Researchers have created an aquatic soft robot inspired by marine invertebrates called feather stars. The feather star robot is able to move through the water in all three dimensions, powered by only two actuators.

Some of the giant marine reptiles that ruled the seas during the age of dinosaurs were better built for surprise attacks, while their relatives were better suited to chasing prey through open water, according to a Rutgers-led study.

These animals, known as mosasaurs, were a group of lizards adapted to life in the ocean. Researchers reconstructed the bodies of four kinds of mosasaurs from their fossil skeletons, then applied principles of physics to estimate how quickly each could surge forward with a single powerful sweep of its tail. The research was published in the latest edition of Current Biology.

The lasting impact of historical events on New Mexico fire regimes, using sea slugs as ecological ambassadors and more from ESA’s journals.

Coral reefs in Indonesia’s Spermonde Archipelago are under pressure from both natural and anthropogenic activities. Researchers from Hasanuddin University assessed reef conditions across three islands using underwater photography and drone surveys, while also gathering local perspectives on reef conditions and restoration. They found greater live coral cover in clearer waters but limited community readiness to participate in conservation efforts, suggesting that training and institutional support could strengthen local communities’ role in protecting these natural treasures.

A research team led by Prof. QIAN Peiyuan, Chair Professor of the Department of Ocean Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), in collaboration with international partners, has made significant progress in uncovering how deep-sea chemosynthetic symbioses cope with environmental change. The findings reveal that metabolic flexibility in the symbionts, coupled with the host's finely regulated population of bacterial symbionts, mutually sustains the host's energy stability. This provides important in situ evidence of how chemosynthetic holobionts at deep-sea cold seeps remain resilient when energy supplies fluctuate and highlights the key role of a tiered adaptation strategy in sustaining the stability of cold seep ecosystems.

Global study reveals the common ingredients behind conservation success: valuing local knowledge alongside science; community role in decision-making; and management adapting to local social and environmental conditions.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Plymouth (UK) has have produced the first assessment of whether light pollution is posing a threat to 'Good Environmental Status' in our ocean and along out coastlines. The new framework was tested using data available for European waters, with parts of the Adriatic, Baltic, Mediterranean and North seas proving the most likely to be impacted by light pollution.

The size distribution of marine primary organic aerosols, the organic component of sea spray, has been measured for the first time down to 35 nanometres from long-term observations in clean North Atlantic air. It is bimodal, whereas the parameterization in major climate models is unimodal and underestimates particle number threefold. The resulting underestimate in cloud condensation nuclei reaches 16 to 64 per cent at marine supersaturations, assuming 30 per cent lower surface tension.