In May this year myself, Prof. Maeve Lohan from the University of Southampton and Dr. Oliver Moore from the University of Leeds travelled to Diamond light source UK in Didcot. Diamond light source is the UK’s national synchrotron facility, but what is a synchrotron and what is it good for? Many people will be familiar … More Using a particle accelerator to study hydrothermal particle plumes
As crowds hit the beach this summer the newspapers heralded the arrival of the ‘Pacific death worm’. This alien nematode worm, dubbed ‘more toxic than cyanide’, could spell trouble for a family day out. So how far off the mark were the press, and should we be worried about new species visiting our coasts? What … More Alien invasions and environmental DNA
Laurel and Lucy’s behaviours are alright today. Well, thus far. It’s only 8:21 AM and there’s no predicting when their mood will plummet or when they’ll throw a tantrum. All I can do it love them and give them little pep talks or play some soothing classical music. I’ve only been working with them for … More The Exciting Unknown
In 2016, the UK Government made a declaration, in partnership with seven of its Overseas territories (UKOTs), to establish enhanced protection and management of four million square kilometres of marine ecosystems. This programme, which will run for three and a half years up until March 2020, involves: Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha British … More The UKOT Blue Belt programme
A meeting called ‘The Ocean Tide and the Port of Liverpool’ was held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum on Saturday 11 May 2019 in order to mark the 100th anniversary of the Liverpool Tidal Institute (LTI). The LTI can be claimed to be the first component of the modern UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC). In … More The Ocean Tide and the Port of Liverpool
The STEMM-CCS project has just wrapped up its latest cruise, a daring adventure blowing bubbles at the bottom of the North Sea, all in the name of Carbon Capture and Storage. The STEMM-CCS project is dedicated to developing strategies for the environmental monitoring of marine carbon capture and storage. Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) … More Blowing Bubbles
May 9th ushered in the 9th National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Association meeting, held among the crowds, statues, flags, and banners, at Central Hall in an unseasonably chilly and rainy Westminster. NOC is – currently – a part of the Natural Environment Research Council (one of the UK Research Councils, under the umbrella of UKRI), but … More The future of sustainable ocean science
If you have eaten an oyster in a seafood restaurant in the UK, it’s likely that it was a Pacific rock oyster (Crassostrea gigas), introduced to our waters from the Pacific. Pacific oysters are commonly farmed and offered on sale in the UK, as they are thought to be easier to cultivate and able to … More The Native Oyster Network – Restoring a forgotten ecosystem
Fishing and aquaculture provide over 17% of the world’s protein, with demand increasing at a faster rate than human population growth each year1. Fishing is the only remaining large scale hunting of wild animals, yet is lacking sufficient management practices to maintain sustainable fish stocks for the ever growing global populations into the future. Each … More Fish Forensics – Do you know where your fish comes from?
Artificial Intelligence – in 2019 the phrase is practically inescapable. From self-driving cars to AI-enabled smartphones; expert game-playing computers to AI weapons, there has been an explosion in the performance and applicability of machine learning techniques for a seemingly endless variety of tasks. Led by the likes of Amazon, Google, Apple and Samsung, companies around … More AI Oceanography – The ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ Comes to Marine Science
