Research Highlight |
Featured
-
-
Research Highlight |
Chemical pollutants are rife across the world’s oceans
Compounds that are used to make plastics and personal-care products were found in all types of marine environment, a meta-analysis shows.
-
News & Views |
Climate snapshots trapped in ancient ice tell a surprising story
Antarctic ice cores hint that changes in the ocean might have played a larger part than have greenhouse gases in key climate shifts of the past three million years.
- Eric W. Wolff
-
Article
| Open Access
Observing the tidal pulse of rivers from wide-swath satellite altimetry
Data from the recently launched SWOT satellite, a wide-swath satellite altimeter, have been used to map tidal dynamics for thousands of coastal rivers and to document the factors controlling the inland extent of tides.
- M. G. Hart-Davis
- , D. Scherer
- & F. Seitz
-
Article
| Open Access
Sea level much higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments
Meta-analyses on a global scale show that the measured coastal mean sea level is higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments.
- Katharina Seeger
- & Philip S. J. Minderhoud
-
Article
| Open Access
Fossil isotope evidence for trophic simplification on modern Caribbean reefs
Using nitrogen isotopes from ancient and modern fish otoliths and corals, the study shows Caribbean reef food webs are now 60–70% shorter and functionally less diverse, indicating human-driven trophic simplification and increased risk of collapse.
- Jessica A. Lueders-Dumont
- , Aaron O’Dea
- & Xingchen Tony Wang
-
Research Briefing |
Atlantic ocean currents defied the ice age
The state of the North Atlantic Ocean during the last ice age remains debated. A pair of independent geochemical measures shows that a cold, salty and dense deep-ocean current, known as the North Atlantic Deep Water, continued to form and remained relatively warm, instead of being close to freezing as was assumed previously.
-
Research Briefing |
A way to gauge the equity of ocean-related initiatives
Inequity is undermining the ocean’s contributions to people. The Ocean Equity Index is a tool to guide the development of more equitable ocean governance and management. The index can be used to assess and advance equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies, thereby ensuring better outcomes for people and ecosystems.
-
News |
Deep-sea robots will search for source of mysterious ‘dark oxygen’
Scientists have launched a fresh effort to find out what could be producing oxygen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
- Davide Castelvecchi
-
Article
| Open Access
Relatively warm deep-water formation persisted in the Last Glacial Maximum
During the Last Glacial Maximum, the deep Northwest Atlantic was only about 2 °C colder than today, suggesting sustained production of relatively warm North Atlantic Deep Water during the Last Glacial Maximum.
- Jack H. Wharton
- , Emilia Kozikowska
- & David J. R. Thornalley
-
Where I Work |
Floating science stations: my month on a research vessel looking after buoys
Physical oceanographer Melina M. Martinez finds ways to gather ocean data off the coast of Argentina.
- Christine Ro
-
Where I Work |
Probing pollutants: how I use penguin faeces to measure contaminants in Antarctica
Buse Tuğba Zaman is developing a way to track tiny amounts of contaminants — and fulfilled a dream to visit Earth’s most remote continent.
- Rachael Pells
-
News Feature |
9,000 metres under the sea: this researcher found the deepest animal ecosystems on Earth
Mengran Du is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.
- Rachel Fieldhouse
-
Article
| Open Access
Viral NblA proteins negatively affect oceanic cyanobacterial photosynthesis
Viral NblA accelerates the cyanophage infection cycle, directs degradation of the host phycobilisome and other proteins, and reduces host photosynthetic light-harvesting efficiency.
- Omer Nadel
- , Rawad Hanna
- & Debbie Lindell
-
Research Briefing |
Most Antarctic ice shelves are set to disappear if greenhouse-gas emissions remain high
The time points beyond which individual Antarctic ice shelves could no longer exist in their current form have been estimated under several anthropogenic emission scenarios. These projections take into account uncertainties related to ice, atmosphere and ocean processes, including those concerning poorly understood processes such as ice fracturing and iceberg formation.
-
Article |
A global coral phylogeny reveals resilience and vulnerability through deep time
The most recent common ancestor of the stony coral Scleractinia dates to about 460 million years ago and was probably a solitary, heterotrophic and free-living organism.
- Claudia Francesca Vaga
- , Andrea M. Quattrini
- & Marcelo Visentini Kitahara
-
Correspondence |
The race for deep-sea minerals could cause geopolitical and ecological harm
- Milad Haghani
- , Abbas Rajabifard
- & David A. Hensher
-
Article |
The evolution of facultative symbiosis in stony corals
Genomic sequencing of the thermotolerant coral species Oculina patagonica, single-cell transcriptomic analyses of symbiotic and non-symbiotic specimens and comparisons with obligate symbiotic coral species reveal adaptations that provide resilience to coral bleaching.
- Shani Levy
- , Xavier Grau-Bové
- & Arnau Sebé-Pedrós
-
News |
Coral die-off marks Earth’s first climate ‘tipping point’, scientists say
A surge in global temperatures has caused widespread bleaching and death of warm-water corals around the world.
- Jeff Tollefson
-
World View |
Trust in the sea-bed mining authority is fragile — here’s how to change that
The authority created to safeguard the ocean floor now leans towards licensing its exploitation. Here’s how to reset the balance.
- Carlos Garcia-Soto
-
Correspondence |
Strengthen the science behind the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
- Shu Su
- , Yi Tang
- & Yong Chen
-
News |
This deep-sea worm creates a toxic yellow pigment found in Rembrandt and Cézanne paintings
Paralvinella hessleri is the first known animal to create orpiment, which was used by artists for centuries.
- Mohana Basu
-
Article |
Two-billion-year transitional oxygenation of the Earth’s surface
A 2.5-billion-year record of oxygen isotopes in sedimentary sulfate reveals the transitional oxygenation of the Earth’s surface and provides constraints on the dynamic, lengthy co-oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.
- Haiyang Wang
- , Chao Li
- & Huiming Bao
-
Spotlight |
‘A double-whammy problem’: how plastic dust is altering natural processes
Carbon emissions from plastics production are no surprise. But when plastic turns to dust, it also affects how the planet absorbs carbon from the air, on land and in the oceans.
- Saima Sidik
-
Correspondence |
Study protected waters newly opened up to fishing
- Angelo Villagomez
- , Kirsten Grorud-Colvert
- & Steven Mana’oakamai Johnson
-
Article
| Open Access
Calving-driven fjord dynamics resolved by seafloor fibre sensing
Iceberg calving can act as a submarine melt amplifier through excitation of transient internal waves.
- Dominik Gräff
- , Bradley Paul Lipovsky
- & Ethan F. Williams
-
Article
| Open Access
In situ light-field imaging of octopus locomotion reveals simplified control
Using an advanced imaging system called EyeRIS, locomotion in deep-sea octopuses could be studied, revealing simplified crawling patterns that could inspire the design of robots.
- Kakani Katija
- , Christine L. Huffard
- & Alana D. Sherman
-
Correspondence |
Conserve marine migratory species to protect ecological links between land and sea
- Géraldine Lassalle
- , Patrick Lambert
- & Pedro Raposo de Almeida
-
Nature Video |
The ocean's deepest animal ecosystem
Six miles below the surface of the Pacific an unexpected array of life flourishes.
- Shamini Bundell
-
Nature Podcast |
Earth’s deepest ecosystem discovered six miles below the sea
Submersible dives reveal a startling diversity of life in the depths of the Pacific Ocean — plus, how respiratory infections could awaken dormant cancer cells.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
-
Research Briefing |
Chemicals seeping from the sea floor sustain an extreme-depth ecosystem
Thriving communities that derive their energy from chemical reactions have been discovered at the bottom of deep trenches in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The presence of these chemosynthetic ecosystems challenges long-standing assumptions about life’s potential at extreme depths and the intricate carbon cycle of the deep ocean.
-
Article
| Open Access
Flourishing chemosynthetic life at the greatest depths of hadal trenches
The discovery of chemosynthesis-based benthic communities at depths of 5,800 m to 9,533 m in the Kuril–Kamchatka and western Aleutian trenches challenges traditional perspectives on the energy sources sustaining hadal fauna.
- Xiaotong Peng
- , Mengran Du
- & Andrey V. Adrianov
-
Research Briefing |
The deep sea is a globally connected habitat
The deep sea is a distinctive environment, distinguished from surface waters by darkness, cold and immense pressures. Global data reveal how much more connected deep-sea life is than life in the shallows; a deep-sea animal has spread from Iceland to Tasmania, Australia, over a relatively short evolutionary time period.
-
Nature Podcast |
Ancient DNA reveals farming led to more human diseases
The transition to agriculture introduced many new diseases to humans from animals — plus, how whale poo is helping researchers study harmful algal blooms.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Nick Petrić Howe
-
News & Views |
Nanoplastics make up most of the plastic pollutants in the North Atlantic Ocean
A landmark field study reveals widespread pollution of the Atlantic Ocean by nanoscale plastic debris — raising questions about the risk to marine ecosystems.
- Katsiaryna Pabortsava
-
Article
| Open Access
Bowhead whale faeces link increasing algal toxins in the Arctic to ocean warming
An analysis of bowel samples from bowhead whales collected yearly from 2004–2022 indicates increasing algal toxin concentrations in Arctic food webs due to warming ocean conditions.
- Kathi A. Lefebvre
- , Patrick Charapata
- & Rick Thoman
-
News Explainer |
Millions of tonnes of nanoplastics are polluting the ocean
These plastic particles smaller than a human hair can pass through cell walls and enter the food web
- Katharine Sanderson
-
Article
| Open Access
Nanoplastic concentrations across the North Atlantic
Observations from 12 hydrocast stations along a transect crossing the North Atlantic from the subtropical gyre to the northern European shelf provide evidence of large amounts of nanoplastics throughout the entire water column.
- Sophie ten Hietbrink
- , Dušan Materić
- & Helge Niemann
-
News Feature |
Is a monster web of ocean currents headed for collapse? The race is on to find out
Research ships rarely brave the Greenland Sea in winter. Early this year, scientists ventured into the ice-covered waters to capture crucial data about the planet’s future.
- Tim Kalvelage
-
News & Views |
Trace elements in the ocean attributed to a surprising source
The finding that the sea floor is a source of low-abundance elements in the ocean up-ends conventional views of marine biogeochemistry.
- Daniel Ohnemus
-
Article
| Open Access
Abyssal seafloor as a key driver of ocean trace-metal biogeochemical cycles
Rare earth element and neodymium isotope data combined with models of particle cycling and sediment diagenesis suggest that the abyssal seafloor is a key driver of trace-metal biogeochemical cycles.
- Jianghui Du
- , Brian A. Haley
- & Derek Vance
-
Comment |
A message from island leaders: protect the Pacific Ocean from deep-sea mining
As heads of Pacific island nations, we urge governments worldwide to avoid irreversible environmental damage to the region as well as the needless economic and geopolitical risks.
- Moetai Brotherson
- & Surangel Whipps Jr
-
World View |
How I’m bringing the voices of local fishers into ocean policies
Fishing communities know what sustainability means. They must be at the decision table.
- Gaoussou Gueye
-
Comment |
Why we should protect the high seas from all extraction, forever
Exploitation of the high seas risks doing irreversible damage to biodiversity, climate stability and ocean equity. A consensus must be built now to save them.
- Callum M. Roberts
- , Emilia Dyer
- & Mark Lynas
-
Article
| Open Access
Drivers of the extreme North Atlantic marine heatwave during 2023
Atmospheric reanalyses combined with ocean observations and model simulations show that the extreme 2023 North Atlantic heatwave was primarily driven by anomalously weak winds leading to strongly shoaling mixed layers, with a smaller contribution from clearer skies.
- Matthew H. England
- , Zhi Li
- & Stefan Rahmstorf
-
Correspondence |
European Union’s strict conservation targets should guide global marine policy
- Barbara Horta e Costa
- , Fabrice Stephenson
- & Joachim Claudet
-
Article |
Dating the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis using La-Ce geochronology
138La-138Ce geochronology shows that La/Ce fractionation, and Ce oxidation, occurred at the time of deposition, placing the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis in the Mesoarchaean or earlier.
- Laureline A. Patry
- , Pierre Bonnand
- & Stefan V. Lalonde
-
Arts Review |
‘Powerful and horrifying’ — David Attenborough’s latest film is a cry to protect our oceans
The seas could save us from climate change, but only if we save them first, legendary naturalist and broadcaster argues in a vivid film.
- Chris Simms
-
Editorial |
Turning the tide on ocean conservation
The UN Ocean Conference offers a rare opportunity for countries to correct their course on ocean health.
-
News |
Guess how much of the ocean floor humans have explored
Hint: it’s less than 1% — a lot less.
- Davide Castelvecchi
Sunken Soviet nuclear submarine’s radioactive release