Scientists have captured a rare view of one of the ocean’s least understood whales—without ever seeing it. By listening to the sounds beaked whales naturally produce, researchers have reconstructed a three-dimensional picture of their deep-diving behavior in the Gulf of Mexico.

For the first time, a science team directly documented and extensively sampled a freshened water system beneath the ocean floor. This major discovery comes from the initial analyses of sediment cores recovered during an international scientific expedition led by Co-Chief Scientists Professor Brandon Dugan (Colorado School of Mines, Golden, USA) and Professor Rebecca Robinson (Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, USA). The cores, retrieved from deep below the sea floor, are now being opened, analysed and sampled by the science team, during almost a month of intensive collaborative work at the University of Bremen. During January and February 2026 the expedition’s scientists are working side by side to uncover new insights into the formation, evolution, and significance of this newly documented subseafloor freshwater system.

To the point:

Cellular energy threats: Presence of mercury was linked to inefficient fuel use during energy production in wild birds’ cells, while certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may prevent protective responses to cell stress

Foraging shapes exposure: Older birds and males carried more mercury through diet, food choice and lifetime accumulation in a key component of the birds’ blood, however PFAS levels showed no such links, suggesting different contamination routes

Iron-rich sediments transported by icebergs from West Antarctica failed to support algae growth in the Southern Ocean, because the iron was highly “weathered” and not readily bioavailable to algae—thus reducing the ocean’s carbon dioxide uptake.

A thin, soft and slippery layer of clay-rich mud embedded in rock below the seafloor intensified the 2011 Japan earthquake that produced a tsunami that claimed tens of thousands of lives and decimated coastal communities along with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

The discovery was made by a global research team who, onboard the world’s most advanced drilling-equipped science vessel, Chikyu, sailed to the Japan Trench in late 2024 to investigate what caused the Tōhoku-oki fault to rupture and trigger the earthquake. 

The researchers drilled up to 7,906 metres below the sea surface, setting a Guinness World Record for the deepest scientific ocean drilling ever conducted.