More than 150 years later, researchers are using Thoreau’s records to gather evidence of how the climate has warmed in the area of Walden Pond, in Concord , Massachusetts, a few miles from Boston.

Biologists are comparing country bumpkins and city slickers…among birds. Find out how our feathered friends compare in the age-old debate.

Image: Black Flowerpiercer, courtesy of Paul Martin

Researchers using genetically engineered viruses to build a better rechargeable battery have now shown that the technology can perform as well as commercially available high-power lithium-ion batteries, but can be produced using less energy and fewer toxic chemicals.

Image courtesy: Georg Fantner

“Is that skin cancer?” Even experts can be confused by skin moles that might or might not be melanomas. But now diagnosing the aggressive skin cancer is about to become easier. As this ScienCentral News video explains, researchers have developed a new test for melanoma that could prevent it from being misdiagnosed.
Image courtesy: Mohammed Kashani-Sabet, UCSF

Some hollow bones are providing solid new evidence of how birds evolved from dinosaurs. Scientists have discovered a new carnivorous dinosaur that breathed like a bird.

Just after midnight on this day in 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez crashed against a reef off the coast of Alaska. Nearly 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the surrounding waters of the Prince Island Sound. And now, two decades later, the after effects of the Valdez spill linger.
Image courtesy: NOAA, Workers using high-pressure, hot-water washing to clean an oiled shoreline.

The sounds of birds chirping and fluttering outside your bedroom window are a welcome sign of spring, but scientists have evidence that suggests birds are nesting earlier due to global warming. And the harmful consequences aren’t just for the birds, as this ScienCentral video explains.

Feeling like you’re suffering from brain drain and you can’t concentrate? Psychologists have now found out that taking some time to interact with nature, even in cold weather, can make you a bit smarter.

New research gives a possible explanation for why some of us are thrill seekers and others like to play it safe. The study found that some of us can’t control the release of a certain brain chemical.

A newly launched curriculum integrating study of the Holocaust with the science of DNA is a great free gift for teachers who believe in cross-curricular instruction but have few resources for practicing it.