How does marine research work? What technical solutions help us to better understand our oceans and use them sustainably? And what sort of people actually work in ocean technology? 13 schoolgirls aged between 14 and 18 explored these questions at this year’s ocean technology inventors camp. From July 6 to 9, 2026, they learnt about the enormous breadth of marine research and marine technology – primarily through hands-on experience – at the IOW and together with various other partners of the Ocean Technology Campus Rostock.

An international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the IOW investigated how the shape of black corals influences the functions of their cilia. By combining an unusually comprehensive suite of imaging and microsensor techniques, the researchers were able to visualize both, water flow and oxygen transport, from individual cilia to entire coral fragments. They found that the cilia allow corals to create and direct the flow of water around and within them, thus optimising oxygen supply, feeding and internal transport. The study was recently published in Communications Biology.