Social networking risks studied

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Social networking risks studied MELBOURNE (UPI) -- An Australian report on social networking sites found a quarter of middle school students who used the sites saw no risks involved in doing so. Researchers at Monash University in Victoria state surveyed more than 1,000 Victorian students, 200 teachers and 49 parents, a university release said Monday. Parents and teachers said they were particularly concerned about issues of cyber-bullying, grooming or stalking, with a lesser number expressing concerns about identity theft and disclosure. However, many students in the survey said they didn't share those concerns. Of the 95 percent of the students who said they used social networking sites, 48.8 percent felt there was some element of risk, but more than one quarter -- 28.3 percent -- thought social networking sites were safe. And 19.6 percent of students were ambivalent about risk, saying it was irrelevant to them as social networking is "just what everyone does," the survey reported. Despite this, a majority of surveyed students indicated they had received unwelcome or unpleasant contact from strangers via their social networking profile. The majority of surveyed students said they update information on their social networking sites at least every day, with a quarter updating their profile several times per day. Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Intense effort on to save tropical bird COLUMBIA, Mo. (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say desperate measures are needed to save one of the world's most endangered birds, a tropical kingfisher living on one Pacific island. A University of Missouri researcher says fewer than 125 Tuamotu Kingfishers -- with bright blue feathers, a dusty orange head and a bright green back -- live on the tiny south Pacific island and warns that without serious intervention they will soon no longer exist, a UM release reported Monday. "If we lose these birds, we lose 50,000 years of uniqueness and evolution," Dylan Kesler, UM professor in fisheries and wildlife, said. "Because it has lived in isolation for a very long time, it's unlike any other bird. There is no other bird like this on the planet." Kesler said he is trying to prevent the birds' extinction by working with farmers and residents on the island inhabited by the kingfishers. The birds create nests by hollowing out dead trees, and Kesler wants to convince farmers not to cut down all their dead coconut trees but rather leave some standing for the kingfisher's nests. Cats and rats, introduced to the island by humans, hunt the Tuamotu Kingfisher, and Kesler is urging farmers to wrap metal bands around the trees to prevent the predators from climbing into the nests. He is also working with farmers who use fire to clear land, helping them develop burn methods that will kill brush but leave the island's lizards -- the kingfishers' main food -- alive. "Unfortunately, even with all our work to date, the population is still crashing," Kesler said. "At this rate, these birds will be gone within our lifetime." Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Accurate fish count seen as vital study MIAMI (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say a newly developed, more accurate method of measuring reef fish populations will be a big help in evaluating the state of the world's oceans. While counting fish may sound simple, it is a complex task -- one that researchers at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are trying to improve by using a probabilistic survey approach to count the numbers of fish more precisely, in an efficient and cost-effective manner, a university release said Monday. "This program started when it became obvious that we could not evaluate coral reef fish populations by simply counting how many fish were being landed at the dock," Jim Bohnsack of NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center said. A statistical method was developed in the mid-'90s to link diver visual counts and advanced mathematical calculations in a rigorous sampling process, researchers said. Refined over the years in studies in the Florida Keys, the methodology is applicable to other U.S. coral reef systems and reefs around the world, scientists say. "We have already been using this methodology in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to assess multispecies reef fish populations, and federal and local management agencies are extremely pleased with the results of these efforts," University of Miami Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries Jerry Ault said. Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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Spanish island yields giant rabbit fossil SABADELL, Spain (UPI) -- European researchers say they've unearthed the fossil skeleton of a giant rabbit on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Minorca, a popular tourist destination. The giant rabbit, dubbed Nuralagus rex, weighed 26.4 pounds, about six times the size of the living European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, a release by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology said Monday. The outsized rabbit lived between 3 million and 5 million years ago, researchers said. A lack of mainland predators on the island allowed it to reach a giant size. The rabbit paid a price for its size, researchers said, and lost the ability to hop. The long springy spine of a mainland rabbit is lost in N. rex, replaced by a short, stiff spine that would make hopping difficult. "I think that N. rex would be a rather clumsy rabbit walking," Josep Quintana from the Institut Catalade Paleontologia said. "Imagine a beaver out of water." The rabbit was most likely a digger, Quintana said, searching for roots and tubers to eat. "For most of their over 40 million year history, members of the rabbit family have fit well within the size range exhibited by relatively well-known modern members of the family," Mary Dawson, a rabbit researcher at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said. "Now discoveries on Minorca have added a giant to the mix, a 25 pound, short-legged rabbit." Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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