A new Science study warns that if temperatures rise to 2.7°C by 2100, only 24% of glacier mass would remain, contributing over nine inches to sea-level rise. Even with no further warming, 39% of glaciers are projected to vanish. However, if global targets like the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal are met, more than half of that loss could be avoided. The findings highlight what’s at stake for water, coastlines, and ecosystems in the UN’s International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.

A new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals that the aerobic nitrogen cycle in the ocean may have occurred about 100 million years before oxygen began to significantly accumulate in the atmosphere, based on nitrogen isotope analysis from ancient South African rock cores.

These findings not only refine the timeline of Earth’s oxygenation but also highlight a critical evolutionary shift, where life began adapting to oxygen-rich conditions—paving the way for the emergence of complex, multicellular organisms like humans.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have identified a previously unknown species of unicellular organism in seawater collected near Hachijojima Island. The newly discovered species, named Viscidocauda repens, belongs to the protist group Endomyxa and is notable for possessing a persistent flagellum—marking the first recorded instance of such a flagellate within this group.

When a tourist boat left port in the spring of 2024, passengers probably didn’t expect to bear witness to a rare scene where sharks of two species that usually don’t occupy the same habitats flocked to a heavily decayed carcass and fed peacefully for a day. The sharks didn’t exhibit any aggressive behavior towards each other, or the tourist operators and photographers who observed the event. This kind of observation can help scientists better understand inter-species relations and social interactions between some of the oceans’ biggest hunters.

A survey of Oman's marine waters has revealed over 100 species of ribbon worms (Nemertea), marking the first systematic study of these marine predators in Arabian waters.

Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a study conducted by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University of British Columbia. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable insight into the marine ecology of the time. 

Support from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Shot Research Grant program will enable an interdisciplinary team to advance a creative approach combining robotics, imaging, and genetic analysis to illuminate the world of deep-ocean animals.