And just for something a bit more light hearted, check out this innovative use of social media. A team of researchers surveying fish populations in rivers in Guyana was faced with the challenge of identifying and counting the 5000 different fish they had caught over 2 weeks in the jungle. Running out of time before they had to fly back to the US, the researchers had an innovative idea - why not crowdsource the job? So they uploaded photos of the 5000 fish to Facebook, and in less than 24 hours their network of friends (which of course given their area of interest included many expert fish scientists) had identified almost every single one. Has to be one of the most productive and positive uses for Facebook I've heard in a while!!

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/uots-csr051311.php