A restored and carefully managed wetland on the Chinese coast is a much larger carbon sink than a natural marsh nearby. Since 1970, 35% of global wetland habitat has disappeared, largely owing to human activity. Researchers say that wetlands restoration is crucial for both maintaining biodiversity and combating climate change. Jianwu Tang at the Marine
By Courtney Linder For the first time, scientists have sequenced the genome of the ever-curious giant squid, hoping to find answers about the creature’s massive size. The draft genome sequence and supporting research was published today in the scientific journal GigaScience. Through their analysis, the researchers have uncovered hints about how the cephalopod’s brain became
MBL’s Roger Hanlon and Bret Grasse shared their octopus expertise with CBS’s Chip Reid on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” airing Jan. 12. It’s one of the most bizarre creatures on Earth, and not just because it looks so different. The octopus can camouflage itself in a flash; squeeze its entire body through a one-inch hole;
By Veronique Greenwood The cuttlefish hovers in the aquarium, its fins rippling and large, limpid eyes glistening. When a scientist drops a shrimp in, this cousin of the squid and octopus pauses, aims and shoots its tentacles around the prize. There’s just one unusual detail: The diminutive cephalopod is wearing snazzy 3-D glasses. Putting 3-D
By Eve Zuckoff Report for America/WCAI WOODS HOLE, Mass. — As you jog along the curving 3-mile road that leads down to the water on the southernmost tip of Cape Cod, you’ll pass five of the world’s leading marine and environmental institutions. You’ll glimpse the solar arrays and wind turbine of the Woods Hole Research Center,
By Mark Dwortzan On December 3 and 4, Boston University convened a workshop exploring how synthetic biology—the engineering of genetic “circuits” in living cells and organisms to enable them to perform specified tasks—can help address climate change. Participants, who included thought leaders in science, economics, policy and ethics, considered a wide range of complex challenges
Martyna Lukoseviciute shares the story behind her octopus embryo image — which has won several international awards — and the unexpected lessons she has learnt from it. Today I would like to share the multi-layered story behind this beautiful image that I captured, on my birthday, at last summer’s wonderful Embryology Course in the Marine
By Kevin Holden The soaring popularity of CRISPR has enabled researchers to expand biological research beyond mice and study different animal models. In fact, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, hosts a 6-week course in developmental biology every summer where students are now applying CRISPR to understand the biology of animals. We chat with Dr. Erin Jarvis, Research
In November, students from The Hockaday School headed to Woods Hole for our Anatomy and Development of Marine Vertebrates and Invertebrates course.
By Rebecca Pool Using novel epifluorescence imaging developed at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, researchers have unravelled the structure of the microbial communities that coat microplastic trash in the world’s oceans. To study the ‘Plastisphere’ – microscopic communities on plastic marine debris – Linda Amaral-Zettler from MBL and the Royal Netherlands Institute for