Earth

Animals

Fearless tadpoles give invaders the edge

Clueless larvae don’t heed the scent of nonnative turtles, giving newcomers an edge over native species, a European study finds.

Agriculture

Germs eyed to make foods safer

Adding viruses to foods doesn’t sound appetizing, much less healthy. But it’s a stratagem being explored to knock some of the more virulent food poisoning bacteria out of the U.S. food supply. Scientists described data supporting the tactic July 18 at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting in Chicago.

Earth

New ‘walking’ fishes discovered in Gulf oil-spill zone

Pancake batfishes may be getting oiled before they get named.

Earth

Mangroves do a coast good

Left intact, dense swaths of trees can reduce tsunami damage, a new study suggests.

Earth

Africa’s bumper crop of dust

Seafloor sediments show that agriculture has greatly boosted airborne dust in the last two centuries.

Climate

New carbon data should produce better climate forecasts

BLOG: More refined measurements for carbon dioxide input by plants and carbon dioxide released during respiration will help models, Science News editor in chief Tom Siegfried reports from the Euroscience Open Forum 2010 in Turin, Italy.

Climate

Methane releases in arctic seas could wreak devastation

Warming climate could lead to dead zones, acidification and shifts at the base of the ocean’s food chain.

Earth

African fossils suggest complex life arose early

Researchers find evidence that Earth’s earliest multicellular life got going 2.1 billion years ago.

Earth

Moby Dick meets Jaws

A recently discovered fossil demonstrates that giant whales weren’t always as gentle as they are today.

Earth

Ivy nanoparticles promise sunblocks and other green products

I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with English ivy that’s been devolving towards hate-hate. But a new paper may temper my antipathy. Apparently this backyard bully also offers a kinder, gentler alternative to the potentially toxic metal-based nanoparticles used in today’s sunscreens.

Earth

Antarctic shoal breaks the ice

Instruments on a massive berg help pinpoint a previously unreported undersea ridge.

Animals

Climate change may favor couch-potato elk

With drought and rising temperatures in Wyoming, migratory animals suffer while stay-at-home members of the same herd thrive