deep sea exploration

The unusual cephalopod was spotted on a recent underwater research expedition.

Historically thought to be a refuge for coral growing in the shallows, coral reefs from oceanic depths face similar threats, finds a new study.

Meet Cindy Van Dover, a deepsea explorer and the first female to pilot Alvin, the submersible that has ferried researchers into some of the ocean's deepest depths.

The Atlantic has been free of intense air-gun blasts to probe for oil and gas for 30 years, and researchers fear for endangered North Atlantic right whales and other animals.

Scientists have discovered a new type of eye cell in a deep-sea fish species.

As technology takes science deeper into the world’s oceans, researchers are discovering reef systems far from warm, shallow tropical waters.

See footage from the expedition that discovered a coral reef hiding beneath the massive muddy plume at the mouth of the Amazon River.

In his bathysphere, William Beebe plumbed the ocean to record-setting depths.

See how William Beebe and Otis Barton descended to the ocean's depths in an early submersible designed to allow access to the mysterious lifeforms inhabiting the deep sea.

Take a tour of deep-sea methane seeps and meet the organisms that call these extreme environments home.

Researchers analyzing samples from the deepest-ever marine drilling expedition identify living microbes, while a team exploring the Arctic finds life thriving below the ice.

Researchers find remarkably active bacteria in the Mariana Trench, where they live under pressure 1,000 times greater than at the surface.

Ancient bacteria living in deep-sea sediments are alive—but with metabolisms so slow that it’s hard to tell.

The movie director-turned-explorer made the 6.8-mile drop to the deepest point on the seafloor, but wasn’t too impressed by what he found.