Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Bigelow Laboratory’s scientists are committed to gaining a better understanding of how the ocean works and unlocking its potential. This Giving Tuesday, help us propel ocean science forward by making a donation at bigelow.org/donate.

#maine #oceanscience #givingtuesday

Check out the latest updates from Bigelow Laboratory in our November 2025 E-news, available here: https://mailchi.mp/bigelow/november-2025-enews-20251130 #maine #science #ocean #bigelowlab #blueplanet #oceanography

Stay up to speed with #BigelowLab's support of ocean-related innovation in our regular Blue Biotech Bulletin feature. November’s updates include the launch of applications for the Maine Blue Biotech Studio and an annual MARIA All Hands meeting. Read more: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=1037

Are you planning to check out Gardens Aglow in Maine? Make your visit to the Boothbay peninsula even merrier with a free behind-the-scenes tour of #BigelowLab's campus! Tours will take place at 11 a.m. on December 5, December 12, and December 19. FMI: email ehenerberry@bigelow.org. #holidays #cmbg

On Tuesday, #BigelowLab’s Sea Change Semester students presented posters about their research. Based on the hard work of these budding scientists alone, the future of ocean science is bright. Thank you for sharing your science with our team! FMI: https://www.bigelow.org/education/seachange/ #science

On Cloud Nine: Tiny, floating particles in the atmosphere called aerosols are a key ingredient for forming clouds. They're also one of the big unknowns in climate models. ☁️ Researchers are unraveling the complicated process of aerosol formation. Learn more: https://ow.ly/Mxcp50XypC4

19 Nov 2025, 38 stakeholders gathered in Swakopmund for an IOCAFRICA-organized meeting on the Early Warning System (EWS) for Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Namibia, focusing on understanding stakeholder needs for an information system delivered through a dedicated bulletin.

#bigelowlab #maine #eastboothbay #plankton #zooplankton #phytoplankton #ocean #oceanscience #blueplanet

From tiny jellyfish and zippy zooplankton to drifting phytoplankton: it was quite a cornucopia of tiny organisms. In the end, everyone gathered around the table — or, in this case, a laboratory bench — to appreciate the little things in life. We wish you a peaceful Thanksgiving!

First, the group met with SRS Nicole Poulton, and they performed several plankton tows off the dock. Back in the lab, three of our undergraduate Sea Change Semester students helped the middle schoolers view their dock tow samples under microscopes, which offered a feast for the eyes.

As part of the BLOOM Educators program, Director of Education Aislyn Keyes works with participants to help implement ocean science activities into their own curricula. Aislyn recently hosted a 2025 BLOOM Educators alum and her middle school students from Roots Academy at Bigelow Laboratory.

Happy Planksgiving: Thanksgiving is about coming together with those who are most important to us. For marine scientists, few organisms matter more than plankton. This #MicroMonday, @bigelowlab.bsky.social is celebrating these tiny powerhouses of the ocean.

🌈 Chromatic Curiosity: #BigelowLab continued celebrating BioME’s #MaineBioscienceDay with a visit to Durham Community School, where Lydia Pinard painted a vivid picture of algae and its role in our world. Thank you for introducing students to algae and sparking curiosity in science: color us proud!

#BigelowLab is happy to participate in #MaineBioscienceDay, which is taking place in middle schools across the state this week. Brigid Carr and Vishaan Nursey made a big splash South Bristol School, showing that science is anything but dry. 🔬 Learn more: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=998

Plankton Peeps: The Continuous Plankton Recorder is one of the oldest and most geographically extensive marine monitoring programs in the world. It provides 90 years of data on the marine plankton community. Last week, four Bigelowians attended the 2025 CPR Workshop. #science #ocean #bigelowlab

At the low-tide mudflats surrounding Edgecomb Eddy, they joined SRS Melody Lindsay and Postdoctoral Scientist Sarah Douglas to collect core samples. The students quickly learned that collection was the easy part of the process; wading across the thick, briny, fragrant mud proved quite challenging!

Muddying the Waters: This morning, @bigelowlab.bsky.social's Sea Change Semester students learned a core science lesson: biogeochemistry fieldwork is rarely tidy.

#bigelowlab #maine #eastboothbay #edgecomb #biogeochemistry #tidal #mud #mudflats #students #seachange #education #community

While we’ve long known that Bigelow Laboratory makes a difference within the great state of Maine, we’ve been missing hard data to prove it. We hired Stepwise Data Research to help us tell that story. Check it out: https://www.bigelow.org/economic #science #economic #maine #impact #ocean

#BigelowLab's Single Cell Genomics Center has long been at the forefront of advancing single-cell sequencing technology. Learn why really small microcapsules that hold one trillionth of a liter of water are making big waves: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=964

Photo: Brian Thompson.

Next Thursday, head over to Footbridge Brewery for Ocean on Tap! Peter Brannen, an award-winning science journalist, will speak about the remarkable role of carbon dioxide in shaping the history of our planet and society. Join us for a great conversation! #maine #science #ocean #carbondioxide #gas

Teeny, Tiny Bubbles: Check out these micrographs of Noctiluca, bubble-like unicellular organisms sampled from the waters around Phippsburg. While their rotund appearance is festive, they are also capable of bioluminescence! Learn more: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=956

📸: Kat Mead-von Huene.

Check out this eerie microscope footage of Oxyrrhis in action, and enjoy our very own Halloween horror story from the microscopic world. Happy Halloween! 🎃
#bigelowlab #maine #eastboothbay #halloween #SpookyScience #MarineMicrobes #OceanLife #AlgaeResearch #OxyrrhisMarina #DunaliellaTertiolecta

Instead, it’s hunting down Dunaliella tertiolecta, another algae in the collection. To keep Oxyrrhis happy and prevent it from turning on its own kind, curators “feed” it fresh Dunaliella every few weeks.

Oxyrrhis marina is a heterotrophic marine algae that doesn’t make its own food like most other autotrophic algae. Instead, it hunts it. Think: Michael Myers in pursuit of a king-sized candy bar.

But this algae’s meal of choice isn’t a sugary confection.

Microscopic Monsters: Not all algae in Bigelow Laboratory’s National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota (NCMA) collection are peaceful plankton. Some have a monster appetite!

Good Gourds: This week, #BigelowLab's 2025 Sea Change Semester students and program staff had a blast carving festive jack-o-lanterns and enjoying an autumn dinner around a campfire. Learn more: https://www.bigelow.org/education/seachange/ #maine #eastboothbay #eastbooooooothbay #halloween #pumpkins

Blue Biotech Bulletin, October 22-28 🌊: This week’s updates include #Maine #Algae Science Day hosted by #BigelowLab at GMRI, the #BlueEconomy Investment Summit at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, and a feature in Mainebiz. Read more: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=942 #bluebiotech #ocean

The vast, dark expanses of the ocean hold no shortage of spine-tingling life forms and environments. This #MicroMonday, enjoy a scream-inducing close-up of a zooplankton that our Sea Change Semester students collected during a nighttime net tow. 🎃 FMI: https://currents.bigelow.org/?p=876 #ocean

This autumn, #BigelowLab launched a new digital web channel called Currents. Feast your eyes on photo galleries and videos, and stay up to date with blue biotech bulletins, news on community projects, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of our research. Explore Currents today: www.bigelow.org/currents

Stay up to speed with #BigelowLab's support of ocean-related innovation in our Blue Biotech Bulletin. This week’s updates include the release of a regional ecosystem assessment and roadmap, theAlgal Biomass Summit, and the Maine Blue Carbon Network Annual Symposium. FMI: https://ow.ly/9Hw450Xgkwu