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First Civilian Spacecraft Successfully Breaches Space Border; NASA Space Probe Cassini Approaches Saturn; Some Air Fresheners Could Hurt More Than Help

Aired June 26, 2004 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead on "NEXT@CNN": a close encounter with Saturn approaches; the first civilian rocket man hits space; figuring out freak waves; evidence that some air fresheners may be anything but; Italian police go Lamborghini; and could the end for Comdex be near or, even here?
Those stories and a lot more are coming up right after a check of the headlines from the CNN newsroom.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center. NEXT@CNN is straight ahead, but first a look at the headlines.

Another threat of beheadings in Iraq. The Arab network Al Jazeera reports Iraqi militants have kidnapped at least three Turkish citizens. On a videotape, the militants promise to behead the hostages in 72 hours if Turkey does not pull out its companies of Iraq. The report comes before President Bush arrives. He is actually in Turkey right now for the NATO summit which begins officially on Monday.

There's a bounty on the head of a militant suspected in those recent beheadings: Musab al-Zarqawi is a wanted man and Coalition officials have put a $10 million bounty on his head. U.S. officials say Zarqawi is their top foe and number one target in Iraq.

Another bomb precedes President Bush's arrival in Turkey for the NATO summit. The latest today in Istanbul. No one was injured. More than 23,000 police officers will be on duty during the summit.

And Pakistan's prime minister has resigned and his cabinet has been dissolved. The move follows months of speculation about a strained relationship between the prime minister and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. The leader of Pakistan's ruling party has been nominated to take his place.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta; more news at the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now.

SIEBERG: Hi there. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, as a barrier for civilian space flight falls, NASA reveals what's next for the government space agency.

Why are some teenagers begging to be arrested? Because they want to be taken for the ride of their lives. We'll explain. And how would you like pictures of your garbage to end up in an art gallery? Celebrities who want to hide their craving for Cocoa Crispies should beware. All that and more on "NEXT."

The flight wasn't flawless, but it was a success. For the first time, a private spacecraft reached the edge of space with no help from NASA or any other government agency. Miles O'Brien went to the Mojave Desert to witness the historic flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN REPORTER: For pennies on the dollar and with only a few hundred feet to spare, 63-year-old Mike Melville became the first civilian to fly a commercial craft into space. He enjoyed a few minutes of weightless flight and gaped at the gorgeous view.

MIKE MELVILLE, PRIVATE ASTRONAUT: Looking out of the window and seeing these white clouds over the L.A. basin just looked like snow on the ground.

O'BRIEN: It was a high flying triumph for the little guy. Airplane, and now spaceship designer, Burt Rutan and his small company, Scaled Composites, sent SpaceShipOne on a sub-orbital flight for little more than $20 million.

BURT RUTAN, OWNER, SCALED COMPOSITES: You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God when you do something like this. Believe me.

O'BRIEN: The history-making flight was not trouble-free. Shortly after Melville lit the rocket motor fueled by a mixture of rubber and nitrous oxide, laughing gas, there was a no-laughing-matter problem with the critical flight controls. The small craft veered off its vertical course.

MELVILLE: We have just a five-mile box to reenter in. The space ship actually reentered 22 miles away from that box. It could have gone twice that far and still glided back to Mojave, though.

O'BRIEN: The problem lowered SpaceshipOne's apogee, but the craft squeaked into the record books reaching 328,491 feet, 400 feet beyond the official boundary of space; just enough for Melville to earn his astronaut wings awarded by the FAA.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today opens a new chapter history, making space access within the reach of ordinary citizens.

O'BRIEN: Ordinary citizens in extraordinary circumstances.

MELVILLE: Boy, when you reenter at 2.9 mach and you start hitting the atmosphere, the noises you hear are somebody talking to you very, very sharply, you know. And you begin to believe that, "Wow! Should I really be doing this?"

O'BRIEN: The effort was bankrolled by billionaire Microsoft co- founder, Paul Allen, who hopes this is the beginning of a new space race for the rest of us.

PAUL ALLEN, CO-FOUNDER MICROSOFT: It's a very emotional experience and it does whet your appetite to want to do more things like this.

O'BRIEN: Rutan and his team will troubleshoot that control problem, and then may very well announce an attempt at the $10 million X Prize, a private purse awarded to the first civilian team to fly to space in a three-person vehicle twice in as many weeks. There are at least a half dozen other teams vying for that prize, but clearly SpaceshipOne is the horse to beat.

SIEBERG: Well, the idea seems to be contagious. NASA is now considering an idea similar to the X Prize. And NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe sat down with Miles O'Brien earlier this week to talk about a transformation of the space agency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Sean O'Keefe is trying to find ways to run NASA more like a business and less like a bureaucracy.

Is there a NASA role in what we saw unfold there at the Mojave Desert?

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: There's certainly a public role in encouraging that kind of behavior, that kind of risk taking, that kind of exciting breakthrough of capability.

O'BRIEN: This was the thrust of a report from a presidential commission charged with helping NASA realize the Bush administration's vision for NASA: a return to the moon and eventually a manned mission to mars. The commission concurred with O'Keefe's own assessment of his agency.

O'KEEFE: We aren't terribly friendly here towards entrepreneurs, innovators, technology developers, people who do cutting edge kind of things.

O'BRIEN: So, O'Keefe is rolling out some new flowcharts at NASA. NASA centers and managers are now divvied up by a focus on science, exploration systems, space operations and aeronautics research. The idea is to keep their eye on the prize, pushing the bounds of exploration and then letting the private sector step into the void, ala SpaceShipOne.

You've been contracting from day one. How is this different? How is it more entrepreneurial than what you've been doing?

O'KEEFE: The jet propulsion lab that managed the Mars Expedition rovers, that's run by a university on behalf of the government. And so, as a consequence, there's a lot of entrepreneurial attitude there, but we're going to look at a variety of other management models that may call for other than the United States government running the activity directly. O'BRIEN: Necessity is the mother of invention here. The Bush moon and Mars proposal is a scantily funded proposition with modest budget increases earmarked for NASA over the next five years: pay as you go.

O'KEEFE: What the president's articulated here is a strategy, a direction, a focus, that you build on one step at a time. And the goal is not a destination.

O'BRIEN: Getting there from here will not be easy. And while NASA will never be as nimble as Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne, O'Keefe is convinced he must launch a new way of doing business before the can-do space agency can meet the Bush challenge.

Another challenge for NASA aboard the International Space Station, a space walk to repair a circuit breaker had to be cut short after a leak was detected in the oxygen tank in Astronaut Mike Fink's space suit. The walk lasted only 14 minutes. Fink and Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka didn't even make it out of the air lock.

Flight controllers say the crew was never in danger though. If NASA can find and fix the problem, the crew will attempt another space walk no sooner than next week.

Even without the leak, the space walk is risky. The crew doesn't really have the right equipment for fixing the circuit breaker. That's because there hasn't been a shuttle mission to bring supplies to the station since the Columbia disaster in February of 2003.

SIEBERG: Coming up on "NEXT," a ship of a different sort. Not spaceships but cruise ships. Researchers are using one of them to study freak waves, waves that put swells like these to shame.

Also ahead, as one company bans the use of cellphones while driving, others look to the future of mobile phones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: All right, faithful viewers will know that every fall we bring you the latest from the Comdex Technology Trade Show in Las Vegas. Well, not this year. The organizers announced on Wednesday that this year's Comdex is canceled.

At the height of the dot-com boom, the show drew as many as 200,000 people; it was pretty chaotic. But last year, it was down to a quarter of that. Analysts say Comdex is losing out to its rival, the Consumer Electronics Show. Comdex producers say they'll revamp the show to make it more attractive and they'll be back in November 2005. Stay tuned.

Well, AOL subscribers who wondered how spammers got their addresses may now have an answer. An AOL employee was arrested Wednesday and charged with stealing millions of customers' screen names and selling them. I know you want to get your hands on him. We also need to point out that AOL's part of our parent company, Time Warner. Now also arrested was the man charged with buying the list and selling it to spammers. Prosecutors say Sean Dunaway charged spammers $2,000 for a list beginning with a single letter or $52,000 for the whole alphabet. They say he also used the list to promote an Internet gambling operation.

Each man could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Next week, New Jersey becomes the second state where it's illegal to talk on a handheld cellphone while driving, joining New York. But one big employer has gone further, banning its employees and contractors from talking on any kind of cellphone while they drive on company time.

Julie Vallese reports.

JULIE VALLESE, CNN REPORTER: Cellular phones may be annoying, some say dangerous, but not illegal. No matter where you go, there are people driving and talking on cellphones. But work for Exxon Mobil and it's against company rules.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done this together with our employees.

VALLESE: Exxon Mobile says it expects the change will have a big impact on safety. Its employees collectively drive more than 1.5 million miles each day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope our employees take this message home to their families and friends that are drivers. Because this is a question of safety for everyone and we would be very happy if the public would adopt the spirit of the requirement that we've created.

VALLESE: That spirit may be adopted by other companies. The National Safety Council says more and more are starting to take a look at the idea: one for safety, two for liability.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Legislatures are reluctant to regulate things like cellphones, same with the government. But employers for their own good interests, both to protect employees and to protect against liability, I think, will be following Exxon Mobil's lead.

VALLESE: The CTIA, the wireless association, said in a statement that companies do have the right to set their own policies, but hope education campaigns about distractions accompany those policies.

And those distractions are many. AAA found eating, changing a CD and even talking to other passengers in the car causes more crashes than cellphones.

SIEBERG: Well, if you think American cellphones are distracting, you should see some of the phones they're developing in Japan. Atika Schubert has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN REPORTER: Tokyo is mobile phone central: phones that snap pictures, surf the web are almost everywhere. Now Japan's top phone producers want the gadgets to be an extension of your mind and body.

Phones of the future will not only be smaller, they'll actually use your body as an extension of the phone. I'm wearing the Finger Whisper. That's a wearable phone in development and it sends vibrations up your finger to make and receive calls. So when the phone rings, click your fingers to answer the phone and stick your finger in your ear and you'll actually be able to hear the person on the other end of the line.

Inventer Isaki Fukumoto shows us how it works. The key is a microphone and receiver placed on the tendon in your wrist. The vibrations travel up your finger and echo in your ear canal so it's the only sound you here.

ISAKI FUKUMOTO, INVENTOR: Hello.

SCHUBERT: Hi.

FUKUMOTO: How do you do?

SCHUBERT: I'm doing very well thank you.

FUKUMOTO: I think my voice needs to be sounding into your head. How do you hear?

SCHUBERT: It is. It is resounding into my head but it feels good.

FUKUMOTO: Thank you. This is bone conduction.

SCHUBERT: I feel like I've stepped into the future for a few minutes.

Japan's leading phone producer, NTT DoCoMo, envisions a world where video phones are sewn into your clothing, or used for an impromptu medical examination on the road.

Grodo Idokaiema (ph) shows us what will hit the markets next: a phone to keep an eye on your home while you're away. Closing curtains, turning on lights at the touch of a button: all monitored by video on your phone. It also tells you when an intruder has broken into your home so you can send him a message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are you?

GODO IRUKAYAMA, INVENTOR (through translator): The phone can be a computer (ph) or a part and it will even control the functions in your home. In a few years, all you will need when you leave the house is your phone and the honk at you.

SCHUBERT: Irukayam insists the new phones won't just benefit humans. In consumer tests, feeding your pet through the phone was one of the most popular uses. But if you want a machine that just makes calls, well you're barking up the wrong tree.

ANNOUNCER: Up next, we'll tell you how some Vegas residents are dealing with a drought that could be the worst in half a millennium.

Also ahead, speeders beware. Find out where the police are being equipped with a high speed sports car.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Government scientists say the western drought may be the biggest in 500 years. Conditions in the Colorado River basin are even worse than during the Dust Bowl years. Casey Wian reports on how residents of Las Vegas are dealing with the drought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY WIAN, CNN REPORTER: The Magowan (ph) residence in Las Vegas has a beautiful lawn. But most of it is being ripped out.

TERRY MCGOWAN, LAS VEGAS RESIDENT: I just feel we need to conserve water for the future of our children and the population growth.

WIAN: Since last year, about 2 million square yards of grass has been torn out of Las Vegas yards, golf courses and resorts. An entire football field's worth of turf is being replaced daily by water-saving desert landscaping. The water company is even paying residents up to a dollar a square foot to remove grass.

PAT MULROY, NEVADA WATER AUTHORITY: We're spending $22 million this year removing turf. We'll spend $33 million next year removing turf. Essentially, we said to our customers, "We'll help you pay to drought-proof yourself." And they've responded.

WIAN: It's boosting business for landscapers.

SCOTT TRACY, LANDSCAPER: I'd say right off the bat, 25 percent to 30 percent. As long as we don't get any more rain, I think it's going to go on for quite a while.

WIAN: Las Vegas has been hit hard by the drought, largely because its share of the Colorado River's water was set decades ago when no one imagined it would become America's fastest growing city. Its water supply is tied to nearby Lake Mead, which is down 75 feet since 2000. This year, Las Vegas entered what it calls "drought alert" meaning tight restrictions on water use for residents and businesses and heavy fines for wasters.

(on camera): When people talk about water shortages in Las Vegas, they often point to the giant fountains and lakes that decorate many of the casinos here. But the truth is, hotels and casinos only use about 7 percent of southern Nevada's water.

(voice-over): Even so, some casinos are ripping out grass in favor of desert plants. The Stardust says it will save eight million gallons of water a year.

ROB STILLWELL, STARDUST RESORT: And that grass there, certainly it looks real nice and shiny, but at the end of the day it really wasn't being used. It didn't make a lot of sense.

WIAN: If Lake Mead drops another 13 feet, Las Vegas will switch to drought emergency, perhaps as early as next year. Water managers aren't sure how they'll respond, but are considering heavier fines on water wasters and paying other areas for their excess water.

SIEBERG: Also out West, California is suing three major tuna companies accusing them of not warning consumers about mercury in their products. The defendants are the makers of Chicken of the Sea, StarKist and Bumblebee Tuna. California's attorney general says tests on albacore and light tuna found mercury levels that require consumer warnings under California law. Representatives of the tuna industry say they strongly disagree and that they'll show in court that tuna is safe.

Well, a new study says it's found unsafe levels of the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate in milk from California. The study by the Environmental Working Group says young children and pregnant women could be at risk. The activist group stopped short of advising Californians to stop drinking milk, but it did call for tougher regulations for perchlorate: the explosive ingredient in rocket fuel.

The chemical has been linked to thyroid damage and has been found in the Colorado River, a source of drinking and irrigation water. The report was released as California and federal regulators consider new standards for regulating perchlorate.

Well, they may not go as fast as rockets, but the Lamborghini sports car is pretty darn speedy. And now a brand new Lamborghini has been donated to the Italian State Police. Alessio Vinci reports from Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN REPORTER: Speeding on Italian highways may no longer be as fun these days because you may end up being chased by one of these. A $165,000 brand new Lamborghini Gallardo, donated to the Italian police by the car manufacturer: fully equipped, flashing blue lights and a siren included. Top speed: over 300 kilometers or 180 miles per hour.

This must it be the best job in the world, huh?

GIUSEPPE DI COSTA, ITALIAN POLICEMAN: Yes.

VINCI: Wear our seat belts, of course, we are with the police.

DI COSTA: Seat belt.

VINCI: We have to wear our seat belt.

DI COSTA: Ready to go. VINCI: Giuseppe de Costa is one of eight newly trained Lamborghini patrol drivers, clearly having some fun himself.

DI COSTA: I do not drive like this if I'm driving myself, my own car, right? The police will stop me!

VINCI: No. You just stay on the limits.

Which is easier said than done. With a car like this you hardly go unnoticed.

DE COSTA: Thank you, guys.

You want to make a race with me? OK! Let's do it, man.

VINCI: No, no, no, no.

At a traffic light, a group of teenagers, usually wary of the police, solicit some attention.

UIDENTIFIED MALE: Arrest the man. You heard it? Arrest me. Arrest me.

DI COSTA: They say, "Please arrest me for ten minutes. I want to make a ride with you in your car."

I say, "Really?"

"Yes. I'm serious."

VINCI: But this Lamborghini is not just a toy. It is equipped with a $40,000 camera and computer system that records traffic violations and sends them back to headquarters in real-time. In fact, the car is being used for real emergencies. For example, it has been fitted with a specially designed cooler compartment to transport organs for transplants. And, unlike most other police cars, it has a state-of-the-art defibrillator. Although just the sound of its engine should be enough to make your heartbeat jump.

SCHUBERT: Coming up, the Cassini Space Probe approaches its close encounter with Saturn. And new research links plug-in air fresheners to toxic formaldehyde.

Those stories and much more coming up in the next half hour of "NEXT@CNN."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here's what's happening at this hour.

Insurgents linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claim to be holding three Turks captive in Iraq. This video shown on al Jazeera television. The terrorists are threatening to behead the hostages unless Turkish companies withdraw from Iraq. Car bombs terrorizing Iraqis in Irbil and Hillah today. This one in Irvil exploded as a convoy carrying a Kurdish government official passed by. Later, a suspected car bomb killed at least 17 people in the southern Iraqi city of Hila.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seeking Latino support for his campaign, told Latino leaders meeting in Washington, he will promote democracy in Cuba and renegotiate the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

The head of the International Atomic Engergy Agency is asking Iran to refrain from resuming its nuclear program. Iran said it would begin to produce and test centrifuge parts for uranium enrichment next week.

The prime minister of the Czech Republic says he'll leave office, Vladamir Spidla made the announcement shortly after surviving a no confidence vote among leaders in his Social Democratic Party.

And I'll have more news at the top of the hour. Now back to more of NEXT@CNN.

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Well, on Wednesday, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will fire sits retro rocket and swing into orbit around Saturn. It will spend four years studying the ringed planet and its dozens of moons. Miles O'Brien returns with a look what Cassini could accomplish.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a ringer of a planet and it may soon give up hum dingers about our origins, or so astronomers hope, as the Cassini spacecraft hones in on Saturn. The $3 billion craft is making a 49,000 mile an hour bee line for a gap in those rocky rings, and must thread the needle twice, hopefully avoiding a mission-ending collision to enter Saturn's the orbit.

ROBERT MITCHELL, CASSINI PROJECT MANAGER: We have considerable evidence to tell us that this gap is clean, clear of any particles, any debris of any size. There will probably be some very fine dust grains that the spacecraft is well equipped to handle.

ANNOUNCER: Two, one, and liftoff of the Cassini spacecraft...

O'BRIEN: Named for the 17th century astronomer who discovered much about Saturn's rings and moons, Cassini began its two billion mile voyage to the sixth planet from the sun in October of '97, a joint project of the U.S., European, and Italian space agencies, Cassini is the most sophisticated interplanetary spacecraft ever and so far work like a charm, sending back the stunning views of the second largest planet in the solar system, its stormy surface and its trademark rings.

Candice Hansen started working on Cassini 14 years ago. Its perilous arrival in Saturn's orbit will make for tense moments for her. CANDICE HANSEN, CASSINI SCIENCE TEAM MEMBER: I have spent 14 years sort of waiting for this night to occur, and until it's passed, there will always be this, oh, my god, things could go terribly wrong. Not that any of us expect that, but still, it is a very critical event.

O'BRIEN: As it passes through the gap, Cassini will continue snapping pictures and they will be the closest look at the rings ever. Astronomers are fascinated by them because they resemble the disks that form the planets. Saturn's rings, filled with pieces of comets, asteroids, and galactic flotsam and jetsam are, in the grand scheme, very young, only 30 or 40 million years old.

MITCHELL: And we don't really have any notion how long these rings are going to last. They might be gone in another 10 million years. It may be the formation of human life on earth now at this time was just very lucky to be in existence at the time that these rings happened to exist of Saturn.

O'BRIEN: So long as Cassini doesn't get dinged by the rings, it will embark on a four-year tour of Saturn and some of its 31 known moons. It's already whized by Phoebe, only 130 miles across, the tiny moon is pocked with craters and laced with ice. It caught a glimpse of Iapetus, 890 miles in diameter, with its light and dark hemispheres, and Titan, a moon that is more like a planet.

HANSEN: It's bigger than Pluto, it's even a little bigger than Mercury. And it's got this thick atmosphere, exotic surface geology. It's got a lot of things that intrigue us.

O'BRIEN: Come January, Cassini will send a wok-shaped probe called Huygens toward a landing on Titan, perpetually enshrouded by clouds, this moon is an intriguing mystery for astronomers. They believe earth might have looked like Titan long ago.

MITCHELL: So, Titan, today, the scientists believe, may very well be a body in a frozen vault just like what earth was three or four billion years ago. So, the chance to study it and see what earth may have looked like then, to get some clues how earth may have evolved to be what we know it today, is quite an excreting prospect.

O'BRIEN: It will be the most remote landing ever attempted, but there are other hoops Cassini must jump through first.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right, have you ever heard of a freak wave? No, it's not something they do at freak sports events. Freak waves are a rare, but serious threat to ocean-going ships and scientists are trying to figure out what causes them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): It sounds like ocean legend. They appear out of nowhere, swamp even the largest ships, and then disappear almost as fast as they begin, by comparison, they make waves like these look small. HANS GRABER, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: You can look out at the ocean like this right now and it would be harmless and calm and all of a sudden, you stand in front of a wall of water. That's a freak wave.

SIEBERG: It's tough to say how often freak waves are formed. Scientists say they're rare, but serious and here's what they can do: Split some cargo ships in half and render others useless. And reminiscent of the film "The Perfect Storm," the freak waves arrive with virtually no warning, no hint from violent or rough weather. They're not a tiddal wave or a tsunami, which can be triggered by tiddal shifts, winds, or earthquakes and scientists are hoping to better understand and even predict this ocean phenomenon.

One of the places freak waves can occur is in the Florida current. And some of this research is being done aboard a ship that projects anything but a stormy environment. The University of Miami has partnered with Royal Caribbean cruise lines to allow researchers year round data collection on a variety of topics while onboard the Explorer of the Seas.

While documented cases of freak waves have mainly been in places like off the coast of South Africa, Graber says the Gulf Stream path, near the cruise ship's route, is also an important area of research. And to gather some of their data, scientists tap into the ship's radar to measure the size and speed of wave moment.

GRABER: Typically the ship uses the radars that are on the front here on mast, mainly to detect other ships that might interfere or cross their paths. We're using the noise that the ship is throwing away to measure the waves.

SIEBERG (on camera): Once the Explorer of the Seas leaves Miami, it doesn't stop until it gets to a port like this, here in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Now, that means a couple of things, on the positive side, it means that scientists can collect data over the same route week after week, month after month and compare that over a long period of time, but the drawback is that the scientists see anything interesting along the way, they can't stop to have a look.

(voice-over): So scientists are hoping this constant monitoring will provide them with clues to help solve the mystery of freak waves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Next up, more evidence that ozone machines, which are supposed to clean indoor air, may do just the opposite.

And later, this little capuchin monkey is not, well, monkeying around. She's providing and invaluable service. We'll explain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIEBERG: When you combine an air freshener like this with an ozone machine like this, you might think you get extra clean air, right? Not so fast. That may not be the case, as Holly Firfer reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With searing summer temperatures around the corner, many people may opt to stay inside to beat the heat and smog. But a recent report suggests that the air inside your home could make you sick. From harmful pollutants that form when plug-in air fresheners and ozone combine, the result, a toxic brew that includes formaldehyde.

BARRY RYAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Essentially you're making it so you can have smog incidents inside your house similar to those that are outside your house, and you just really don't want to do that.

FIRFER: In a controlled study, researchers at the Environmental Protection Agency measured the reaction between the fragrances commonly found in home air fresheners and high levels of ozone gas. They found the chemical reaction produced a few dangerous compounds including formaldehyde, a carcinogen that can affect respiratory health. But, the EPA says that although the findings are important, the public should not be overly concerned.

They say that while ozone can enter from outside or from ozone generating air cleaners, the levels obtained in the study are not reflective of a normal household atmosphere. But, there is one finding that has the EPA and other experts in agreement. They say that using ozone generators to eliminate household odors is a bad idea. The one thing consumers may wish to take away from this study is something the EPA has stated previously, that the use of ozone generating air cleaners is not recommend.

In nature, ground leveled ozone forms when the sun heats air pollution from car exhausts and factory emissions. And studies show that persistent exposure to high ozone levels can affect kids, the elderly, and others at risk for lung trouble, including people with asthma. So, experts maintain that using ozone generators is like cooking up your own supply of outdoor pollutants inside of your home.

I would caution people if they are to use ozone generators in the house, they should be aware of what kind of secondary pollutants that it might be making.

FIRFER: Wise advice for anyone who truly wants to clear the air while remaining healthy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead: How the deadly Gila Monster may someday make people healthier.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Poison from Gila Monsters or Blowfish may sound like something to avoid at all costs, but researchers are finding more and more animal products that are deadly in nature, may be lifesavers when they're turned into medicines. Christy Feig has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Although its bite can be deadly, doctors say the Gila Monster could actually help diabetics. When school principal Marcia Parker was diagnosed with type II Diabetes, she couldn't lose weight, eventually she joined a study that used the lizard's spit to control insulin levels and weight.

MARCIA PARKER, PATIENT: I've lost 15 pounds, yes, which is good because I wasn't losing at all.

FEIG: Doctors discovered a hormone in the lizard's saliva could fight diabetes and obesity, it stabilizes blood sugar levels by producing the same hormone synthetically, in an injection, physicians help diabetics control their insulin levels without other injections or changes in diet.

DR. ROBERT RATNER, MEDICAL RESEARCHER: These medications appear to affect appetite. And decreasing appetite helps patients stay with their diet therapy.

FEIG: The Gila Monster isn't the only creature scientists are turning to for developments of new treatments, species from blowfish to leeches are being used to find Alzheimer's, even arthritis.

The vampire bat carries a protein in its saliva that dissolves blood clots which cause strokes. It could rival the current best treatment which must be given within three hours of the stroke.

DR. JOHN COCHRAN, NOVA, OPERATION STROKE: The bat saliva has the benefit of being effective out as long as six to nine hours, which is a big improvement.

FEIG: These experimental drugs are still in clinical trials, but doctors already understand that humble plants and animals may hold the key to many new treatments.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Dogs have been helping blind people live independently for years. Now there's new evidence dogs can give advance warning when someone is about to have a seizure. The Douton (PH) family from of Victoria, B.C. is an example. Their dog Sandy was trained to protect 12-year-old Shane when he had epileptic seizures, then they realized that Sandy was barking and acting agitated before the seizures. A new study at the University of Calgary says as many as 15 percent of dogs may have the ability. Researchers aren't sure what subtle clues the dogs are picking up on and they say more study is needed. Well, here's another story about animals helping people with disabilities. Pablo Pereira from our affiliate KABC introduces us to Minnie the monkey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRAIG COOK: Hat a girl. Hat a girl. Hat a girl. Good girl!

PABLO PEREIRA, KABC REPORTER: When Anaheim Angel Fan, Craig Cook needs help with his baseball cap, Minnie isn't far behind.

COOK: Pretty cool, huh? Come here. I mean, that's good enough. You see what I mean and now I can go ahead and grab the hat and put it whatever way I need, you know?

Hand.

PEREIRA: The 38-year-old quadriplegic, who lost the use of his legs and much of his arm movement in a car accident eight years ago, acquired his own Rally Monkey in April. Now the 18-year-old Capuchin primate handles many of the daily chores Cook can no longer perform.

COOK: Good girl. Definitely picks things up off the ground if I drop them, especially like a phone or a piece of paper with an emergency number on it or something like that.

Good girl.

See what I mean?

PEREIRA: Because of restrictive state codes, the La Habra man is the first in California to receive a helper monkey from a Boston based group, Helping Hands. Cook has spent weeks now, building a rapport with Minnie, getting her to respond to commands learned through repetition and rewards.

COOK: Me and her got along at day one. I started giving her little pieces of -- you know, monkey biscuits and treats.

OK, all right, all right.

PEREIRA: Minnie will eat just about anything her new owner will, but especially enjoys whipped cream. The average lifespan for Capuchins is about 40 years, but this five pound bundle of fur, has already become much more than an extra pair of hands around the house.

COOK: Since Minnie's got in -- you know, been a part of my life, that's for sure. I mean, it's like almost like having a kid -- you know, she's all over the place. You know? I'm always like watching her and looking out where she is and...

OK, close your door. That a girl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANNOUNCER: Still to come, how one cruise line is dealing with the industry's trashy image. And Jeanne Moos also talks trash. Find out what's in the garbage of the stars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Earlier in the show, we told about some of the ongoing science research aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Explorer of the Seas. Well, there's also an ongoing environmental challenge. Just what to do with the garbage that more than 3,500 people create during a week onboard, environment is groups have long complained that the cruise industry pollutes the seas by dumping sewage and trash. Now at least some shipping lines are cleaning up their act.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): Deep inside the Explorer of the Seas, Barbara Ganzarolli shows off her operations room. Barbara is the ship's environmental officer.

BARBARA GANZAROLLI, ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICER: Well, first of all, we do have other places where we separate our garbage, like behind he scene of the -- in the gally and so on, but then this is the area where it's all taken, by the crew member. So as you can see, we have our aluminum here. Then this one is marked bottles and cans, so we separate the aluminum from the glass.

SIEBERG (on camera): And every bag that comes down here is opened up?

GANZAROLLI: Definitely, every bag. That's -- that's the reason why we have always five people on duty here during the day, and also, two at nighttime.

SIEBERG (voice-over): About 3,500 passengers empty a lot of cans and bottles every trip and they burn through plenty of batteries and cigarette lighters.

GANZAROLLI: All the crushed glass is stored in here, same thing with the steel and aluminum until we reach port, when we land these recyclable to an approved waste contractor. Now, what cannot be recycled, then it is burned in this incinerator.

SIEBERG: The concept of an environmental officer comes after many years of pollution by the cruise industry. In the 1980s and '90s the U.S. Justice Department levied tens of millions in fines to several cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean. The offenses including dumping, oil discharge, and falsifying records. For a long time, the cruise ship industry had a black eye for dumping too much overboard. So have things changed?

GANZAROLLI: Yes, it's true in the past, things that were not supposed to be done were done and that's the reason why we have an environmental officer on board, the reason why we have an environmental policy, and we are still investing in advanced wastewater treatment so there's always a continual improvement to make sure that we are always keeping the highest standard in the industry. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Incidentally, last month is, Royal Caribbean, which operates the Explorer of the Seas, received an award of excellence from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers for it's onboard waste management and environmental efforts. But the cruise line acknowledges there's still much more to be done.

And while we're talking trash, you may have heard the environmental question, when you throw something away, where is away? Well, in the case of some celebrities, away is on a photographic collage. Jeanne Moos explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How would you like strangers peering at your garbage? In this case, it's Madonna's garbage with Cocoa Pebbles, and Liz Taylor's garbage with Downey fabric softener, and John Travolta garbage with Craft Macaroni and Cheese.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eew, that's hair!

MOOS: Though, we're not sure whose hair in Marlon Brando's rubbish. Star Trash consists of photographs by two French photographers who have been raiding garbage bags for 15 years, sorting it and photographing it from above.

MOOS (on camera): Did you not feel embarrassed to be looking through the garbage of celebrities? I mean, wasn't it embarrassing?

PASCAL ROSTAIN, PHOTOGRAPHER: No, the only things we can say that that stinks a lot.

MOOS (voice-over): Sure it's mundane stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A cup o' noodles.

MOOS: But folks relate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I eat that or oh, I use that, so it's really interesting to see that they're people. I love that.

MOOS: Bet Sean Penn doesn't love having his mousetraps and beer bottles on display. Tom Cruise's trash included a Victoria's Secret catalog, Pamela Anderson's featured a dirty t-shirt. They found boxers in Antonio Banderas' garbage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like diving into -- you know, the crevices of their personal life.

It's a little cheap.

MOOS: The photographers say this is a sociological look at where celebrity and consumerism meet.

(on camera): I mean, I get it, I get it, but I just wouldn't do it.

(voice-over): The photographers say the only celeb who ever caught them digging in the garbage was John Travolta who just drove by.

ROSTAIN: He just have a look and...

MOOS: Pascal Rostain says they left out anything medical. Jack Nicholson's trash contained an invite to Elton John's birthday party. Michael Jackson's featured cheese popcorn and a Big Mac.

(on camera): You're eating classier stuff than those celebrities are eating.

(voice-over): Each photocells for 6,000 bucks. Photographers say celebrity agents have called wanting to buy back their garbage. Leave it to Liz Taylor's trash to include garbage written about Liz herself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well, fortunately, I'm not a celebrity, so I don't need to worry about that sort of thing. That's all the time we've got for this week, but here's a quick preview what's coming up next weekend.

This time next week, Cassini spacecraft will be in orbit around Saturn. We'll show you what it finds as it begins its exploration of the ringed planet.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at NEXT@CNN.com.

Thanks so much for joining us. For all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time.

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