This is sort of a reply to Alia's entry. I also agree with Alia in that I also believe that writing these research papers is beneficial to us. It's always great to be able to pick your own topic, one you're interested in, and then find out everything you can on it. I for one chose the death of coral reefs. I went to an imax movie on coral reefs 2 summers ago at the science musuem and I thought it was going to be the most boring movie ever! But it actually turned out to be one of the most interesting imax movies I've seen yet. I've always been interested in marine biology, but never for a second considered researching the coral reef aspect. But here I am and I'm enjoying learning about the whole complex ecosystems of coral reefs and am increasingly concerned about their conservation. Anyone else interested in this topic? Or anything interesting to add? I'd love to hear anyone's comments.