The Polar Discovery team has documented science in action from pole to pole during the historic 2007-2009 International Polar Year, and covered five scientific expeditions. The science projects explored a range of topics from climate change and glaciers, to Earth’s geology, biology, ocean chemistry, circulation, and technology at the icy ends of the earth. Through photo essays and other multimedia, they explain how scientists collected data and what they discovered about the rapidly changing polar regions. From the awesome folks at WHOI.
posted by netbros on Nov 9, 2009 - 4 comments

The amazing story of the coelacanth is one of the wonders of the living world that inspires marine biologists such myself. Coelacanths, part of the offshoot lineage of fishes known as "lobed finned ", are very different from typical "ray finned" fishes that you usually think of. Their bizarre lobed fins are thought to be an intermediate step between fish fins and amphibian legs. Scientists had known that these weird fish existed because of fossils for over a century, but we believed that they went extinct 65 million years ago... until a South African fisherman caught one in 1938. [more inside]
posted by WhySharksMatter on Sep 7, 2009 - 49 comments

Most people have heard about how rising CO2 levels are resulting in a changing global climate. Fewer have heard about the other consequence of rising CO2 levels- when the CO2 is absorbed into the oceans, it disassociates into carbonic acid. This alters the pH of our world's oceans, and it's called "Ocean Acidification". This changing ocean chemistry has many important and devastating consequences. [more inside]
posted by WhySharksMatter on Sep 5, 2009 - 21 comments

By popular demand, your new resident marine biology nerd has compiled some cool information about the Giant Pacific Octopus.The Giant Pacific Octopus (Octopus dofleini) is one of the strangest animals in the sea- and one of the smartest. Though it is commonly believed that vertebrates are always "smarter" than invertebrates, these guys defy that convention. As this video shows, they are able to easily open jars and retrieve food from inside. They are also, as the "Giant" implies, enormous- the biggest one on record was 30 feet across (according to National Geographic) [more inside]
posted by WhySharksMatter on Jul 6, 2009 - 140 comments

The musical number of "Leroy, The Uninterrupted Lobster," and the science of aging lobsters.
posted by Del Far on Apr 7, 2008 - 10 comments

What are nudibranchs? Jewels of the sea. Page after page of photographs of these squishy hermaphrodites.
posted by Gator on Mar 10, 2006 - 20 comments

The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region is under the ocean, off the coast of Massachusetts. For 11 years geologist Paul Valentine has been mapping this area. Sea floor maps are available. Also, there are many images of features such as glacial valleys and moraines. Other photographs show underwater life.
posted by pyramid termite on Jul 23, 2005 - 1 comment

To the Lost City. Researchers at the University of Washington discovered an undersea hydrothermal vent field that promises new information about the origins of life. A monthlong research trip in 2003, documented online, yielded results that have just now been published in Science (subscribers only, sorry). The UW's Lost City site has much of interest, including an online journal from the excursion; pictures and video are also available here and here.
posted by jeffmshaw on Mar 18, 2005 - 1 comment

Sea And Sky:
Sea news, sky news, great photos, NASA Mission Insignia Patches (including Skylab), info about deep sea creatures, exploration timelines, and tonnes more.
posted by Fabulon7 on Nov 5, 2002 - 5 comments