Drones are providing a powerful new tool for whale research and conservation. Here, NOAA’s John Durban (center rear) uses a remote control to guide a hexacopter into the outstretched hands of his NOAA colleague, Holly Fearnbach, as WHOI microbiologist Amy Apprill (seated) and New England Aquarium whale specialist Marilyn Marx look on. Durban makes it look easy, but maneuvering a drone from a rocking sailboat is anything but. (Photo by Véronique LaCapra, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
