Interesting science news, research tidbits and science discussion. http://www.scienceagogo.com New research has added weight to the controversial idea that overfishing by humans is driving rapid evolutionary change in fish, making them smaller and less fecund while driving commercially valuable species like cod to the brink of economic extinction... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080726183525data_trunc_sys.shtml Researchers examining male horned beetles from four geographically separated populations say the groups have diverged significantly in the size of the male genitalia, and natural selection operating on the other end of the animal - the fighting horns atop the beetles' heads - seems to be driving it much more quickly than expected... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080725234556data_trunc_sys.shtml A bus-stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A house built from living tree roots that provides natural protection against earthquakes? These concepts may be science fiction today, but Israeli scientists say that fully functional "plantware" may be only a decade away... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080721224839data_trunc_sys.shtml In male swordtail fish, black melanoma splotches help lure females, suggesting that the deadly melanoma gene is conserved for its beneficial role in sexual selection... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080720005822data_trunc_sys.shtml An analysis of beehive wax samples and the bees themselves has found unprecedented levels of fluvalinate and coumaphos - pesticides used in the hives to combat varroa mites - as well as 70 other pesticides from external sources... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080719010249data_trunc_sys.shtml Chemical engineers at Caltech have used various plant genes to genetically modify common baker's yeast to produce large quantities of drugs, including antibiotics, nicotine, and even morphine... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080717203932data_trunc_sys.shtml Habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean warming, increased acidification and massive nutrient runoff are combining to turn Earth's oceans into simplistic ecosystems dominated by microbes, toxic algal blooms, jellyfish and disease... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080713190210data_trunc_sys.shtml British researchers have found that the contraceptive pill appears to disrupt women's natural ability to choose a partner genetically dissimilar to themselves... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080712185114data_trunc_sys.shtml Two physicists have come up with a new method to travel faster than the speed of light without breaking the laws of physics. The only drawback? The drive requires a massive amount of energy. How much? Think about converting Jupiter's entire mass into pure energy... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080711215055data_trunc_sys.shtml Existing models that attempt to explain the formation of the solar system have assumed it to be average in every way, but a new study using recent data from the 300 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars turns that view on its head and indicates that solar systems like our own are likely quite rare... http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20080710210440data_trunc_sys.shtml