>> on "teen kids news" this week, if you think you're smarter than an online predator, you may need to think again. >> from an old rag, he created one of tv's most lovable characters. we get to know the man behind the frog -- jim henson, creator of the muppets. >> scientists say these mice may be able to teach us a better way to lose weight. >> i'll tell you about one teen's amazing journey from water treatment to royal treatment. >> join me at the big top, where some local visually impaired students will get the chance to feel the ringling bros. barnum & bailey circus. >> so get ready.circus. "teen kids news" starts right now.

>> welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's this week's top story. social networking -- speak to any kid, and they'll tell you it's as much a part of their daily routine as eating dinner. speak to anyone from law enforcement, and they'll tell you that it can be an invitation for trouble. the internet is a two-way window. it allows us to research school projects and keep up with our friends. but social-networking sites also let outsiders into our lives -- outsiders who may try to kidnap, hurt, and even kill kids. and those dangers are very real. there are 665,000 known sex offenders in the u.s. that's more than the entire population of boston. and if that's not scary enough, listen to this. the fbi says 77% of all 14 year olds have been contacted by an internet predator.

>> i was on a chat room, and somebody was on my friend's account, and when they talked to me, they claimed that they didn't recognize me, and when i asked who they were, they said that they would want to call me and they asked for my phone number, so i suspected that they were a predator or something. >> he was just asking me my age, my sex, my location, and who i lived with -- my information. and, you know, basically, one would be smarter, you know, to not tell them. >> actually, you'd be smarter not to chat with online strangers at all. you need to know that even without giving your name and address, you can give away your identity -- even your location. let's pretend this girl gets an e-mail from a guy in denver. she knows better than to tell him where she lives. she feels safely hidden in a huge country. but is she?

>> hey, my clock on my computer is messed up. what time is it? i have to reset it. >> it's almost 4:00. i just got home from school. >> it's 3:00 where the stalker lives, so already he knows the girl isn't in his time zone. since she's an hour ahead, she can only live in one of these central time-zone states. >> how'd school go? >> fine. i was hoping we'd leave early because of the snow, but it's supposed to start later -- a total blizzard. >> since southern states rarely see blizzards, the stalker can guess that the girl lives in the midwest. that gets rid of these states. >> bet you can't wait till spring. didn't you say you play softball? >> yeah! i'm the pitcher. >> play soccer -- we're the dynamites. >> my team name is lame -- the cub-ettes. >> since the cubs play in chicago, the stalker zones in on his victim. >> but the cubs are awesome! do you ever go to wrigley field?

>> all the time. >> so in four simple steps, the online predator has found this girl's city and knows the neighborhood where her school is located. he even knows what position she plays, so he can pick her out on the field. according to the police, most internet predators find their victims through chat rooms. that's why hilary decesare launched everloop. it's a new social-network site for teens and tweens. >> we started everloop to give kids a place to learn safely about going online, so that if they make a mistake, it's in a safe environment and it's with all their friends that they know. >> what does everloop offer? >> everloop offers kids the ability to go on, communicate, hang out with their friends, play games, and do things that they want to do. if they want to see a great video, they can watch it online. >> how can you make sure that predators can't use everloop? >> what we've done on everloop to keep predators off is we've gotten parents involved, and we

have a parental dashboard that allows parents to say who their kids can talk to, who are their friends. >> no matter what website you go on, here are some tips for staying safe. don't use a screen name or internet profile that identifies you by name, school, or even the city you live in. don't give out information that may identify you, like school colors or even teachers' names. and most importantly -- make sure you know the people you chat with. and if you're a boy, don't think you're immune. investigators tell us boys are just as likely as girls to be the victims of online predators. we'll be right back with more "teen kids news." >> so don't go away.

>> imagine landing your dream job right out of high school then transforming it into an incredibly successful tv show. carina brings us the story of a man who did just that with the help of his very unusual friends. >> ♪ sunny day

♪ sweeping the clouds away >> many of us grew up watching "sesame street" and those lovable muppets. they were educating and entertaining kids even before our parenwere kids. >> ♪ such a pretty face ♪ such a pretty dress ♪ such a pretty smile such a p♪ >> ♪ such a pretty me >> ♪ such a pretty me >> despite their popularity, few of us know much about the man who created them. fortunately, we met someone who does. karen falk helped put together the traveling exhibit -- jim henson's fantastic world. the exhibit was on display at the museum of the moving image in astoria, new york. give us a bit of jim henson's early history. >> well, he was a very visual child and very imaginative, and he did artwork whenever he could. his grandmother taught him how to sew and -- this is a very early photograph of jim. you can see he's pretending to be a snake charmer, and he's charmed the garden hose.

then when he was in high school, he worked on all sorts of high-school publications, he designed sets for school plays. at the university of maryland, he also worked in the theater department. but right out of high school, he really wanted to work in television, and he answered an advertisement for a television station that wanted puppets and a puppeteer. so he went out, and he learned how to make some puppets from a book and auditioned and got the part. at first, jim made sort of traditional puppets with hard materials like papier-mâché, but he discovered that, with television, unlike a puppet theater, you could do close-ups, and you needed a character that was really gonna be expressive and be able to have a changeable, believable expression. so he took fabric from his mother's old coat and made a character -- took a ping-pong ball, cut it in half for the eyes, and created kermit. and he found that just with a little tiny crook of his knuckle he could change his expression, and i think that's why kermit worked so well. >> despite jim henson's innovative ideas, kermit and his fellow muppets didn't become

famous overnight. they had to work their way up the ladder just like most actors do. >> with this camera, i shoot pictures of people who don't drink wilkins coffee. >> i'm ready. shoot. >> anybody else? >> well, a lot of people don't know that many muppets got their start in television commercials. you know, a lot of actors get their start in commercials, but that's the same thing for muppets. when jim henson started working in television, he got the opportunity to make some television commercials and ended up making hundreds throughout the 1950s and '60s. and some of his characters for those commercials went on to bigger careers. cookie monster, for example, started as a puppet in a snack-food commercial, and rowlf the dog, who's the pianist from "the muppet show," got his start in a purina dog chow commercial. >> these drawings by henson are called "storyboards." they show the dialogue and action in a production before it's shot. the next step is making the puppets come alive by giving each its own unique character.

>> a lot of what comes from the puppet, or the personality of the puppet, is not really just in the fabric and the fleece or the foam, it's also the performance, and the performers have a lot to do with what the personalities of the characters are. so a character like miss piggy was a combination of the designer, bonnie erickson, who designed the character, and the performer, frank oz, who really created the character, and then the writers -- someone like jerry juhl who wrote lots of her lines. so it's a collaboration to get to that final product. >> ♪ dance your cares away ♪ worries for another day ♪ let the music play >> a show that was very special to jim henson was "fraggle rock." that was a show that was designed to get kids to think about being tolerant of each other, to be ecologically responsible, to recognize that their actions have impact on other people in their world, even if they don't have a relationship with those people. so the "fraggle rock" characters

were always looking out for each other. >> although he's no longer with us today, jim henson's influence still lives on. >> he really was a pioneer when it came to putting puppets on television and completely changed the way people look at puppets and use them on television. and any creative puppetry you see now is a descendant of jim's work. >> so, thank you all very much. >> it's nice to see a man get his just deserts. >> yeah, speaking of desserts, when do we eat? >> thanks to the genius of jim henson, generations of kids have, and will continue to have... ♪ sunny days ♪ sweeping the clouds away for "teen kids news," i'm carina.

>> it could be that there's more to the gym than just exercise. veronique has a mouse tale that could contain a healthy lesson for all of us.

>> if you're a mouse in a cage, life is pretty dull -- same old spinning wheel, day after day. but these mice are lucky. they're test subjects in a study at the ohio state university medical center. instead of staying caged up, they get to exercise in a special rodent-recreation area. >> we also provide, you know, toys, a maze, running wheels for the animals so they have something to do, so they're more socially and physically and mentally engaged. >> the mice seemed to enjoy it, and the researchers made a discovery -- these mice lost more fat than mice who exercised by themselves in their cage. it seems that being around other mice adds an important health benefit. so what does this mean for us humans trying to lose weight? >> what we're saying -- this is not just going out there and getting on the treadmill or being more physically active. you have to be much more engaged socially as well as physically. >> bottom line -- if you'relly. trying to get fit, take a cue from the mice. exercise with friends.

>> this report is brought to you by the national road safety foundation. it's a national epidemic -- every year, thousands of teens die in car crashes. a major cause -- distracted driving. >> distracted driving is texting, talking, reaching for items in the car -- anything that's going to take your attention off of the task of driving. >> that's why the national road safety foundation is working with scholastic to invite you to enter a special contest. it's called "drive 2 life." >> we want teens to send us their ideas on how to tell other teens that distracted driving is dangerous. and the best idea will be turned into a psa. >> "psa" is short for "public service announcement." it's like a tv commercial but for a good cause. here's what the grand-prize winner gets -- a $1,000 scholarship, an all-expenses paid trip to new york city, and the chance to work with a

professional director and crew to turn the concept into a real psa. in fact, the psa will be unveiled right here on "teen kids news." in addition, your psa may also run on tv across the country. you'll also be featured in scholastic's magazines in thousands of classrooms nationwide. to enter, write out your idea as a script, or you can create storyboards -- that's a series of simple drawings that explains your concept. but please do not send a video. that would disqualify you from the competition. this year's contest starts january 7th and runs through february. in addition to the grand prize, there are cash prizes in two age categories. to find out more, go to nrsf.org. you can also follow the links on our website. good luck! 

>> a strong interest in science can take you a long way. in fact, for one enterprising american teen, it took her all the way to sweden and a visit with royalty. tyler has the story. >> they come to sweden every year for what's called "world water week" -- students from 30 countries competing for the stockholm junior water prize. to qualify, your science project has to deal with -- you guessed it -- h2o, how to conserve it, how to keep it clean, just about anything you can imagine having to do with this precious resource. alison bick's inspiration started with a storm. flooding and runoff contaminated the water supply in her hometown. >> and one my friends called me up and asked if there was a way to determine if the water was safe to drink using materials found around the house. i said, "huh, that's a pretty interesting question." >> alison's search for an answer led to a brand-new testing

device that's easy to use, inexpensive, and highly accurate. >> there are different methods to test water quality, one of which is using aerial photography to determine water quality. that's how i got the idea of using the camera part of a cellphone and the computer-processing part of the cellphone -- that combination -- to test the water. >> sweden. [ applause ] turkey. [ applause ] ukraine. >> all the participants are already winners, having earned cash for themselves and their schools in national competitions. here in stockholm, sweden's crown princess victoria is awarding the international prize. >> the winner of the stockholm junior award 2011 is the team from the united states of america. [ crowd cheers ] >> alison won $5,000, and she was invited to present her findings at an important conference. the water environment federation conducts the competition, which is sponsored by i.t.t.

the company is developing a new division called xylem. it specializes in water. and if any of these students become engineers, xylem may have jobs waiting for them helping to protect the global water supply. >> i want those engineers to come to us because, in the same token, they're giving back to their community, and we're getting the best and the brightest around the world. >> if you're interested in competing for the stockholm water prize, follow the link on our website -- teenkidsnews.com. >> with a little inspiration and a lot of hard work, anyone can be involved in science and anyone can really be a success in science. >> you might even get the royal treatment. >> medal of honor is the highest award for gallantry in the u.s. armed forces during time of

war. in american(history, we have two father-and-son teams who've received the medal of honor. first, we have arthur macarthur during the american civil war -- 1864. he was a 19-year-old lieutenant. >> ...who helped lead a charge up missionary ridge in tennessee and planted a flag on the confederate works. and for that, he received the medal of honor. >> and then later, his son douglas macarthur received the medal of honor in 1942 for his defense of the philippines. >> the other set was theodore roosevelt and theodore roosevelt jr. theodore roosevelt jr. received his medal of honor in world war ii because of his actions at normandy -- the invasion of normandy on d-day. he helped secure the beaches. and, actually, when they found they had landed at the wrong spot, he said it didn't matter -- "we'll start the war from here." his father didn't receive his medal of honor until many years after theodore roosevelt jr. had gotten his.

theodore roosevelt was given the medal of honor posthumously for leading the charge up san juan hill during the spanish american war. 

>> animoto.com -- it makes photos into movies. you start by uploading pictures and picking a soundtrack. animoto then automatically makes a custom music video with tons of professional special effects. you can make a 30-second video

for free. if you want something longer, it'll cost three bucks. not only is this a cool thing to make for yourself, it's also a great gift idea. you could create short videos for friends and family without even denting your allowance. i'm charlie for "teen kids news." >> the ringling bros. barnum & bailey circus -- it's billed as the "greatest show on earth." and as carly reports, you don't have to see it to believe it. >> welcome to the greatest show on earth! >> all aboard! >> ♪ all aboard, all aboard ♪ the amazing circus train >> it's called the "touch tour." the ringling bros. circus, together with metrolina association for the blind, are giving local visually impaired students a chance to get a real feel for the circus. this event proves that the circus is more than just a painted face. >> i'm stronger than you! >> thank you. >> students get up close and personal with some of the show's biggest stars.

[ circus music plays ] >> right here. good girl, kelly. >> there you go. >> pet it. really pet it. good girl, kel. good girl. >> oh, my god! >> you just touched an elephant! >> so cool! >> they try on fun costumes... >> it feels kind of heavy. >> it does. i'll bet it does. >> ...and get a chance to just clown around. >> i'm under attack! >> cheese! >> i'm here with andre mcclain. so, tell us what do you do for the circus? >> i am america's favorite cowboy and also the host of the ringling bros. and barnum & baileys' all access pre-show. >> so, tell me about this amazing event. >> you know, this is what we call the "blind-touch tour." it gives the kids an opportunity to come down and actually see animals up close, feel the animals, feel the costumes, feel some of the props, and experience some of the things that some of the performers actually do during the show. so, i believe in -- i call it "making dreams come true" for kids of all ages.

>> so, it's just fun at work? >> that's it. i have a great time. >> so, there you have it -- a great day of three-ring fun with the greatest group of students, proof that the big top has a big heart. from charlotte, north carolina, i'm carly for "teen kids news." >> ♪ get on the train whoo-hoo! [ smooches ] >> that's it for this edition of "teen kids news." >> thanks for watching. see you next week.

>> and a big thanks to our troops in europe for their service.