"Talking to the Animals": Chemical Ecologists Translate the Language of the Sea

If Dr. Doolittle talked to the animals, it's more likely he was a chemical ecologist than a linguist, says scientist Mark Hay of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. At least when it comes to the fauna (and flora) of the sea.

Chemical signals are the primary "language" used by ocean organisms. In an extrasensory perception of the deep, marine animals and plants react to other species, and to their environment, based on these cues...

Earth's Oceans: And Then There Were Six?

The Arctic. The Atlantic. The Indian. The Pacific. The Southern.

The African?

Earth's sixth ocean may be in the process of forming—not in eons, but in less than a week...

Seashells, Not Diamonds, A Long-Ago "Girl's Best Friend"

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, or so the saying goes.

The number of carats a diamond or other precious gem contains is a status symbol in today's world. Our jewelry, our clothes, our cars. All advertise our resources, and, perhaps, our social allegiances...

We Are Stardust, We are Golden, Our Hearts Are Billion-Year-Old Carbon

Stardust, and affairs of the heart. Musicians sing of them. Poets write of them. But what do stardust and the human heart actually have in common?

Geologist Nick Petford of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom and cardiac radiologist Roger Patel of the nearby Royal Bournemouth Hospital may have found the answer. The early formation of planets, and how liquids travel into their centers, may be used to detect heart defects...

Dybas, C.L. 2010. Ripple marks—The story behind the story. Oceanography 23(1):12–15, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2010.101.

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