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NEXT@CNN

Can Some Mass Beachings of Sea Mammals be Tied to SONAR? Woman Loses Job Over E-mail Monitored At Job

Aired April 16, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Zain Verjee at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here's a check of the hour's top stories.
Searchers find a body as they look for a missing Florida girl. Authorities are not saying whether it's the body of Sarah Michelle Lunde. A search dog found it partially submerged in a creek about half a mile from her home. 13-year-old Sarah Lunde disappeared last weekend after a church trip.

Two government reports find security at U.S. airports is no better under federal control than it was before September 11th. That's according to Congressman John Micah of Florida. He was briefed on the two reports by the Government Accounting Office and the Homeland Security Department.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in several Chinese cities today defying a government warning to stay home. The demonstrators are protesting Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and also outraged over what they say is Japan's failure to admit atrocities during World War II.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are angering activists in Washington. Protests were held outside bank headquarters today as members wrap up their annual spring meeting this weekend. Demonstrators are calling on the organizations to grant more debt relief to developing countries.

We'll have more news at bottom of the hour. But NEXT@CNN begins right now.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, snooping and privacy, or lack thereof. Another big I.D. theft case and e-mail monitoring helps cost a woman her job.

You may remember the dozens of dolphins that beached themselves recently in Florida. We'll show you what biologists and ordinary citizens are doing to save them.

And we have good news for mountain gorillas, despite threats from poachers and clearcut farming. All that and more on NEXT.

Yet another big security broach at an information data broker. This time, Lexis-Nexis is notifying 300,000 people that their personal data may have been stolen. That's more than 10 times the figure announced in March when the breach was first disclosed. You might also remember Choicepoint, another info broker had a similar problem in February. Deborah Feyerick has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You may have never heard about Choicepoint, may not know about Lexis-Nexis, but chances are, they know about you. Not just your name, but where you live, what you buy. Your driver's license. And Social Security number. In short, they know just about everything.

MARK RASCH, SOLUTIONARY, INC.: Every place you've ever lived every address, everything you've ever owned, in terms of real estate. Every time you've been sued, all of that information is collected.

FEYERICK: Databases are huge businesses. Buying and selling your personal details to virtually anyone who wants to make sure your credit's good. Like stores, credit rating agencies, even potential employers. And companies buy and sell your information, not just in the United States, but around the world. Making identity theft a global problem.

(on camera): How serious of a problem is this?

KEVIN BARROWS, RENAISSANCE ASSOCIATES: It's a very serious problem and it's growing every year. The greater technology becomes, the more advanced technology becomes, the greater the risk, of course. The greater the criminal element becomes.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Kevin Barrows cracked his big computer hacking case as an FBI agent. He says if you think this doesn't apply to you, think again. Because if you've ever had a job owned a home, rented a car, gone to college, used a credit card, or paid a bill, you are in a database. And once you're in, there's no way out. And it can be virtually impossible to stop others who want to know about you and hide behind your identity.

BARROWS: It's not just financial loss you have to be concerned with identity theft. It's terrorism. The ability to get into this country by using someone else's identification. It's the ability to commit crimes under someone else's name. And there are hundreds of thousands of stories of people who have been victimized this way.

FEYERICK: Last year the Federal Trade Commission received over 635,000 complaints of consumer fraud and identity theft. And the thing about identity, once it's good morning it's up to you to get it back.

RASCH: It's really, really difficult for people to be able to prove to banks and insurance companies and other entities that whoever it was who charged these accounts or created these false identities wasn't you. And getting your own identity back is very, very difficult to do.

FEYERICK: Lexis-Nexis says it's sending out letters to everyone affected, but except in California, there are no laws forcing companies to tell you if someone's accessed your identity. A subject so popular, we found Wired News reporter Kim Zetter at a yearly conference on it.

KIM ZETTER, WIRED NEWS: There should be laws that companies should be required to encrypt data, which would make it more difficult if someone got into the system to interpret what the data says. There are definitely things that legislators could do, but currently there isn't anything like that.

FEYERICK: In February, data broker, Choicepoint, said it sold 145,000 personal profiles to identity thieves by mistake. The irony? It appears Choicepoint never did a background check on the bogus company that bought its files. Congress is now looking into that, fearful this is just the beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well the question on a lot of people's minds, what can do you if you become one of the millions of people who have had their identity stolen? Mary Snow has some tips on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We do it at banks, at stores, online, even with the papers we throw out in our garbage, we share private information. It has led to an estimated 9.3 million cases of identity theft in the U.S. over the past year according to government statistics. Experts say there is little you can do to protect yourself, but one thing that can be done is to get a credit report at least once a year to monitor accounts.

ROBERT SICILIANO, AUTHOR, "THE SAFETY MINUTE": Unfortunately, you might have to pay for one. Usually somewhere between $25 and $150 a year to monitor the activity or your bank might offer one for free.

SNOW: Experts also say that many people who will assume if they don't bank online, for example, they are safe but that's not the case.

RASCH: It doesn't make any difference whether you bank online or whether you've bought anything online or whether you have owned a computer or not. If you exist, if you have a Social Security number, if you make transactions, if you have a license of any kind, there's going to be a record of you. And that record is going to be at risk.

SNOW: Security experts say there are organized groups waiting to get their hands on information to carry out a number transactions.

RASCH: They can apply for credit cards, bank accounts. Mortgages, all kinds of financial transactions using your personal information.

SNOW: Experts say thieves use traditional method like posing as companies asking for information over the phone and they say your Social Security number should only be given out to a select few.

MICHAEL ARATA, "PREVENTING ID THEFT FOR DUMMIES": People that give social security numbers are the government, your employer, and any time you are going to open up a financial account of any type. Could be a credit card, it could be buying a house, a car, whatever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: And one piece of advice, put yourself on the credit fraud watch list. It may be inconvenient because you won't be able to open an instant credit account in your name, but neither will anyone else. Well, now story a woman who says she was fired after her employer monitored her e-mail and didn't like they saw. The take-home lesson here? Don't call your boss a jerk, at least not cyberspace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA, FIRED OVER E-MAIL: I had written an e-mail a co-worker complaining about my boss. Complaining about his behavior. And within a week of that e-mail I was fired.

SIEBERG (voice-over): This woman asked that we only identify her as Laura. She's afraid of what this impulsive e-mail would do to future employment prospects.

LAURA: I had said that the boss was a jerk. He had been acting -- a bit arrogant and pompous with me all week.

SIEBERG: An official with her former employer says Laura was let go for a number of personnel reasons. And that derogatory comments in her e-mail were a factor. This official also says the company informs all employees that their e-mail is monitored.

Did you than your e-mail was being monitored?

LAURA: No, I had no idea.

SIEBERG: How did you feel whether you found out?

LAURA: I felt a bit violated, frankly. Because I felt that we were allowed through the company's own policy, we were allowed to have so much personal e-mail per day.

SIEBERG: Laura isn't alone. Only 50 percent of respondents in a recent survey from the ePolicy Institute, say their organizations train on e-mail policies. The same survey finds that nearly 80 percent of companies have e-mail policies and that one in four has fired employees for violations.

NANCY FLYNN, EPOLICY INSTITUTE: Most employees tend to think my e-mail is my business. My employer has no right to read my e-mail messages, particularly if it's a message to a friend or a family member. But in reality, here in the U.S., the federal government gives employers the right to monitor all employee e-mail, instant messaging, and Internet activity.

SIEBERG: Thousands of e-mail messages fly in and out of companies all day long. And while it's impossible for the boss to literally look over your shoulder, businesses are turning to technology. Computers that can read every word of every e-mail. And raise red flags.

PAUL JUDGE, CTO, CIPHERTRUST: We've taken the approach of having machines in algorithms that can go out and understand, what's the vocabulary of normal, legitimate business e-mail? What are the anomalies to that? What are the vocabulary used in jokes or used in chain letters?

SIEBERG: Cipertrust helps companies sort through the flood of e- mail. Running every message through a series of filters, looking for key words. Some of them are so offensive, we can't show them to you. The company can then decide whether to respond or let it go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen many that set up a rule that says, notify human resources, or notify the legal department. Or in our organization that sets up a rule, just block that message. Do not let it go out of the network.

SIEBERG: And while it might not get out, it could well come back. Most employees don't realize e-mail is forever.

FLYNN: What everybody needs to be aware of is that e-mail and instant messaging create written records. It's not the same as standing around the water cooler gossiping about somebody. You've gossip about somebody via e-mail there is a written record of it and it could come back to haunt you and your employer.

SIEBERG: For Laura, the experience left her angry and frustrated. But right now, at least she doesn't have to worry about her e-mail. She is currently self-employed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming right up after a break, how authorities are working to keep our food supply safe from terror attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: When you think about likely target for terrorists, farms and ranches may not be the first places that come to mind. But agro-terror attacks on livestock could have devastating results. Scientists are working on way to spot and attack and contain the security threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice-over): Meet Norman, a healthy and handsome Jersey steer. He's doing his part to help to prevent an incident of agro- terrorism by helping teach veterinary student of what are normal and what's not in farm animals.

DR. AMELIA WOOLUMS, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: We were going to look for a foot and mouth disease outbreak. The important things would to be have a look at Norman's mouth. And he's not too crazy about this. We don't do it very often. And have a look at his tongue and see if we see any blisters or any ulcers. SIEBERG: Outbreaks of foot and mouth and mad cow disease in Britain brought economic ruin to some and fear to many more. Those spread naturally. What about a deliberate attack?

DR. CORRIE BROWN, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: We are vulnerable. We are vulnerable to both an intentional and an accidental incursion. And all we can do is be very prepared. What we're doing with globalization and with moving animals, people, products all over the world, we are creating a landscape that is just rife with possibilities of a new disease emergence.

SIEBERG: Veterinary pathologist Dr. Corrie Brown is an expert on the most dangerous animal diseases. Diseases that could seriously impact the U.S economy. One example. Who might launch an attack?

BROWN: It's estimated that a third of the scientists working in the former Soviet program on biological weapons were focusing on agricultural issues. We don't know where a lot of those scientists are today.

SIEBERG: But there's not even a need for their sophisticated scientific knowledge. An attack could be very low tech.

BROWN: It could be anyone -- it could be the nut next door.

SIEBERG: Agro-terror is not a new weapon. In 20th century warfare, military forces spread anthrax and glanders, a bacterial disease that infects horses.

BROWN: The Germans used anthrax and glanders against allied livestock, including horses, cattle, and reindeer. There were two incidents in Africa, in the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the native Kenyan people used Kikuyu toxin against the British cattle and then it what was formerly Rhodesia, the Rhodesians used anthrax against some of the native cattle there. In Afghanistan, the Russians used glanders against the Afghan freedom fighter horses.

WOOLUMS: Settle down, Sky (ph). It's okay buddy. This is a procedure we do all of the time to evaluate the upper respiratory tract in the throat region a teaching animal.

SIEBERG: Sky is a teaching animal living at the University of Georgia Veterinary School. But a major challenge in detecting a disease outbreak may be the small number of vets who specialize in farm animals. Dr. Amelia Wooulums says they'll be the first responders in a natural or intentional disease outbreak.

(on camera): How easy would it be to introduce something like that into a large cattle population?

WOOLUMS: Well, I think it's important not to create undo alarm but some of these diseases that we are concerned like foot and mouth disease are very contagious. And if an animal, large group of cattle, were infected, they can spread rapidly.

SIEBERG (on camera): Cows are all visually screened by a veterinarian or lay inspector before slaughter. Less than one percent of all cows are tested for mad cow disease. But more than 50 percent of animals considered high risk because of age or signs of nervous disorder are tested.

WAYNE ROBERTS, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: So the first step is the extraction process. We actually have to cut a piece of brain.

SIEBERG: The Department Agriculture stepped up disease screenings in mid-2004. Scientists in eight laboratories across the U.S. then began examining brain tissue from thousands of cows for evidence of mad cow disease.

ROBERTS: The whole process from start to finish is four to five- hour process. Thank goodness we haven't found any that's positive yet and hopefully we won't.

SIEBERG: A crisis in agriculture might not require an intentionally planned attack. Global trade and international travel may have the same effect.

BROWN: I actually think mother nature is the most serious terrorist out there. If you look at some of the diseases that have emerged, certainly the recent highly pathogenic avian influenza which now can infect humans. Rift Valley fever, which if it were introduced it could impact our livestock and mosquitoes could take the virus from the livestock to the humans. It really -- it could make West Nile virus look like a hiccup.

SIEBERG: From family farms to highly secured Department of Agriculture facilities, the key to containing an agro terror attack is early detection.

BROWN: The amount of economic damage that we'll suffer is directly proportional to the time it takes to make the first diagnoses.

SIEBERG: Browns says most Americans have come to expect a safe and affordable food supply, but she's not alone in warning that such safety should not be taken for granted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, scientists worried about monarch butterflies have renewed cause for concern.

And later, the littlest and greenest baseball fan you ever saw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: In China, a stunning find for scientists when a museum purchased a dinosaur fossil from a local geologist, researchers found a pair of shelled eggs inside the female. The eggs were bumpy, about seven inches by three inches. The dinosaur was a theropod, The time dinosaur believed to be the ancient relatives of modern birds. It's the first time eggs have ever been found inside dinosaur remains. Scientists reporting the discovery in the journal "Science" say the dinosaur's reproductive system shared some similarities to reptiles and some to birds.

Well, the number of monarch butterflies at their winter haven in Mexico has dropped dramatically, that's according to researchers. As the beautiful bugs awaken, and prepare for their return migration to the States, scientists estimate there are 100 million fewer insects than expected. Biologists blame deforestation in the butterflies' Mexican wintering grounds. The bugs need the trees for shelter. Another possible culprit, say scientists, pesticides sprayed on milkweed plants in the United States and Canada where monarchs lay their eggs.

All right. Happier news now for the mountain gorilla, despite the fact that there are only a few hundred of the apes left in the wild. Gary Strieker has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sometimes they're easy to find but it often takes steep climbing and patient stalking through thick forest to find them. Yet when they are finally tracked down, the mountain gorillas don't seem to mind. And that's a major payoff for the tourists who've invested money and hard work to see these rare animals in the wild.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a miracle. See the babies playing with their mother. It's our very hard it put into words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was magical. It really was. They're beautiful. They look healthy.

STRIEKER: This entire population of mountain gorillas could sit in one jumbo jet. They're not found in a zoo anywhere. All 380 of them live wild and free on the slopes of the Burunga volcanoes, protected by bordering national park in the Congo, Uganda and here in Rwanda. Another population about 320 mountain gorillas believed to be a different subspecies found in the Bwindi Park in Uganda. Rwanda's government puts a high priority on these animals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a salad for the gorillas.

STRIEKER: Their major tourist attractions creating jobs and revenue. In a country with few other options. In a region racked by deadly conflict.

CLAIRE RICHARDSON, DIAN FOSSEY GORILLA FUND INTL: They're were gorillas caught in the crossfire but really when you look at the scale of the war and the genocide in Rwanda, it's amazing that gorillas were not totally wiped out.

STRIEKER: The gorillas not only survived, they increased their number by 17 percent since the last census in 1989. But there are continuing threats to this success. This protected forest is about the size of New York City, surrounded by densely populated farmland. Last year, in just a few weeks, land-hungry families clear cut nearly six square miles of forest before authorities stopped them.

KATIE FAWCETT, DIAN FOSSEY GORILLA FUND INTL: You can see the border of their habitat and that their numbers are so small that we have a huge front maintain that habitat that's remaining.

STRIEKER: Poacher's trap are still a constant menace too gorillas, and there is growing concern that human visitors could spread contagious diseases that might be catastrophic to these animals. Thirty years ago, many believed mountain gorillas were headed for extinction but they've proved to be survivors. And there's more reason now believe our future generations will climb these mountains and still discover future generations of theirs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: In our NEXT half hour, how marine mammals maybe facing an unintended military menace.

Also ahead, a new initiative to figure out how human beings populated world and you're invited to take part. These stories and much more when NEXT@CNN returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANIEL SIEBERG, HOST: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. In mid-March, some 80 dolphins beached themselves in the Florida Keys, and since then, volunteers and wildlife biologists have worked around the clock to save as many of the animals as possible. John Zarrella gives us an inside look at the rescue operation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BANICK, WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: Fantastic. All right. Good girl!

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dolphins needed her help. That was reason enough to be here.

BANICK: Hey, guys that are here for the 12:00 shift, if you guys can come down here real quick and get some instructions and then finish suiting up, that'd be great.

ZARRELLA: More than two dozen rough-toothed dolphins required around the clock care.

BANICK: This is going to be my team, right here. My name is Kate.

ZARRELLA: For 25-year-old Kate Banick, and the others who came to save the dolphins, this was the most challenging, demanding part of the work. The animals in a penned-off area of a rehabilitation facility had to be handfed three times a day. Members of Bandic's team held the dolphin's mouth opened of pieces of cloth as she fed them dead herring. BANICK: It's not natural for them. These guys eat live fish. Today we made the first critical steps in getting them to eat dead fish and to eat them out of our hands.

ZARRELLA: Banick, a wildlife biologist, came here with a whole lot of determination. She would need every bit of it. The locals said it was the largest mass stranding they had ever seen. In early March, an estimated 80 dolphins struggled to survive in the chilly shallows off Marathon in the Florida Keys. Some made it back to deep water. Many died. Most of the survivors were loaded carefully on a truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, lift.

ZARRELLA: In a supermarket semi, 26 who couldn't make it out to sea themselves were taken to the Marine Mammal Conservancy Rehabilitation facility in Key Largo. It was their only chance at survival.

BANICK: Every one of these guys is kind of a free chance. If we hadn't stepped in at all, no one had stepped, these guy all, probably, 100 percent would have died on those shores.

ZARRELLA: But Banick and the others on the co conservancy staff couldn't do it alone. A sign-up station was set up to coordinated the volunteers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about Thursday? Which would be Thursday a.m. or Wednesday, you know, Wednesday at midnight? Can I sign you up for that?

ZARRELLA: To provide the required round-the-clock care, hundreds came to work four hour shifts. Most had never been this close to a dolphin before. They needed instruction for the quick course, Steve Gainen, a marine mammal trainer, used a plastic blow up dolphin.

STEVE GAINEN, MARINE MAMMAL TRAINER: Dolphin starts to get a little rough, do the secondary. This hand stays the same, this hand comes around, thumb up, grabs the base of the dorsal.

ZARRELLA: Soon the new batch of volunteers is in the water. Some are assigned to man the perimeter of the pin watching for any dolphin a becomes distressed. Others help with the next feeding. The herring are stuffed with vitamins and medication.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tablets I'm putting in first and then they told me not to used the batral (PH) until they ask because not everybody's getting it .

ZARRELLA: For Robert Lingenfelser, who heads the conservancy, feeding preparations are not moving fast enough.

ROBERT LINGENFELSER, HEAD OF CONSERVANCY FEEDING: Have they been tubed yet?

BANICK: No, they haven't. LINGENFELSER: Now.

BANICK: I'll do that now.

LINGENFELSER: Now.

BANICK: OK you will be the third tuber...

LINGENFELSER: These guys are two hours behind schedule.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Two of the dolphins, the critical care patients, and one underweight baby, are kept here in this tank where they get constant care. Katie and Vicky are literally keeping the dolphin afloat.

(voice-over): Volunteers are in the pool 24/7, holding the animals and keeping their blow holes out of the water so they can breathe. A veterinarian injects the dolphins with vitamin E to help with muscle cramping. These mammals are unable to eat on their own. Kate Banick uses a feeding tube to get them the nutrition they need.

BANICK: Move the tube. Get all of the snuff her baby so she gets better.

ZARRELLA: As the weeks roll by, the survivors are becoming stronger, more aggressive during feedings. Red-363, the animals are identified by numbers, accidentally gets the fish and Lloyd Brown's hand. It's not serious. The pace here is all at one's grueling, rewarding, and disturbing. Now more than one month into the rehabilitations, only 12 of the original 26 are still alive.

BANICK: It is saddening when you lose one. It's definitely something you are not look forward to, but there's really no -- there's no time to dwell on that. There's so much hope in the future for the rest of them.

ZARRELLA: Banick wonders, has the care, the medication been right? There's not much hard science how to save a dolphin, it's learn how you go.

(on camera): So, there could be a couple that are pregnant.

BANICK: There could be. Actually on of the ones in the tank we're looking at, we're suspecting, but we can't...

ZARRELLA: Oh really?

BANICK: She's pretty wide, but I mean, she could just be a big girl.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): This is a marathon, not a sprint, likely to last weeks not days. Another sunset, Banick is going to her 30th straight hour. She's seen two since she last slept. Another group of volunteers mans the fence perimeter, shivering in wet suits beneath a sliver of moonlight. As long as there is hope, they will be here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Well, the beaching happened a day after a Navy submarine was using SONAR in the area and if those two events are connected it wouldn't be the first time SONAR was suspected of causing problems in the underwater wild. Heidi Collins has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): SONAR became a staple of warfare in the 20th century, key to defending against submarine attacks. SONAR stands for Sound Navigation Ranging. It's the use of sound waves to detect underwater objects from enemy subs to volcanoes. But some scientist are warning it may be an inadvertent weapon against whales and dolphins.

BRANDON SOUTHALL, NOAA ACOUSTICS EXPERT: There have been a handful of instances where there has been a time and space overlap between military SONAR activities and mass strandings of marine mammals. But the exact lengths, or the exact triggers for this, or the exact sound levels are not understood.

COLLINS: Whales and dolphins use their hearing to find food and to find their way, which is why unusual sounds from SONAR to ship noises can affect them.

KENNETH BALCOMB, CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH: If we could just take the human analogy where we're vision-oriented animals, if we were to sit in this room and have strobe lights flashing at us or laser beams, we would become very distracted, disoriented, perhaps experience vertigo and we'd want to get out of the room. And in the case of marine mammal, we're coming to with sound to their primary sensory system.

COLLINS: In march of 2000, biologists Ken Balcomb witnessed a mass stranding in the Bahamas involving beached whales he'd been studying. Seventeen animals stranded, at least six died.

BALCOMB: The day was one of the busiest and most distressing in my life. We didn't know at time that there was a Navel operation, but I suspected it because of the broad area in which the strandings were occurring.

COLLINS: Tissues of these deep diving species show damage similar to a human getting the bends.

DR. TERI ROWLES, NOAA VETERINARIAN: We found in the Bahamas animals that did involve hemorrhages and in and around the brain and the brain case, and hemorrhages in and around the ears.

COLLINS: Balcomb witnessed another stranding near his home in Washington state.

BALCOMB: We heard these incredibly loud SONAR signals that just went on and on for about three hours. The whales kept moving away from the ship as though they were attempting to get away from the sound. COLLINS: But government scientists say there's just not enough known to show a cause and effect between SONAR and strandings. Other human activity could also be the culprit.

SOUTHALL: Some of the other industrial activities, the exploration for oil and gas, offshore, they use low frequency sound over, you know, pretty large ranges, pretty continuously.

COLLINS: Mass stranding can also be traced to disease. A sick and disoriented mammal sometimes leaves other into danger.

ROWELS: We're getting more and more sophisticated about the kinds of diseases and pathogens and pathologies that we're seeing and beginning to understand more and more about the health of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) mammal populations and the health of the oceans.

COLLINS: The Navy has conducted tests of low levels of SONAR to see what impact it had on whales, but there is a catch-22 for researchers. They don't want to harm the mammals while doing studies like these. As a Navy veteran, Balcomb understands Navy ships have a mission to accomplish. But he says while research continues, there are practical ways to minimize threats to marine mammals.

BALCOMB: They shouldn't be operating in either critical habitats or high population density areas of these animals. They should practice their operations in areas where they've determined there is low probability of impacting any animal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, this woman isn't just complaining about high gas prices. She's doing something about it. Her story coming up

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: The changing of the guard is underway at International Space Station. A new crew took off from the Russian launch center in Kazakhstan, Thursday night, onboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA astronaut, John Phillips, will spend about six months on the station. Also on the Soyuz, Italian astronaut, Roberto Vittori, who will spend just over a week up there doing research. He'll ride back to earth with the departing crew, who have been on the station since October.

Ready to add a new word to your science vocabulary? It's "genographic." A combnation of genetics and geography. IBM and the National Geographic Society have just launched a five-year study to trace the migratory history of the human species.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER WELLS, DIR. THE GENOGRAPHIC PROJECT: Genetics, I think, resoundingly now, has answered the question of where we ultimately came from. We ultimately came out of Africa and we came out of Africa quite recently, within the last 50 to 60,000 years, those of us who left, of course, many people stayed on. But question of how we migrated around the planet, how we populated the world, in effect, is still an open one, the journey routes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: Population geneticist, Spencer Wells, is the director of the project and he's already met with some indigenous populations including residence of Pate Island, off of the coast of Kenya. Key to the project success is collection of DNA from culturally unique populations that have been in a particular geographic area for many generations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. AJAY ROYYURU, SR. MGR. IBM'S COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY CENTER: The participation of individuals, in any exercise, requires that you respect who they are, what they are, and the reason why you want them to participate. And you make sure that what you give them back is of value to them, which is exactly what we are trying to do with the indigenous populations and the public at large, specifically the indigenous population the approach we are using is to partner with the research institutions across the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Incidentally, you can take part in the study as well, by purchasing a kit to collect your own DNA. Just go to the National Geographic Society Web site for details on how you can find out more about who you are and where you came from.

Well, speaking of going places, our "Getting There" segment, this week, features a woman fed up with high gas prices, like many of us. Dee Dee Beavers of Oxford, Georgia, using a different kind of horsepower.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEE DEE BEAVERS, MULE OWNER: Come on beautiful, we're going out working. She's Ms. Bail. She was my third mule.

See there is no lady-like way to get on here. Imagine doing this 100 years ago in a skirt?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

BEAVER: That's why I tell people, there's no lady-like way it drive. Just get in and go.

But gas, it's just -- I can't afford it. It's so much easier this way.

Well, it's getting ridiculous, and like I said, I drive an older truck, and it's a large truck, it's an F-250, you know, typical farm truck and this, you know, running around town is just a waste, because we're, what, nine miles from town? And it's so much easier to hook her up and go.

BEAVER: Hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, that's like the old days.

BEAVER: Oh yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh man alive. That brings back memories.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a good idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a wonderful idea. I do. Yes, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it surprising to you at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Being an animal lover -- you know, being an animal lover, I just think it's great. Of course I couldn't get on 85 with you, no sure I wouldn't do that anyway.

BEAVER: Step up now.

It's a bond. If you ever find a good mule, that's it. It's a nice way it travel. It really is and the savings really mount up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Next up, you may not be able to do anything about the weather, but technology is making it easier for forecasters to predict it. To find out how, stay with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, Denver has finished digging out after the blizzard that hit the area earlier this week. And it's too soon to tell if the two feet of snow will help northern Colorado's drought, but a lot of Coloradans were surprised by the spring snow storm, as you might imagine, but as a rule, whether it's a lot less surprising than it used to be. Rob Marciano shows us how the experts keep tabs of weather around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms, tsunamis -- they're unstoppable, unforgiving, and often unpredictable. But around the globe, several technologies are helping to even the odds by giving the public and policymakers more time to plan and prepare to weather the storms. ADM. CONRAD LAUTENBACHER, NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: We've been able to improve our warning systems, our records on tornado warnings, on hurricane warnings, on flood warnings, have been improving.

MARCIANO: And that translates to lives saved. The four hurricanes that hit Florida last year claimed about 110 U.S. lives. Without today's warnings system, each one of those storms might have had a much higher death toll. A global network of sensors, satellites and other equipment keeps a constant eye on the skies and the surrounding atmosphere. High-flying geostationary satellites and low flying earth orbiting satellites give scientists a telescopic view of weather systems as they travel around the planet.

For more down to earth analysis, Doppler radar helps track the growth, movement and severity of storms. Aircraft mounted sensors and weather balloons monitor atmospheric conditions like air circulation and jet stream. While on the ocean, buoys and other equipment measure temperature changes on the sea surface and signal that the developing storm on the horizon.

But despite impressive technology, it may surprise you that the most important innovation in the world of the weather is not a high- tech gadget. Computer modeling, it's foundation of modern meteorology and the primary tool scientists use to generate forecasts.

(on camera): Data is collected from various sources, like radars, satellite, combined with other information, like the weather patterns or the current conditions. It's how we meteorologists predict whether sunny days are ahead or a storm is fast approaching.

LAUTENBACHER: The advancement in models has significantly improved and is probably the most, you know, most important increment of advantage that we have today that we didn't have 15 years ago.

Marciano (on camera): And the future of climate prediction looks bright. Experts say their plan to develop new applications for current weather technology is truly out of this world. It's called GEOSS, a 10 year multibillion dollar program that unites more than 60 countries a signal mission. Linking the world's weather observation systems to better understand how all aspects of the global environment is connected. A meeting tragically underscored by last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, a critical defense against the whims of nature.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Incidentally, weather tech is just one of the technology breakthroughs we're highlighting in a special program airing several times this weekend as CNN celebrates its 25th anniversary. I'll be your host for "CNN 25: Top 25 Technology Breakthroughs." Check your local listings for times.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Still to come, who'd want to shoot a cute little kitty? Apparently, a lot of people in Wisconsin. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, it's bad news for some cats in Wisconsin if one lobbying group gets its way. The state has an estimated two million wild or feral cats, and studies show they kill millions of song birds. Some people want to put the wildcats on the list of animals it's OK to shoot, like possums and skunks. On Monday a public advisory group held a statewide vote and the anti-cat measure passed easily, but the vote is merely advisory and any official action would have to be passed by the legislature. Wisconsin's governor says in his opinion the proposal is going nowhere.

Meanwhile in Hawaii, a happy ending to a clam napping. Two weeks ago, officials at the Waikiki Aquarium discovered that somebody had stolen seven rare clams out of an expert. We're not making this up. They were missing more than a week, but last Saturday an aquarium employee discovered the clams had been returned. They were in a Tupperware container full of water and gravel and in the shopping bag in the aquarium's theater. Aquarium officials say they have no idea who would steal the clam, but they aren't interested in pursuing criminal action, and are just happy to have their clams back.

And finally, it ain't over until the little parrot sings. The 6- year-old Quaker parrot named "Baby" sings, or maybe squawks, is more accurate, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

BABY: (SINGING)

"Baby" lives with its owner in Cleveland, but its performance wasn't enough to help the Indians in their home opener. They lost to the Chicago White Sox, 2-1.

All right, that's our swansong for this week, but before we go, here is a quick look at what is coming up next week.

I'll show you a new high in videogaming. Find out why some say the new game, NARC, is a bad trip.

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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