Scientists, led by a student intern at Bigelow Laboratory, have published new research on how sea stars from both coasts are accumulating — and physiologically reacting to — the potent, algae-derived neurotoxin domoic acid.

Underwater optical imaging plays an irreplaceable role in fields such as marine exploration, resource development, environmental monitoring, and underwater archaeology. However in the underwater environment, light is affected by scattering and absorption, which not only leads to blurred image details and reduced contrast, but also severely limits the imaging range, and further makes it difficult for traditional technologies to acquire scene depth information. Since underwater scattered light inherently exhibits partial polarization characteristics, polarization technology can separate the target light and reflected light by analyzing the polarization state of light, thereby effectively suppressing the scattering effect of turbid water. Nevertheless, existing polarization underwater imaging methods mostly focus on "enhancing image clarity" and neglect the hidden depth cues in polarization images. Although binocular imaging is suitable for underwater 3D perception due to its simple hardware and low energy consumption, in turbid water, objects with low texture are prone to failure in feature point matching, resulting in wrong depth information. To address this, this study focus on the depth cues contained in underwater polarization imaging, integrates polarization features into the binocular imaging framework, and improves the accuracy and stability of depth estimation in turbid water, filling the research gap of polarization in underwater three-dimensional imaging utilizing polarization imaging technology.

Climate change is causing the oceans to become notably more acidic. This could become a problem for sharks, as a team of biologists headed by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has discovered. In the scientific journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the research team describes that a more acidic environment weakens the teeth of sharks, causing them to break more easily, which in turn causes the predators to lose their bite.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in conjunction with the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office (E2O); the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment; Aerostar; and Lockheed Martin conducted a technical demonstration held at Outlying Landing Field Seagle in Twentynine Palms, California, May 19-21, aiming to develop a technology for Navy vessels to "see over the horizon" using a combination of stratospheric high-altitude balloons (HABs) and unmanned aircraft, both included novel energy solutions.

An international team of scientists led by microbiologists Marc Mussmann and Alexander Loy from the University of Vienna has discovered a new microbial metabolism: so-called MISO bacteria "breathe" iron minerals by oxidizing toxic sulfide. The researchers found that the reaction between toxic hydrogen sulfide and solid iron minerals is not only a chemical process, but also a previously unknown biological process in which versatile microbes in marine sediments and terrestrial wetlands remove toxic sulfide and use it for their growth. These bacteria could prevent the spread of oxygen-free "dead zones" in aquatic environments. The findings have now been published in Nature.

Researchers studied a population of endangered whale sharks in the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesian Papua over a period of 13 years. In total, they observed 268 unique individuals, almost exclusively young males. 77% had visible scars or injuries from human-made causes such as rubbing against fishing platforms or boats. Only 17.7% had serious injuries like amputations or lacerations from boat propellers. Simple modifications to fishing platforms and boats should be effective in protecting local whale sharks from injury or scarring.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) offer a self-sustaining power solution for marine regions abundant in resources but constrained by energy availability. Since their pioneering use in wave energy harvesting in 2014, nearly a decade of advancements has yielded nearly thousands of research articles in this domain. Researchers have developed various TENG device structures with diverse functionalities to facilitate their commercial deployment. Nonetheless, there is a gap in comprehensive summaries and performance evaluations of TENG structural designs. This paper delineates six innovative structural designs, focusing on enhancing internal device output and adapting to external environments: high space utilization, hybrid generator, mechanical gain, broadband response, multi-directional operation, and hybrid energy-harvesting systems. We summarize the prevailing trends in device structure design identified by the research community. Furthermore, we conduct a meticulous comparison of the electrical performance of these devices under motorized, simulated wave, and real marine conditions, while also assessing their sustainability in terms of device durability and mechanical robustness. In conclusion, the paper outlines future research avenues and discusses the obstacles encountered in the TENG field. This review aims to offer valuable perspectives for ongoing research and to advance the progress and application of TENG technology.

A leading cause of a rising pH value in the world’s oceans is human CO2 emission. As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere and absorbed by the oceans, the water becomes more acidic. This poses problems for many organisms – including sharks, a new study showed. Scientists incubated shark teeth in water with pH levels that reflect the current ocean pH, and in water with a pH value that oceans are predicted to reach by 2300. In the more acidic water of the simulated scenario, shark teeth, including roots and crowns, were significantly more damaged. This shows how global changes reach all the way to the microstructure of sharks’ teeth, the researchers said.

Research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirms that fossilized marine invertebrates serve as a powerful tool for understanding long-term ecological change and informing modern conservation efforts.