As a native New Englander, I know full and well how much we depend on the oceans. They have often been a solution for our problems.
Coral reefs around the world are worth a staggering $172 billion dollars a year to the global economy. But the wealth of the oceans' reefs, and their amazing monetary value, is on the verge of being destroyed.
Efforts to curb overfishing in five of the world's marine ecosystems are starting to show signs of working.
It is a problem of massive plastic proportions -- a giant floating debris field, composed mostly of bits and pieces of plastic, in the northwest Pacific Ocean, about a thousand miles off the coast of California.
Giant jellyfish descend on the Sea of Japan, causing untold devastation to coastal villages and leaving a trail of destruction and human misery behind.
We all know what happens when urban sprawl gets out of control: Commutes back up, smog thickens, and concrete suburbs gobble up green spaces.
Debris from Air France 447, which crashed en route from Brazil to France last month, killing 228 people, has arrived in France, the French air accident investigation agency BEA said Wednesday.
The search for the data and voice recorders from the Air France plane that crashed more than a month ago off Brazil's coast is entering a new phase, according to France's accident investigation agency.
The world's oceans are full of trash, causing "tremendous" negative impacts on coastal life and ecology, according to a U.N. report released Monday.
As a native New Englander, I know full and well how much we depend on the oceans. They have often been a solution for our problems.
Coral reefs around the world are worth a staggering $172 billion dollars a year to the global economy. But the wealth of the oceans' reefs, and their amazing monetary value, is on the verge of being destroyed.
Efforts to curb overfishing in five of the world's marine ecosystems are starting to show signs of working.
It is a problem of massive plastic proportions -- a giant floating debris field, composed mostly of bits and pieces of plastic, in the northwest Pacific Ocean, about a thousand miles off the coast of California.
Giant jellyfish descend on the Sea of Japan, causing untold devastation to coastal villages and leaving a trail of destruction and human misery behind.
We all know what happens when urban sprawl gets out of control: Commutes back up, smog thickens, and concrete suburbs gobble up green spaces.
Debris from Air France 447, which crashed en route from Brazil to France last month, killing 228 people, has arrived in France, the French air accident investigation agency BEA said Wednesday.
The search for the data and voice recorders from the Air France plane that crashed more than a month ago off Brazil's coast is entering a new phase, according to France's accident investigation agency.
The world's oceans are full of trash, causing "tremendous" negative impacts on coastal life and ecology, according to a U.N. report released Monday.
The massive amount of garbage in the ocean likely complicates the search for the remains of an Air France flight that went missing Monday near Brazil, oceanographers who spoke with CNN said.
Advances in the study of coral in the last few years has led a group of scientists to conclude that corals almost rival humans in their genetic complexity and their relationship to algae is key to their survival.
Experts have warned that the richly diverse coral reefs of the Coral Triangle around southeast Asia will disappear by the end of the century if action is not taken against climate change.
The family history of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath took another tragic turn Monday when it was revealed that their son had committed suicide after battling depression.
Sailors aboard a U.S. ocean surveillance ship reacted with a mix of bemusement and profanity to what they said was harassment by Chinese ships earlier this month, according to video released Friday by the Pentagon.
Until last December, no one had ever seen the bottom of the Tasman Fracture, a trench that drops more than four kilometers below the surface of the ocean. A group of Australian and American researchers recently spent a month hundreds of kilometers southwest of the Tasmanian coast, exploring the fracture's depths.
Beyond the golden beaches and beneath the blue waters of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques is a site that resembles more of a munitions graveyard than a Caribbean paradise.
It's not just the number of people fishing, but the level of poverty in a local community that leads to overfishing of coral reefs, according to a new report.
Nine sites in the central Pacific will be set as sanctuaries for marine life and bases of research for scientists, President Bush said Tuesday.
One of the planet's most fragile and pristine ecosystems sits atop a bounty of untapped fossil fuels.
The world has lost almost one-fifth of its coral reefs according a new report released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
There is no animal on earth more vilified than the shark. Pop culture references and annual, over-hyped reports of attacks on swimmers or surfers have put sharks on the top of the list of the world's most feared living things.
A ferocious-looking denizen of the deep that can gobble up whole urchins and crabs in a few swift chomps needs protection, according to a petition filed with the federal government
Thousands of boats, ships and barges sink every year in American waters, and most of them remain abandoned forever wreaking havoc to undersea ecology
President Bush on Saturday blamed the Democratic-led Congress for the high cost of gasoline and renewed his call for expanded offshore drilling to increase U.S. oil supplies
A "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas-Louisiana coast this year is likely to be the biggest ever and last longer than ever before, with marine life affected for hundreds of miles
Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday
One-third of reef-building coral are threatened, scientists say, making corals the Earth's most endangered species
Almost half the coral reef ecosystems in United States territory are in poor or fair condition, mostly because of rising ocean temperatures, according to a government report released Monday
Marine scientists surveying a large undersea mountain chain were amazed to find millions of tiny starfish swirling their arms to capture food in the undersea current
Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, a new study warns
Marine scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday were thawing the corpse of the largest squid ever caught to try to unlock the secrets of one of the ocean's most mysterious beasts
After witnessing the rapid devastation of a Cayman Island coral reef where he had been diving since childhood, Todd Barber was moved from horror to action.
"Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age."
The world's coral reefs are under threat. Overfishing, unsustainable tourism, coastal development, pollution, the global aquarium trade and climate change are having a devastating effect on these fragile ecosystems, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative.
The global fishing industry is increasingly trawling the high seas for bottom-dwelling fish -- a practice environmentalists say is the world's most destructive business
True or False: Coral reefs can save coastal communities from tsunamis
Coral reefs are often referred to as the canaries of the ocean -- because, like the canary in a mine, they give an indicator of the dangers that lie ahead. Judging by the state of coral reefs these days, if you happen to be a fish, it's not looking good for you.
CNN has named 15 distinguished leaders, luminaries and humanitarians to its Blue Ribbon Panel, which will select the most outstanding CNN Heroes from 18 finalists.
Research published last month paints an increasingly gloomy picture of the accelerating rate of climate change, raising genuine fears that efforts to combat carbon emissions may already be too late to restrict seismic changes in the earth's temperatures.
This month we're on the trail of the modern adventurers who risk their lives in the name of discovery.
As nations jockey for the North Pole, London starts a race for the South, just in case there are minerals to exploit
It started as a simple dive shop in 1958, taking tourists and locals on scuba tours in the Pacific Ocean off Maui. But a year after opening for business, Maui Divers workers found what resembled a black bush in deep waters off the Molokai Channel.
Global warming and pollution are threatening the colorful and complex ecosystems. Is it too late to save them?
A powerful earthquake under the Java Sea shook Indonesia's capital early Thursday, violently shaking tall buildings and sending panicked residents into the streets
Putin looks to deliver on his promise of an "energy empire" by claiming vast swaths of hydrocarbon-rich polar territory
Essay: When resorts are tailored to comfort tourists by offering familiar experiences, it can be hard to remember just where you are
Corals stressed by warming conditions may benefit from the passage of a hurricane -- as long as it doesn't slam right into them
Six species of reef-building coral could vanish from the Caribbean due to rising temperatures and toxic runoff from islands' development, according to a study released Thursday
Next time you order a shrimp cocktail, eat a bagel with smoked salmon or enjoy a tuna sandwich, know this: The world's appetite for fish is growing a lot faster than the oceans can supply them.
Scientists at California State University at Monterey Bay have discovered why the state's most famous big wave -- Mavericks, off the coast south of San Francisco -- is so big.
They may not have the charisma of penguins or polar bears. But plants and animals like seaweed, sea stars and sponges may be just as important in understanding the Earth's polar regions.
Two species of fish previously unknown to science are currently being discovered each week by different projects around the world. A census has been launched to map life under the waves in the least explored environment on earth.
Explorer Robert Ballard has spent most of his adult life exploring the ocean floor and combing the deep-sea for lost shipwrecks.
Under a rare clear Hong Kong sky, 3,000 people sit in high humidity in an open-air theater perched atop of the South China Sea.
With oil prices near record highs, the House is set to vote Thursday on whether to allow domestic oil drilling off the East and West coasts - a proposal that has bitterly divided the oil industry and most environmentalists.
Rapid global warming poses a variety of security threats to the Asia Pacific region that have been "seriously underestimated," a new study says.
Plans for foreign oil companies, some from India and China, to drill off the cost of Cuba are prompting calls from lawmakers to ease environmental restrictions that prohibit coastal drilling in most of the U.S., according to a report Tuesday.
This month, a slow-swimming robot known as Spray will attempt to glide roughly 2,484 nautical miles across the Atlantic, from the southern tip of Greenland to the coast of Spain.
A disturbing consensus is emerging among the scientists who study global warming: Climate change may bring more violent swings than they ever thought, and it may set in sooner. Lately John Browne, the CEO of BP, has been jolting audiences with a list of proposed solutions that hint at the vastness of the challenge. It aims at stabilizing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at about double the pre-industrial level while continuing economic growth. To do that, carbon emissions would have to be reduced ultimately by seven gigatons a year. A gigaton, or a billion tons, is even bigger than it sounds. Eliminating just one, argues Browne, would mean building 700 nuclear stations to replace fossil-fuel-burning power plants, or increasing the use of solar power by a factor of 700, or stopping all deforestation and doubling present efforts at reforestation. Achieve all three of these, and pull off four more equally large-scale reallocations of capital and infrastructure, and the world would probab...
The Atlantic Ocean's flow between the tropics and cold, northern waters appears to be weakening, which could drastically alter the weather in Europe, a newly released study shows.
While the land area of the ACE Basin is small enough for a weekend trip, the natural beauty of this great, green place in the South Carolina Lowcountry will make you want to linger longer. Walking trails, canoe trips, nature tours and more await.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has honored five British rescuers who saved the crew of a Russian mini submarine trapped on the Pacific Ocean floor.
Michael Jackson's defense tried to undercut the conspiracy charge against him Monday by calling witnesses who disputed claims by his accuser's mother that she and her children were held against their will at Neverland Ranch.
One outcome of global warming could be a dramatic cooling of Britain and northern Europe.
Scientists from around the world have expressed grave concerns about the health of local ecosystems and their ability to sustain survivors of the tsunamis that struck parts of Asia and Africa last month.
On a Sri Lankan beach, an amateur cameraman captures part of a suddenly receding tide. It's a common occurrence during tsunamis, but a deadly deception.
"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," the fourth film by idiosyncratic filmmaker Wes Anderson, is the director's most ambitious film to date.
The U.S. Coast Guard will soon begin enforcing new regulations to try to prevent ships from around the world from delivering unwanted and sometimes destructive cargo.
A phony marine biologist with incurable priapism. A cop whose pet pythons have an appetite for his neighbor's Pomeranians. A hirsute thug who shaves checkerboard patterns into his back to accommodate his addiction to fentanyl patches.
An ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall, nightclub and swimming pool are hardly standard equipment on a research ship. But there's really nothing traditional about how the Explorer of the Seas gathers scientific data.
In Virginia Beach, Virginia, this week, a fishing trawler pulls into port. Not necessarily noteworthy, until you consider the mission the Indies Trader has been on.
There was a time when talking about the weather was a safe topic of conversation.
Of all the dreams fueled by dotcom hype, few were more irrationally exuberant than those of Tuvalu, a dirt-poor nation of 11,300 citizens living on nine South Pacific atolls. When Internet architec...
Unless you live in Minnesota or maybe one of its neighboring states, you've probably never heard of Itasca State Park, which is located in a fairly remote area of Minnesota's northwest quadrant.
"Pearls absorb the warmth of the oceans," wrote pearl merchant Takao Ohyama, "and reflect a mysterious countenance." If this holds for pearls in general, it is especially true of the "black" pearls...
Going to the ends of the earth in search of oil is nothing new, although going to the depths of the ocean is. During the past 50 years, much of the oil under the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico has ...
Somewhere in the crystalline equatorial waters of the Maldive islands, in the vast blue blankness of the Indian Ocean, a man floats effortlessly, rocked ever so slightly by loving currents, kissed ...
At a dock in Marina del Rey, near Los Angeles, stands an 85-foot-long, three- deck ship loaded with ocean-monitoring equipment. Lily Lam visited Ann Dalkey, a marine biologist, and Ioannice (pronou...
SCIENCE BESPEAKS power, both military and economic. The U.S. has long had the most productive scientific establishment in the world: Since the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico d...
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