Blue Lobster Bowl

03/27/2026

Published in SCIENCE today, the first quantifiable evidence of an animal species other than primates (s***m whales) assisting during the birth process. Link in comments

03/10/2026

03/10/2026

2026 Blue Lobster Bowl: Lexington High School - Team B solving a Team Challenge Question (TCQ) together

03/08/2026

Thanks to all the coaches and their teams that competed in the 3/7/2026 Blue Lobster Bowl at MIT:
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School A & B
Belfast Area High School A & B
Cape Cod Academy
Lexington High School A & B
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
North Kingstown High School

Congratulations to champion Lexington High School A (pictured) and second place team Lexington High School B!
Pictured left to right: Dr. Elizabeth Cook, Coach; Helen Miao; Dr. Michael Person, MIT Dept. of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences & BLB Chief Science Judge; Mrigank Verma, Team Captain; Taya Slobodchikov; Mohita Chepeni; and Pranav Jannabhatla

Many thanks to the many volunteers who officiated for and/or prepared for our competition! Speaker Will Harris and artist Aimee Nicole Snyder Ledwell truly made this year's competition special with their talk about going "From Student to Scientist" and art as block-printed swedish dishcloths and vellums for coloring, respectively.

Many thanks to national and local sponsors and individual donors whose support made this competition possible!

See the full scoreboard at https://pmd.org/s/BlobstahBow!26.htm

03/07/2026

Nine teams are competing in today's Blue Lobster Bowl regional high school ocean sciences competition at MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Follow their progress at

02/25/2026

Act Now to Protect Horseshoe Crabs
https://web.massaudubon.org/site/Advocacy?page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=367

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is proposing new rules that would reduce the number of horseshoe crabs that can be fished for bait and reallocating some crabs to the biomedical bleeding program. If adopted, these changes could save about 28,000 horseshoe crabs per year and would serve as an important step toward phasing out the unnecessary and outdated bait harvest.

If you are a resident of Massachusetts, act by this Friday 2/27 to support these new rules and ask the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to continue to enhance protections for this iconic species.
https://web.massaudubon.org/site/R?i=-LJ1RPXbnYr_YF1ptINXdGfZdZAzKogdKEz6pq4lClSRVVBB40PIeg

Learn more about Mass Audubon's position on this proposal at https://web.massaudubon.org/site/R?i=wTKIBrbjJ4zGb_UiOWVXt5jRDRDTIYM3fdUjxLp3a5hbB2WTIhUJeA

Action Alert!

Horseshoe crabs are iconic and valuable members of a biodiverse ecosystem. However, in Massachusetts, they're harvested for bait despite populations struggling to keep up.

The state is proposing new rules that would reduce the number of horseshoe crabs fished for bait and reduce the biomedical industry’s reliance on the bait harvest.

These changes could save about 28,000 horseshoe crabs per year and serve as an important step toward phasing out the unnecessary and unsustainable bait harvest.

The state is accepting comments through February 27. Take action and step up for horseshoe crabs, link in comments.

02/22/2026

MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON SATURDAY, March 21
You can volunteer/officiate on Saturday 3/21 only, 9:25am to 5pm ET, with the option to stay for the talk by Dr. Paul Ernst, a Blue Lobster Bowl alumnus who is an early career oceanographer working for the Marine Species Modeling Team at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. He earned his doctorate in oceanography from the University of South Carolina and bachelor's in oceanography from the University of Delaware. He will talk about his Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship from the DOD, his journey thus far, the importance of storytelling in his research, and the experience of working for the military as a scientist.

* * *
Don't forget to register to officiate for the 2026 virtual Sponge Bowl regional high school competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl on Saturday 3/21 and/or Sunday 3/22.

We currently have 22 teams from across the country who plan to compete, so need LOTS of officials. (There will be NO 2026 Finals with buzzer questions, so this is the final virtual competition of the 2025-26 year.) We even have one school on the backup list who can only compete if we exceed the recruiting goals below.

Could you serve in one these positions we still need?
4 Moderators
5 Science Judges/TCQ Proctors
6 Rules Judges
6 Recognizers
8 Scorekeepers
2 Ocean Sciences Graders (limited time commitment for 2 sessions on Saturday and/or 1 shorter session on Sunday)
11 Timekeepers
11 Monitors (No practicing required unless you prep for a backup role)
3 TCQ Proctors (Anyone except Moderators can proctor 1:1 with a team, but need to practice/train on how the software works.)

Volunteers will receive the 2026 buff/fandana, 2026 theme sticker, virtual badge, and zoom background.

No STEM background is required to recognize/run the buzzer system, keep time, or keep score, and NO online practice is required for dedicated monitors who are not preparing for important backup roles.

Details: https://www.pmd.org/project/?id=1077

Spread the word among your networks
AND
Sign up ideally by this Tuesday 2/24 (but sooner to get your first-choice role) at https://pmd.org/s/SBvolunteer2026.htm

If you're an experienced volunteer official or former competitor, please join us to
OFFICIATE for the 3/21&22/2026 virtual Sponge Bowl high school ocean sciences competition again hosted at People Making a Difference® (PMD) for high school teams without regional bowls nearby.

We seek volunteer officials to serve as Moderators, Science Judges, Recognizers, Graders, Scorekeepers, Team Challenge Question (TCQ) Proctors, and Monitors on Saturday and/or Sunday (afternoon only) so that teams can compete in the exciting, head-to-head format. Volunteers must watch an orientation recording and/or review the slide deck, and after role assignments are made, complete role-specific tutorials BEFORE participating in a 2.25-hr practice session in order to demonstrate proficiency. (You do not need any STEM background to run the buzzer system and recognize the first student to buzz, keep score, or keep time, and no advance tutorial or practice is required for monitors without backup roles. Graders must participate in video training in zoom on Sunday 3/15 evening.)

We need a commitment for either or both of the complete competition days (all Saturday or Sunday afternoon ET), but guarantee that you will enjoy volunteering and interacting with motivated and curious high school students AND you will receive a free buff, theme sticker, volunteer badge, zoom background, and immense gratitude.

STEM role models are particularly encouraged to apply to officiate.

Learn more at https://www.pmd.org/project/?id=1077 and sign up asap online by 2/24 at https://pmd.org/s/SBvolunteer2026.htm

Contact .Tsuruda if you have questions.

Please help spread the word to others who might be interested in lending a hand!

02/15/2026

7.5% reduction in drag!

A team, including researchers in MIT Sea Grant and MIT MechE, demonstrated that wedge-shaped vortex generators attached to a ship’s hull can reduce drag by up to 7.5 percent, which reduces overall ship emissions and fuel expenses.

The work offers a promising path toward decarbonization, addressing the pressing need to meet the International Maritime Organization goal to reduce carbon intensity of international shipping by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 2008 levels.

https://news.mit.edu/2025/mit-researchers-demonstrate-ship-hull-modifications-cut-fuel-use-1202

02/04/2026

Virtual Volunteer Opportunity:
Dolphin Spotting - https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/sumbredolphin/dolphin-spotting

Discipline: Biology, Language

Task: Multi-step. Identify dolphins, count them, and note their behaviour in short videos.

The video data for this project have been collected in a bay of the Red Sea since 2022. The dolphins featured in the videos are not held in captivity, they live freely in the bay.

Ready to watch dolphins in action? Help annotate their behaviour and environment.

Dolphins are famous for their sounds, but what do those sounds actually mean? Dolphin Spotting invites you to help researchers connect dolphin vocalisations to real-world behaviour and environmental context.

Led by a research team from IBENS (Paris), this project studies dolphins that are not held in captivity and live freely in a bay of the Red Sea. The team uses passive acoustic monitoring to record dolphin sounds, together with underwater cameras and elevated (aerial) video. The microphones capture dolphin sounds, but it’s the video that reveals what the dolphins are doing at the same moment.

Volunteers help by spotting dolphins in short video clips and, when they are present, describing their behaviour and surroundings using clear, guided questions. Some clips are easy, others are challenging, and both are valuable.

By matching sounds with behaviour and context, your classifications help turn raw recordings into meaningful scientific insights. Every click helps us learn a little more about how dolphins use sound to communicate in their natural environment.

Join the dolphin team: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/sumbredolphin/dolphin-spotting

We need your help to describe the behaviour of dolphins in video clips. This will help us build a library of dolphin behaviours.

02/03/2026

Thanks to everyone who has signed up or helped spread the word thus far about our upcoming 3/7or8 competition and volunteer needs.

We need 26 more volunteer officials - Please sign up by Friday 2/6!
Volunteers receive swag (buff and theme sticker), lunch, snacks, and gratitude from the high school students and their teachers/coaches on nine teams, plus a non-competitive tenth team comprised of the sixth student from each each:
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School A & B
Belfast Area High School A & B
Cape Cod Academy (back for the first time since the pandemic!)
Lexington High School A & B
Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School
North Kingstown High School (new!)

If you've been on the fence about getting involved, 2026 is the year to do so, since federal budget cuts may mean this is our final year.

Details about 3/7or8, including practice-training dates/times that you rank according to your preferences: https://www.pmd.org/project/?id=1074

Registration link: https://pmd.org/s/BLBvolunteer2026.htm

If you're a high school graduate, please join us to
OFFICIATE for the Saturday 3/7/2026 Blue Lobster Bowl high school ocean sciences competition hosted at MIT by the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

We seek volunteer officials to serve as Moderators, Science Judges, Graders, Scorekeepers, and Runners so that teams can compete in the exciting, in-person head-to-head format. (You do not need any STEM background to keep score or time, and no advance practice is required for runners or graders.)

We need a commitment for the whole competition day and its 3/8 snow date, but guarantee that you will enjoy volunteering and interacting with motivated and curious high school students AND you will receive a free buff, lunch, snacks, sticker, and immense gratitude.

Learn more at https://www.pmd.org/project/?id=1074 and sign up asap online before 2/6 at https://pmd.org/s/BLBvolunteer2026.htm

Contact .Tsuruda if you have questions.

Please help spread the word to others who might be interested in lending a hand!