Oceans, Space & Science News
Founded in 1995, ARGO.net covers oceans, space, water, and the wider sciences with timely news, clear explainers, statistics, and data-driven stories.
Sunlight enters the sea as a broad mix of colors, then water begins sorting that light along its path. In clear water, the red end of the spectrum fades rapidly. Blue light remains available over a longer distance, so light returning from the water to an observer often carries a blue cast. Selective absorption gives…
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Measuring an ocean fish at full sprint is a difficult scientific task. A sailfish can race through open water, turn inside a schooling fish and vanish beneath the surface before a boat or camera has a useful view. The fastest moments may last seconds. A reliable direct speed record needs a known distance and time,…
Heat escapes from the sea most efficiently near the poles, where long winter darkness, ice and frigid air keep the water close to its freezing point. The answer most people expect is the Southern Ocean, the ring of water around Antarctica. It contains enormous reaches of water that stay exceptionally cold and the U.S. National…
A diplomatic effort to restore passage through the Strait of Hormuz now centers on a practical question: how could commercial ships move safely through a waterway that has become a flashpoint? The route is the sea exit from the Persian Gulf and a disruption there can quickly reach far beyond the two countries on its…
Oil producers on the Persian Gulf are accelerating plans to reach open water without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The immediate prize is continuity: a pipeline ending at the Red Sea or the Gulf of Oman can keep some crude moving when the narrow waterway near Iran is disrupted. Yet the detours cannot carry…
Twenty-three merchant sailors were at work aboard the Stena Impero on July 19, 2019, when the British-flagged tanker was intercepted in the Strait of Hormuz and taken toward Iran. The event became a sharp, human-scale episode in a regional crisis: a crew from India, the Philippines, Russia and Latvia suddenly found their voyage to Saudi…
The explosion began beneath the hull of a U.S. frigate in the central Arabian Gulf on April 14, 1988. USS Samuel B. Roberts had entered a recently laid minefield while returning from an escort mission. A moored contact mine detonated, punching a vast hole into the ship and turning an ordinary patrol into a fight…
Wind, heat and the shape of the Atlantic basin squeeze seawater into a swift ribbon called the Gulf Stream. For the everyday question of which ocean current has the greatest measured flow speed, that ribbon is the usual answer. Its fastest water runs near the surface and can reach about 9 kilometers per hour, or…
The ocean contains animals with transparent bodies, light-making organs, dangling tentacles and mouths that seem designed for a science-fiction set. Unfamiliar body plans can make a first encounter feel uncanny. The scientific answer to the question is clear, though: there is no evidence of extraterrestrial aliens in Earth’s ocean. Across all of science, no verified…
A worldwide fish total would be a remarkable number to know. It could show the scale of life moving through the sea and give a vivid sense of what fishing, warming water and habitat change may affect. Yet no scientific agency can produce an exact, defensible tally of every fish in the ocean. Fish drift…
Which living ocean animal has the greatest maximum adult mass? The blue whale leads easily, but the rest of a defensible heavyweight list is dominated by other whales. Several species that are shorter than the longest whales have stockier bodies and higher published maximum weights. This ranking uses the highest reported adult body mass for…
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Chemical Engineer and Editorial Contributor
Chemical engineer with experience in lab methods, GMP systems, process monitoring, and safety. Covers chemistry, health, environmental measurement, and human-centered science.
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Geology graduate with experience interpreting scientific, geological, and natural-hazard data. Covers earth systems, environmental science, GIS, and monitoring-based research.
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Public school teacher and science educator with academic training in general science and biology. Covers biology, health, science education, and foundational topics that connect classroom science with real-world discovery.
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Educator with a background in social studies, research planning, and data-informed instruction. Covers human systems, education, and the social side of evidence-based inquiry.
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