Studying algal cultures and seawater samples from the Southern Ocean off Antarctica, marine biologists have revealed a key cog in the biochemical machinery that allows marine algae at the base of the oceanic food chain to thrive. They have discovered a previously unknown protein in algae that grabs an essential but scarce nutrient out of seawater, vitamin B12....

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Coral reefs and seashores largely look the way they do because large fish and urchins eat most of the seaweed that might otherwise cover them, but a major new study has found that the greatest impact of all comes from an unexpected quarter -- small marine snails....

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A chance discovery of 80-year-old photo plates in a Danish basement is providing new insight into how Greenland glaciers are melting today....

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A majority of California's coastal planners and resource managers now view the threats from climate change as sufficiently likely that practical steps on the ground need to be taken to protect against growing threats, according to results from a new survey....

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Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in how they respond to climate change according to a new study by Simon Fraser University and Australia's University of Tasmania....

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Planning a trip this summer? We hope to inspire you to discover America's great outdoors with this handy map of NOAA sanctuaries and reserves. With activities ranging from diving, hiking, and boating to fishing, picnicking, and birding -- there's something for everybody

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CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of the ocean floor is now being added to the ice mission’s repertoire. The main objective of the polar-orbiting CryoSat is to measure the thickness of polar sea ice and monitor changes in the ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica....

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It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed....

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Biologists have presented the first evidence that areas closed to all fishing are helping to sustain valuable Australian fisheries. The scientists applied a forensic DNA profiling approach to track the dispersal pathways of fish larvae throughout a network of marine reserves on Australia's Great Barrier Reef....

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When critically endangered leatherback turtle hatchlings dig out of their nests, they enter a world filled with threats to survival. Now, Drexel University researchers have found that the climate conditions at the nesting beach affect the early survival of turtle eggs and hatchlings. They predict, based on projections from multiple models, that egg and hatchling survival will drop by half in the next 100 years as a result of global climate change....

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