On July 15, 2022, BIOS released a report titled Climate Change and Bermuda – Part I: Science and Physical Hazards. This report synthesizes the current understanding about the state of Bermuda’s climate, including historical trends and variations over the last several decades that are likely to have an impact on Bermuda’s society. The report also examines projections of future climate scenarios, including a review of uncertainties. Chapters include reviews of recent and future changes in temperature, rainfall and sea level rise. Changes in local natural hazards such as hurricanes and winter gales are also explored to develop a longer-term view of what the near future looks like for the island’s disaster risk.

The plastic arrives on Bermuda’s beaches as discarded toothbrushes, sun-bleached bottle caps, forgotten toys, and pulverized pieces the size of rice grains. The reason why is disheartening. The island sits within one of the world’s largest oceanic garbage patches, where four major currents in the North Atlantic force marine debris into an accumulation of floating trash.

BIOS has undertaken a project to report on the science and impacts of climate change, with a specific focus on Bermuda. This effort is supported by HSBC, and is being led by Dr. Mark Guishard, adjunct faculty at BIOS and Director of the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS), a section of the Bermuda Airport Authority.

Students from many disciplines can hone career skills, broaden perspective, and find inspiration at BIOS

Found along the west coast of North America, red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) call the ocean bottoms home. There, these spiky creatures feed on seaweed and kelp, and are often found in groups. While they may face predation from sea stars and crabs, the urchins, when left to their own devices, age phenomenally well. In fact, some researchers even report their lifespans as being over 100 years long.

Since 2013, BIOS has hosted marine planning coordinator Kevin Mayall, who has assisted the Government of Bermuda with its investigation of marine planning policy options. The approach is the first of its kind for the island, and involves a multi-year process of working collaboratively with government departments, ocean stakeholders, local and overseas scientists, commercial interests, conservation groups, and the general public to look at ways to create a plan for maintaining a healthy and productive relationship between Bermuda and the marine environment.

Chloe Emerson initially came to BIOS in the fall of 2014 for the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) internship program funded by the National Science Foundation.  As a Wellesley College senior working to complete her major in Biology and minor in Philosophy, Emerson already found developmental biology and stem cell research fascinating. At BIOS, these interests crystalized as she began to study sea urchins in Andrea Bodnar’s Molecular Discovery Laboratory, leading her down a path in regenerative biology that she hardly could have imagined two years ago.

It is not often that a piece of scientific equipment from BIOS’s research vessel (R/V) Atlantic Explorer gets the opportunity to help the broader community in Bermuda. But that is just what happened to an ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer as the island prepared to receive and administer the newly developed COVID-19 vaccine.

Bermudian Tiana Outerbridge first learned about marine plastics washing up on coastal shores and harming marine life from a Netflix documentary, which she said left her “totally dismayed” and feeling like “we must make a better effort of taking care of the earth.” She found that opportunity this month, when BIOS educators offered local residents a chance to pitch in and learn more about ocean microplastics, pulverized plastic pieces smaller than cupcake sprinkles. As a pollutant, these accumulated bits can harm aquatic life and, potentially, human health.

When you consider ways to study the process of aging in humans, you might not consider looking to one of the ocean’s most widely-studied invertebrates—the sea urchin—but that’s exactly what BIOS researchers Dr. Jeannette Loram and Dr. Andrea Bodnar did in a recent study published in the journal Mechanisms of Ageing and Development.