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4 articles from ScienceNOW

Cleaning up ocean ‘garbage patches’ could destroy delicate ecosystems

Removing trash from the ocean may not be as harmless as it seems. That’s the conclusion of new research, which finds that marine dumps known as “garbage patches” are home to countless delicate creatures that could perish when people scoop debris from the sea. The oceans are home to five major garbage patches. They form far from land where strong currents swirl together,...

Comb jelly ancestor may have been first animal to branch from tree of life

The first single-celled organisms drifted at sea. Then, some 700 million to 800 million years ago, clusters of cells joined together to form Earth’s first multicellular animal. More recently, the animal family tree split into two branches. One lineage gave rise to all other animals on Earth, from brontosauruses to badgers. The other, dubbed “sister of all other animals,” continued...

Watch this spider crawl like an ant to avoid being eaten

Unlike some other spiders that camouflage themselves with drab colors and sticklike appendages , the jumping spider Siler collingwoodi disguises itself by the way it moves. The bright blue and orange arachnid—a pea-size animal native to China and Japan—crawls like an ant, according to a new study. In a side-by-side comparison, researchers found...

Quakes and blasts help scientists understand Earth’s elusive inner core

About the size of Pluto, Earth’s inner core is made of solid iron and helps power the magnetic field that protects life from harmful space radiation. For more than a century, seismic waves have helped researchers identify and characterize the core’s properties. Science reporter Paul Voosen wrote about the most recent insights into the mysterious center of the planet....