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Sand mining happens on every inhabited continent and at nearly every conceivable scale. Some of it is legal; much of it is not. A new book from 51���� Press, “Vanishing Sands: Losing Beaches to Mining,” casts light on the shadowy world of sand mining through case studies that illuminate its disastrous impacts and a concluding chapter that proposes common-sense solutions.

A 51����-led research team has used acoustic tags to eavesdrop on pilot whales as they forage in waters off Cape Hatteras, N.C. Vocalizations and echoes recorded by the tags reveals the whales alter their hunting behaviors based on the local environment, a trait that may contribute to the species’ success in adapting to shifting prey distributions and other changes now occurring in the world’s oceans.

Most North Atlantic right whales that are severely injured in fishing gear entanglements die within three years, a study by the New England Aquarium and 51���� finds. Severely injured whales were up to eight times more likely to die than those with minor injuries, and only 44% of males and 33% of females with severe injuries survived longer than 36 months. Females that did survive had low birth rates and longer intervals between calving.

Slashing emissions of carbon dioxide by itself isn’t enough to prevent catastrophic global warming, a new study shows. But if we simultaneously also reduce emissions of methane and other often overlooked climate pollutants, we could cut the rate of global warming in half by 2050 and give the world a fighting chance.

How much energy does a dolphin use to swim? Fundamental understanding about their physiology and ecology may boost odds of survival.

Using satellite images, scientists have detected hundreds of very large and previously unreported methane releases at oil and natural gas production sites across the globe.

A new analysis reveals that the majority of the ocean’s surface has experienced extreme heat regularly since 2014.

New research finds nearly 75% of the seafood exported to China is processed there and ‘re-exported’ to global markets as Chinese products, making it hard to track its sustainability and verify it’s labeled accurately, but also gutting the economies of small fishing communities worldwide that can no longer compete.

Using drones and high-tech tracking devices, scientists have discovered baleen whales eat up to three times more prey than previously thought and play a critical but perhaps underappreciated role in fueling the ocean’s food web and promoting biodiversity.

51���� has received a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to assess the risks offshore wind energy development along the East Coast may pose to birds, bats and marine mammals.

A new international study suggests that invasive species, such as the cordgrass that is swamping native plants in the Red Marshes, pose a much greater threat to protected areas, even well managed ones, than was previously recognized.

Clouds of smoke and ash from wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2019 and 2020 triggered widespread algal blooms in the Southern Ocean thousands of miles downwind to the east, a new 51����-led study by an international team of scientists finds.

Warming waters along the Western Antarctic Peninsula have led to declines in the diversity and distribution of the region’s plankton population and its ability to absorb climate-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Using drones and artificial intelligence to monitor large colonies of seabirds can be as effective as traditional on-the-ground methods while reducing costs, labor and the risk of human error, a new study finds.

Shannon Switzer Swanson MEM'15 hosts the documentary, “The Last Drop.”