My picks from ScienceDaily

Power Of Wilderness Experiences As A Catalyst For Change In Young Offenders:

Researchers in the University of Essex's Centre for Environment and Society have been working with young offenders from Essex to help them turn their lives around. Professor Jules Pretty, Jo Barton and Rachel Hine were involved in 'The TurnAround 2007 Project', initiated by the Wilderness Foundation UK to help seven vulnerable young people in Chelmsford and mid-Essex. This nine-month project used the power of nature and wilderness experiences a catalyst for change, enabling the young people to re-evaluate their destructive lifestyles and gave them the self assurance to take responsibility for their future.

Teaching Intangibles With Technology:

Teach students some facts, and they learn for one exam at a time. Teach students to think and they learn how to learn for the rest of their lives. Ambitious work from European and Israeli researchers is making it easier to help students learn to think for themselves. This is exciting stuff for teachers.

Majority Of Teens Discuss Risky Behaviors On MySpace, Studies Conclude:

In a pair of related studies released by Seattle Children's Research Institute and published in the January 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, researchers found that 54 percent of adolescents frequently discuss high-risk activities including sexual behavior, substance abuse or violence using MySpace, the popular social networking Web site (SNS).

Why Smokers Struggle To Quit, New Findings:

Just seeing someone smoke can trigger smokers to abandon their nascent efforts to kick the habit, according to new research conducted at Duke University Medical Center.

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