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New Therapy Helps Flier Anxiety; Electronic Voting Has Bugs, But Nothing Insurmountable; Ecologists Attempt To Reverse Damage Done To Arab Marshes

Aired November 6, 2004 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, NEXT@CNN: "CNN Live Saturday." Time is running out. Find out what to do with those unused tax-free dollars sitting in your employer's health savings account. At 5:00 "People in the News" profiles Oscar Award winner actor Tom Hanks and singer Rod Stewart.
But first Daniel Seiberg with a preview of NEXT@CNN.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR, NEXT@CNN: Ahead on NEXT@CNN a post mortem on e-voting. A way to make your own prescription glasses. And see how Martha Stewart has gone to the dogs well sort of. Those stories and a lot more coming up right after a check of the headlines from the CNN Newsroom.

WHITFIELD: And here are the headlines. Military sources say and Iraqi company commander has deserted ahead of an unexpected and expected rather U.S. lead operations into Fallujah. U.S. marines are concerned because the captain received a full battle greasing on the plan to solve. The deserter is described as a Curtish man with no known ties to Fallujah or the imprisonsey.

Insurgents in Samaras have stepped up their attacks. At least 34 people were killed and dozens wounded in the city. Last month, 3,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 Iraqis battled militants, but it's believed some 3,000 hard-core insurgents are still there.

At least eight French soldiers were killed when ivory coast war planes bombed their position near a rebel-held town. The U.S State Department says an American citizen was also among those killed. In retaliation, French forces destroyed at least two ivory coast planes. The United Nations security council has called a emergency session to discuss the crises.

And now here's CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano with a quick look at your weather.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pretty good looking weather forecast across the country not only today but tomorrow. High pressure control across the good chunk of the U.S. Thee is another reinforcing shot of cold air that's going to drop out of Canada through out the day tomorrow and swing into the Midwest. But today, this afternoon definitely looking warm and pretty dry. Maybe the northern Great Lakes and maybe parts of southern California seeing a little spit of rain.

Boston, New York and Philly, dry today. Same deal tomorrow. Good looking weather but chilly overnight temperatures. Atlanta temperature in the 60s and lower 70s. Miami and Southport might see a shower. But the western Great Lakes, warm and at times breezy today. Cooler. Still dry tomorrow.

Dallas, 79, 70 in Denver, 79 with low humidity in Houston today and looks like tomorrow as well. Los Angeles for the most part, dry today. Might see a shower tomorrow. San Francisco looking good and Seattle might see a spit of rain today with drier air expected throughout the day tomorrow.

I'm Rob Marciano. That's a quick weather check. Enjoy your weekend.

WHITFIELD: All right very good thanks Rob.

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

Keeping you informed CNN the most trusted name news.

SIEBERG: Hi I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN how e-voting did voting measured up in this week's election? Was it a mess or a success.

Efforts to restore vital and rocky marsh land, it supports one of the oldest cultures on earth.

And a party for a dog that stands a breed apart. It's not because they like to dress up in women's clothing. All that and more on NEXT.

The squeaker a presidential election overshadowed the fact that this year was a big test for electronic voting. While glitches popped up here and there, the verdict for the most part was fairly positive. But in the long term, the jury is still out.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S: The voters turn out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory.

SIEBERG (voice over): It was close, but this year voters didn't have to wait 36 days before getting their next commander in chief. No suffering through endless hanging or pregnant Chads. Thanks in part to electronic voting. So did the high-tech voting machines get a passing grade?

MICHAEL ALVAREZ, CALTECH: You know, I think I'd give it sort of a good passing grade. You know, maybe something like a "b." And I would probably give the paper based analogues about the same grade.

SIEBERG: Caltech and MIT have been jointly studying e-voting since the problems of 2000. This time around Alvarez says the clinches were minimal, many of them human errors.

ALVAREZ: The problems were procedural. There were long lines. There were problems checking voters in. Many voters had problems with voter registration. Again, we just didn't see meltdowns using either types -- any type of voting technology.

SIEBERG: But some observers say it's still very early in the post-election analysis.

BRUCE SCHNEIER, SECURITY EXPERT: E-voting didn't pass any sort of test. What we have is anecdotal evidence. A medical procedure might be safe or dangerous. Just because a patient didn't die doesn't mean the procedure is safe.

SIEBERG: While there were no major meltdowns, e-voting watchdogs say they received thousands of complaints though it's nearly impossible to independently verify all of them. In Florida and a handful of other states, several voters said the touch-screen machines incorrectly recorded their choices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I came to the last page, the review screen, I was horrified when I saw that every choice I made had come up incorrect and just the opposite.

SIEBERG: The maker of those machines say they may not have been calibrated properly by the poll workers. In Louisiana, some voters were reportedly turned away since the machines wouldn't boot up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In New Orleans, the machines just crashed. They didn't work. And there was no backup plan. There were no paper ballots.

SIEBERG: Even with hundreds or thousands of problems, it was a relatively small figure considering one-third of the record 120 million voters used some type of e-voting machine.

WIEBERG(on camera): And makers of the machines like this one from Hart Inter Civic claimed a success. They are one of several companies who put the machines out there. But critics say there is still a lot of work to be done like adding a voter verified paper trail and further review of the software code.

MARK RAOKE, DIEBOLD ELECTION SYSTEMS: The machines performed extremely well, considering the size of the voter turnout. I believe it was a record turnout. We were extremely pleased with the reliability and accuracy of all the equipment.

SIEBERG (voice over): Without an electronic meltdown or any legal challenges some observers are worried that the lack of follow-up scrutiny will leave e-voting problems unchecked as we move toward the elimination of other systems.

RAOKE: Yes the Help America Vote Act will require all punch cards and lever systems to be eliminated before the first federal election in 2006.

SIEBERG: All eyes were on e-voting this year. Much of the extra attention has to deal with instilling confidence in the voter. That may take time says one of the judges who inspected the Florida ballots in 2000. CHARLES BURTON, PALM BEACH COUNTY JUDGE: People talk about going back to a paper ballot. In 2000 we used paper and that really didn't do a lot to instill voter confidence. I stood in line to vote and as they were handing out the plastic cards that you inserted, some lady said to me, you know judge are you sure this isn't preprogrammed. So people have their doubts.

SIEBERG: 2004's presidential election is history. Now it's a matter of securing e-voting's future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEIBERG: All right so computer seemed to make easier for a lot of folks. Well also making life easier for the millions of Americans who work at home. Teleworking not only saves gasoline, since there is no daily commute, it saves money in other ways too as Valerie Morris reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No daily commute, good pay, pajamas and flip-flops are optional. Sounds like a dream want ad. Well, for Brandon Fisk, it's a reality. As a long-term care specialist, Fisk splits his time between his New Jersey home and the one-hour commute to his employer's office.

BRANDON FISK, TELEWORKERS: My schedule is mine. It's no one else's. I work when I have to. And when I get my things done, I don't have to look at the clock and say, I have to be here until 5:00 in order to complete the day.

MORRIS: Fisk is one of the 45 million Americans who work from home on a regular basis, thanks to affordable and accessible Internet connections.

TIM KANE, INTL. TELEWORK ASSC & COUNCIL: The technology is there, and if you look at a lot of our jobs the way our jobs are designed, we are no longer necessarily expected to be in a particular location.

MORRIS: As a six-year veteran in the teleworking industry, Fisk knows that it's not all fun and games. But he saves money, $120 a month on gas, about $100 a month on lunch, a total savings of nearly $2500 a year. Employers save money too. About $5,000 per teleworking employee each year. According to a recent American interactive consumer survey. But Fisk says there are challenges to working off site. It's easy to develop cabin fever.

FISK: It happens when you can't separate work from home. When you work in your home, you stare at the same four walls and then you come into the same four walls and it's just a challenge. You have to kind of get past that.

MORRIS: As far workaholics, there's plenty of temptation to slip back into the home office once the kids have gone to bed. Michael Dziak author of "Telecommuting Success" advises teleworkers to stick to a routine.

MICHAEL DZIAK, PRES, INTELEWORKS: It's so easy to get wrapped up into your work because it becomes so easy and being uninterrupted. You have to set limitations for yourself and then stick to them.

FISK: Discipline is something that can't be taught. It can't be instructed. It really has to come from within. So you have to create that environment that you know is essential for your own personality and your own ability to be effective.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up tired of paying big bucks to opticians for eye glasses? What how about making your own eye wear. Don't think it's possible? Stay tuned.

And later, Jeanne Moos tries out a device to virtually conquer fears of flying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: If you are among the group of us who wear prescription glasses, then you know how they turn blurry blobs into sharp images. But you can take them for granted. And now people who don't have access to eye doctors can share that experience, thanks to new technology that lets them make their own personalized lens. Robin Kurnow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN KURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (Voice Over): The choice for some of us is unlimited. Designer eye wear of all shapes and sizes. But to see clearly is a choice many don't have. A billion people need glasses, according to the world health organization and developing countries, many rely on charities or visiting eye care clinics like this one.

Others spend much of their lives unnecessarily handicapped by blurred vision. Relief comes in the unlikely guise of a retired Oxford physics professor, Joshua Silver. He's come up with a ground groundbreaking concept.

JOSHUA SILVER, OXFORD PHYSICS PROFESSOR: What we've shown you can, in fact, make high-quality prescription spectacles, which give good vision correction and you can do that yourself. That, I believe is somewhat revolutionary.

KURNOW: A revolutionary do-it-yourself eye test which can be done in Professor Silver's English country garden or an African village. In minutes you can have a personalized pair of prescription glasses. Focus is found by filling the lens with varying amounts of fluid, which is released slowly as you twist the syringe knobs that are temporarily attached to the frames. In this case, seeing is believing. From the garden to the kitchen table, anybody can be their own optometrist.

It's very blurry, that's for sure. So I'm not really seeing much. Now it's coming slowly into focus.

SILVER: Just change it until it's about right. When it looks sharp just stop. Now just repeat the process with the other eye.

KURNOW: OK.

SILVER: Cover that one up.

KURNOW: Cover this one up and that's just as blurry on the left eye. Now just use both eyes. It's amazingly --

SILVER: Is it clear?

KURNOW: Clear yes, it's very sharp.

SILVER: About as clear as your own spectacles?

KURNOW: Well, let's have a look.

SILVER: I would guess that it would be about the same.

KURNOW: It is yes.

The home eye test turns out to be as accurate as a trip to the optician. But with one slight problem.

SILVER: They are functional. Some people like the look. And because you are not going to wear them like that. Because the next step is you basically -- you take them, if I pop these on. These will not be set to your vision, but you will end up -- they should probably be --

KURNOW: So once you have --

SILVER: You seal up the lenses and you chop these off and then you end up with a pair of spectacles that look like that. They look rather nice, I think.

KURNOW: So you think I could appear on television like this?

SILVER: Absolutely.

KURNOW: OK, so some of us might be spectacle snobs, but Professor Silver promises the frames will get lighter and smaller.

SILVER: They are a fashion statement.

KURNOW: They are a statement. I don't know whether they are a fashion statement.

For now though his prototype is ready for bulk delivery to global markets.

SILVER: What we've done is to take this new technology and take it into mass production in China where we have a production line capable of making thousands a day. There's significant interest and requests to supply from India, from South Africa, from Argentina, and from East Africa, as well as West Africa, where we're already actually, today, as we speak, a production batch is being sent from China to Ghana.

KURNOW: The Ghanans buying 46,000 pairs of eye glasses from adaptive eye care. The company set up to distribute his invention.

MICHAEL WILLS, ADAPTIVE EYECARE: The first production batch of the spectacles are going to the Ghana ministry of education to the national functional literacy program. Which is an enormous nationwide adult literacy program where approximately 50 percent of the people who are learning to become literate need spectacles. Just to be able to read the textbook to see the blackboard.

KURNOW: Daily tasks made possible with DIY spectacles.

WILLS: Our field studies showed that about 80 percent of a population, if they were to use our spectacles, will be able to pass a driving vision test. Similar percentage would be able to be able to read.

KURNOW: With statistic like that coming out of four years of field studies, the potential impact of Professor Silver's glasses on lives of millions of people in developing countries is staggering. Taking the burden off the medical profession to provide eye care for those in remote or poor areas. If enough bulk orders come in, adaptive eye care plans to sell clear vision for as little as the average weekly wage in a developing country. An amount that will be calculated on a case by case basis. Technology that's looking to change the way millions see the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: In case you are wondering, you can find a link to the Web site for adaptive eye care and other stories in our show at our Web site that is at CNN.com/next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just ahead worries that the U.S. is falling behind in the number of workers qualified for technology jobs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Where will the U.S. get its next generation of scientists. American kids are staying away from math and science courses in droves. And the foreign students who take those courses are often barred from staying here after they graduate. Kathleen Koch has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Prashant Nagaraddi is an I.T. developer, studying and working in the U.S. for nearly 10 years. Now new visa caps are limiting the number of such highly trained foreign professionals who can work here in companies. Say they can't find U.S. citizens to fill. PRASHANT NAGARADDID, I.T. DEVELOPER: Definitely they contribute to American companies and I think they make the companies more competitive.

KOCH: During the tech boom, nearly 200,000 such visas as were granted to foreign professionals. But the bubble popped and this year just one-third that number were given. High-tech companies insist that's not enough now that the tech economy is recovering.

HARRIS MILLER, INFO. TECH ASSN. OF AMERICA: We need to compete at the absolute highest levels, the absolute highest levels means finding the most skilled and talented people wherever they may be born.

KOCH: Part of the problem, the education department says U.S. high school students rank just 20th worldwide in science and 25th in math scores. Less than 5 percent of college degrees awarded in this country are in science and engineering.

GEORGE DONOHUE, CTR. FOR AIR TRANSP. SYS RSPCH: The students who have got the intelligence or the intellect that are able to handle the math and science, increasingly are going into fields of law or business or medicine where they think there's probably more money as a professional.

KOCH: Some educators are trying to change that. Schools in Prince Georges County Maryland, now require lab participation and a conceptual physics course. Local universities are helping better train teachers in science and math.

SHELLEY JALLOW, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY SCHOOLS: High school physics teachers are very rare breed. And that affects your capacity to offer physics, honors physics, A.P. physics and those are some of the cornerstones that you need that if you are going to be serious about pursuing a science or engineering based major.

KOCH (on camera): Some believe companies could do more to draw U.S. students to jobs in the math's and sciences by making them more lucrative. They want the visa cap to stay in place to give U.S. high- tech workers a shot at the jobs instead of increasingly relying on talent from abroad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right from a brain drain to the therapy that gets inside your brain. A New York psychologist is using virtual reality to help people get over their fear of flying. The story from Jeanne Moos, who you may have noticed never reports from anywhere not within driving distance of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For some, flying seems heavenly but for others, it's like preparing to join the dearly departed. We sit rigid as dummies analyzing every engine noise, waiting for impact, watching for wings to ignite. Imagining flopping around tethered to a fireball. Yikes.

MOOS (on camera): I don't think I've been on a plane for a decade.

MOOS (voice over): Which means the only thing I'll take off on is a virtual reality flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move your head a little bit. You can look out the window and see you're on the runway.

MOOS (voice over): Here at Cornell New York Presbyterian Hospital, in an nondescript office psychiatrist Joanne Defreedy (ph) asks questions like did I stop flying because of a bad experience that made me fear for my life?

MOOS (on camera): No. Never thought I was going to die. I do things on the plane like I tip toe to the back. I want to go easy on the airplane like my weight is going to make some kind of difference. It's not.

MOOS (voice over): For 15 years at CNN I flew when absolutely necessary to China for instance.

MOOS (on camera): Here at the great wall you don't have to walk a mile for a camel.

MOOS (voice over): I'd rather take a camel than a jet. Finally I stopped flying altogether, though I still managed to ride in a balloon and go up in a blimp.

MOOS (on camera): I am not going to fly this thing. I don't want to drive anymore.

MOOS (voice over): The goal of virtual reality is to desensitize patients to what scares them.

MOOS (on camera): It's the actually hurdling down the runway part that gets me going. For eight sessions, they cost about $2100. The therapist puts you in a 3d world of airplane noises and thunderstorms.

I can do that again and again and again. They even have a virtual reality program for those traumatized by 9/11. If Defeedy (ph) says the success rate of virtual reality is about 90 percent but you have to want to overcome your fear.

Going to Hawaii to --

JOANNE DEFEEDY: Could care less. I have no desire. I mean the plane trip is not -- the vacation is not worth the plane trip.

MOOS: No wonder my progress is slow.

Do I get frequent flyer miles for this.

(END VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up in our next half hour efforts to fix Iraq's drained and damaged marshlands. A legacy of Saddam Hussein.

Also ahead a look at chips and the future of grocery shopping. No, we're not talking potato chips.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Well, research in this week's journal "Nature" shows that a major part of the Antarctic ecosystem is on the decline. The population of krill, a tiny crustacean that looks like a shrimp is down 80 percent since the 1970s near the Antarctic Peninsula. Krill is a prime food source for seals, whales, and penguins. And researchers think the decline may have something to do with he reduction in sea ice in the area. Krill feed on algae that feed on sea ice. Now researchers say if other studies replicate these findings, it could mean that climate change is affecting the marine food web.

Well, another ecosystem is in trouble, this one in the Middle East. The historic and ancient marshes of southern Iraq are a mere sliver of what they once were due to damming and draining under the regime of Saddam Hussein. But now scientists in nations from around the world are working to save the ancestral area, its wildlife, and its people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it is the most devastating; it is the worst engineered disaster of the last century.

SIEBERG (voice-over): It was the life blood of the Middle East. Lush vegetation, a spawning grand for rich fisheries, and a natural filter for four rivers and a home to half a million Marsh Arabs. But over a decade ago, the area thought to be the site of the biblickical Garden of Eden was driven to the brink of collapse. Now plans are in the works to restore one of the most vital wetlands on earth, and resurrect its ecology and the local society in the process.

CURTIS RICHARDSON, DUKE UNIV. WETLAND CTR.: To restore the marshes and the water is one thing. To actually restore the culture of the Marsh Arabs requires development of both their agricultural base and their fisheries base at the same time.

SIEBERG: In a multimillion-dollar effort funded by Japan, Italy, Canada, and the United States and run by the Iraqi government in cooperation with the U.N.'s program, scientists seek to reverse the damage caused by years of damming and draining the marsh, a condition that forced the mass exodus of much of the wildlife and people in the region.

Located in the southern part of war-torn Iraq, Marsh Arabs had always lived on the fringes of society. An ancient and proud people who are able to trace their ancestry to Babylonians and Samarians, they're one of the oldest peoples on earth. Known as the Ma'dan, their culture based on fishing, farming and living atop the marshes, have remained virtually unchanged for 5,000 years.

But in 1991, the birth of a war spelled the near death of a people and the environment they inhabited. Aiding an uprising after "Operation Desert Storm," Saddam Hussein launched a deadly attack against the Marsh Arabs and their habitat.

RICHARDSON: No one would come to their aid and saddam came back with tanks and helicopters and killed thousands of people. It was after that he decided to drain all of the marshes.

SIEBERG: Hussein was on a mission to crush the Ma'dan people. He used dams and canals to drain the wetlands, turned much of it into desert and burn the thick reed beds and killed or displaced much of the wildlife. Without water and food, most of the remaining Marsh Arabs were forced to leave their ancestral homes behind. According to U.N. Records, their population dwindled from about half a million in the '50s to just a fraction of that number today. About 80,000 still live in the marshes. Tens of thousands fled to refugee camp in Iran while over 100,000 relocated to cities in Iraq. The environment did not fair any better. Reports show that by 2002, only about seven percent of the wetlands remained. And experts began to fear by 2008, they'd be gone.

AZZAM ALWASH, DIR. EDEN AGAIN PROJECT: What kills me, what erks me over the past 12, 13 years is very few people raised this issue against Saddam and his government. Nobody was paying attention.

SIEBERG: Now nations are banking on the promise that what Saddam destroyed, science can repair. They plan to use environmentally sound technologies to develop sanitation and water treatment systems for area residents and restore as much of the natural water cycle to the marshes as possible. But experts say it could take many years and around half a billion dollars to rebuild the marshes to near natural conditions.

ALWASH: One of the scientists was quoted as "Restoration is not rocket science. It's a lot more complicated than that." And that is very true. How nature would react to kind of understand from nature what works best.

RICHARDSON: Can we restore the marshes? Yes. But only a percentage and water is the major issue at the moment.

SIEBERG: Nature aside the many dams that dot the landscape pose many obstacles to successfully restoring the marshes. In several large dams sited in neighboring nations like Turkey and Iran are not under Iraqi control, and potential oil reserves on the land further complicates future restoration. But scientists say success will be measured largely by the return of the marsh people and the restoration of the fertile wetland they used to call home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Scientists say despite the war in Iraq, they feel safe working in the marsh area and they say with the continued protection and full cooperation of the Marsh Arabs, they're on target to finalize the first phase of the restoration plan by next June.

All right, while people work to heal an Iraqi ecosystem, an ecosystem in Kenya is being used to heal people. A veterinarian turned traditional healer says he uses plants from a Kenyan Forrest to treat conditions from asthma to HIV. CNN producer Gladys Njoroge followed Jack Githea who's also an adviser to the World Health Organization on one of his many visits to the Kenyan jungle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK GITHEA, HERBALIST: We are looking at it over there. A chain of mountains that is covered with the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it is one of the richest sources of herbal medicine in Kenya and indeed in Africa.

Yeah, this is fantastic. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Fantastic. They are very funny. I'm holding twigs of one of the most herbal medicine of plants in the wild. This plant is all over the world in China, in the America, in the Britain. It's called, probably, as one of the most improved infection of all medicine of plants. It's used as an aphrodisiac for both men and women. It's used as a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) purifier. The roots are also good for abdominal conditions, and you can use the fruit, the leaves, the stems or the roots. I know all this because I inherited the knowledge from my grandmother. I grew up with it. I've been going in the bush with her. And I've been practicing for the last 34 years. This is my daily routine. All my children have been engaged in this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) although they're biased about it, being barbaric and primitive (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and a bit too demanding. But all of them can go to the bush, do what I'm doing today, go (UNINTELLIGIBLE) process and make (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KIMANI GITHAE, JACK GITHEA'S SON: When we started working with herbal medicine when it was very difficult and from what I have seen for the last maybe 10 years or so, we find he is quite a hand.

J. GITHEA: Many of them claim it is witchcraft, many of them think of our practice as being barbaric and as primitive, even our own children. That worries us. The government has to do an aggressive campaign to enlighten our people on the potential of our green world.

SUSAN GATHON, PATIENT: You know, I prefer to have herbal medicine because I know it's very efficient. It doesn't have any side effects.

J. GITHEA: So, I think she ate something and her body flared up (UNINTELLIGIBLE), she has (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we give her that medicine about a week ago and the swelling has gone. The rashes have gone and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I know that has stabilized.

GATHON: It, you know, within three days I had recovered, no headache, no fever. I was feeling all right.

J. GITHEA: The most rewarding moment is when they get a hospital reject the patient, walk again and go home and get Dr. Githea. That is very, very satisfying, that's what we are here for. We are the only people in Africa and probably the only people I know in the world working (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Conventional (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I created it.

Our medicine is much superior than conventional imported drugs because of being (UNINTELLIGIBLE) being more boarder spectrum, being more affordable, and being more (UNINTELLIGIBLE). You get it when you need it, where you need it. So we are hopeful that we shall have better things ahead. And since we have decided to sacrifice, dedicate a lifetime for this, we are here to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: When NEXT@CNN returns, a Vermont church that really turns back the clock.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: If you think your grocery store is high-tech. You should see what's in the works for grocery stores in Japan. The technology was on display at a recent tradeshow in Tokyo and Atika Shubert has a report to wet the appetite of any technophile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the future of shopping as (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sees it. All you need is this shopping cart and your mobile phone. Scan the shopping list off your phone into this computer and you're ready to go.

(voice-over): The cart is equipped with a computer that keeps track of your purchases, tells you where to find items, even makes recommendations. A radio frequency chip attached to the products helps the computer keep track of what you bought; it also helps the store keep track of its inventory. The chips can store volumes of information, recipes, side dishes, and for those very careful shoppers, an entire history of where the product comes from, what materials were used and how it got to your shopping cart.

(on camera): And the best part is, by the time you get to the cashier, your bill has already been rung up and you don't need any cash. All you need is your mobile phone.

(voice-over): Mobile phones connected to a debit account can be used to pay automatically. Simply scan your phone over the cashier's reader.

(on camera): You're paid and ready to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: OK, so brand new technology can be pretty great, but every now and then we like to look at old technology, like the clock in a church steeple in Vermont, still keeping time the old-fashioned way as it has for more than 100 years. Kate Duffy of our affiliate WCAX as the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE DUFFY, WCAX REPORTER: The clock on top of the Congregational Church in Middlebury tolls 156 times a day.

FRED DUNNINGTON, MIDDLEBURY TOWN PLANNER: Meaning it rings 12 times at 12:00, once at 1:00, two times at 2:00 and so forth.

DUFFY: And Fred Dunnington makes sure it's runs like clockwork, every hour on the hour. Dunnington is Middlebury's town planner but he has another role, too: The keeper of the clock. He must wind it by hand crank by crank just as people have done since the clock was installed in 1891.

A pendulum controls the pace of time. The clock is powered by two weights. A large one that strikes the bell and a smaller one that moves the hands. Those weights, 19th century wooden boxes, filled with rocks. Dunnington climbs the tower to wind the clock once a week, every week.

DUNNINGTON: By the time eight days has gone by, it's nearly empty and the weight is down in the basement level of the church. So you have to crank it up to the steeple again.

DUFFY: Dunnington admits it's an archaic system. Many historic clocks have been replaced with electronic mechanisms. He says this is one of relatively few with its original parts.

DUNNINGTON: I'm sure more than once they thought about, wouldn't it be simpler just to electrify this clock and be done with the historic mechanism and the chore of the winding. While it is a lot of work, it's worth maintaining its historic integrity.

DUFF: And he says this part of Middlebury's history will long be part of its future, too.

DUNNINGTON: But it's an incredibly solid piece of machinery, and there's no reason to believe it couldn't last another 100 years.

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ANNOUNCER: Up next, technology you might want in your next automobile: A system proven to prevent deadly rollover crashes.

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SIEBERG: An auto insurance industry group says thousands of lives could be saved every year if all cars had a system called Electronic Stability Control. Julie Vallese shows how it works. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Electronic Stability Control, Dynamic Stability Control, Vehicle Stability Control, all different names for the same technology. But a new report by the Insurance Institute for highway safety says no matter what it's called, it works.

SUE FERGUSON, INSURANCE INST. FOR HWY. SAFETY: When we look at different characteristics of vehicles that could reduce fatal crashes, we don't often find technologies that are as effective as this.

VALLESE: Single vehicle crash were reduced by about 40 percent and single vehicle fatal crashes reduced by more than half. Here's what it looks like. A vehicle with ESE turned off and here with it turned on.

FERGUSON: If every vehicle in the fleet had ESC and then they were, you know, about the same effectiveness as the ones that we've looked at here, we would anticipate that up to 7,000 lives could be saved a year in single vehicle crashes.

VALLESE: Electronic Stability Control builds on antilock brake technology and uses sensors to monitor a driver's steering. It kicks in usually high-speed turns or slippery condition.

(on camera): It won't activate in stop and go traffic and won't prevent fender-bender-type crashes while all drivers might benefit from ESC, SUV drivers would likely benefit the most.

JOAN CLAYBROOK, PRESIDENT, PUBLIC CITIZEN: These vehicles need to be redesigned anyway and that should make them safer, closer to the ground, less likely to turn over, but nevertheless, these Electronic Stability Control systems are fabulous, we think they ought to be in every vehicle.

VALLESE (voice-over): Stability Systems were standard in 21 percent of 2005 vehicles, but it's an option in most. An option the insurance institute says is worth every penny.

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ANNOUNCER: Still to come, we'll show you what happens when the Pugs get together to party.

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SIEBERG (voice-over): The promise of broadband internet access is great for those who have it, but for those living in rural areas or in older apartment building, broadband is usually just a dream. Yet, that dream could be closer to reality with a new wireless technology called WiMAX. Not to be confused with Wi-Fi which delivers a broadband signal to a small area measured in feet, WiMAX is wireless broadband access that can be gauged in miles. The goal is to be a third option alongside DSL and cable modems, but WiMAX won't be available until late 2005 at the earliest. Leaving dial-up as the sole choice for some users until then.

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SIEBERG: You know, some pet owners think their dog or cat looks just fine the way nature made it. Others, however, want to add some decoration, and we're not just talking about hair bows or sweaters here. Rhonda Grayson reports from a convention of costumed canines.

RHONDA GRAYSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Meet Sammy the Sheep" and "Little Bo Peep," "Batman" and "Robin," complete with their own Bat Mobile. And what party would be complete without Martha Stewart?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Martha Steward.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAYSON: And a Hooters waitress. These are just a few of the fury friends at Pug Fest 2004. A celebration of a special breed and their passionate owners.

PEGGY HINKLEY, PUG OWNER: There's no breed like it. They are a very special breed. I buy everything on eBay starting with a Pug nativity. I have a mink Pug that my son bought me from Caesar's Palace and I have a whole room that's just nothing but Pug things.

GRAYSON: There was the "stupid pet tricks" which highlighted the talents of "Gracie" the Pug and lots of sloppy kisses in the best kisser contest. And the most anticipated contest of the day, the home-made Pug costumes. But, this is more than just a pageant, funds raised from this gathering help support the Southeast Pug Rescue and Adoption Group who help Pugs in need.

BRENDA, RESCUEPUG.COM: Yeah, they're originally bred in China and they were for companionship and literally that's all they want. As long as they have a buddy, they have you with them, I mean that's -- they're happy.

GRAYSON (on camera): When you come to a Pug fest, it's obvious; these dog owners love their Pugs.

(voice-over): If you ask these dog owners, they would tell you, "Pugs rule." This woman in the Pug t-shirt brought her pet "Bogie" who's here looking for "Bacal."

LIZ NASH, OWNER OF "BOGIE": Well, how could you not love that gorgeous face? I mean, look at this face.

NASH: Even folks who don't own Pugs yet, know a great thing when they see it. AERIAL MERRITT, SE PUG RESCUE VOLUNTEER: People put as much into their dogs as their dogs put into them and anybody that's owned a Pug will tell you these are the most loving dogs. They love attention; they love to be put on display.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if you can't read the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says, "You're a sexy beast."

GRAYSON: And Cameron and Willie didn't mind being put in a Chinese takeaway box because they took home the best in homemade costumes. What a Pug, what a mug.

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SIEBERG: So, we couldn't resist showing you a photo of our resident Pug, angelic "Arnie." Apparently, he also likes to dress up and not just at Halloween. Something with the Pugs.

All right, that's all the time we have for now, but here's what's coming up next week:

New research suggests the Arctic is melting as the earth's climate heats up faster than expected. We'll tell you what that might mean for the planet's future.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let's hear from you. You can send us an e-mail at next@cnn.com. And don't forget to check out our website, that's at cnn.com/next.

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

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