal a seesaw like behavior where…
Biology Evolution Natural History
How to See Through a Shell
You may never have heard of this funny little ocean creature, but the chiton is pretty incredible. Why? It has…
Biology Book Review Ecology Evolution
Cuttlefish “freeze-out” their predators
Cephalopods such as cuttlefish are known to use camouflage behavior to avoid being eaten. Sharks are able to find disguised…
Archaeology Methodology
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.
Biology Book Review Conservation Fisheries
Mystery Solved: Insight into the Eel Migration
Article: Béguer-Pon, M., M. Casonguay, S. Shan, J. Benchetrit, and J.J. Dodson. 2015. Direct observations of American eels migrating across…
Climate Change Coastal Management Conservation Human impacts Seagrass
Seagrass, Disturbance, and the Blue Carbon Cycle
Seagrass beds bury carbon incredibly well! What happens to that carbon when you uproot, plow through, or otherwise disturb seagrasses?…
Ecology
Predator vs. Prey: starfish vs. coral
The crown-of-thorns starfish has become a vicious predator of acroporid corals in the Indo-Pacific. This study looks at recruitment strategies…
Ecology
Kelp: It’s whats for dinner (or where you live)
Kelp is a kind of large algae that supports diverse ecosystems. These kelp forests may start receding as a result…
Biogeochemistry
Sailing the Southern Ocean for science
Hear about my adventures living on an icebreaker on the Southern Ocean, deploying ocean robots to understand the chemistry and…
Science Communication
Why I want to talk about science with you
I’ve been a writer here at Oceanbites for about a year, but now it’s time for me to hang up…
Sea Ice
How thick is polar ice?
Based on a simple theory, the authors of this study are able to make a prediction about the distribution of…
Behavior
I, Spy – Eye stripes and spots work together to distract predators
Eyespots and eye stripes are common markings on fish bodies. It is thought that they divert predator attacks away from…
Fisheries
Captain’s Log: Hunting for Data in an Era Gone By
Sometimes scientists of the past didn't plan their projects too well, but we can still dig up their records and…
Biology Climate Change Sea Ice
A Career in Marine Mammal Acoustics and the Arctic
This week, I interviewed Joshua Jones, a Ph.D. student in biological oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The focus…
Climate Change Natural History
Evaporating History
More is better, especially when it comes to dissecting the past. A single proxy may be sensitive to various factors…