July 17, 2024
When it comes to diatoms that live in the ocean, new research suggests that photosynthesis is not the only strategy for accumulating carbon. Instead, these single-celled plankton are also building biomass by feeding directly on organic carbon in wide swaths of the ocean. These new findings from a team led…
July 22, 2019
Destructive free radicals exist in marine ecosystems and are thought to degrade the cells of phytoplankton and other organisms. A new paper, however, suggests that these molecules actually play a beneficial role, upending some conventional wisdom.
January 30, 2014
…algae and learned about diatoms, which are single-celled phytoplankton, and primary producers in the ocean. Primary producers are organisms that capture sunlight through photosynthesis, and they serve as the foundation of the aquatic food web. While investigating her newfound curiosity for diatoms, Lerch discovered that Scripps Oceanography houses a cutting-edge…
May 31, 2023
According to new research, the amount of oxygen in one of 10 breaths was made possible thanks to a newly identified cellular mechanism that promotes photosynthesis in marine phytoplankton. The study, led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was published May 31 in Current Biology.
March 14, 2018
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, J. Craig Venter Institute, and colleagues show a direct connection between the effects of ocean acidification and the health of phytoplankton at the base of the marine food chain by showing how the loss of seawater carbonate hampers the ability…
November 20, 2013
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have developed a method for greatly enhancing biofuel production in tiny marine algae.
September 27, 2018
A team led by scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has uncovered the genetic basis for the production of domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin produced by harmful algal blooms.
March 4, 2014
A new report issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) ranked programs at UC San Diego as the two best in the country for algal biofuels research, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography as top in the nation.
October 28, 2019
Researchers are gearing up to hunt for blooms along California’s coast using a suite of technologies that can target and sample ocean microbes and sift through genetic code in real time. All of this is made possible by a new $4.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
November 12, 2024
The latest Gallery QI exhibit, “Three Lives,” focuses on Easter Ellen Cupp, June Grace Pattullo and Anita Smith Hall, who contributed to oceanography before women were accepted in the field.
