It’s not unusual for whales to make headlines around here, but the past couple of months have brought a stream of bad news. In May, a dead minke whale washed up in Maine, followed by the humpback known as Snow Plow in late June. Then, a fin whale carcass showed up on Martha's Vineyard just in time for Fourth of July. A necropsy has confirmed that a baby right whale - one of fourteen calves this year - was killed by a ship strike. Several whales have also been released from entanglements in

The sting of a jellyfish can range from a mild annoyance to a life-threatening incident, depending on the species. Reports of severe stings in coastal ponds along the coast of Cape Cod in recent years have sparked concern that a new, more virulent jellyfish may have entered the area. It turns out the jellyfish responsible – known as a clinging jellyfish - may have been here for more than a century. Clinging jellyfish (Gonionemus vertens) are small, somewhere between the size of a dime and a

The traditional Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hokule'a, was built to prove a point: that Polynesian voyagers sailing traditional canoes and using traditional navigation techniques could deliberately journey thousands of miles, against prevailing winds. Forty years ago, it was an idea that many - Hawaiian and otherwise - openly doubted. Today, scientists strive to understand how, not if, Polynesian navigation techniques work, and Hokule'a is on an around-the-world voyage with a message of cultural

Winning a war takes more than guns. The need to keep soldiers safe and healthy have prompted researchers to explore everything from Kevlar underwear to laundry-free uniforms and shark repellents (no luck, yet, on that front). In her new book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, Mary Roach goes behind the scenes with the scientists trying to make life a bit better for soldiers. Previously, Roach has applied her curiosity and sense of humor to topics ranging from sex, and digestion, to

A major overhaul of a federal chemical safety law recently passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming majorities. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act has been hailed as a bipartisan success and a major step forward. But environmental health advocates say there are still reasons for concern, or at least caution. For forty years, testing and regulation of chemical products has been guided by the Toxic Substances Control Act. Despite the name, critics say it has

On September 21, 1938, New England was slammed by a hurricane that remains the most damaging weather event to ever hit the region. The category 2 hurricane hit New England moving fifty miles per hour, and plowed a path straight up the Connecticut River valley to Vermont. Arriving at high tide, and on the heels of an unrelated rain storm, it caused extensive coastal and inland flooding. Hundreds were killed, and the damage - largely uninsured - cost the equivalent of $5 billion to repair. “We

We all love to malign the weather man. But it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the knowledge and technology that enables forecasts for not only next week, but next month and even years to come. For example, New England is expected to see a warmer – and possible wetter – than usual summer. A major factor in those kinds of predictions is typically ocean temperatures. Now, researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say they have a better way to make seasonal rainfall predictions, and

Kevin Harrington recently made headlines for finding the brightest galaxies known to astronomy – galaxies so luminous they were thought impossible. The discovery is important, but what makes the feat extraordinary is that Harrington was still an undergraduate at the time, working in the laboratory of astronomy professor Min Yun at U Mass Amherst. Harrington and his colleagues call their discoveries "outrageously bright galaxies," because there is no technical term for galaxies that give off so

Hsueh-tze Lee always thought she would have a career in science, but her passion for dance took her in a different direction. Lee, who studied at MIT and had received a doctorate in physiology from Harvard University, was teaching biology at Wellesley College in the 1990s when she discovered that her favorite pastime was becoming more and more important to her. Lee had been dancing socially since the 1970s, when she discovered folk dancing. By the time she was teaching at Wellesley, she was

Cheryl Hayashi loves spiders, so much so that she says being asked to name a favorite is like asking a mother to pick which child she loves most. She challenges even arachnophobes to not crack a smile at jumping spiders' "teddy bear"-like cuteness. But it's not their good looks that attracts Hayashi, professor and vice chair of biology at University of California, Riverside, to spiders. It's their silk. Many spiders produce several different types of silk - some stronger, some stretchier - to