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NEXT@CNN
Japanese To Use Microchips To Track Food; Asteroid Passed Within 26,000 Miles Of Earth
Aired March 20, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Seeking support, President Bush launches his first official campaign rally for his reelection. The president spoke at a rally in Orlando, Florida, the same state that won him the 2000 election. Mr. Bush called on all American's to do their civic duty come election time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want a lot of people voting in this country, people from all walks of life doing their duty in this country and that is to show up to the polls. And by the way, when you get them headed to the polls, you might suggest what's good for the country and that is Bush-Cheney for four more years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, Democrat John Kerry's camp is responding to recent campaign attacks by President Bush. Kerry's spokeman, David Wade says, quote, "every time they use attack tactics, Americans are reminded why they want change." Wade also says about the Bush campaign, quote, "these guys have dug themselves an enormous hole when it comes to credibility with the American people."
Fierce fighting continues along the Pakistani-Afghan border. Pakistani forces have captured about 100 members of members suspected to be members of al-Qaeda. Hundreds of other militants are holed up in mud fortresses. Officials say they may be protecting a high value target. They have been suggesting it's al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. A Pakistani army official spoke with CNN's Aaron Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: How much certainty do you feel that those 200, 300, 400 al-Qaeda fighters, however many are there, cannot escape?
MAJ. GEN. SHAUKAT SULTAN, PAKISTANI ARMY: I think with a great certainty I can say they cannot escape the kind of sanitization of the area we have done and the surveillance means, I'm quite sure.
BROWN: Do you believe they'll surrender?
SULTAN: Either they surrender or they get eliminated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And stay with CNN. We have much more on al-Qaeda leaders I'm Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." And that's at 5:00 pm Eastern time.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN center in Atlanta. More news at the bottom of the hour "NEXT@CNN" begins right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, a close call for Earth this week. An asteroid whizzed past the planet, but what will we do if and when a space rock actually hits?
It's a different kind of talent show. No "American Idol" here. Instead, some of the brightest young people in the country from the Intel Science Talent Search Competetition.
Find out what lies ahead for the wild chickens of Key West, Florida. It seems some denyizens of Margaritaville are not so laid back about poultry poop. All that and more on NEXT.
Earth had a rather close encounter with an asteroid this week. In fact, it was closest on record. NASA says the space rock passed between the Earth and the Moon.
(voice-over): NASA scientists are tracking potential familiar disasters that are served from above. They're asteroids, large enough if they did strike the Earth, there would be global consequences.
DAVID MORRISON, NASA: We have already found more than 60 percent of these near Earth asterois larger than a mile in diameter.
SIEBERG: But according to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, that isn't enough. He says Earth got a wakeup call this week when a 100 foot asteroid passed within 26,000 miles. That's only about tenth the distance to the Moon.
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER, (R) CALIFORNIA: If we aren't prepared, we'll pay very serious consequences.
SIEBERG: While a small asteroid, like this one, would probably have burned up harmlessly in the atmosphere, one twice its size might still be small enough to go unobserved. An asteroid of that size flattened trees for ten miles in every direction back in 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If an asteroid the size of the one that hit in siberia should strike today, it would be roughly the equivalent of a big nuclear bomb without the radiation. If it should land on a city millions of people could be killed.
SIEBERG: Spectators at this New York high school football game were certainly caught off guard as this streaked across the sky. It was eventually reduced enough by the atmosphere in size and speed to leave only one Chevy owner rather unhappy. But a larger space rock could have caused havoc in a populated area and Hollywood played up that fear in the movies "Armageddo" and "Deep Impact" a few years ago.
ROHRABACHER: Yes, that caused a little stir in the public, but people looked at that as entertainment. Well, it's not just entertainment. It is very conceivable that we would some day discover some type of object coming through the space heading right towards the Earth.
SIEBERG: That doesn't mean there's reason to panic though. There's no conclusive evidence that an asteroid big enough to cause global extinction has hit the Earth since the days of the Dinosaurs about 65 million years ago and there are none on the horizon.
MORRISON: Of the asteroids that we have discovered, so far and calculated the orbits for, not one of them will hit the Earth within the next Century or two.
SIEBERG: This 50,000 year-old crater near Flagstaff, Arizona is one of Earth's more recent scars from a large asteroid. But that doesn't stop some from throwing up the warning flags.
RORHABACHER: We are so blase about this threat, because none of us have ever seen it.
SIEBERG: NASA scientists are aiming to make sure we're not caught off guard.
MORRISON: We for the first time have the technology to find them and ultimately to deflect them so we can protect the Earth from this potential catastrophe.
SIEBERG (on camer): Now, some of the latest pictures from Mars.
(voice-over): The rover Spirit sent back this image from the rim of the Bonneville Crater. The heat shield from the lander is clearly visible and it's a very cool panorama, but scientists say so far they haven't seen anything in the crater that merits going in to investigate.
They did explore a wind blown dune on the rim on the crater dubbed Serpent Drift. Spirit scuffed the dune with its wheels to try to figure out what it's made of.
(on camera): OK. It's time to rewrite the science books, or at least add a footnot. We've just discovered a new kid in the solar system. Diana Morosky reports.
DIANA MOROSKY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you thought Pluto was far away, this object has it beat, three times more distant from Earth, that's about 8 billion miles. The discovery was made by a team of astronomers at the California Institute of Technology using a high powered telescope. But with an estimated diameter of 1,000 miles, they're not sure what to call it.
MICHAEL BROWN, ASTRONOMER: It's a little bit smaller than Pluto, a little bit bigger than an asteroid. We've been calling it a planetoid.
MOROSKY: The planetoid has also been dubbed Sedna, named after Inuit goddess who is created the sea creatures of the Arctic, an appropriate name for an object that never gets above -400 Farenheit.
Scientists believe Sedna is made of ice and rock, but say it has a fiery color, calling it the second reddest object in the solar system after Mars. They also say Sedna's extremely elliptical orbit is unlike anything they've ever seen. Taking roughly 10,000 Earth years to circle the sun.
BROWN: This is something that expands how big we think of the solar system by a factor of three. We used to think that the solar system only went up to Saturn, then over the last hundreds of years, we've been finding things further and further out.
MOROSKY: And they expect to find out even more as Sedna gets closer and brighter for the next 72 years before it heads back out to the far reaches of the solar system.
ANNOUNCER: Ahead on NEXT@CNN, food shopping may never be fun but microchips can make it safer. We'll explain.
And later, meet a teen who was reading at age eight months, she's the youngest girl in the U.S. to graduate from a four-year college and is still just a regular kid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: All right. How much do you want to know about the food you eat? Well, if a system being tested in Japan starts to spread, a vegetable in the supermarket may one day tell you when and where it was picked and how to prepare it. Atika Schubert reports from Tokyo.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's favorite raw delicacy is undergoing a technological makeover to ensure fresh ingredients. Under each plate of sushi is a tiny microchip keeping track of what's out and for how long. If it doesn't pass muster, it gets tossed. Fish and chips customer approved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm concerned about food safety. I feel more comfortable and safe with these microchips. If I had to choose, I would prefer to use an item with a chip.
SHUBERT: It's called ubiquitous computing, literally computers everywhere. And in Japan, it's being tested to track food safety, from sushi to cabbages.
These vegetables have microchips embedded in the packaging so customers can access endless amounts of information about the products they buy from pesticides to recipes.
It starts here, farmers input data as they ten to the crop, harvest dates, fertilizers, even genetic modifications, anything the customer may want to know. Then it goes for packaging. Every item gets a microchip, a tiny computer that wirelessly projects a unique I.D. code.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Food with information.
SHUBERT: Professor Ken Sakamura is the architect behind Ubiquitous Computer. He shows us how it works. A scanner reads the I.D. and accesses the Internet for information on this specific item and voila.
He envisions customers using handheld communicators to scan items before they buy, even receiving personalized messages from farmers. It's all done with tiny microchips some only slightly bigger than a spec of dust. The applications are endless and Professor Sakamura loves to show off his latest gadgets, books that become movies, or wines that talk you into buying them.
(on camera): Ubiquitous Computing has tested successfully here, but it will still be a few years before it hits supermarkets. Computers on everything, everywhere can be unnerving. And issues of privacy sill need to be geeted before consumers can enjoy the benefits.
SIEBERG: Now a follow-up to a story we told you about a few years ago. We reported how a smelter owned by the Dough Run Company had contaminated a neighborhood in Herculenium, Missouri. Children had elevated levels of lead in their blood and in 2002 the company agreed to a voluntarily buyout program for homes near the smelter.
Cleanup crews hauled away contaminated soil. And Dough Run installed emissions controls.
But despite the new equipment, Missouri health and environment officials now say that lead contamination of yards near the smelter is again on the rise. And could reach unsafe levels within years.
As of now, only about one-third of the homeowners in the bio program have sold their homes. Officials say the other residents may want to reconsider.
And lead has also been found in drinking water in Washington, D.C. Some folks are even suing the city over the issue. But this is just one example of the problems facing America's drinking water supply. Casey Wian has more.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lower colorado River supplies drinking water to more than 20 million people in Southern California and Arizona. It's now being threatened by an underground toxic plume that's seeped to within 150 feet of the river.
In the 1950s and 60s, this Pacific Gas and Electric plant dumped millions of gallons of waste water into unlined pits near the Colorado. It contained high levels of chromium 6, the toxic chemical made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich." Now the race is on to stop it before it reaches the river and these intake valves that service homes from Tucson to L.A.
ED LOWRY: It's serious enough to warrant immediate action. We are concerned that this plume reaches the river. We want to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen.
WIAN: California ordered PG&E to build extraction wells to remove the tainted water from the immediate area. A 2000 ft. long permanent barrier is planned.
In Washington, D.C. this month, residents sued the city over lead contamination of their drinking water.
ERIK OLSON: That's just one example. There are actually problems across the country. Thousands of violations that occur of the basic health standards every year. We're seeing hundreds of thousands of water main breaks. All of these are indications that our water treatment plants and pipes are starting to fall part.
WIAN (on camera): Two years ago, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cost between 250 and $400 billion over the next 20 years to repair and upgrade the nation's drinking water facilities. Environmental groups say even that may not be enough.
ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, a way to speed through the city of Hong Kong with no fear of getting a ticket.
And later, a new report says Sumatran Tigers are on the road to extinction.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: This week, a researcher was honored for his work in developing a better way to diagnose cancer. Here's the twist, the researcher in question is 17 years old. He tops the list of 40 high school scientists who won scholarships in what's sometimes called the junior nobel prizes.
(voice-over): The science is original and often ground breaking and the winner of this years area tops prize in the Intel Science Talent Search is no exception.
HERBERT MASON HEDBERG, WON INTEL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIP: I developed a method that screens a library of natural compounds for their ability to inhibit telomerase. And it's been shown that telomerase inhibitors can be very powerful tumor suppresses. It actually causes the cells to commit suicide.
SIEBERG: Cutting edge cancer research at 17. And go ahead, ask third place winner Ryna Karnik, about the entry she the brought from Oregon.
RYNA KARNIK, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: The title of the project "A Nonphoto Lithograph Approach To The Construction Of N-Type Mosphit (ph) Devices Using Focused Ion Beam Technology."
SIEBERG: Ryna and 39 other finalists were in Washington D.C. for the 2004 Intel Talent Science Research showing off their projects that span the fields of science and technology. Top prize? A $100,000 four-year scholarship and the bragging rights of being named the most distinguished high school scientist of the year. Giving them a great jump start on a career.
HEDBERG: I'm actually going to be involved in the role of telomerase and the role of a normal cell to becoming a cancerous cell. And this isn't well understood. And if we can figure this out, then it will probably be easier to stop cancer from ever occurring.
SIEBERG: Linda Westrick is here from Mechanicsville, Virginia with a project called "Investigating the Number Derivative."
LINDA BROWN WESTRICK, STUDENT: I'd really love to be a math professor because I love math, I love research and I love to teach.
BARBARA CARMAN, INTEL SCIENCE SEARCH: You'll see students very excited about science. And our next generation and leaders in science.
SIEBERG: Intel has been sponsoring the competition for six years as a part of its Innovation in Education Initiative. Previous winners include five Nobel Laureates. Over half a million dollars in scholarships were handed out this week. And in its 63-year history, the contest has awarded millions of dollars in scholarships to about 2,500 finalists.
(on camera): Well, if you're not impressed by all those brilliant 17-year-olds, it would be hard not to be, there's a 14-year- old we'd like to you meet. Bill Tucker has her story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most 14-year-old girls are worried about their social calendar, the latest fashions and their middle school. Alia Sabur is 14 and working on her doctorate in electrical engineering, more specifically nanophotonics.
ALIA SABUR, DOCTORAL STUDENT: Nanophotonics is study and the creation of electronic devices using optics at the nano scale, or if you prefer, at the atomic scale.
TUCKER: Not that Alia is above living in the metaatomic scale, it's just that she has a gift.
PROF. MUN YOUNG CHOI, DREXEL UNIVERSITY: She is a person that really thinks in concepts. So when she tries to learn a mathematical formula, to her it's not just numbers and formulas, but she visualizes the solution, and that's what makes her unique and special.
TUCKER: Alia puts it another way.
SABUR: See, this is the thing. I just do everything faster. It's not that I know things, or I can just pick up the clarinet and start playing it, but everything happens faster.
TUCKER: She started reading at eight months, went from fourth grade to college at State University of New York, Stunbrook (ph), and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in applied math.
She's a concert-level clarinetist, makes origami, and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. But she's not a geek.
SABUR: I've never been one to study all day, you know. I have a life. I mean, I like having a life, you know. I would not want to spend the entire day doing one thing.
TUCKER: Despite being the youngest female Ph.D. candidate in the country and looking forward to lecturing undergraduate classes at Drexel University, she's also refreshingly 14.
SABUR: I don't clean my room and I don't go to sleep on time, and I'm always listening to music in my headsets.
TUCKER: And when it came time to move from her home town of Northport, Long Island to Philadelphia, her friends surprised her with a party.
SABUR: It was all my family and friends, all of them, all like 12 of them, they all got together and organized it and had a surprise party for me. I couldn't believe they did that. I have nice friends.
TUCKER: Alia's goal? To be a professor and researcher by day, and a professional clarinetist at night.
Bill Tucker, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Ever been driving and get an urge to just let go and use the streets as your personal racetrack? It can be tempting and we've probably seen a lot of drivers who do. Kristie Lu Stout reports on a safe way to zooming around the streets of Hong Kong.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine racing through the streets of Hong Kong at 200 kilometers an hour. Well, now you can thanks to a couple of photo realistic video games. Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing II and Sony's Gran Turismo IV both features set on Hong Kong streets created with state-of-the-art technology and meticulous research.
In fact, Sony went to great heights to digitize its version of the city.
KAZUNORI YAMAUCHI, SONY (through translator): We also traveled above by helicopter to get a bird's eye view of the area and we actually measured the roads and buildings, the heights and lengths to get everything as accurate as possible.
LU STOUT: Microsoft took over 10,000 photographs to turn the streets of Hong Kong to a racetrack. From the photographs, wire frame models were created and shaded to appear solid. The final touch? A slick of virtual paint to match the models to the real thing.
Yet, despite all the hard work, game critics say there's something missing.
PROF. JOE WILLIAMS, GAME CRITIC: In Project Gotham Racing, they duplicated Hong Kong exactly, the buildings are exactly right the streets are exactly, but it doesn't feel anything like Hong Kong, because there's no people, there's no traffic, there's dirt, and there's no signs. It's difficult to imagine a city with so much life with no signs or people so it feels like a plastic shell of a real city.
LU STOUT: Gamers don't seem to mind. The Project Gotham series is the most popular series for the Xbox and when Gran Turismo IV is released this summer, it's expected to sell 11 million copies.
Still, don't expect the realism trend to continue as it could get in the way of the fun.
WILLIAMS: If the car is too realistic, when it crashes and breaks. If you make your street too realistic, it might not be the best possible street from a fun point of view. It doesn't have any jumps, it doesn't have short cuts, it doesn't have loop de loops or crazy things like that. So, you'll see games that less realistic as well as realistic ones.
LU STOUT: While there may not be any loop de loops in cyber Hong Kong, is was one equally crazy site to enjoy. No traffic.
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead in the next half hour of NEXT@CNN, a medical researcher who's pharmacy is the rainforest of Belize.
And later, a big flap over feral chickens in the Florida Keys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredericka Whitfield. More of NEXT@CNN right after a look at the stories.
In Iraq, the U.S. military confirms the death of an American Marine in an attack yesterday. Officials say the marine died in security and stability operations in Iraq's Al Anbar province in the central part of the country.
Here at home, President Bush called his visit to Central Florida 3 hours ago. The first official event of his campaign of his reelection. Official or not, it was large, more than 10,000 people were there. Mr. Bush was introduced to the crowd by the first lady.
From New York, to London, to Tokyo and beyond, thousands of Iraqi war opponents are in the streets marking the first anniversary of the conflict. The local police are also out in large numbers to keep the marches peaceful.
I'll have all the days at the top of the hour, now back to more of NEXT@CNN.
SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. You know, life saving drugs aren't always synthesized in high-tech laboratories, some important medicines come straight out of nature. From the anti-cancer drug Taxol to the heart medicine Digitalis So, how do they get from the forest to the pharmacy? Well Femi Oke has the story of one rainforest researcher.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSITA ARVIGO, MD, ALTERNATIVE PHYSICIAN: The plants have always been here. They've evolved with us over time and I think that nature intended human beings to find their very first and primary medicines from the forest.
FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the world of natural medicine, Dr. Rosita Arvigo is a celebrity. She lives where she works, at the edge of the rainforest in Belize.
ARVIGO: As an alternative physician in the 1980's, I found it very, rather, politically difficult to live and work in the United States. And I also came for a year-round growing season and racial harmony. And I think I found it all.
OKE: Rosita's passion for plants began when she was a little girl in Chicago, where she'd make pills out of mud and wild peppermint to heal her sick dolls. By the time she got to Belize, Rosita was already a practicing physician and herbalist, but to learn about the plants around her new home she had to find a teacher.
She managed to gain the confidence of Don Elijio Panti, a man she describes as one of the last great shamans of the 20th century. He was already 90 years old when he took Rosita under his wing. She spent the next 12 years soaking up his knowledge of the forest and its medicinal value.
ARVIGO: Unfortunately, many people refer to him as a witch doctor or a black magic man, and he was none of that. He was a very great spiritual healer of the Maya people living in our day and age.
OKE: Rosita later took what she had learned and started to spread the word.
She makes rain forest remedies, runs a health clinic, and has written books about her life and work. Her story has even caught the eye of Hollywood.
Rosita also created the Istail (ph) Center, which included a nature trail literally carved through the forest. Plants and trees that are used to treat all sorts of ailments are dotted along the narrow path.
ARVIGO: My idea in creating the rainforest medicine trail was to give people in Belize and visitors to the country an opportunity to visit the rainforest and see what it has to offer, just the way nature gave it to us.
OKE: At the beginning of the trail is the Mexican wild yam, just found in the 1940's by research scientist Russell Marker.
ARVIGO: One day he observed the Nafwatu (ph) women in southern Mexico in the state of Guerra (ph), digging up these young tubers that looked like young potatoes and eating them raw. Well, all he got from them was giggles and blushes and blushes and giggles, until finally he annoyed the Nafwatu (ph) women and they said, OK, gringo, we'll tell you on two conditions. One, you leave and you never come back. And two, you don't tell the men, that they were using that as a birth control agent that lasted six months, and every six months they had a fresh crop. Well, I've lived in Mexico for seven years...
OKE: Knowledge like this has been passed down verbally over centuries. Plus, it's said that Maya healers also get remedy ideas from dreams.
ARVIGO: Don Elijio said the spirits would come to him at nighttime and say old man, you don't understand that child's cough. It's really a lung infection, and this is the plant you need, here's where you'll find it, and here's how to prepare it.
OKE: Another natural healer and friend is Juana Shish. She's the primary health carer for her family, her rather big family. She has 15 children, 52 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
JUANA SHISH, FRIEND OF ARVIGO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
OKE: She also found time to help Rosita with another important project.
SHISH: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ARVIGO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) for high blood pressure.
OKE: They collected hundreds of samples from the forest, recorded what they're used for, and sent them on to the National Cancer Institute in the United States.
Once there, they're tested for anti-cancer or AIDS properties. It's hoped that one day they may hit on something that could save hundreds of thousands of lives.
ARVIGO: You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand, if one little piece of forest has those examples that have helped humanity so much, there must be something else out there, that if we only had the key to unlock the secrets, and that key is simply the desire for knowledge.
OKE (on camera): Have there been any hits so far from the research done here?
ARVIGO: There have been, but I'm not at liberty to say. It's top secret.
OKE (voice-over): If any of the plants collected from the Belizean rainforest look promising, it won't be secret for long.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, look what the hurricane dragged in, a priceless artifact, millions of years old. Find out what it took to get it into researchers' hands.
Also ahead, efforts on opposite sides of the world to save two different species of wildcat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: The Argentinean glacier that known as the "White Giant" has been a beloved tourist attractions for years, but this week there's a little bit less of it to love. Chunks of ice began falling off the glacier, a little over a week ago, and last Sunday, a 200 foot tall wall of ice came crashing down into a lake. The 3,000 glacier covers about 100 square miles in Patagonian ending at the lake. It's a star attractions at Argentina's National Glaciers Park and park officials say it's been 16 years since it collapsed this dramatically.
Well, when hurricane Isabel rampaged six months ago, it was bad news for almost everybody in the storm's path, an emphasis on "almost." For fossil hunters, a hurricane it can be a big help in uncovering buried treasure. You can think of it as a giant brush sweeping through. An amateur paleontologist from Alexandria Virginia knew that and what he found in the mud soon after Isabel passed through has professional scientists excited. It's the skull of a whale that lived eight million years ago.
CNN photojournalist Jerry Thompson captured the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The storm is roaring its way up the east Coast with near 100 mile an hour winds, and torrential rains in some places...
JEFF DIMEGLIO, ARMATURE FOSSIL HUNTER: Yeah, ecstatic when I heard about Isabel coming to this area. I spotted the fossil, it was -- we were taking pictures of the banks, and I saw two of the lower jaws about two inches or so just sort of sticking out, not much at all. Rushed back to the marina, and we rushed over to the Calvert Marine Museum and took them the pictures and said "look what we found."
STEPHEN GODFREY, CURATOR OF PALEONTOLOGY, CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM: And they had some photographs of it and so when I looked at them I knew immediately that this was an important find, knowing that the Navel Air Station, Patuxent River, wasn't very far away and that they had helicopters, I couldn't help but think that they might be interested in coming to pick up a whale skull. So, we -- we called them and it did tweak their interest.
CAPT. DANE SWANSON, COMMANDING OFFICER PATUXENT RIVER: This mission very easily fit in with the training that our star pilots normally do and then it very easily replicated having a downed aviator injured on the ground that was immobile and they would have to find, locate and then lower a corpsman down to get the injured pilot hooked up and retracted from an area that otherwise would be inaccessible by vehicle or boat.
GODFREY: I think when most people come to the museum and they see the skull, they're surprised how small it is. We have also found with this fossil whale skull a large number of seashells, fossilized seashells, that were living at the time the whale was living. When I learned the hurricane Isabel was coming, I knew that any storm of that magnitude would accelerate erosion of the Calvert Cliffs and so I wasn't surprised when we learned of the existence of this new skull and in fact there were five whale skulls that came to light after that hurricane. And to find one this superbly well preserved was exceptional, as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: The Calvert Marine Museum put the ancient whale skull on display even before all the sediment was remove, that way visitors could watch the cleanup as a work in progress.
Now, there's news this week of progress for a modern whale species.
The North Atlantic White Whale is one of the most endangered in the world and scientists keep a close eye on the three hundred that remain. So, you can imagine their surprise a group of more than a dozen previously unknown whales showed up this year at the winter camping grounds along the coast of Georgia in North Florida. They joined a group that's been going to the area for years. A state biologist says it's amazing that a group of animals 40 feet long weighing 40 tons each went unnoticed until now. But, scientists are hoping it's a sign the whales can come back from the brink of extinction.
Well, scores of dead dolphins have washed up on the Florida Panhandle in the past week-and-a-half, and wildlife officials want to know why.
CNN's John Zarrella reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To marine biologists, the numbers are alarming. In little more than a week, dozens of Bottlenose Dolphins have washed ashore along a stretch of Florida's Panhandle. That's many times more than usually happens in a whole year. Scientists believe the dolphins may be dying from a toxin that occurs naturally and is produced by algae blooms.
BLAIR MAZE, MARINE BIOLOGIST: At this point, we may suspect that they are eating fish that are affected by the bio-toxin and that be through the consumption of fish, they are dying. We're not seeing any signs of respiratory problems at this point.
ZARRELLA: If it is a biotoxin threats killing them, marine biologists say it may not be red tide, which is common during the hot summer months in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Fisheries officials say preliminary tests show the same toxin that killed 70 sea lions in California in 1998 may be responsible for the dolphin deaths. Water samples taken from St. Joseph's bay are showing the presence of a toxin called domoic acid, which was responsible for the sea lion kill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, fifthly-three.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, fifthly-three.
ZARRELLA: At the Marine Research Institute in Sarasota, several of the dead mammals are being examined, tissue and blood samples taken. The biotoxin appears likely because the dolphins died quickly, they did not waste away.
TOM PITCHFORD, FLORIDA FISH & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION: They have stomachs that are full of the fish that they normally eat. So the hint is, in that -- in those regards is that whatever is going on happened very rapidly, it's not a slow process.
ZARRELLA: Fortunately, marine experts say the kill has not been widespread. Most of the dolphin deaths have occurred in and around St. Joseph's Bay, although some have been found as far west as Panama City. At this point, it does not appear, whatever is killing the dolphins is having any effect on people going into the water. Eventually the event will run its course, but there's no way, scientists say, to know how many dolphins will die before it's over.
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SIEBERG: The healthy dolphin population in the gulf is expected to rebound from this week's problems, but saving the majestic Sumatran Tiger in Indonesia could be much more difficult.
The World Wildlife Fund says fewer than 500 of the animals survive in the wild. They're facing two major threats, the animal's skin, claws, and teeth are sold as trophies and charms. And its body parts are still used by some in traditional medicine. The other crisis is loss of habitat. Large paper companies are clearing many of Sumatra's lowland forests, which are prime territory for the tiger. Now, conservation groups are trying to work with local populations to create protected habitats and ecotourism. That's been a successful strategy in protecting tigers in Nepal and Russia.
Officials in Florida have started vaccinating Florida panthers against feline leukemia. Fewer than 100 of the big cats remain in the wild, with a few more in captivity in zoos and breeding programs. At least two wild panthers have died from feline leukemia in the past few years, and wildlife officials are trying to track the source of the disease, but suspect is came from domestic cats. They've vaccinated 16 panthers so far in the southern part of their range near the Everglades and hoping to vaccinate half the wild population.
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ANNOUNCER: Coming up, the EPA investigates microwave popcorn after a popcorn factory worker is made ill by fumes.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: Some inventions that actually do exist were on display in D.C., this week. Tech companies and universities showed off healthcare technologies designed to help older adults. The gadgets included a fingertip sensing device that conveys health information to the user and caregiver, an interactive mediation advisor that provides personalized information on what drugs a person can take and when to take them, and robots that can follow users around and help them remember their daily activities, as well as function as a walker. Some of the technologies are available now, some of them are still prototypes. The conference is designed to show members of Congress and federal officials how technology can increase independence for older adults and enhance their care.
Well, you may have heard that a Joplin, Missouri, man this week, won a $20 million verdict against two companies that make butter flavoring for popcorn. The man worked in a popcorn factory and the chemical fumes from the flavoring apparently scarred his lungs. He needs a double lung transplant. But don't panic, and don't through out all your unpopped bags of popcorn, just yet.
Holly Firfer has a reality check for consumers.
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HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's no mistaking that smell, popcorn popping in the microwave. But, what exactly is in that steam wafting out of the popcorn bag? Is it something dangerous? The EPA is taking a look. The concern is over chemicals released from the bag when the popcorn is heated. Of particular interest, diacetyl the compound that gives butter its favor.
The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health did a study and says trace amounts of diacetyl are found naturally in butter by to make an artificial butter flavor for popcorn, they increase the level of the chemical to 10 percent. A health risk to factory workers due to major exposure, not to the average consumer eating a bag at a time.
The EPA would not speak to us on camera, but in a statement says, it is looking at exposures from all sorts of products including carpets, candles and adhesives. In their statement, however, the FDA's office of Food Additive Safety was direct in saying, quote, "We see no reason for concern in the safety of diacetyl as used in food" and referring to the lawsuit adds, "inhalation of high concentrations throughout the day is an entirely different matter." So right now, it appears the biggest concern is trying not to sear yourself with that heat or spill it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead, poultry problems in paradise. Key West hires a pro to take out its chickens.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: In Key West, there's a new answer to the question or the old joke, "why did the chicken across the road?" Well, to get away from the city's first official chicken catcher. John Zarrella has the story.
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ZARRELLA: Key West has a dirty bird problem. In fact, 2000 feathery squawking, some say, more than just nuisance problem.
JOHN JONES, ASST. MANAGER: We've got 2,000 chickens on a two by four island, each one of them pooping on the island, just imagine how many tons a week of chicken poop you've got and it all eventually runs into the water.
ZARRELLA: The wild chickens of Key West have been island residents longer than most of the people here, but recently, city hall was getting an increasing barrage of foul calls. Ruined gardens invaded restaurants, and lost sleep. Not to mention the concerns over potential health issues. So the city hired a 63-year-old barber...
ARMANDO PARRA, BARBER/OFFICIAL CHICKEN CATCHER: This is the best hair cut you've had all day, I'll guarantee it.
ZARRELLA: To be its first licensed professional chicken catcher.
I said you know what? I like chickens, I've always had chickens all my life.
ZARRELLA: Armando Parra's contract allows him to catch 900 birds at $20 apiece. In a month, the bird man of Key West has trapped about 100.
PARRA: This is like a freak show. You walk into the post office and you've got chickens in the front door. You go to a restaurant and the chickens waiting for you to throw him a piece of bread.
ZARRELLA: Parra, who has a website, and sells "why does the chicken cross the raod" tee-shirts, is not universally loved.
The chicken store on Duvall Street is all about saving the birds. Profits from the store bank roll Katha Sheehan poultry politics.
KATHA SHEEHAN, THE CHICKEN SITTER: I'd love to see them establish a rooster park. I think it would be a wonderful attraction and it could be a pet cemetery.
ZARRELLA: City officials say the birds don't need a park. The population just needs to be thinned out.
Now, if you're worried about the fate of the flock, don't be. The captured birds are being relocated to a farm here in Miami where they can run wild the rest of their lives without any fear they'll end up on your dinner table.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SIEBERG: Well, I guess you could call that sort of a retirement home for chickens. And speaking of homes, did you know the person responsible for the nation's natural resources is also interior decorator for the White House?
Well, according to the reliable source column in the "Washington Post," that's what singer Jessica Simpson thinks. The pop star was in D.C. for a gala event at Ford's Theatre. Simpson also got a tour of the White House and was introduced to secretary of the interior Gale Norton, and yes, you guessed it, the star of the MTV show "Newly Weds" told the interior secretary "you've done a nice job decorating the White House." Of course, Simpson once thought that Buffalo wings came from real buffalo.
All right, that's all the time we have for now. But, here's a peek at what's coming up next week.
This month marks a quarter century since the nation's worst nuclear accident. We'll return to Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania for a look back.
That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let us hear from you. Don't be shy. You can send us an e-mail at next@cnn.com and we might even answer your question on the air.
Thanks so much for joining us this week. For all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time.
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