ocean

How dead stuff at the bottom of the ocean helps slow the pace of climate change

5:48pm November 06, 2024

by Lauren Sommer

The oceans play a big role in preventing the Earth from getting even hotter due to climate change. That's thanks to the ocean's natural waste recycling system, a process that's still mysterious.

Queue Listen Now

Florida reefs are in trouble. Could the answer lie in coral from the Caribbean?

5:30am June 22, 2024

by Jenny Staletovich

Scientists working to save Florida’s ailing reef hope Caribbean coral thriving in hotter water could bring some relief.

FILE - Fish swim near some bleached coral at Kisite Mpunguti Marine park, Kenya, June 11, 2022. For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty on Saturday, March 4, 2023, to protect biodiversity in the high seas — nearly half the planet's surface.

A treaty to protect the world's oceans has been agreed after a decade of talks

3:25am March 05, 2023

by The Associated Press

For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas.

A fisherman sails with his son in an outrigger. They live in a village on the Willaumez Peninsula on New Britain Island, Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea.

Science
Arts

A photographer marries the worlds above and below the water in a single frame

12:22pm October 25, 2021

by Cathy Newman

Photographer David Doubilet first dove below the surface at age 8 and has spent a lifetime making underwater images. He talks to NPR about his new book: Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea.

The scientists tagged great white sharks during the fall and hoped they would arrive in the offshore area during their visit.

Great White Sharks Have A Secret 'Cafe,' And They Led Scientists Right To It

5:02am May 28, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

These sharks have a hidden life that's becoming a lot less hidden, thanks to a scientific expedition that was years in the making.

Queue Listen Now

Oysters, shown out of their shell, collect tiny plastic particles while in the water. These microplastics can eventually make their way into your dinner.

Guess What's Showing Up In Our Shellfish? One Word: Plastics

11:19am September 19, 2017

by Ken Christensen

Scientists predict that plastic in the ocean will eventually outweigh the fish there. Where is it all coming from? And is it making our food unsafe? Researchers are trying to find the answers.

Marine ecologist Neil Hammerschlag says he can sometimes identify sharks like Emma (pictured) by the way they move. "It's pretty cool to be able to jump in the water and say, 'Hey look, there's Emma the tiger shark!' "

A Marine Ecologist On Swimming With Sharks And What 'Jaws' Got Wrong

6:17pm July 14, 2016

Neil Hammerschlag has looked inside the mouth of a wild tiger shark and lived to tell the tale. He says that sharks pose only a very small risk to people: "Humans are not on the shark's menu."

Queue Listen Now

Kala Tanaka marks "stays" at the front of the canoe so they can go back in the same place after the mast is taken down to fit under the George Washington Bridge. The garlands of ti leaves, a Hawaiian tradition, were placed on the Hokule'a by well-wishers.

Hokule'a, The Hawaiian Canoe Traveling The World By A Map Of The Stars

9:37am May 27, 2016

by Sara Kehaulani Goo

A voyaging canoe built to revive the centuries-old tradition of Hawaiian exploration is circumnavigating the globe. Its crew has already traveled 26,000 miles navigating with the sun, stars and waves.

Queue Listen Now

A fisherman collects water on a beach littered with trash at an ecological reserve south of Manila in 2013.

8 Million Tons Of Plastic Clutter Our Seas

3:13pm February 20, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

A scientist estimating the weight of candy wrappers, bags, bottles, syringes and other plastic trash in the world's water sees a synthetic tsunami. Should China and India create more landfills?

Queue Listen Now