Genetic material from Asian carp has been discovered in Lake Erie water samples collected nearly a year ago, officials said Friday.

Researchers with the University of Notre Dame, Central Michigan University and The Nature Conservancy detected DNA from the invasive fish this week when examining more than 400 samples taken in August 2011. It's the first time DNA from bighead and silver carp has turned up in Lake Erie, although three bighead were caught there between 1995 and 2000.

More than 500 penguins have been found dead on beaches of Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state, authorities said Friday.

The Center of Coastal and Marine Studies (Ceclimar) said veterinarians were investigating the deaths of the 512 marine animals which beached on the coast between the towns of Tramandai and Cidreira, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the state capital, Porto Alegre.

Philippine authorities seized some 1,500 live aquarium fish and about 150 live pieces of brain coral at a Manila pier Friday just before they were to be shipped to Japan.

The fish and corals in water-filled plastic bags stored in styrofoam boxes were seized by quarantine officers, said fisheries bureau law enforcement chief Andres Menguito.

International scientists said Thursday that unusual stone dart tips found in an Oregon cave may have been made by a little known people who were perhaps the oldest inhabitants of North America.

The findings, published in the journal Science, add new information to a long-running debate over who were the first people to inhabit North America and become the founding culture of the Native Americans.

Engineers said Friday they had built a device using mass-produced video gaming equipment that lets disabled people control a computer with just their eyes -- with a price tag of under $30 (25 euros).

The gadget comprises two video game console cameras, costing less than $10 apiece, attached outside the line of vision to a pair of ordinary glasses, reported the team from Imperial College London.

South African scientists said Thursday they had uncovered the most complete skeleton yet of an ancient relative of man, hidden in a rock excavated from an archaeological site three years ago.

The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, constitute the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," according to University of Witwatersrand paleontologist Lee Berger.

French scientists on Wednesday announced they had sequenced the DNA code of the banana, a vital crop whose future is darkened by emerging pests and complicated by its strangely inbred character.

Researchers unraveled the genome of a wild Asian banana strain called Musa acuminata in a bid to pinpoint genes that could help yields, fruit quality and resistance to fungus threats.

A small crustacean parasite which feeds on fish in the Caribbean has been named after Bob Marley, in what the biologist who discovered it calls a tribute to the late reggae icon.

The tiny shellfish, a blood feeder that inhabits the coral reefs of the shallow eastern Caribbean, has been called Gnathia marleyi after the Jamaican music legend.

Britain on Thursday released an archive of "X-Files" detailing government UFO briefings and probes into unexplained sightings, including one above Chelsea football club.

The 25 files released by The National Archives include "a lengthy briefing on UFO policy to then prime minister Tony Blair's office" along with a job description for the post of UFO desk officer, described as the "weirdest job in Whitehall."

In arid southern Peru, geologists are fighting time and the elements to preserve a precious find: a vast whale cemetery dating back millions of years.

The fossilized remains of roughly 15 of the majestic marine mammals alive three to 20 million years ago are currently on view in the Ocucaje desert some 310 kilometers (190 miles) south of the capital Lima.