A new artificial intelligence framework helps turn long-running multispectral satellite records into hyperspectral ocean color data, opening the door to longer and more detailed studies of marine ecosystems.

A single-celled predator maintains stolen chloroplasts with its own proteins, linking the host cell and stolen organelles at the molecular level. This process, now supported by biochemical evidence, may offer clues to early steps in the evolution of plant cells.

A new open-access special issue of the journal ZooKeys has been published, detailing the discovery of 24 new deep-sea amphipod species and a rare new superfamily from the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone. This publication is the result of a collaboration led by the University of Lodz and the National Oceanography Centre, marking a major milestone in the global effort to describe 1,000 new species by 2030.

A new study by UW–Madison geoscientists, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the obliquity cycle — a 40,000-year astronomical cycle tied to changes in Earth’s axial tilt — influenced ocean productivity in subtropical latitudes about 34 million years ago when the Antarctic ice sheet was first expanding.

Welcome aboard: Last Friday (20 March 2026) Hajo Eicken officially assumed office as the new Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven (AWI). Previously, he spent almost three decades researching at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks in various scientific positions. For the past eleven years, Hajo Eicken headed up the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) there. "I am very excited about my new role. When I told my American colleagues about my move, the reaction was mostly the same: everyone was happy for me, because the AWI is known worldwide for its impressive research."

A major UN conference on migratory species opens today in Brazil amid new reports that almost half (49%) of all species with protection under the Convention on Migratory Species have negative population trends, and nearly one in four are threatened with extinction due to a combination of overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and invasive species.

New programme offering fifteen fully funded scholarships to drive island talent and support population

Australia's environment experienced above average conditions for the fifth consecutive year in 2025, but climate change continues to inflict “serious and accelerating damage” on marine ecosystems while driving more species toward extinction, according to the 2025 Australia’s Environment Report, led by The Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with TERN. 

The report found the number of species listed as threatened under federal law has grown to 2,175 – a 54 per cent increase since 2000, with 39 new listings in 2025. 

Prolonged exposure to microplastics can disrupt vital physiological processes in gorgonians, such as respiration. Although these pollutants do not cause visible damage to tissues and cells, their effects could have an ecological impact on these organisms that structure the seabed, particularly if exposure continues over time occurs alongside other environmental pressures, such as ocean warming, habitat degradation or the growing accumulation of plastics in the marine environment.