Ocean

Coral bleaching occurs when corals are stressed by high water temperatures and other factors, causing them to expel the symbiotic algae living within them. Given that fact, scientists are now looking into saving reefs by pumping up cool water from the ocean's depths.

On the 400th anniversary of the start of an epic voyage from England to the New World aboard the Mayflower, an autonomous, solar-powered marine research vessel is due to launch on a mission to gather environmental data about the ocean.

Scientists studying more than half a century of data on bottom-dwelling shellfish have uncovered evidence of a feedback loop in which generations of these marine creatures are becoming trapped in warmer areas that threaten their survival.

While we hear a great deal about the huge patches of garbage that are floating on the world's oceans, there's even more trash lying on the seabed. The European Union-funded SeaClear project aims to gather much of it up, using autonomous robots.

Scientists in Australia have turned their attention to what human development means for the world’s marine environments, calculating the extent of our construction footprint on the oceans for the first time ever.

All kinds of fascinating discoveries are waiting in the deep sea. Now scientists have pulled a new monster out of the waters off the Indonesian coast. The creature is a new species of “supergiant” isopod, a huge marine relative of the common pillbug.

It's no secret that the world's coral reefs are dying off at an alarming rate. In order to encourage the growth of the coral that remains, scientists from the University of Hong Kong have developed what are known as "reef tiles."

Decades ago, Arthur C. Clarke envisioned an "underwater telescope" that would allow users to look down from the surface of the ocean, into its inky depths. Well, such a capability has come a step closer to reality, utilizing existing technology.

In what sounds like the opening of a sci-fi movie, scientists have revived microorganisms that have laid dormant for 100 million years. These microbes were found deep beneath the seafloor, where they’ve been slumbering since the age of dinosaurs.

Fabien Cousteau, grandson of famed underwater filmmaker and scuba co-inventor Jacques Cousteau, is planning to build an underwater living habitat and research station three times the size of any ever built, named after the grandson of Poseidon.

For some time now, there have been concerns that microplastic particles eaten by fish could be passed along to human seafood consumers. According to a new study, though, such may not be the case with sea bass, and possibly not with many other fish.

Although cold waters aren't known for their coral reefs, they do contain ecologically important "glass reefs" created by live sponges. Now, scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of sponge living on those reefs, in Canada.