Moth navigation probed to improve micro-drone flight

It turns out moths are far better at video games than we might have thought. When navigating through a virtual forest, hawkmoths determine their route ahead of time depending on how much of the forest they can see. Mimicking their strategy might help us improve the flying ability of the micro-drones now being built.

Moths certainly see the world differently from humans as they zip along at 25 wingbeats per second. To figure out how they use landmarks to aid their navigation, Yonatan Munk of the University of Washington in Seattle created a virtual forest containing various amounts of "fog" that obscured the virtual trees. He then tied a hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) to an input device in front of the screen. This device detected when the moth was turning and caused the visualisation to respond accordingly.

"I'm essentially giving the moth a joystick," Munk said at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in San Francisco, where he presented the research last week.

The simple animation (see video) tricked the moth into navigating through the trees it saw. Similar techniques have been used to fool fruit flies, mice and fish. When the insect thought it was about to crash into a tree, it would often flail its legs as though trying to land or slow down.

Munk and his colleagues set up three virtual environmental scenarios to see whether moths always navigate through trees in the same way. Surprisingly, they found that the moths changed their strategy depending on visibility conditions.

If virtual "fog" rendered visibility so poor that the moth had just quarter of a second to respond to approaching obstacles, it would fly in wide circles until it found a tree, which it then used as a reference point.

Next, the researchers lifted the virtual fog slightly, giving the moth about 2 seconds to respond to obstacles. Now, if trees loomed to the left or right, the moths veered sharply towards them.

Information filter

Finally, with no fog at all, the moth could see trees even a virtual kilometre away. Now there was no longer a correlation between the moth's left and right turns and the total number of trees visible to its left or right, says Munk. However, there was a correlation between its turns and the number and position of nearby trees – in other words, moths ignored visible distant trees when navigating in very clear conditions.

It's interesting that the moths appear to plan their strategy ahead of time depending on how much of their environment they can see, says Mark Willis of Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. "We're used to thinking of insects as little stimulus-response machines."

By controlling what an insect encounters in a virtual reality world, researchers can tease apart how the creatures integrate different sensory inputs while navigating, says Willis. This information is important if we are to design effective flight navigation algorithms for micro-drones similar in size to the moths. "We're starting to understand what's going on in those beady little bug brains," Willis says.

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Football: Valdes stuns Barcelona by refusing to renew contract

BARCELONA: Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes stunned the Liga leaders by informing them he will not renew his contract when it expires next year before they even had a chance to make an offer, officials said on Friday.

The 31-year-old player's representatives met with the club on Thursday and told them of the "irrevocable decision not to renew his contract, thus avoiding entering into financial discussions," Valdes' agent Gines Carvajal said in a statement.

Barcelona sports director Andoni Zubizarreta said the club had been expecting to discuss renewing the contract for their first-choice keeper.

"We were holding the first meeting to initiate the process for renewing Victor's contract," Zubizarreta told Barca TV.

"The meeting began with us expressing the club's desire to extend his contract because we consider him to be a top class goalkeeper.

"But before we could make any proposal or discuss anything, his agent said the decision was already made and meditated, and that he will not be staying any later than June 30, 2014. It is an irrevocable decision."

Valdes has been at Barcelona since 2002.

His Facebook page was flooded with comments from fans, some angry at the news, others pleading with him to stay, asking why he wanted to go, or just wishing him the best in the future.

Despite being taken by surprise by Valdes' decision, Barcelona urged fans to show respect for their keeper.

"We are asking you to continue supporting him and to encourage him as much as you have done throughout his career," Zubizarreta said.

"He is committed to this jersey until June 30, 2014 and will defend the goal with everything he has and knows.

"Meanwhile, we will work together to see what the next steps should be, along with him and his agent, to work together to deal with this situation that arose yesterday."

Barcelona are currently 11 points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish league, and a massive 18 points ahead of perennial rivals and defending champions Real Madrid.

- AFP/de

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Unlimited Verizon data customers beware: Make sure your next phone is 4G

Some Verizon Wireless subscribers will do almost anything to keep their unlimited data plans. And that includes buying a new device at full price instead of signing a two year contract and taking a sweet subsidy on that new phone.

But what happens when a Verizon subscriber who bought a 3G iPhone realizes she may still see her unlimited data service slowed? In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain the finer points of Verizon's unlimited data policy and why 3G device users need to be careful. I also help another reader decide if the Verizon Share Plan could work for him and his wife.

Did you know Verizon throttles unlimited data customers?!?!?

Dear Maggie,
Verizon is now throttling "unlimited data" customers. I just got a text stating that my data usage will be cut off. The explanation is that the "network optimization" kicked in and blah, blah, blah. I'm a little ticked off since, I just bought an iPhone to keep my unlimited data plan. Keep in mind his phone is 3G so it's not exactly blazing fast either.Verizon reps I talked to claim this policy has been in place for a while, but it's the first I have heard of it.

I think the Verizon customers need to be warned,especially since people are going out and spending $500 and $600 to buy phones at full price to keep these unlimited data plans that are not really unlimited. Can you please look into this and explain what's going on here?

Thanks,
RPreston

Dear RPreston,
You are correct that Verizon Wireless does "throttle" or slow down customers on its unlimited data plans who use excessive amounts of data.

I wrote about this in my Ask Maggie column in March last year. Verizon targets the top 5 percent of the heaviest data users. But the company uses network optimization technology to only slow down those heavy data users when the network is actually congested.

The way it works is that if you use more than 2GB of data per month, Verizon is likely to identify you as being in the top 5 percent of data users. Once you've been identified as a heavy data user, when the cell site you are in gets congested, Verizon will slow down your access until the network is no longer so crowded.

Once the congestion has subsided or you move to a different cell site that isn't congested, your speed returns to normal. Depending on how congested the network is your service could be slowed for a few minutes or for several hours.

Keep in mind this policy only applies to customers with unlimited data plans on the 3G network. Verizon doesn't slow down data for 4G customers. This means that if you have an
iPhone 5 with 4G and you live in an area where Verizon offers 4G LTE service, you should never have your data throttled or slowed down even if you use more than 2GB of data per month.

Why is there a distinction? The 3G wireless network as you note in your question is much slower. It's also much more crowded than the new 4G network. Since Verizon services more customers on a network that doesn't have as much capacity, there is more opportunity for congestion.

Verizon's 4G LTE network offers much more capacity than the 3G network. Think of the two networks as highways. The 3G network is a four lane dual highway where traffic moves just fine during off peak hours. But during rush hour, it may turn into a parking lot as too many
cars crowd the roadway. The 4G LTE network may be an eight lane highway with four lanes in each direction. Because the road is wider it can handle twice as many cars. So during rush hour, cars are able to still move freely.

In other words, Verizon still has plenty of capacity on its 4G LTE network. The road is bigger and there are actually fewer drivers on it. Although that is quickly changing. In October, the company said that in September its 4G LTE network handled 35 percent of its mobile data traffic. And that figure was expected to cross the 50 percent mark by the end of the year.

The Apple iPhone 4S, in black and white.

(Credit:
Apple)

So what does all of this mean for Verizon subscribers who want to keep their unlimited data plans? As you mentioned in your question, in order for existing customers who already have unlimited data plans with Verizon to keep those unlimited plans, they have to buy a device at full price. If you get a new phone and take Verizon's subsidy with a two-year contract, you have to buy a tiered plan or family share plan.

If you want to keep that unlimited data plan, my suggestion is to make sure you are buying a 4G LTE device. It sounds like you bought an older version of the iPhone that doesn't support 4G LTE. The only model that supports 4G LTE is the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4 and
iPhone 4S still operate on 3G networks.

Most if not all smartphones introduced on Verizon's network today will support 4G LTE. So if you are buying one of the latest and greatest phones, you won't have to worry about whether it's 4G or not. But if you are trying to save a little cash and you are looking at older devices or used smartphones, just be sure that the phone you purchase supports 4G LTE. If you do, you won't have to worry about Verizon throttling you. You can use as much data as you like without fear.

Unfortunately, in your situation, you already have a 3G iPhone, which paid for outright. So the only way to avoid potentially having your network service slowed is to keep usage under 2GB. Use Wi-Fi hotspots when you can. If this doesn't work for you, you can always sell your 3G iPhone and buy an iPhone 5.

I hope this advice was helpful. And good luck.

Is Verizon's Shared Data plan really worth it?

Dear Maggie,
I have Motorola Droid 2's from Verizon Wireless. The plan is to put them on Verizon's service and pay month-to-month to see how it goes. I will use mine almost exclusively for talking with minimum text messages and minimum data. My wife will use more of these services on her Droid 2 than I will. My questions are this: Does this make good economic sense for us to do this? And how do I calculate how much data to buy?

Thanks,
J

Dear J,
It sounds like you already own the Motorola Droid 2 devices that you plan to use on Verizon's network. That's good news for you since it means that you can sign up for a Verizon plan without a contract. If you don't take a subsidy for a new phone when you sign up for service, you don't have to sign a two-year service contract.

Droid 2

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

I'm not sure what your existing service is. As I wrote in my column earlier this week, it's probably cheaper for you to use a basic feature phone if you don't plan on using data services. If you do want a smartphone and you're looking for the least expensive options, then prepaid service plans from regional carriers are often priced more aggressively than what you will find with Verizon.

But since you already have two Verizon smartphones that you've already bought, it makes sense to use Verizon service. (Sometimes you can use a Verizon phone with a prepaid service that uses Verizon's network, but that can be tricky. Your easiest bet is to just use the phones on the Verizon network.)

If you are a new customer to Verizon and you want to use smartphones on your plan, you will have to sign up for a family share plan. The least expensive plan will give you unlimited talk and text messaging for you and your wife, plus 1GB of data to share between the two of you. The total cost is $130 a month.

Since you don't think you will use much data and it doesn't sound like your wife is a heavy data user, you will probably be fine with 1GB for the month. Verizon has a tool on its Website to help you estimate how much data you will need. And there are apps you can download onto your phones that will keep track of data and also compress some of your data, so you use less data. The one I use is called Onavo.

If you find that you need more data, you can always increase your plan and get another 1GB of data for a total of 2GB of data per month for $10 more a month. And if you find that Verizon's service is too expensive and you aren't using the data services very much, you can always cancel your service. Since you didn't get a phone subsidy with your service, you are free to cancel the service at any time without any penalty. So you might as give it a shot and see how goes for you.

Good luck!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie's advice. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

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First Human Contact With Large Emperor Penguin Colony

One of the largest emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica was discovered last month by a team from the International Polar Foundation's Princess Elisabeth station.

The penguin colony had previously been identified through satellite imagery by researchers from the British Antarctic Survey. The penguins themselves didn't show up very clearly, but their excrement stains on the ice did.

Expedition leader Alain Hubert, who has spent seven seasons in Antarctica, long suspected a colony existed somewhere along the vast coast near Princess Elisabeth station. "When you go on the coast," explained the Belgian explorer, "after ten minutes, penguins come out of the water to look at who you are and what you are doing."

The satellite images gave Hubert and his team a rough idea of where to start looking. When ice research brought them within 37 miles (60 kilometers) of the probable location, they hopped on their snowmobiles for a side trip. The team traversed steep crevasses from the continent's cliffs down to the ice shelf, which has been shifting 650 feet (200 meters) toward the sea each year. "We were lucky to find it," said Hubert.

They finally came upon the colony at 11 p.m. on December 3, when the sun was still shining during the Antarctic summer. Spread out on the ice were 9,000 emperor penguins, about three-quarters of them chicks. Despite his polar experience, Hubert had never seen a full colony before. "You can approach them," he said. "When you talk to them, it's like they are listening to you."

Researchers hope penguins will tell them—through population numbers and colony locations—how they are faring with climate change. Emperor penguins breed on the sea ice. If the ice breaks up early, before the chicks can fend for themselves, the chicks die and the future of the colony is imperiled.

Hubert has high hopes for his newly met neighbors because they located their nursery on top of an underwater rift, where the sea ice is less likely to melt. "They are quite clever, these animals."

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Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend May Have Duped Others

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" may have hoaxed other unsuspecting suitors.

"Catfish" movie director and actor Ariel Schulman told "Good Morning America" today that he believes there may have been "a few other people duped by the fake Lennay character."

Schulman and his brother Nev Schulman have been looking into the elaborate scam and claim to be corresponding with various players involved. They have come to believe that there were "a lot of other people that she was corresponding with before and maybe even during her relationship [with Te'o]."

Nev Schulman was the subject of the 2010 movie "Catfish," which spawned the TV series, because he himself was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.

As questions mount about Te'o's possible role in the complex scam, the number one question is whether Te'o was unknowingly ensnared, as he says, or whether he was complicit in the scam.

"I stand by the guy. My heart goes out to him," Ariel Schulman said. His brother has reached out to Te'o, but has not heard back.

"He had his heart broken," Schulman said. "He was grieving for someone, whether she existed or not. Those were real feelings."

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Manti Te'o Hoax: Was He Duped or Did He Know? Watch Video

Manti Te'o Hoax: Notre Dame Star Allegedly Scammed Watch Video

Tale of Notre Dame Football Star's Girlfriend and Her Death an Alleged Hoax Watch Video

Click here for a who's who in the Manti Te'o case

Te'o has kept a low-profile since the news of the scandal broke. He released a statement calling the situation "incredibly embarrassing" and maintaining that he was a victim of the hoax.

He was captured briefly by news cameras on Thursday at a Florida training facility, but has not spoken publicly.

As for the woman whose photo was used as the face of Lennay Kekua, "Inside Edition" has identified her as Diane O'Meara who is very much alive. The show caught up with her on Thursday, but she declined to comment.

ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams said that O'Meara may be the one person in the scandal with the power to sue since her likeness was taken and used without her permission.

As for Te'o, even if he knew about the deception, it appears that he did not do anything illegal.

"He's allowed to lie to the public. He's allowed to lie to the media. He's not allowed to lie to the authorities," Abrams said on "Good Morning America."

Questions also remain about the timeline of events and when Te'o discovered that the "love of his life," as he called her, was nothing more than a fake Internet persona.

According to Notre Dame's timeline of events, Te'o learned his girlfriend didn't exist on Dec. 6.

But in a Dec. 8 interview with South Bend, Ind., TV station WSBT, Te'o said, "I really got hit with cancer. I lost both my grandparents an my girlfriend to cancer." And on Dec. 11, he talked about his girlfriend in a newspaper interview.

Te'o alerted Notre Dame on Dec. 26 about the scam, the university said.

Click here for more scandalous public confessions.

Skeptics have also cited comments by Te'o's father Brian Te'o who told a newspaper how Kekua used to visit his son in Hawaii.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university launched their own investigation.

"Our investigators, through their work, were able to discover online chatter between the perpetrators," Swarbrick said at a Wednesday news conference. "That was sort of the ultimate proof."

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Obama to scientists: tell us how to curb gun violence

With a stroke of his pen, President Barack Obama yesterday ended a de facto freeze on US government research into gun violence as a public health problem – in place since the mid-1990s.

"We don't benefit from ignorance," Obama said, directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, to assess existing strategies to reduce gun violence and identify pressing questions that should be answered.

The executive order is one of 23 Obama signed as part of measures drawn up in response to the horrific killing last month of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Obama also wants the US Congress to release $10 million for new research, including investigating whether playing violent video games and being exposed to other violent media makes people more likely to commit gun crimes.

With gun violence claiming some 11,000 lives in the US each year, you might imagine that reducing this toll would be near the top of the public health agenda.

For a while, in the early 1990s, it was – with CDC-backed research finding, for instance, that people with guns in the home were more likely to become victims of homicide.

Budget cut

But in 1996, after lobbying by the National Rifle Association, Congress passed language preventing the CDC from using its funds to "advocate or promote gun control". Simultaneously, it slashed $2.6 million from the agency's budget – precisely the CDC's annual funding for gun violence research.

Fearing further cuts, CDC officials have since steered away from investigating the consequences of gun ownership. "It's incredible that the CDC has been so hampered in doing research on this terrible public health issue," says David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

Noting that "research on gun violence is not advocacy", Obama's order stresses that the CDC is not prohibited from following his directions. It also specifies one initial priority: getting Congress to provide $20 million to expand coverage of the CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System from 18 states to the entire nation.

The NVDRS collects data on the circumstances of homicides from police, coroners' reports and other sources. It could be used to help investigate whether gun control laws are having the desired effect, but its patchy coverage means that many actions taken at the state level cannot easily be studied.

No lack of questions

Gun violence researchers have no shortage of questions that the CDC could now investigate. Garen Wintemute, who heads the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, wants to examine the value of California's efforts to recover firearms from people who bought them legally, but subsequently became ineligible to own a gun because they were convicted of a serious crime.

"We need to know whether that intervention – which is expensive and potentially risky – actually works," Wintemute says.

Another important question is over the degree of risk posed by people with a history of alcohol abuse owning guns. That could be studied if the CDC restored questions about gun ownership to its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the main survey used by the agency to investigate how risky behaviours may lead to disease, injury and death. These were removed after Congress pressured the CDC to abandon gun research.

While the CDC should now be able to study gun violence once again, its budget must be approved by Congress, which is why Obama is also requesting $10 million in new funding, in addition to the $20 million for the NVDRS. The new research, the White House plan says, should include "investigating the relationship between video games, media images, and violence".

It is well established that playing violent video games causes a short-term rise in aggression – measured, for example, by testing volunteers' willingness to subject others to unpleasant blasts of sound.

Definitive answer

What is unclear is whether prolonged exposure to violent games translates into an increased risk of real-world violence. Getting a definitive answer would mean following the behaviour of thousands of children into adulthood so that any link between gaming and violent crime can be identified, says Craig Anderson, who heads the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University in Ames.

Given the gun lobby's powerful influence in Congress, it is unclear whether gun studies will earn the CDC additional funds, or whether they will have to compete with existing priorities.

Obama's main proposals on gun control similarly hang in the balance, requiring congressional approval. The president wants Congress to impose bans on assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, and to close a loophole that allows individuals to sell guns privately without background checks on the buyer.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

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Football: Rodgers slams Suarez over diving admission

LONDON: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers on Thursday said that his controversial striker Luis Suarez could face punishment from the club after admitting that he dived to try to win a penalty in a league game with Stoke City.

In an interview with Fox Sports Argentina, Suarez admitted "falling" during October's 0-0 draw between the clubs at Anfield, prompting Rodgers, who had defended him from criticism at the time, to hit out.

"I think it is wrong. It is unacceptable. I have spoken to Luis and it will be dealt with internally," said Rodgers. "(Diving) is not something we advocate. Our ethics are correct."

Rodgers spoke to Suarez on Thursday and said he had been "totally understanding on where I am coming from as manager of the club.

"What was said was wrong. He takes that and we move on," he added.

Suarez hit the headlines for a theatrical fall in the Stoke game after he went to ground under a challenge from Marc Wilson in an unsuccessful attempt to win a second-half penalty.

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce was moved to describe Suarez's tumble as "cheating", adding that the tendency for players to easily fall to the ground was a "cancer" in the game.

Suarez has been accused of diving at regular intervals during his time in England and he admitted in the interview that he had gone down on purpose.

"I was criticised for trying to win a penalty by falling in a match against Stoke," said the Uruguay international. "It's true I fell because we were drawing against Stoke at home and we needed to do something.

"But afterwards, the coaches of Stoke, Everton, all of them, came forward. I came to realise that the name of Suarez was a (newspaper) seller."

Suarez sparked controversy again earlier this month when he handled the ball prior to scoring Liverpool's winning goal in their 2-1 victory at non-league Mansfield Town in the FA Cup.

"The other day, a ball hit my hand without me meaning it to," he said. "I kissed my wrist (in celebration) and everyone started rounding on me."

Suarez also claimed that foreign players are treated differently to home-grown players in the Premier League.

"It's difficult," he said. "It's what Carlitos (Tevez) said, it's what Kun (Sergio Aguero) said: foreigners, and especially the South Americans, are treated differently to local players."

Suarez added that his run-in with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, which saw him hit with a 40,000 fine pounds and an eight-match ban for racial abuse, was long forgotten.

"When people come and insult me, saying I'm South American, I don't start crying. It's something that stays on the pitch, part of football. My conscience is clear," he said, before claiming that Manchester United control the British press.

"They've got a lot of power and they'll always help them."

- AFP/fa

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Time Warner Cable, Netflix at odds over 'Super HD,' 3D

Time Warner Cable and Netflix are reportedly talking to each other about partnering on the streaming provider's content delivery network (CDN), but the cable provider isn't too pleased about the service.

Speaking to Multichannel in an interview published yesterday, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson criticized Netflix for only delivering its higher-quality high-definition service, Super HD, and 3D videos to customers whose cable providers have signed up with Netflix's Open Connect.

"While they call it Open Connect, Netflix is actually closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs," the spokesperson told Multichannel. "We believe it is wrong for Netflix to withhold any content formats from our subscribers and the subscribers of many other ISPs. Time Warner Cable's network is more than capable of delivering this content to Netflix subscribers today."

Netflix's Open Connect is a free service that allows ISPs to directly connect their networks with the streaming provider's CDN. By doing so, Netflix can eliminate third-party CDNs that deliver its videos to ISPs, thus saving the company money. Netflix also argues that Open Connect will improve video delivery to customers.

That improvement to video delivery allows Netflix to offer its Super HD programming -- a higher-quality 1080p -- and 3D to customers.

Several television service providers, including Cablevision, Google Fiber, and others, currently participate in Open Connect. Time Warner Cable, however, has been the most outspoken about the service, saying that Netflix's higher-quality videos can be -- and should be -- delivered without Open Connect.

Still, according to Multichannel, the companies are in talks for Time Warner Cable to sign up with Open Connect. There is no cost to cable providers to sign up for Netflix's offering.

CNET has contacted Netflix for comment. We will update this story when we have more information.

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future.

From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee spotlights how a warming world may bring widespread disruption.

Farmers will see declines in some crops, while others will reap increased yields.

Won't more atmospheric carbon mean longer growing seasons? Not quite. Over the next several decades, the yield of virtually every crop in California's fertile Central Valley, from corn to wheat to rice and cotton, will drop by up to 30 percent, researchers expect. (Read about "The Carbon Bathtub" in National Geographic magazine.)

Lackluster pollination, driven by declines in bees due partly to the changing climate, is one reason. Government scientists also expect the warmer climate to shorten the length of the frosting season necessary for many crops to grow in the spring.

Aside from yields, climate change will also affect food processing, storage, and transportation—industries that require an increasing amount of expensive water and energy as global demand rises—leading to higher food prices.

—Daniel Stone

Published January 16, 2013

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Manti Te'o Hoax Exposes 'Catfish' Internet Scams

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick cited the documentary "Catfish" in trying to explain how he said
star linebacker Manti Te'o became the victim of an elaborate hoax that duped him into believing that his online girlfriend died during the 2012 college football season.

"I would refer all of you, if you're not already familiar with it, with both the documentary called 'Catfish,' the MTV show which is a derivative of that documentary, and the sort of associated things you'll find online and otherwise about catfish, or catfishing," Swarbrick told reporters Wednesday.

The 2010 blockbuster film stars Nev Schulman, who was the real-life victim of a "catfish" scam. Schulman wanted to make the documentary to show how he was sucked in by an Internet pretender -- or a "catfish" -- who built an elaborate fake life.

Schulman made the documentary as he was falling for someone named "Megan," a gorgeous 20-something from Michigan. Their online relationship blossomed until Schulman confronted "Megan."

"Megan" turned out to be a middle-aged mom of two named Angela Wesselman, who later said she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Manti Te'o Hoax: Notre Dame Star Allegedly Scammed Watch Video

'Catfish' Star Nev Schulman's Red Flags for Spotting Online Fakers Watch Video

Tale of Notre Dame Football Star's Girlfriend and Her Death an Alleged Hoax Watch Video

Inside 'Catfish': A Tale of Twisted Cyber-Romance

"It was different. It was something new. It was a little mysterious," Schulman told ABC News in an earlier interview, describing his reaction before he discovered Megan's true identity.

Now, a much wiser Schulman is helping others catch the "catfish" in his new hit series on MTV inspired by the real-life documentary, "Catfish: The TV Show."

'Catfish' Stars Nev Schulman's Advice for Online Dating

In one episode, Schulman meets Sunny, who says she has been dating a medical student online named "Jameson" for eight months.

"He's going to be an anesthesiologist. He does online classes," Sunny says of "Jameson" in the episode.

Schulman convinces Sunny to take a road trip to meet "Jameson" face to face and and Sunny later finds out "Jameson" was really a woman who was pretending to be a man online for at least four years.

"I mean who does that," Sunny said in the episode.

For Te'o, 21, the scam was allegedly worse. The Hawaiian said during the season that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia in September on the same day Te'o's grandmother died, triggering an outpouring of support for Te'o at Notre Dame and in the media.

"If the person you're talking to has a series of family incidents, this is something to watch out for," Schulman said.

As more become connected through various social media outlets, Schulman says these "catfish" hoaxes will continue.

"So long as we're not looking people in the eye face-to-face, there's always going be room, a lot of room for deception," he said.

WATCH: Deadspin Writer Who Uncovered Hoax Explains the Story

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