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The Science of Earthquakes; Lord of the Bison

Aired March 29, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

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


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan says he has been vindicated in the oil-for-food scandal. An interim report said Annan did not try to swing a bid to the company his son worked for. But the report did find Kojo Annan tried to hide his relationship with the company.
First Lady Laura Bush is on her way to Afghanistan. She left this morning and plans to spend only five hours on the ground. Mrs. Bush says she wants to bring a message of solidarity to Afghan women. She will meet with teachers and President Hamid Karzai, and she will visit U.S. forces there.

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is in the hospital for the second time this month. His ministry won't say why. Falwell, who is 71 years old, just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago after being treated for pneumonia.

And President Bush says the U.S. is ready to help victims of yesterday's powerful earthquake in Indonesia. Three hundred thirty people are confirmed dead. But officials fear that as they uncover new victims buried in the rubble, that death toll could hit 2,000.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SCIENTIST: And this was a tremendous crippling, frustrating experience because without water level gauges, we don't know if there's been a tsunami.

UNIDENTIFIED SCIENTIST: We were unfortunately flying blind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Flying blind -- there was no way for American scientists to warn people in the path of the devastating tsunami in the moments after the December 26th earthquake that triggered it.

Tonight, the PBS program "NOVA" talks with scientists about the lessons learned from that tsunami in a special called "The Wave That Shook the World."

Now, we saw some of those lessons put into practice in the moments after yesterday's quake near Indonesia. People headed for higher ground for fear that this tremor would also give rise to a tsunami.

Thomas Heaton is with the California Institute of Technology. He joins us from Los Angeles to talk about it. He is featured in the program tonight on "NOVA."

Dr. Heaton, good to have you with us.

THOMAS HEATON, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's talk about what happened yesterday. Immediate reaction was quite a strong likelihood that a magnitude 8.7 quake could trigger yet another tsunami and yet we didn't see one of any appreciable size.

Why not?

HEATON: Well, that's something we'll be looking at.

It's important to recognize that an 8.7 is a much smaller earthquake than a 9.2. It may not sound like it, but in terms of the overall size, it's probably five to 10 times smaller.

I'm sure when we're done analyzing this earthquake, we'll discover that there was, in fact, some sort of significant tsunami associated with it but not nearly of the magnitude as with that 9.2 earthquake.

O'BRIEN: So magnitude, the depth, the way the plates shift, all those things factor in, don't they?

HEATON: They do.

The key issue is how much ocean floor is uplifted by how much. So it has to do with the dip of the fault. It has to do with the amount of slip on the fault, where the fault is located.

Those are all important factors that need to be looked at.

O'BRIEN: You and the folks at "NOVA" came up with some interesting animation which shows those tectonic plates sitting on top of one another. Maybe we can show that there.

Basically, for folks who aren't familiar, we're sitting on a raft, if you will, a raft of rock that sits on top of magma. And where those plates collide is where you see volcanoes and earthquakes forming all throughout the world.

And what happens in this case is you can see right here in this image is one plate is kind of sliding underneath the other and it kind of triggers a friction moment there, and eventually that gives way. That's the energy that caused the wave, isn't it?

HEATON: That's correct.

So the -- when the land snaps upward, it rebounds upward from centuries of strained accumulation. It displaces the ocean floor. The water runs downhill, a huge mass of water runs downhill, and that's what creates the tsunami. O'BRIEN: And, of course, in the Pacific there is a fairly significant -- at least adequate -- you may contest that -- but there is a tsunami warning system in place, a series of sensors. We can explain how these work as we're talking here.

Three months after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, what happens is a sensor is put down on the floor of the ocean and it actually detects significant changes in the sea level that would be, of course, indicative of a tsunami. It gets sent to a buoy on the surface and then sent ultimately back to a satellite at the tsunami warning centers.

It's a relatively cost-effective and simple system in place in the Pacific and yet this system does not exist in the Indian Ocean, even now three months after the tsunami which took the lives of perhaps a quarter million people.

Why hasn't this -- it wouldn't take that long to put this in place, would it?

HEATON: Well, it does take time to work at sea, and then there needs to be some administrative planning of these systems.

But I think it's important to understand that that's not all that's necessary. Every magnitude-9 earthquake that we've had in the past century has created a very large tsunami.

So one of the key issues is simply recognizing that the earthquake is magnitude-9.

It's my opinion that, that kind of recognition can be done for any earthquake, anywhere in the globe, with existing seismic sensors. It's a matter of having the right software analysis tools.

O'BRIEN: But there's one other crucial step, which didn't exist on December 26th. They saw this huge earthquake. They presumed, of course, that it was very likely a tsunami would be formed, but there really was not a call-out plan, if you will, the infrastructure, who to call, how to evacuate.

All those things need to be addressed, don't they?

HEATON: Absolutely.

So it's one thing to recognize that a large tsunami is under way; it's another thing to actually get the message to the people to do something about it.

It certainly requires a lot of coordination with local and civil defense officials. That's been done in the Pacific. It hasn't been done in the Indian Ocean. Maybe someday CNN can help us with that.

O'BRIEN: Well, we'd love to help you with that. We'll take that as a challenge. We'll talk about that off line, if you will.

Professor Thomas Heaton with Cal Tech, the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, joining us from L.A., who is featured prominently in tonight's special on "NOVA." The program is called "The Wave That Shook The World." And as they say in the PBS world, check your local listings.

Professor Heaton, thanks for your time.

HEATON: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Betty?

NGUYEN: Sometimes politicians take you by surprise. Check this out. That is Richard Gere and Japan's prime minister. We have the details behind this dance fever moment just ahead.

Plus, a couple of tennis stars are getting into the reality game. Would you watch?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Want to give you an update on a developing story right now. The Reverend Jerry Falwell is back in the hospital with breathing difficulties. He is listed in critical condition at the Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Now, doctors say Falwell was on a ventilator, but his condition has stabilized. You may recall that the 71-year-old Falwell battled pneumonia about a month ago.

But just to recap, the Reverend Jerry Falwell is hospitalized at this hour in Lynchburg, Virginia, with breathing problems. He is on a ventilator, and he is listed in critical condition. But we are told that his condition has stabilized. Of course, we will continue to follow this and bring you the latest when we get it into CNN -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: The Terri Schiavo case, it is the 11th day now since that feeding tube has been removed, well past the 11th hour. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here. Sanjay, good to have you with us. Let's -- before we get started here, we saw Randall Terry (ph) a few moments ago addressing reporters. And he had some things to say about how she is doing physically. Let's listen to what he had to say first and then talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDALL TERRY, ACTIVIST: Even as of last night, she still urinated, so her kidneys are still functioning, and as far as anyone can see, all of her vital organs are still functioning. Her pulse is still strong, and she is still conscious and responding to family members and to loved ones. This literally is a miracle. It's happening before our eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. So vital organs still performing and, of course, the urination is a key issue because the kidneys shutting down is a real tell-tale marker in this whole process. Tell us what you know and whether that -- what he says there belies reality. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday we heard that as of Sunday night, she had no urination at all. Now we're hearing she's had some again. That actually is not surprising. It could be that maybe she did produce a little more urine last night even though she hadn't produced some in a day's time.

There's no question, though, at day 12 now, this far out, that she has probably had some irreversible damage to her kidneys. She's probably had some irreversible damage to other organs, as well. The kidneys easiest to tell just because of the urine output. But it's a little bit hard to say, obviously, when you're getting this conflicting information.

O'BRIEN: I mean, is there a whole sequence here that is pretty well-known in the medical community as to what shuts down when?

GUPTA: Yes. There is a sequence that is well-known. But I should say it's different for a young, healthy person, versus someone who's older. And I think that's an important distinction. She's 41. Since the age of 25 has been in this sort of situation. Most people who are older may develop a pneumonia, may develop breathing difficulties and that would subsequently be the cause of their demise.

With someone who's this young, more likely what's going to happen is that her kidneys are going to shut down to the point where she just can't regulate the amount of electrolytes in her blood. So you're going to have this sort of gradual change in her condition, then all of a sudden, some sort of event where her heart cannot beat properly because the electrolytes are not correct in the blood stream. Ironically, in a sad way, that's sort of what took her to the hospital in the first place 15 years ago.

O'BRIEN: Yes, let's talk about that. Let's remind people exactly. It was a potassium imbalance, I think, specifically, which would be in that whole category of thing, because of an eating disorder, right?

GUPTA: That's right. And I talked to a couple of her doctors, including one that examined her, who is a neurologist, talked specifically about that, and said that her potassium was 2.6. Around four is what's normal, just to give you a sense of things. Too low to let her heart beat properly at that point.

O'BRIEN: All right, so just to wrap it up here, though, when we hear Randall Terry saying that, that this is -- you know, the term he used was miraculous, medically, this is probably within the realm of a normal death process.

GUPTA: It can be. And people will have fluctuations. You know, while the steady course may be one of decline in terms of organ functioning, there will be little waves, so she may produce a little bit of urine. Her liver may work a little bit better than it did yesterday. But overall, the course is still a downward course, not surprisingly.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment. Stay with us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I sure hope we all are normal, financially, that is. Two tennis stars get ready to take their sister act to the small screen, while a new movie is pushing limits and some buttons on the big screen. Our Brooke Anderson joins me now with that entertainment wrap.

Hi there, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Betty.

The city of angels turned into sin city last night. Some of Hollywood's biggest names hit the red carpet to promote their new film "Sin City" and answer questions about the movie's violent content. Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood and Clive Owen were among the film's stars who turned out.

Now, "Sin City" is based on a series of graphic comic book novels written by Frank Miller. It's multiple story line includes a street fighter who goes on a rampage of vengeance after the woman he loves is killed while lying in bed with him. It's violent, it's graphic and it has many wondering if it's just too much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON (on camera): Many say the violence is gratuitous, it's over the top. What do you think?

CLIVE OWEN, ACTOR: Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. It's funniest when it's at its most violence. It's like "Tom and Jerry" humor for adults. It's wild, wonderful, macabre wit. It's sort of -- it's so stylized, it's so sort of specific in the kind of violence it is. It doesn't relate to what we think of violence every day in our lives. It's so much bigger and more unusual than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The movie opens nationwide this weekend -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Obviously, the actors don't think it's too violent, but what do the critics say about it?

ANDERSON: Well, Betty, when many think of sin city, they think of Las Vegas. Well, some critics are saying Vegas is Disneyland compared to this. "Sin City." On one hand, you've folks who are saying this is sadistic and mean-spirited. And on the other hand, some critics love the visuals from this movie, saying it's eye-popping and stunning. And regardless, the cast hopes to serve an ace with this one at the box office.

And speaking of aces, let's do a transition here, can tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams serve up a ratings ace? That's what ABC Family is hoping as they set to reveal a new reality show about the sisters. The yet-to-be-titled series will follow the siblings off the court, giving fans an intimate look into the personal lives of the tennis duo.

Until now, as you know, the Williams sisters have been known for their aggressive tennis play. They often compete against each other in championship matches. Together, they currently hold 11 major single titles. Betty, that series will debut in July.

NGUYEN: Very interesting. All right, Brooke Anderson, thank you.

ANDERSON: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: An eccentric British farmer has transported a piece of the American West. He raises bison in the heart of England. He's even named some of the female bison after U.S. first ladies. I wonder how they feel about that. And yes, Hillary and Monica are in the same pen.

CNN senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers takes us to Wiltshire, England.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This may look like Kansas, Toto, there's the little house on the prairie. There's even a herd of American elk, whopety (ph). But then there's Lord Seaford of Wiltshire. And, Toto, he likes to pretend England is Kansas.

Lord Seaford raises buffalo, American bison.

COLIN SEAFORD, FARMER: My favorite is Ruth. She is a very gentle bison Ruth with the sort of hair hanging.

RODGERS: Seaford has had a love affair with the American West since he saw a Walt Disney nature movie.

SEAFORD: Having seen this film, "The Vanishing Prairie," that left a great impression. I was only about 8 years old and I just sat there gasping at it and thought that was lovely.

RODGERS: He has 80 buffalo in his herd. Other critters, too.

(on camera): You're replicating the American prairie. You've got your own prairie dog colony. Where's your rattlesnake?

SEAFORD: No, I'm not having one of those.

RODGERS (voice-over): But it's the bison, the symbol of the American West that holds Lord Seaford's heart.

SEAFORD: They're just beautiful. They're lovely things. Everything about them. I wish I had discovered them a long time ago. RODGERS: Some of these animals descend from the herd Buffalo Bill brought to England for his wild west show in 1904. Lord Seaford names the cows after America's first ladies.

SEAFORD: This is an Eleanor. This is Eleanor II.

RODGERS (on camera): As in Eleanor Roosevelt.

SEAFORD: Yes. Yes. That's Barbara, I beg your pardon, walking away.

RODGERS: Mrs. Bush.

SEAFORD: I don't have a Jackie.

RODGERS: Which is your favorite of the first lady buffaloes?

SEAFORD: Well, actually, Monica. Monica actually became very fat and rather bossy. This is Hillary. Hillary, actually, she was very naughty the other day.

RODGERS (voice-over): Lord Seaford does not see anything eccentric about all this and he has a point.

(on camera): As out of place as buffalo seem in the shadow of Stonehenge, they're actually not. Ten thousand years ago, when Britain was part of the Eurasian land mass, tens of millions of bison roamed Europe and Russia. So in a historical sense, buffalo are anything but exotics here.

SEAFORD: Well, actually buttercup (ph) doesn't like you.

RODGERS (voice-over): The true exotics may be the people.

SEAFORD: But I'm above buzzcup (ph), aren't I. I'm above you. Back off. Thank you.

RODGERS: Indeed it was another Englishman, Noel Coward, who once wrote that it is only mad dogs and Englishmen who go out in the midday sun.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Wiltshire, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: At this hour, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is reacting to a new report released today that says there was not enough evidence to show that the U.N. Secretary-General knew of contract bids by his son with his employer, Cotecna. Now, this is in relationship to the Oil-for-Food program. The report says that his son kept that information from Kofi Annan, but it does not show that he had any wrongdoing in that program. Of course, we'll continue to follow this.

Also in the news, the Reverend Jesse Jackson takes up the cause the of Terri Schiavo's parents. Jackson's calls on Florida lawmakers to act on what he says is one of the profound moral and ethical issues of our time. Just ahead, an update from Pinellas Park, Florida.

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Aired March 29, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan says he has been vindicated in the oil-for-food scandal. An interim report said Annan did not try to swing a bid to the company his son worked for. But the report did find Kojo Annan tried to hide his relationship with the company.
First Lady Laura Bush is on her way to Afghanistan. She left this morning and plans to spend only five hours on the ground. Mrs. Bush says she wants to bring a message of solidarity to Afghan women. She will meet with teachers and President Hamid Karzai, and she will visit U.S. forces there.

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is in the hospital for the second time this month. His ministry won't say why. Falwell, who is 71 years old, just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago after being treated for pneumonia.

And President Bush says the U.S. is ready to help victims of yesterday's powerful earthquake in Indonesia. Three hundred thirty people are confirmed dead. But officials fear that as they uncover new victims buried in the rubble, that death toll could hit 2,000.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SCIENTIST: And this was a tremendous crippling, frustrating experience because without water level gauges, we don't know if there's been a tsunami.

UNIDENTIFIED SCIENTIST: We were unfortunately flying blind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Flying blind -- there was no way for American scientists to warn people in the path of the devastating tsunami in the moments after the December 26th earthquake that triggered it.

Tonight, the PBS program "NOVA" talks with scientists about the lessons learned from that tsunami in a special called "The Wave That Shook the World."

Now, we saw some of those lessons put into practice in the moments after yesterday's quake near Indonesia. People headed for higher ground for fear that this tremor would also give rise to a tsunami.

Thomas Heaton is with the California Institute of Technology. He joins us from Los Angeles to talk about it. He is featured in the program tonight on "NOVA."

Dr. Heaton, good to have you with us.

THOMAS HEATON, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: First of all, let's talk about what happened yesterday. Immediate reaction was quite a strong likelihood that a magnitude 8.7 quake could trigger yet another tsunami and yet we didn't see one of any appreciable size.

Why not?

HEATON: Well, that's something we'll be looking at.

It's important to recognize that an 8.7 is a much smaller earthquake than a 9.2. It may not sound like it, but in terms of the overall size, it's probably five to 10 times smaller.

I'm sure when we're done analyzing this earthquake, we'll discover that there was, in fact, some sort of significant tsunami associated with it but not nearly of the magnitude as with that 9.2 earthquake.

O'BRIEN: So magnitude, the depth, the way the plates shift, all those things factor in, don't they?

HEATON: They do.

The key issue is how much ocean floor is uplifted by how much. So it has to do with the dip of the fault. It has to do with the amount of slip on the fault, where the fault is located.

Those are all important factors that need to be looked at.

O'BRIEN: You and the folks at "NOVA" came up with some interesting animation which shows those tectonic plates sitting on top of one another. Maybe we can show that there.

Basically, for folks who aren't familiar, we're sitting on a raft, if you will, a raft of rock that sits on top of magma. And where those plates collide is where you see volcanoes and earthquakes forming all throughout the world.

And what happens in this case is you can see right here in this image is one plate is kind of sliding underneath the other and it kind of triggers a friction moment there, and eventually that gives way. That's the energy that caused the wave, isn't it?

HEATON: That's correct.

So the -- when the land snaps upward, it rebounds upward from centuries of strained accumulation. It displaces the ocean floor. The water runs downhill, a huge mass of water runs downhill, and that's what creates the tsunami. O'BRIEN: And, of course, in the Pacific there is a fairly significant -- at least adequate -- you may contest that -- but there is a tsunami warning system in place, a series of sensors. We can explain how these work as we're talking here.

Three months after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, what happens is a sensor is put down on the floor of the ocean and it actually detects significant changes in the sea level that would be, of course, indicative of a tsunami. It gets sent to a buoy on the surface and then sent ultimately back to a satellite at the tsunami warning centers.

It's a relatively cost-effective and simple system in place in the Pacific and yet this system does not exist in the Indian Ocean, even now three months after the tsunami which took the lives of perhaps a quarter million people.

Why hasn't this -- it wouldn't take that long to put this in place, would it?

HEATON: Well, it does take time to work at sea, and then there needs to be some administrative planning of these systems.

But I think it's important to understand that that's not all that's necessary. Every magnitude-9 earthquake that we've had in the past century has created a very large tsunami.

So one of the key issues is simply recognizing that the earthquake is magnitude-9.

It's my opinion that, that kind of recognition can be done for any earthquake, anywhere in the globe, with existing seismic sensors. It's a matter of having the right software analysis tools.

O'BRIEN: But there's one other crucial step, which didn't exist on December 26th. They saw this huge earthquake. They presumed, of course, that it was very likely a tsunami would be formed, but there really was not a call-out plan, if you will, the infrastructure, who to call, how to evacuate.

All those things need to be addressed, don't they?

HEATON: Absolutely.

So it's one thing to recognize that a large tsunami is under way; it's another thing to actually get the message to the people to do something about it.

It certainly requires a lot of coordination with local and civil defense officials. That's been done in the Pacific. It hasn't been done in the Indian Ocean. Maybe someday CNN can help us with that.

O'BRIEN: Well, we'd love to help you with that. We'll take that as a challenge. We'll talk about that off line, if you will.

Professor Thomas Heaton with Cal Tech, the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, joining us from L.A., who is featured prominently in tonight's special on "NOVA." The program is called "The Wave That Shook The World." And as they say in the PBS world, check your local listings.

Professor Heaton, thanks for your time.

HEATON: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Betty?

NGUYEN: Sometimes politicians take you by surprise. Check this out. That is Richard Gere and Japan's prime minister. We have the details behind this dance fever moment just ahead.

Plus, a couple of tennis stars are getting into the reality game. Would you watch?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Want to give you an update on a developing story right now. The Reverend Jerry Falwell is back in the hospital with breathing difficulties. He is listed in critical condition at the Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Now, doctors say Falwell was on a ventilator, but his condition has stabilized. You may recall that the 71-year-old Falwell battled pneumonia about a month ago.

But just to recap, the Reverend Jerry Falwell is hospitalized at this hour in Lynchburg, Virginia, with breathing problems. He is on a ventilator, and he is listed in critical condition. But we are told that his condition has stabilized. Of course, we will continue to follow this and bring you the latest when we get it into CNN -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: The Terri Schiavo case, it is the 11th day now since that feeding tube has been removed, well past the 11th hour. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here. Sanjay, good to have you with us. Let's -- before we get started here, we saw Randall Terry (ph) a few moments ago addressing reporters. And he had some things to say about how she is doing physically. Let's listen to what he had to say first and then talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDALL TERRY, ACTIVIST: Even as of last night, she still urinated, so her kidneys are still functioning, and as far as anyone can see, all of her vital organs are still functioning. Her pulse is still strong, and she is still conscious and responding to family members and to loved ones. This literally is a miracle. It's happening before our eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. So vital organs still performing and, of course, the urination is a key issue because the kidneys shutting down is a real tell-tale marker in this whole process. Tell us what you know and whether that -- what he says there belies reality. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday we heard that as of Sunday night, she had no urination at all. Now we're hearing she's had some again. That actually is not surprising. It could be that maybe she did produce a little more urine last night even though she hadn't produced some in a day's time.

There's no question, though, at day 12 now, this far out, that she has probably had some irreversible damage to her kidneys. She's probably had some irreversible damage to other organs, as well. The kidneys easiest to tell just because of the urine output. But it's a little bit hard to say, obviously, when you're getting this conflicting information.

O'BRIEN: I mean, is there a whole sequence here that is pretty well-known in the medical community as to what shuts down when?

GUPTA: Yes. There is a sequence that is well-known. But I should say it's different for a young, healthy person, versus someone who's older. And I think that's an important distinction. She's 41. Since the age of 25 has been in this sort of situation. Most people who are older may develop a pneumonia, may develop breathing difficulties and that would subsequently be the cause of their demise.

With someone who's this young, more likely what's going to happen is that her kidneys are going to shut down to the point where she just can't regulate the amount of electrolytes in her blood. So you're going to have this sort of gradual change in her condition, then all of a sudden, some sort of event where her heart cannot beat properly because the electrolytes are not correct in the blood stream. Ironically, in a sad way, that's sort of what took her to the hospital in the first place 15 years ago.

O'BRIEN: Yes, let's talk about that. Let's remind people exactly. It was a potassium imbalance, I think, specifically, which would be in that whole category of thing, because of an eating disorder, right?

GUPTA: That's right. And I talked to a couple of her doctors, including one that examined her, who is a neurologist, talked specifically about that, and said that her potassium was 2.6. Around four is what's normal, just to give you a sense of things. Too low to let her heart beat properly at that point.

O'BRIEN: All right, so just to wrap it up here, though, when we hear Randall Terry saying that, that this is -- you know, the term he used was miraculous, medically, this is probably within the realm of a normal death process.

GUPTA: It can be. And people will have fluctuations. You know, while the steady course may be one of decline in terms of organ functioning, there will be little waves, so she may produce a little bit of urine. Her liver may work a little bit better than it did yesterday. But overall, the course is still a downward course, not surprisingly.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment. Stay with us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I sure hope we all are normal, financially, that is. Two tennis stars get ready to take their sister act to the small screen, while a new movie is pushing limits and some buttons on the big screen. Our Brooke Anderson joins me now with that entertainment wrap.

Hi there, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Betty.

The city of angels turned into sin city last night. Some of Hollywood's biggest names hit the red carpet to promote their new film "Sin City" and answer questions about the movie's violent content. Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood and Clive Owen were among the film's stars who turned out.

Now, "Sin City" is based on a series of graphic comic book novels written by Frank Miller. It's multiple story line includes a street fighter who goes on a rampage of vengeance after the woman he loves is killed while lying in bed with him. It's violent, it's graphic and it has many wondering if it's just too much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON (on camera): Many say the violence is gratuitous, it's over the top. What do you think?

CLIVE OWEN, ACTOR: Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. It's funniest when it's at its most violence. It's like "Tom and Jerry" humor for adults. It's wild, wonderful, macabre wit. It's sort of -- it's so stylized, it's so sort of specific in the kind of violence it is. It doesn't relate to what we think of violence every day in our lives. It's so much bigger and more unusual than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The movie opens nationwide this weekend -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. Obviously, the actors don't think it's too violent, but what do the critics say about it?

ANDERSON: Well, Betty, when many think of sin city, they think of Las Vegas. Well, some critics are saying Vegas is Disneyland compared to this. "Sin City." On one hand, you've folks who are saying this is sadistic and mean-spirited. And on the other hand, some critics love the visuals from this movie, saying it's eye-popping and stunning. And regardless, the cast hopes to serve an ace with this one at the box office.

And speaking of aces, let's do a transition here, can tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams serve up a ratings ace? That's what ABC Family is hoping as they set to reveal a new reality show about the sisters. The yet-to-be-titled series will follow the siblings off the court, giving fans an intimate look into the personal lives of the tennis duo.

Until now, as you know, the Williams sisters have been known for their aggressive tennis play. They often compete against each other in championship matches. Together, they currently hold 11 major single titles. Betty, that series will debut in July.

NGUYEN: Very interesting. All right, Brooke Anderson, thank you.

ANDERSON: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: An eccentric British farmer has transported a piece of the American West. He raises bison in the heart of England. He's even named some of the female bison after U.S. first ladies. I wonder how they feel about that. And yes, Hillary and Monica are in the same pen.

CNN senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers takes us to Wiltshire, England.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This may look like Kansas, Toto, there's the little house on the prairie. There's even a herd of American elk, whopety (ph). But then there's Lord Seaford of Wiltshire. And, Toto, he likes to pretend England is Kansas.

Lord Seaford raises buffalo, American bison.

COLIN SEAFORD, FARMER: My favorite is Ruth. She is a very gentle bison Ruth with the sort of hair hanging.

RODGERS: Seaford has had a love affair with the American West since he saw a Walt Disney nature movie.

SEAFORD: Having seen this film, "The Vanishing Prairie," that left a great impression. I was only about 8 years old and I just sat there gasping at it and thought that was lovely.

RODGERS: He has 80 buffalo in his herd. Other critters, too.

(on camera): You're replicating the American prairie. You've got your own prairie dog colony. Where's your rattlesnake?

SEAFORD: No, I'm not having one of those.

RODGERS (voice-over): But it's the bison, the symbol of the American West that holds Lord Seaford's heart.

SEAFORD: They're just beautiful. They're lovely things. Everything about them. I wish I had discovered them a long time ago. RODGERS: Some of these animals descend from the herd Buffalo Bill brought to England for his wild west show in 1904. Lord Seaford names the cows after America's first ladies.

SEAFORD: This is an Eleanor. This is Eleanor II.

RODGERS (on camera): As in Eleanor Roosevelt.

SEAFORD: Yes. Yes. That's Barbara, I beg your pardon, walking away.

RODGERS: Mrs. Bush.

SEAFORD: I don't have a Jackie.

RODGERS: Which is your favorite of the first lady buffaloes?

SEAFORD: Well, actually, Monica. Monica actually became very fat and rather bossy. This is Hillary. Hillary, actually, she was very naughty the other day.

RODGERS (voice-over): Lord Seaford does not see anything eccentric about all this and he has a point.

(on camera): As out of place as buffalo seem in the shadow of Stonehenge, they're actually not. Ten thousand years ago, when Britain was part of the Eurasian land mass, tens of millions of bison roamed Europe and Russia. So in a historical sense, buffalo are anything but exotics here.

SEAFORD: Well, actually buttercup (ph) doesn't like you.

RODGERS (voice-over): The true exotics may be the people.

SEAFORD: But I'm above buzzcup (ph), aren't I. I'm above you. Back off. Thank you.

RODGERS: Indeed it was another Englishman, Noel Coward, who once wrote that it is only mad dogs and Englishmen who go out in the midday sun.

Walter Rodgers, CNN, Wiltshire, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: At this hour, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is reacting to a new report released today that says there was not enough evidence to show that the U.N. Secretary-General knew of contract bids by his son with his employer, Cotecna. Now, this is in relationship to the Oil-for-Food program. The report says that his son kept that information from Kofi Annan, but it does not show that he had any wrongdoing in that program. Of course, we'll continue to follow this.

Also in the news, the Reverend Jesse Jackson takes up the cause the of Terri Schiavo's parents. Jackson's calls on Florida lawmakers to act on what he says is one of the profound moral and ethical issues of our time. Just ahead, an update from Pinellas Park, Florida.

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