NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) highlighted its latest advancements in defense technology at the Sea-Air-Space Conference and Exposition, held April 7-9, 2025, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. As the premier maritime exposition in the United States, Sea-Air-Space provided an ideal platform for NRL to demonstrate its innovative contributions to national defense.

Scientists have created a method capable of driving a ferry over a predetermined route relying solely on air motors.

The American Meteorological Society (AMS), in partnership with the National Weather Association (NWA), today released a statement regarding the proposed elimination of NOAA Research. It reads in part, "If enacted, [the administration's 2026 budget passback plan] would close all of NOAA’s weather, climate, and ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes. ... In effect, the scientific backbone and workforce needed to keep weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective will be drastically undercut, with unknown — yet almost certainly disastrous — consequences for public safety and economic health."

A new study by researchers at ProtectedSeas highlights the potential of marine radar technology to monitor speed of small vessels. The research, aimed at testing the accuracy of radar in assessing potential violations, found that the technology could detect speed violations with 95% confidence, offering a promising solution to help reduce the threat of vessel strikes on whale populations. The analysis was recently published in the journal Sensors.

In the global carbon cycle microorganisms have evolved a variety of methods for fixing carbon. Researchers from Bremen and Taiwan have investigated the methods that are utilized at extremely hot, acidic and sulfur-rich hydrothermal vents in shallow waters off the island of Kueishantao, Taiwan. A team working with first author Joely Maak of MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen has now published their study in the professional journal Biogeosciences.

USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers have discovered a mineral commonly found in seashells could be the key to a safer plastic alternative.

Seagrass meadows are critical marine ecosystems, acting as carbon sinks and providing habitats for diverse marine species. 

Wild animals that have acquired adaptions to maximize their reproductive output in some of the world’s most extreme conditions may provide answers to some of the most pressing problems in the field of human reproductive health.

•           A new journal article by Michelle Shero, assistant scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Biology Department, examines how the study of seals in particular can benefit human health, and synthesizes various research on the topic.

Several aspects in the life history of seals that could provide significant insight into their reproductive physiology – as well as that of humans – include female seals’ ability to undergo lengthy fasting and lose about 30% of their body weight while nursing a pup. Seals also have an exceptional ability to hold their breath for up to two hours in some species for long dives. Additionally, seals have the ability to ‘pause’ pregnancy, through a process known as embryonic diapause, so they can give birth during benign environmental conditions.

•           In seeking ways to improve human health, we should be looking to the extraordinary feats of wild animals. They have often found the most innovative solutions.

Artificial intelligence could help monitor and reverse the damage done to marine life – and improve women's healthcare by making it easier to diagnose diseases such as endometriosis – according to researchers from universities in the UK and Australia.