That gigantic shadow that blotted out the sun for a good two weeks in June?

Hope you weren’t worried. That was only the mountain of stories about the iPhone casting a gigantic news shadow, obscuring everything else in its path.

Which means, of course, that all the free advertising for Steve Jobs swallowed room in the news hole for stuff that was far more significant and interesting than a cellphone introduction.

To catch you up, here’s last month’s batch of links. Feel free to use your new iPhone to call friends and neighbors to tell them what they missed:

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The dwarf planet Eris is 27 percent more massive than Pluto, thereby strengthening the decree last year that there are eight planets in the solar system and a growing list of dwarf planets.

In Case You Missed It: Dwarf is so negative. We prefer ‘little planet.’

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Fish use the threat of punishment to maintain stability in their social order. Small goby fish at Lizard Island on Australia`s Great Barrier Reef, use the threat of expulsion from the school as a powerful deterrent to keep subordinate fish from challenging those more dominant than they.

In Case You Missed It: Can a book named ‘Goby Dick’ be far behind?`

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Altruistic acts activate a primitive part of the brain, producing a pleasurable response, indicating morality appears to be hard-wired into our brains.

In Case You Missed It: Giving can be so primative.

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Rats with blueberries in their diets had a slower rate of brain cell loss associated with aging illnesses than those on normal food.

In Case You Missed It: Rats find their thrill on Blueberry Hill.

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A race of 36 million-year-old extinct giant penguins marched to equatorial South America during a time when the world was much warmer than it is now. Remains of the penguins, which stood over 5 feet tall, were found on the south coast of Peru, challenge previous conceptions about penguin evolution and expansion.

In Case You Missed It: But did they have ‘Happy Feet?’

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Icebergs hold trapped terrestrial material, which they release far out at sea as they melt. This process produces a “halo effect” with significantly increased nutrients, chlorophyll and krill out to a radius of more than 2 miles. Scientists also have begun to suspect that icebergs may also play a role in global climate regulation by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

In Case You Missed It: Iceberg, not so dead, ahead.

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A petrified forest believed to date back 1 to 2 million years has been found in east China’s Anhui province on Xianyu Mountain.

In Case You Missed It: Petrified, but not scared.

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Women who enjoyed strong childhood relationships with their fathers prefer to have a male partner who physically resembles him,

In Case You Missed It: She wants a boy like the boy who married dear old mom.

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Although Mount Kilimanjaro’s ice cover has shrunk by 90 percent, the decrease is not the result of greenhouse gases.

In Case You Missed It: So much for that theory.

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Two dozen new species of wildlife have been discovered in the South American highlands of Suriname, including a frog with two-tone frog - whose skin is covered with irregular fluorescent lavender loops markings.

In Case You Missed It: Kermit has a blinged-out friend.

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U.S. military troops rarely consume all the components in MRE provisions, particularly when they are preparing for missions where reducing the amount of weight and bulk in their packs is essential. Instead, they “field strip” the rations, choosing their favorite items and tossing out the rest.

In Case You Missed It: MRT = Meals Ready To Toss.

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Fetuses are able to mount their own specific immune response to flu vaccines received by their mother.

In Case You Missed It: Step aside, mom. I got this one.