|
May 30 2012 - 11:45am
Hermit crabs, like this one collected in Moorea, usually protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens from predators by reusing empty snail shells. They are picky home owners and they will trade shells with other crabs to get a better fit or a less damaged shell. This specimen shows the crab...
|
Jul 9 2012 - 12:16pm
How do you make science sing? Just ask a couple of female scientists to sing about their research interests and their passion is quickly conveyed in a quirky little tune. Informative, inspiring, and a little bit silly are all adjectives that aptly describe this music video performed and produced by...
|
|
Jul 15 2011 - 4:51pm
"Inside the Open Ocean: Blue Water Diving" produced by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), describes a specialized diving technique that lets biologists study the ocean's most fragile beings--soft, transparent animals such as jellyfish that are crushed by traditional tools such as plankton...
|
May 10 2010 - 6:22pm
Students in Monterey Bay share a microscope to get a closer look at plankton samples from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Stephen Cairns is a research zoologist and chair of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on the diversity, distribution, and evolution of deep-water corals—both fossil and living. Learn all about deep sea corals in...
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Researchers use Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) like this one to study the diversity of coral reef organisms. They leave the structures underwater for about a year. Then they retrieve the ARMS and analyze what life forms have taken up residence. Read more about why researchers are...
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Scripps scientist Gerald Kooyman's expeditions have documented climate-induced changes to emperor penguin habitat in Antarctica. Learn more about life at the poles or check out this emperor penguin chick with mother.
|
Jul 27 2011 - 9:14am
J.
|
|
Mar 8 2012 - 3:49pm
A reconstruction of a new fossil beluga relative, Bohaskaia monodontoides, described by Smithsonian scientists, is in the foreground. Its living relatives, the beluga and narwhal, are illustrated left to right in the background. The coloration of the extinct whale is speculative.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
The long silver tool shown here is a piece of traditional Australian fishing gear called a “yabbie pump.” Researchers use the device to collect burrowing shrimp and other fast-moving animals from the shallow waters near the island of Moorea. Learn more in our Scientists Catalog Life on the...
|
|
Jan 10 2011 - 12:55pm
Using a drill, a team removes a chunk from the thick Arctic ice. Small samples are taken from where the ice meets liquid seawater. The ice is then melted for analysis.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Karen L. McKee collects a peat core in a mangrove forest in Belize. It will help her reconstruct how mangroves have changed over the past 8,000 years. Dr. McKee’s research has shown that when mangroves are removed, islands begin to sink and erode. More about mangroves can be found in our...
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Claude Payri, a researcher working on the Moorea Biocode Project, collects samples on the reef slope of Moorea, French Polynesia. More about the Island of Moorea can be found in our Scientists Catalog Life on the Island of Moorea section.
|
Dec 8 2009 - 10:57pm
The Chikyu allows scientists to gather and study data about seafloor sediments as soon as they are collected. After a powerful 9.0 earthquake triggered a devestating tsunami in Japan in March 2011, Japanese officials decided to use the Chikyu to explore the underwater fault zone.
|
|
Mar 12 2013 - 2:40pm
With 1,400 named species of ribbon worms inhabiting every ecosystem on earth, seeking one out should be an easy proposition. But I quickly learned that it can be quite daunting when you’re looking for certain teeny-tiny mud-loving worms. I recently accompanied Dr. Jon Norenburg and postdoctoral...
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Fargo, the dog pictured here, is not just having a nice day at sea. He is helping researchers at the New England Aquarium in Boston detect scat (or poop) from North Atlantic right whales. The dogs find about four times more whale poop with their scent detection than the researchers would using...
|
|
Jul 27 2011 - 11:49am
Nine years ago I was invited by a colleague to join a research team investigating deep-sea coral habitats. I was asked to examine the invertebrates associated with these ecosystems. After my first look, I was hooked! I was fascinated by the sheer beauty and complexity of these deep-sea environments...
|
Jan 4 2011 - 5:15pm
Marine biologist Mette Kaufman measures the temperature of a recently-drilled ice core. Variations in temperature at different points of the ice core provide information about the living conditions of the various organisms that live in the Arctic ice.
|
|
Jul 15 2011 - 5:00pm
"Cold-Water Diving: Going to Extremes for Research" is a video produced by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) that shows the focus needed to do scientific work in cold water. The gear is bulkier and heavier, cold affects dexterity and capacity, and dives must be shorter yet still get the...
|
Jul 27 2011 - 11:43am
Off the coast of North Carolina, Dr. Martha Nizinski and Johnson Sea Link pilot Phil Santos descend through the water column toward the target site. During this dive, Nizinski will observe and record the diversity of invertebrates found on, in, and around deep-sea corals. Video, photos, and...
|
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
At the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Dr. Wayne Sousa (right) studies how gaps in the canopy caused by lightning help mangrove forests regenerate. More about mangroves can be found in our Mangroves featured story.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Alvin, a human occupied vehicle (HOV), returns to the ship after a deep ocean dive to a seamount.
|
|
Apr 26 2013 - 9:47am
At Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, Dr. Candy Feller explains her research on the effect of excess nutrients on mangrove swamps. Feller runs the Animal-Plant Interaction Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
|
Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am
Dr. Valerie Paul is studying chemical defenses that may protect coral reefs from many species of herbivores that live on coral reefs. In this picture she is examining tropical seaweeds on northwestern Guam’s coral reefs. Dr. Paul is the director of the Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) at Fort...
|
