Ocean

Lately we're seeing how sophisticated, ocean-going robots might help us map the seafloor, and one particularly interesting example has just successfully proved its mapping capabilities during its maiden voyage between San Francisco and Hawaii.

This new buoyancy energy storage system harnesses a powerful force familiar to anyone who's tried to hold a beach ball underwater, and it could offer grid-scale energy storage cheaper than batteries – as well as super-cheap hydrogen compression.

There are still plenty of utterly alien creatures left to find on Earth. Now a brand new horror has emerged from the depths of the ocean – meet Ophiojura, a “totally unique” type of animal with arms covered in hooks and eight sets of toothy jaws.

Though some folks chase storms for thrills or curiosity, there are also those who do so for scientific purposes. And it's the lattermost pursuit that will see a small fleet of unmanned surface vehicles deliberately head into hurricane territory.

The problem of microplastics pollution is getting worse, so it's important to monitor the amount of such plastic waste currently present in the world's oceans. According to a new study, a simple sea creature may better allow scientists to do so.

Scientists have predicted the presence and movement of ocean currents in the vast subsurface ocean of Enceladus. The moon, which is sheathed in a 20 km thick shell of ice, is one of the most promising prospects in the search for ET.

Geologists have discovered a new type of rock. While drilling deep into the seafloor, a team of scientists found a new form of basalt vastly different from any other on Earth, and the planet hasn’t produced any more of it for millions of years.

Just like a tree trunk, the tusk of the narwhal acquires a new growth ring every year. Analyses of those rings have now revealed some interesting facts about the animals' diet, and about changes in their environment.

When it's determined that a boater is officially missing at sea, it helps very much to know when and where their vessel sank. According to new research, barnacles growing on flotsam could provide that information.

When we hear about microplastic particles polluting the ocean, the usual suspected sources are degraded plastic goods and synthetic textile fibers. A new study, however, suggests that much of the blame lies with hull coatings on ships.

If you were a marine animal that just sat and waited for food to drift by, you might not choose to live in a place where little life is believed to exist. Nonetheless, such critters have recently been found deep beneath an Antarctic ice shelf.

Home to oceans of liquid methane, Saturn’s moon Titan is one of the most fascinating bodies in the solar system. Now scientists have used radar to probe the depth of its largest sea, Kraken Mare, and estimated it to be at least 300 m deep.