The world's biggest marine reserve, almost as large as Alaska, will be established in the Ross Sea in Antarctica under an agreement reached by representatives of 24 nations and the European Union. Commercial fishing will be banned from the entire area, but 28 percent of it will be designated as research zones, where scientists can catch limited amounts of fish and krill. The area, which is mostly contiguous and hugs the coast off the Ross Sea ice shelf, will come under protection Dec. 1, 2017.

Why does foliage turn red in fall?

There are a handful of evolutionary explanations for why leaves go red in the fall. It could be that colorful leaves attract birds and mammals to a tree's fruits, helping to disperse its seeds. Maybe the color warns animals away from defensive poisons or chemicals that tend to be in red leaves. Perhaps pests laying eggs in the fall prefer drab plants and spare the bright ones. In maple trees, scientists have found, red probably works like a sunshade, helping leaves send nutrients into storage.

New millipede is toothy, poisonous

It has 414 legs, a pear-shaped head covered with stiff hairs that secrete a silklike substance, a lip with a tooth-lined slit, and two nozzles on each of its 100 segments that give off a defensive poison. Scientists have found a new species of millipede living in California. They know the single specimen they found is a male, because it has four penises, right below its neck. The animal belongs to the genus Illacme, and the researchers gave it the species name tobini.

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