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NEXT@CNN
Biometric Technology Grows in Post-9/11 World; Reindeer Rehab
Aired December 25, 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: Hi, I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, is scanning a finger or an eye the best way to recognize one individual out of millions? We'll see how biometric technology is growing in the post-9/11 world.
Also, drought has taken more than half the water in Lake Powell. Is that a reason to get rid of the lake altogether? And reindeer rehab, how do you fix a broken antler? All of that and more on NEXT.
A particularly deadly week in Iraq may make you wonder, how do Americans servicemen and women prepare for the caucus and horror of fighting an urban insurgency? Well, the military has a variety of ways to prepare troops of what they'll face in places like Mosul and Fallujah. Aaron Brown reports on one of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Inside of the battered room, two American soldiers try to plot the precise trajectory of artillery shells, they will soon direct to a target in Baghdad. Then the lights go out. And sniper rounds crackle across the room with eerie accuracy.
STAFF SGT. JARRAD FRANK, U.S. ARMY: Having been there, especially being in this room, just looking around, it is very, very similar to what you are actually going to see when you're on the ground over there.
BROWN: None of it is real, not the ragged room, nor the view out the window, it's all part of a very expensive, long-term relationship between video game experts, scientists, specialist effect wizards and the U.S. army. The idea of course, is to save lives on the battlefield, lives that are all too genuine.
MAJ. JAMES STRINGER, U.S. ARMY: You really want to make -- to make this training as realistic as possible, so that -- so the guys are not facing these type of situations in this environment for the first time in combat.
BROWN: This is the central nervous system of the project, desktop computers crammed with the latest software to mimic street life in an Iraqi city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hit play, you can see, we've got the bionic view is playing right now. You can hear the students talking over the radio. BROWN: Each pair of trainees is given a mission -- to destroy Iraqi targets before being spotted and killed.
STAFF SGT. CHRISTOPHER ROBERTS, U.S. ARMY: I think this is great. This is best training I've ever seen in the army. The props, the whole set it's most realistic thing I've seen.
BROWN: For the price the army is paying, it ought to be. So far it's cost around $45 million over five years. Most of the money going to a firm called the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California. It's the same group responsible for this, a video game supported by the army, called Full Spectrum Warrior. It's proven to be one of the most popular games on the Internet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ranger, 267, offset right. 6, nautical miles.
BROWN: And the training isn't confined to urban warfare. These soldiers look as if they're in an Afghan desert calling in an air strike, but this is a set as well. Complete with a humvee and laser sighting scope, ultimately, all kinds of scenarios will be possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This facility that we're in right now is actually a prototype, kind of a proof of the concept. Hoping to do is build a much larger, more capable facility, a create, a series of base that we can assimilate any portion of the world that we need.
BROWN: The military says all of this will ultimately save money. No need to conduct as many live fired test with real ammunition over and over again. To make reality at least a little less daunting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not saying soldiers are going to feel a sense of safety over the ground over there, but as much realistic training as you can get here in the United States when you get over there, it's going to be that much more valuable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Of course any, help they could get would be beneficial.
Well, police in Maryland have arrested a number of suspects in arson fires that have destroyed upscale homes in a new subdivision earlier this month. So why are we telling you this in a science technology show? Well officials had originally suspected that the fires might be the work of eco terrorists. Because environmental groups had opposed the subdivision saying it threatened a wetland. We reported that in our show two weeks ago, but it's looking less and less likely that environmental issues had anything to do with the crime.
The first man arrested was a security guard from the development. They say he was upset at his employer. Still trying to sort out who else may have been involved and what motivated them.
All right, some bad news from Microsoft this week. The European Union has ruled that it has to reveal some of its trade secrets. The EU also says Microsoft will have to make a version of windows without media player available in Europe. Microsoft says it will comply but an appeal or settlement is still a possibility.
And Boeing launched a new rocket on a demonstration flight for the Air Force on Tuesday but it failed to get its payload into the proper orbit. The Delta 4 heavy rocket carried a dummy payload to test whether the vehicle can carry huge military satellites into orbit. Boeing says even though the demonstrations satellite ended up in the wrong orbit, the test achieved its major objectives and provides useful information for launching a real payload next year.
So did you ever wish you could spend a whole day in bed? I know it sounds pretty tempting at this time of year. A handful of women in France will soon get that wish but not just for a day. How about two months without getting up? It's all part of an experiment that could make life easier for future space travelers. Lawrence McGinty of ITV News has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE MCGINTY, ITV NEWS (voice over): Seven hundred women have already volunteered for the strangest experiments of the year and they're still looking for recruits willing to live totally prone for two months. Even take a shower lying down. Why? Well, the European Space Agency wants to know how women would survive prolonged weightlessness along space flights.
LAURENT BRAAK, ESA MEDICAL SCIENTIST: Must be 25 to 40 years, healthy, without any current medical treatments, nonsmoker, non-drug dependents, highly motivated.
MCGINTY: In fact they won't lie perfectly flat. Their bed will be tilted by six degrees because that best mimics the effects of being in space. Some of them will take regular exercise to see whether that combats the problems weightlessness creates. Another group will have a special nutritional supplement to see if that makes any difference. Some will just lie flat.
At the end, they'll all undergo extensive tests at clinic in Tolouse checking their hearts, muscles, and bones, as well as finding out how they survived psychologically. All of this will be useful for protecting astronauts in space but it will also help doctors back on earth to treat patients who have to stay in bed for long periods.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, high-tech toys that make learning fun. And later in the show, urban song birds sing a different song than their country cousins.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: These days, kids get a big jump on computing and technology at a very young age but believe it or not, there are products that can help them learn something along the way. Joining us now is Marc Saltzman, our resident gadget guy. And Marc, we are a couple of big kids. These products are designed not only for kids to have fun but for parents maybe to teach their kids, too.
MARC SALTZMAN, CONSUMER TECH EXPERT: Yes, that is right. We are talking about entertainment products here, education and entertainment in one. And you know when we were younger, we had books and flashcards to help us out and of course our parents but now these products can also read to you. You can interact with them, they can sing songs, and they couple those familiar characters from the favorite TV shows as well. So great stuff!
SIEBERG: All right, now this is like a high-tech book for a kids at a very young age, right?
SALTZMAN: That is right, it is called the Power Touch Baby as the name suggests, it is for babies six months old up to about three years, young toddlers. And the books when you put them in here, they read to you but you also get to touch the various parts of the book. If you're very young, then you can have fun touching the different spots, and it'll tell you what it is, or sing a little song or something. But if you're older, you can actually press the surprise button or the explore button and also interact a little bit more so it caters to different age groups and you can buy of course different books for it and it comes with this one "Baby Animals" and the xylophone -- by the way, if there is no book in there can play about 150 melodies. So it is a fun product.
SIEBERG: A textile feedback for babies. The next one looks very similar but it offers something else as well with the another accessory.
SALTZMAN: That is right the story reader from Publications International came out late last year. If you turn the page, you don't need a stylus pen to touch it for it to read to you. It will know when you turn the page because you have a cartridge in there that matches the book. What is new it that they have released this microphone and song book kit. It snaps into where the cartridge goes and this accessory then allows you to sing into this little microphone along with the characters like Dora and Sponge Bob and also hear yourself read as well and it comes with its own set of books.
SIEBERG: OK, well I don't think anyone wants to hear us sing. So we will move along here. Maybe I will look at Sponge Bob Square pants later. This hand held from Leapster looks like a Gameboy but offers much more in terms of education.
SALTZMAN: That's right, this is an educational Gameboy for lack of a better explanation. The parents will probably feel better about them playing something like this. Because it does teach them things like math, spelling and grammar and memory. The cartridges again are often with licensed characters like the "Incredibles" and it has Sesame Street characters and what not. This comes with a stylus pen that tethered so you won't loose it. And you can touch the screen and interact with the various activities, and games and video clips. It's a lot of fun and really easy to pick up.
SIEBERG: They'll feel very grown up with their very own PDA. I wish my remote control was as basic as this next devise sometimes. It is simplified.
SALTZMAN: It's two-handed grip, in fact. But it is designed for young hands. It is called the Interact TV. This is a DVD base learning system. So you first need to program this to communicate with your DVD player. It comes with really TV shows on a DVD that lets you interact with them. So you pop the disk in. You choose what show you want. Let's say Elmo from Sesame Street and you pop in the card that matches the show. And it'll ask you to play along with the show. It will stop at certain parts and ask you to touch the right button to correspond with what's happening on the screen and of course you put on the different cards from the different shows and you can buy extra DVDs with four other shows on each one.
SIEBERG: All right very durable too at least. This next computer here, it looks like a computer. It's Disney themed computer. Does is it really a full PC?
SALTZMAN: It is, you could be fooled by the Mickey ears. But it is a real PC, a windows-based computer and it is designed specifically for kids. Down to the level of the monitor and the size of the mouse and it of course is bundled with Disney activities and software and games and things like that. It's a great machine and it comes way printer as well for $950 together.
SIEBERG: OK, great well I guess the only thing we have to worry Marc is the kids playing this hopefully will come along and take our jobs.
SALTZMAN: I wouldn't be surprised.
SIEBERG: All right well Marc thanks for helping us.
SALTZMAN: Thank you.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, a small town in Pennsylvania is at the center of a new battle over teaching evolution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: A battle is raging in schools around the country. Over whether students should be taught alternative theories to evolution. No more so than Dover, Pennsylvania, where the school board voted in October that the ninth grade science curriculum must include so-called intelligent design. Heidi Collins has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It may look innocent enough but a textbook called "Of Pandas and People" is fanning fiery in Dover, Pennsylvania. The book is part of an intelligent designed curriculum. Which teaches the theory that all things were designed by an intelligent agent. The theory doesn't use the word God to describe the intelligent agent. But critics say its creationism in disguise.
The Dover school board is allowing teachers the option to use this book as an alternative to teaching evolution starting next month. Three board members are resigning over the decision, including Angie Yingling who initially voted for it. She claims she was misled and now says it's all wrong.
ANNIE YINGLING, DOVER SCHOOL BOARD: I certainly hope they change their minds. I have an idea that every board member who's in favor should personally pay for the legal expenses that we're going to accrue which will be millions, probably.
COLLINS: Eleven parents have already filed a federal lawsuit. Their representatives claim intelligent design amounts to teaching religion in science class.
BARRY LINN, OPPOSES SCHOOL POLICY: Intelligent design has about as much to do with science as reality television has to do with reality.
COLLINS: The ACLU has a stake in the lawsuit. It says Intelligent Design is a Trojan horse for bringing religious creationism back into the classroom. But Intelligent Design supporters say the evolution theory currently taught in schools is not fact. And other theories should be explored.
ABIGAIL JARBOE, PROTESTER: The American civil liberties union is trying to censor out evidence of the truth.
COLLINS: As for Angie Yingling, she plans to fight curriculum decision when the board meets next month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: This week, the school board voted to retain legal counsel to defend against the parents' lawsuit. One Dover resident said he's never seen the community so split.
Moving on now, the European Union this week ordered small cuts in the number of fish that various countries are allowed to catch. But the EU fisheries minister stopped short of closing some stretches of water to fishing altogether. Environmentalist and scientist say that fish numbers are so low in some areas that species like cod and sole could be wiped out there. Activists dumped a load of discarded fish in front of the meeting on Monday to draw attention to their cause.
On Wednesday, the Bush administration announced its long awaited plan for national forest management. It gives regional forest managers more authority to improve logging, drilling, and mining operations with less review of the environmental impact. Officials say the idea is to streamline and speed up the process. Environmentalists say the plan weakens protection for endangered species.
When Glen Canyon dam was built across the Colorado River almost 40 years ago, some people didn't want it and now the extreme drought in the west is drying up Lake Powell which was created by the dam. And people are again debating whether the dam should be there. Gary Strieker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the walls of Glen Canyon, a clear measure of the western drought.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the bathtub ring, 130 feet high.
STRIEKER: Lake Powell's level has dropped 10 stories during five years of drought. This vast reservoir stretching 190 miles from Arizona into Utah has now lost more than 60 percent of its water. The lowest level since 1970, when it was filling up behind the new Glen Canyon dam on the Colorado River.
Just five years ago on this spot, I would have been standing under at least 50 feet of water with people water skiing far above me, but that was then. And this is now. Some scientists predict the current drought could be the most severe in 500 years. Perhaps the beginning of a very long dry period. The kind they say was common, centuries ago.
CHRIS PETERSON, GLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: This is a famous cathedral in the desert. It was essentially the jewel of Glen Canyon before it was flooded.
STRIEKER: The receding lake exposes secret side canyons that have been under water for decades. Places that inspired opposition to the Glen Canyon dam. Today, opponents see the drought as a reason for draining the lake and restoring the canyons to their natural state.
PETERSON: Lake Powell looses a million acre feet of water a year. It is unnecessary and it is really relative to the past.
STRIEKER: But others say the drought proves Lake Powell is an absolute necessity.
PAUL OSTAPUK, FRIENDS OF LAKE POWELL: Ten years ago, Lake Powell drained 88 feet, three years later, we came back up 75 feet. We're in a drought regime now. We don't know how long it's going to last but sooner or later, the rains will return and Lake Powell will fluctuate again.
STRIEKER: The number of visitors to the lake have shrunk with the water level but nearly two million people still come here every year. And those who run these facilities try their best to satisfy visitors by extending boat ramps and moving Marinas from shallow water.
STEVE WARD, LAKE POWELL: All summer long, we've had access to the lake. Even though we are down, you can do everything out there that you can do at a higher water level.
STRIEKER: But the managers of the Glen Canyon dam say if the lake level continues to drop, the hydro electric power plant here may have to shut down. And those who rely on water from the Colorado River, 25 million people in seven western states could face water shortages. J. LONNIE GOURLEY, U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: Certainly if the water goes away in their system, it's going to have a great impact on civilization as we know it in the southwestern United States.
STRIEKER: Heavy snow fall in the mountains this winter could end the drought but experts say it would still take years of normal snows and rain to refill the lake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Ahead in our next half hour, can you trust a machine to recognize an individual person? We'll look at how biometrics could change your life in the near future.
And can Chicago's finest rescue a stuffed duck? Those stories and a lot more are coming up after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. Whether it's the sight of a loved one walking through the door over the boss' voice on the telephone, people have been recognizing each other through physical characteristics forever, but what happens when technology enters the equation and a machine determines whether you are really you?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE DUBOSE, SHOPPER: I might forget my credit card, but I'm not forget my finger.
SIEBERG (voice-over): When Michelle Dubose shops for groceries in her Piggly Wiggly in South Carolina, her index finger takes the place of writing a check or swiping a credit card. Shoppers can enroll in the Pay by Touch Biometric System by providing a driver's license and their checking or credit card information.
DUBOSE: It's easy and it's quick, as you're not fumbling for your debit card and your checkbook to write it down.
SIEBERG (on camera): Reporter: the "Pig," as its known here in the South, is testing the technology in four different stores, before it rolls it out nationwide. Like any new technology, there's always a learning curve, think back to ATM machines or buying something online, and so they want to make sure that they can balance convenience with security and privacy. I've already registered, so I can just go ahead and use my finger. Thank you.
(voice-over): And fingers aren't only body parts with characteristics that can be used for security. There are at least half a dozen others that act as your personal password.
(on camera): I am Daniel Sieberg. I promise you I am who I say I am. (voice-over): At the University of West Virginia Center for identification Technology Research, others studies include voice recognition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually the frequency, or pitch, of your voice. This is an eye scan, this is actually the most accurate biometric system in use today. This essentially is reading your palm.
SIEBERG (on camera): Not a fortune teller?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's actually -- I'm trying to actually see if you are who you say you are.
What it's measuring here is there's actually 14 different measurements.
SIEBERG (voice-over): Some others include hand geometry and facial geometry. Researchers here say a biometric can be more secure than a password or ID card.
PROF. ARUN ROSS, UNTY. OF WEST VIRGINIA: If I give my ID card to someone or someone stole it, then they would probably be able to be misuse it. However in biometrics, the person has to be at the point of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) action and he has to offer his biometric rate at that point.
SIEBERG: Before September 11, the focus of biometrics was mainly on making life a little easier for consumers, while still hoping to prevent identity theft. That focus changed dramatically after the terrorist attacks, and the priority shifted to national security. Legal experts are working directly with scientists on new security measures based on these physical characteristics.
PROF. LISA NELSON, UNTY. OF PITTSBURGH: People are very apprehensive about biometric technology, and that fear means that they're going to be less willing to accept it as part their daily routine. So the more that they're -- the less they understand about it, the more fearful they are, which means, I think, that drives the need for legislation, the need to build in privacy protections.
SIEBERG: Secure biometric systems extract details from a fingerprint, iris scan or other body part, then get rid of that raw data so it can't be stolen.
PROF. LARRY HORNAK, UNTY. OF WEST VIRGINIA: And one of the basic principles here to make sure you design the system in the algorithm such that you can't go backwards.
SIEBERG: Hollywood helps fuel one bizarre, but common myth about biometrics. Might someone chop off my finger to get access to all my stuff? After all, it worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Sixth Day." Well, scientists say a new sensor developed in 2003, will get a dismembered digit a definite thumbs down older sensors could not.
HORNAK: We've looked at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) operation pattern that comes from the pores that you can then pick out, living individuals relative to spoof or cadavers.
SIEBERG: But fingerprints can be faked, Play-Doh and melted gummy bears and a handful of other spoofing tools are then used to create, then fix, vulnerabilities. The stolen fingerprint on Play-Doh is a common fraud attempt.
HORNAK: With one of these, you really only have one try, then you've already deformed the spoof enough that it's not going to image very well.
SIEBERG: While biometric tools can work well for a company's security in retail sites, some privacy watchdogs warn that the technology is being peddled as a silver bullet for enormous tasks like securing airports and borders.
LEE TIEN, ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FDN.: Our feeling is it's just not ready for prime-time right now. All right, you can change a password, you can re-key locks, but -- you know, your fingers, you know, your iris, your voice, they're you. So, when someone compromises the security of that kind of biometric, you're stuck.
SIEBERG: So before getting stuck, biometric users must decide how high to set the bar to determine what's a match and what's not.
ROSS: Question is what is the cost of making an error? What is the cost of falsely accepting an imposture? If I'm falsely rejected, maybe I'm going to be upset for a couple of seconds, but I could place my finger again, but if it's a false accept, you just let the wrong person into the nuclear facility.
SIEBERG: Some systems combine two different traits, say a fingerprint and iris scan, that could dramatically improve security. So, as this technology grows, the next time you go to the grocery store, the cashier's question might not be "paper or plastic," but rather "finger or eye?"
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: And while you're having that conversation with the cashier, chances are good you're being watched by a surveillance camera. Does that make you safer? Adaora Udoji takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Corona, California, a mall security camera shows an apparent abduction, a young woman chased down and then thrown in a car trunk.
Sarasota Florida, 11-year-old Carley Brucia last seen before disappearing, talking to a man resembling the suspect's later arrested for her murder.
Winona Rider in Beverly Hills caught shoplifting. Just three of the estimated three million security cameras across the country watching.
JOHN FIRMAN, INTL. ASSN. OF CHIEF OF POLICE: They're everywhere, they're anywhere.
UDOJI: It's not big brother gone amok says John Firman of the country's largest police chief's group. He says it provides critical clues in fighting crime.
FIRMAN: If you're a victim of a violent crime and the officer or the department that has to investigate that crime can get out on the street and get videotape from the 7-Eleven from the Bank of America, from an in-car camera in a police car and from a fixed camera, stationary camera, that's there by the police, that officer and that department now have a whole cadre of evidence.
UDOJI: Still in London, one study concluded that crime increased 10 percent in 2002 despite the fact the city had installed more security cameras than ever before.
(on camera): And critics there, as well as in this country, have major privacy concerns, concerns about reported abuse.
(voice-over): For example, this year accusations that a New York City employee released a housing security tape showing a man committing suicide. The American Civil Liberties Union says Americans are watched dozens of times an hour.
JAY STANLEY, ACLU: We're rapidly getting to a place where you have no privacy left and we need to put in place good rules and regulations to make sure that this vast new power isn't abused.
UDOJI: Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, seven out of 10 Americans in one survey found cameras reassuring. Cameras are in more places than ever before. The question is are they making a difference?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up: In the land of Don Quixote, they're still interested in windmills, but now it's a source of clean energy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: The U.S. Department of Energy would like to see five percent of the country's power generated by wind turbines by the year 2020. Wind power is gradually winning converts in other breezy parts of the world as well. Paula Hancocks reports from northern Spain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, there came the site of 30 or 40 windmills are in the plane.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Windmills play a prominent role in the life of Spanish literature's most infamous characters, Don Quixote. The misguided noble spent his time engaging them in battle in the mistaken belief that they were giants.
Today while nobody seriously compares these 21st century turbines to monsters, their presence on the Pamplona skyline provokes much debate. The tractors say that the size and number of these turbines ruin the almost unblemished views. While supporters claim that as well as providing employment for locals they've also resulted in a little welcomed notoriety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People around here are proud to cooperate with this project. The local authorities are happy to put their land in the hands of a company that produces clean energy. We feel very proud.
HANCOCKS: Ten years ago, Pamplona-based EHN started a wind power development program, which has resulted in the creation of 80 wind farms around the world, as well as generating a net profit of around $40 million last year. As the turbines have grown in size, technology has advanced to make them more efficient, helping remove some of the skepticism that surround wind farms when they first sprang up 20 years ago.
CORIN MILLAIS, EUROPEAN WIND ENERGY ASSN.: We've seen a big change in the way the industry has developed in the last four or five years. The industry is growing about 30 percent a year. The turnover is close to $10 billion euros worldwide and a lot of large companies, now, getting involved in this industry, whereas before, it was rather small players.
HANCOCKS : To increase its chances from turning into a small player into a company with a global reputation, EHN has expanded its interest with a construction of this factory in the Pamplona foothills. There are still many critics and cynic, but as traditional energy sources become ever more expensive, it would appear it will take a lot more than a new generation of Don Quixotes to take the wind out of the sails of renewable energy companies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: You know, a lot of birds mimic the sounds that they hear, but these days, those sounds may not be the songs of other birds. Dan Lothian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They fill forests and fast-paced urban cities with music. But are calling birds singing a different tune because of this?
(PHONES RINGING)
DOUGLAS CAUSEY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: It's absolutely true that birds mimic cell phones. And of course, the more cell phones we have, the more they're ringing.
LOTHIAN: A new census bureau report shows cell phone saturation in the U.S. up 300 percent from almost a decade ago, almost 160 million subscribers last year. In city parks and sidewalks, the ringing of a cell phone competes with other noises, which experts say calling birds also mimic. Like a car alarm, or the beep of a truck backing up.
At Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology, there's even a documented case of a northern mockingbird sounding like this Boston area freeway near its home.
JOHN FITZPATRICK, CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY: Now, there is no reason for a bird to sound like a freeway. But it's a sound that this bird heard in its life.
LOTHIAN: Could these urban sounds cause some birds to lose their song?
CAUSEY: There's no loss or willingness or ability to sing.
LOTHIAN (on camera): While very little research is being done on this issue, some experts say the broader issue of noise pollution could eventually become a problem.
FITZPATRICK: Noise pollution is a serious problem for humans. It's not unlikely that loud urban sounds are going to have an effect on birds.
CAUSEY: There definitely is a case that it's going to change birds' behavior; it'll change where they sit.
LOTHIAN: Listening to the call from birds and humans in a world where the volume is rising.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up a recording studio in a suitcase and why some musicians like it so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: Many of the world's top manufactures of consumer electronics are headquartered in Asia. But the region lags behind the U.S. and Europe when it comes to online music. Eunice Yoon reports on a Singapore company that's trying to change that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're young, hip, Asian, and love their music.
(on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like these, where the music is pumping and the dancing is nonstop. And when it comes to their tunes, these guys like it high-tech. If it's new, they want it. If it's fast, they want it faster. So why is it difficult for music providers to make money here in Asia?
(voice-over): Making money from online music is a relatively new idea worldwide, but even more so in Asia. Companies like U.S.-based Apple have yet to roll out their popular music download services here, making it tough for Asia's trendy technophiles to buy their favorite tunes online.
Eddie Niguel spends up to eight hours a day downloading, remixing, or listening to music. He says buying a song off of the Internet often isn't an option.
EDDIE NIGUEL, ONLINE MUSIC FAN: If I had a choice to buy the original, I would.
YOON: A handful of small commercial online music sites exist in Asia, but they lack the kind of content that consumers like Eddie crave. Singapore-based Soundbuzz, though, hopes to change that, offering 250,000 songs at $1.16 each. By early next year, it hopes to double its catalog size. Soundbuzz sells songs two ways, via its online retail store and the region's telecom service operators. It can charge songs to a customer's mobile phone or telephone bill every month.
SUDHANSHU SARRONWALA, CEO, SOUNDBUZZ: Asians are a little bit more hesitant to put credit card numbers on the Internet for micro payments. It's pretty passe in the U.S., it's part of their online shopping culture. It doesn't happen here, as of yet.
YOON: Soundbuzz is also working with fellow Singapore firm, Creative, to build a new digital music player. Even so, companies hoping to make money off of digital music face an uphill battle.
CLAUDIO CHECCHIA, IDC: There's also a big issue with piracy, because a lot of people are essentially are still downloading for free.
YOON: but with this tech-crazed crowd, analysts say it's worth it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: OK, suppose you don't want to just listen to music, you want to record your own band? Well, new technology will allow you it make studio-quality recordings in your garage at fraction of the cost and if you don't believe me, just ask Peter Frampton. Keith Ferryman from affiliate KPTV reports from Portland, Oregon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH FERRYMAN, KPTV REPORTER: For decades, being a rock star has meant access to multimillion dollar recording studios, but thanks to the latest digital technology that recording power is now available in a portable $3,000 package. It consists of an AMD powered notebook computer and a mini mixing board from Yamaha. Top musicians like Peter Frampton have already discovered it. But, it's the everyday musicians who stand to benefit most. So we decided to try it out with the ultimate garage band.
(MUSIC)
FERRYMAN: It's been 40 years since the Kingsmen reported "Louie Louie" in downtown Portland. And back then, they couldn't have imagined such a powerful recording system in such a small package.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could have actually changed things around and actually made it a decent record.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, let's go on tour again and let's do this whole thing again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do it, let's start over again.
FERRYMAN: We followed the band down to a gig in Cottage Grove. The Kingsmen say the implications are huge for musicians looking for a break.
MIKE MITCHELL, KINGSMEN GUITARIST: Oh, it basically means that the little guy can compete with the big guys.
DICK PETERSON, KINGSMEN VOCALIST: Now that the digital domain is starting to catch up with just the regular performers, you can do I think in your garage, in your own little studio, in your own backroom. You can even -- you can even cut it to video, put something out yourselves, and show your talent and hopefully get people to start backing you, because really it's all about the talent.
FERRYMAN: And who knows, with a little of that talent and a little luck, you too could become a legend, thanks to the technology of today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: When we come back: What's a zoo to do when their star reindeer busts an antler right before the kids are due to arrive?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIEBERG: At holiday time, the reindeer at Bronx Zoo get a lot of attention especially from kids, so imagine how zookeepers felt when the lead reindeer broke of his antler before the festive of lights started. Jeanne Moos reports on an emergency reindeer repair.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This isn't Rudolf, it's Bucky, and it's his antler, not his nose that's the problem.
(on camera): He basically snapped off his antler, see? This is his antler.
(voice-over): But since Bucky is the star reindeer at the Bronx Zoo, losing half his rack won't do.
CHILDREN (singing): Bucky the Bronx Zoo reindeer played too much and broke his rack. And if you ever saw it, you would really want it back.
MOOS: And back he got it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful.
MOOS: Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. Antlers are like fingernails. They drilled a hole, put in threads for a screw and bone glue, then twisted on the antler.
(on camera): After all, the female reindeer like a male with a big rack?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go like this, "uh-huh."
MOOS: Nice rack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does Bucky have any kids?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bucky is a gelding.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: What's a gelding?
MOOS (on camera): That means he's...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Been castrated.
MOOS: So a lot of good his rack will do him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIEBERG: Well, at least Bucky got lucky in one regard, you know reindeer routinely shed their antlers and grow new ones, so Bucky should be back to normal before too long.
At Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, a different kind of disaster was averted this week. This duck was spotted stuck in the ice on Tuesday in a pond near the zoo's farm exhibit. The Chicago Police Marine Unit was called to get the duck unstuck. The ice was too thin to walk on so it turned into a rather dramatic rescue effort with a successful ending. The duck was taken to the vet for a check up and presumably has learned not to sit in one spot too long when the temperatures go below freezing. Some good advice.
And there's a new whale at Sea World San Diego, this week. The baby Killer Whale was born Tuesday morning in the park's main show pool. The 28-year-old mother, Kasatka and the, so far unnamed baby, both seem to be in good health. The baby is six to seven feet long and is estimated to weigh between 300 and 500 pounds. That's about how much I'll weigh after the holiday season. All right, that's all the time we have for now, but here's what's coming up next week.
We'll celebrate the New Year by reflecting on the old one and reliving some of our favorite moments and we'll look ahead to what 2005 may bring in the world of science and technology.
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 Web site, 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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