PAC Lab Science at the Edge of the Pacific

PAC Lab

Science at the Edge of the Pacific

Latest Articles

Warm Waters, Shifting Worlds: How a Changing Pacific Is Redrawing the Map of Marine Life
Environmental Science

Warm Waters, Shifting Worlds: How a Changing Pacific Is Redrawing the Map of Marine Life

From the kelp forests of Southern California to the salmon runs of Alaska, rising Pacific Ocean temperatures are dismantling ecological relationships that took millennia to form. Researchers tracking these changes warn that the consequences extend far beyond the waterline, threatening fishing economies and coastal communities across the western United States and beyond.

Environmental Science

From Garbage Patch to Grocery Aisle: The Hidden Plastic Contamination in America's Pacific Seafood

Emerging research is drawing a direct line between the Pacific Ocean's vast accumulations of plastic waste and the seafood Americans consume daily. Scientists studying bioaccumulation patterns are uncovering how microplastic particles migrate from open-ocean garbage patches into commercially harvested fish and shellfish—and the findings are reshaping what we know about food safety. PAC Lab examines the latest data, the species most at risk, and what consumers can realistically do with this infor