Return to Transcripts main page
Next@CNN
New Computer Is Designed to Withstand Abuse; Iguanas on Galapagos Islands Suffer Long-Term Effects of Oil Spill; China Builds Pipeline
Aired June 29, 2002 - 13:00 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.
ANN KELLAN, HOST: Today on NEXT@CNN: A computer that can stand up to abuse and keep in touch, wirelessly, with a workstation a football field away.
Also, the iguanas of the Galapagos Islands are suffering surprising long-term effects, more than a year after an oil spill.
And what's the latest thing on elevators?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: TV!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLAN: What kind of entertainment can you catch on a 10-second ride? We'll show you. All that and more, on NEXT.
Hi, welcome to NEXT@CNN. Today, we're at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Ann Kellan, standing in for James Hattori, who's on assignment.
Hundreds of buildings lost, tens of thousands of people evacuated, hundreds of thousands of acres burned. Of course, we're talking about the ferocious wildfires in the Western United States. Most of the fires were sparked by people, either intentionally, or by accident, but the reasons behind this devastating fire season are much more complicated. Natalie Pawelski explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years after the worst fire season in half a century, the West is ablaze again, and this time it's even worse. Foresters say massive fires threatening people's homes may be the new reality in the American West.
JIM PAXON, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: I think everybody that has anything to do with the management of these lands has part of the blame. You know, you can go to the Forest Service and BLM and the other land management agencies that were active in suppression in a good spirited but misguided ecological standpoint for 80 years. And we're playing catch-up for that now.
PAWELSKI: Suppression is what foresters call the policy of fighting every fire you can. For most of the 20th century, that was standard operating procedure on federal lands. Where there was smoke, there were firefighters. Even kids learned that forest fires are bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.
PAWELSKI: Foresters have come to realize that wild land fire is natural, even essential, and without it, forests have become clogged with dense thickets of fast burning, smaller trees, brush and downed logs. So now when a fire starts, it burns with a vengeance.
Add to that a record drought. Some trees are drier than the lumber you'd buy at a hardware store. And throw in a population boom. Colorado, for example, grew by 48 percent in the last 20 years. And many of the West's newcomers have moved into the woods, into places where a few years ago a forest fire might not have mattered as much because no homes were in its path.
MAYOR FOREST HAYES, DARBY, MONTANA: So now we have homes that are back in areas that have for centuries that burned on a regular basis.
PAWELSKI: So with millions of people living near dangerously clogged forests now dried by drought, what do you do?
(on camera): Forest Service plans for fixing the problem are controversial, featuring controlled burns and targeted logging designed to thin the forest and make it less vulnerable to catastrophic fires. But even if everybody agreed on that strategy tomorrow, safety is years away.
(voice-over): There are 191 million acres of national forest across the country and the Forest Service says about 40 percent, an area the size of Arizona, is at risk for severe fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: NOAA has come up with a new way to warn people about potentially dangerous heat waves. It's called the mean heat index, and no, it's not a measure of how cranky the heat will make you feel. It's an average of how hot the temperature will feel, taking into account humidity and other factors over an entire 24-hour day. The traditional heat index was based on just the hottest part of the day, but heat waves are most dangerous when nighttime temperatures don't drop very much from daytime highs. The mean heat index takes that into account now. NOAA points out that extreme heat kills more people than any other severe weather conditions.
NOAA has a new satellite in orbit that the agency says will improve weather forecasting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And lift-off. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLAN: The satellite was launched on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Titan rocket. NOAA-17 is the third in a group of five polar-orbiting satellites that have improved imaging and data collection abilities. The data it collects will be used for long- range weather and climate forecasts, and to monitor environmental events around the world.
A year and a half ago, an oil tanker ran aground near the Galapagos Islands, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and diesel fuel. A study published earlier this month looked at the long-term effects on this unique ecosystem, and its findings are not good. Chris Wheelock reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS WHEELOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fractured hull of the cargo ship Jessica is a constant reminder of the potential for catastrophe in the Galapagos Islands. She ran aground in January of 2001, spilling almost the entire cargo of diesel fuel and bunker oil. At first, scientists with the Charles Darwin Foundation, responsible for research and conservation of the Galapagos ecosystems, thought damage to the environment and its residents would be minimal. But researchers say further study revealed the dramatic loss of up to 15,000 marine iguanas. Particularly affected was the island of Santa Fe.
HOWARD SNELL, CHARLES DARWIN FOUNDATION (through translator): On Santa Fe Island, where the oil did reach, mortality rate went up to 72 percent. This is the reason for the published paper in "Nature," reporting 72 percent mortality of the adult iguana population on Santa Fe Island was caused by the contamination of the oil spill by the Jessica boat.
WHEELOCK: Severe kill-offs of the iguanas in the Galapagos have been associated with the weather phenomenon known as El Nino in the past. And while iguanas have survived and recovered from natural events, scientists worry the added threat from a man-made catastrophe could be devastating.
Results of a study published in "Nature" magazine suggests the iguanas died from subtle, long-term effects of the oil spill. The oil may have fouled their food supply, or been directly ingested. There are between 40,000 and 300,000 marine iguanas living on the 13 main islands in the Galapagos chain. It is uncertain how the loss of the iguanas would affect the balance of the Galapagos' ecosystem, but scientists note they are the only sea-faring lizard in the world. They have no natural predators and remain herbivores. Marine iguanas are among the unusual animals that evolved from land creature to sea- dweller, a change that helped form Charles Darwin's now famous theory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: A court case about the oil spill is under way in Ecuador, with the Galapagos National Park suing the owners of the ship and the spilled oil. After the "Nature" study was published, the judge reopened the investigative phase of the trial.
Later in the show, can babies understand complex music? And does what they hear early in life make them better musicians later on?
And, coming up next, China builds a pipeline that could reduce pollution. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: Does this sound familiar? Cities in the eastern part of the country are starving for energy, while huge oil and gas reserves lie under the wide open spaces out West. We're not talking about the United States. This is China, and the country is building a 2,600- mile pipeline to move energy from west to east. Jaime Florcruz has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New pipeline in the Taklamakan desert designed to carry natural gas from the desolate Xinjiang region in the west to energy-starved Shanghai in the east.
SUN LONGDE, VICE PRESIDENT, PETROCHINA (through translator): The project will narrow the gap between the east and the west. Xinjiang residents will get many concrete benefits.
FLORCRUZ: Most of Xinjiang remains backward, hampered by its rough terrain and poor infrastructure even though it boasts rich resources.
(on camera): The Tarim Basin in northwestern China is as big as France and nearly as dry as the Sahara. More than half of it is desert, but a huge reserve of China's oil and natural gas lies underneath.
(voice-over): China's efforts to tap Xinjiang's resources have benefited some localities.
ZHANG ZHIHENG, PARTY CHIEF, BAYANCOL PREFECTURE (through translator): The oil industry has raised our people's income and provided us with plenty of jobs. Last year, it contributed 37 percent of local GDP.
FLORCRUZ: China is spending lavishly to build a supply network that will fuel economic growth. China has become a net importer of oil since the 1990s, when the economy started its rapid growth and energy needs began to outstrip domestic oil production.
Moving Xinjiang's natural gas from west to east may prove expensive, but oil executives say the benefits outweigh the costs.
SUN (through translator): This project will improve China's energy structure, reduce pollution and protect the environment. Everyone will benefit.
FLORCRUZ: New supply routes, like the gas pipeline in the making, are expected to make China less dependent on coal, which worsens pollution. They are also meant to make China less reliant on imported oil from the Gulf states, but Xinjiang's oil and gas supply will not satisfy China's thirst for fuel, as the economy races ahead at 7 percent a year.
SUN (through translator): Our biggest difficulty, which is also our biggest hope here in Tarim, is to find more oil and natural gas.
FLORCRUZ: And so, the rush to tap Tarim's black gold continues from dawn to dusk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Another pipeline is stirring up controversy in South America. It's being built by a Canadian company to bring oil across the Amazon Basin and over the Andes mountains. Environmentalists want to stop the project. Mark Stevenson from Canada's CTV network has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK STEVENSON, CTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This oil pipeline is being built through the heart of Ecuador, a multi-billion- dollar projected headed by a Canadian company, Calgary-based Encana Corporation. It will double oil production in the Amazon and cut through a rainforest that environmentalists say has already been damaged by years of abuse. It will also through the Mindo cloud forest, home to rare birds and butterflies.
The line is being built in Luis Merino backyard. He came to Toronto pleading for Canadians to intervene.
LUIS MERINO (through translator): The people in our area are waking up to this problem, to see that we really must defend the environment.
STEVENSON: In march, locals shut down a plant during a general strike, and the army was called in.
MERINO (through translator): There was an attack on unarmed civilians. Six people ended up with bullet wounds.
STEVENSON: Encana says the protests were not aimed at its workers, they were aimed against the government, and since it spent millions on local development, criticism isn't fair.
DICK WILSON, ENCANA CORPORATION: No, it's not. Do the people of Ecuador think that's fair? No.
STEVENSON: But Merino thinks criticism is fair.
MERINO (through translator): You have to answer for those people that were injured in March, those six people that were shot. You have to answer for all the pollution that your company is causing.
STEVENSON: Half of Ecuador's revenue comes from oil, but despite being so oil-rich, the Amazon is its poorest region. Encana says the pipeline will bring millions into government coffers, but critics insist that cash doesn't trickle down to the average person. Encana says critics are opposed to any development.
WILSON: No oil. No energy development. Go away. Get out of our country.
STEVENSON: For now, construction continues, and Encana stands to benefit the most as the biggest investor.
Meanwhile, activists aren't backing down, and have even bought land in the rainforest where the pipeline is supposed to go, hoping to force the project off track.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Given all the problems transporting oil, and the pollution it can cause, what about alternative energy sources? Some experts warn that the U.S. needs to get serious about developing alternatives to fossil fuels, before it's too late. Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the emergence of solar, geothermal and wind-generated electricity and battery and fuel cell powered cars, cheaper oil and natural gas still supply about two-thirds of the nation's energy.
The United States now relies on imports for nearly 60 percent of its oil. During much of the 1980s it was about one-third. That's risky because of the prospect of a politically motivated supply disruption and because scientists now believe global oil supplies will peak, then begin declining by the end of the decade.
TOM VALONE, PRES., INTEGRITY RESEARCH INST.: We're pretending that business as usual will supply all our needs. But there's an impending oil crisis that we're basically seeing, will actually bite us sooner than we're expecting it. And it's better to prepare for it now.
WIAN: There are signs of preparation. In Michigan, home of the auto industry, state lawmakers are considering tax breaks for alternative energy companies. The U.S. Senate wants to require 10 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020. And a growing number of big companies have committed to address global climate change. Steps include reductions in fossil fuel use.
(on camera): But in California, a law requiring 10 percent of all new cars sold here be non-polluting by next year has been derailed by legal challenges and lack of consumer demand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Coming up next, a riddle: How can you take your computer with you, without actually taking it with you? The answer, when NEXT@CNN returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: We've all been there, gotten so mad at our computer we just wanted to throw it across the room. Well, we found some super- tough computers that might not be able to withstand that, but they can take more than your average amount of abuse. Renay San Miguel has this week's "Technofile."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever wish you had a tougher, more versatile computer? Apparently, a lot of people do. Enough to support a growing market of drop- and spill-resistant machines, like Panasonic's new Toughbook series. The Toughbook casings are strengthened with magnesium. The strength comes at a price, though, around $5,000.
But consider this: According to the Toughbook Web site, on average, it costs almost $3,000 to repair or replace a laptop.
(on camera): Panasonic is touting its new Toughbook computers like this one for their strength and durability, but it may be these mobile wireless data displays that are the real hit among consumers. They have a feature that enable you to get 300 feet away from your main computer.
(voice-over): Using PalmPilot-like technology, the mobile wireless data display becomes a portable workstation. When we tried it out, it worked better than previous generations of wireless technologies, but still wasn't perfect.
The device can be used with a brick, a 300-megahertz Pentium 3- CPU, small enough to fit almost anywhere. If you need more power, you can also use it with any Panasonic Tough laptop equipped with a wireless card adapter. Information is transferred in real time from the portable screen to the notebook.
This Toughbook 28 comes with a substantial 800-megahertz Pentium 3, and weighs in at a hefty nine pounds, thanks to its solid casing. That's nine pounds that can now be left behind.
I'm Renay San Miguel, and that's "Technofile."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: A new technology out of Singapore is promising smoother surfing on the Internet, as well as a handy way to store digital photos. As Lian Pek reports, it's proving to be a real page-turner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LIAN PEK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's completely changed our photo taking habits. No more worrying about finishing that roll of 36 film. We can now snap away, thanks to the digital camera. But that trigger-happiness could bring on new headaches.
RICHARD WAN, CEO, E-BOOK SYSTEMS: You can snap 100, 500, 1,000 pictures in just one vacation, because it costs almost nothing. And once you have got so many pictures, so many photos on your PC, you're going to have a problem organizing it.
PEK: Enter E-Book System's Flip Album, software which makes storing digital photos about as easy as saying "cheese." Photos are laid out in virtual pages just like ones in real albums. You can turn to any page instantly with a mouse click. Pages underneath each side of the album give you a sense of how many you've viewed and how many are left.
More importantly, an electronic album that can be circulated at no cost.
MILES LEUNG, FLIP ALBUM USER: I can alert my cousins, or my relatives overseas, and ask them to come have a look at it. Family gatherings, "look at mom, she's getting old," things like that.
PEK: E-Book claims it already has users flipping out over its albums, with some 300,000 copies sold so far, more than half a million free downloads made, and 95 percent of its business hailing from the U.S.
And it's not just photo albums that are getting the flip. The Singapore-owned company also has a new Internet browser that lets you surf the Internet like you do a book, by flipping rather than scrolling through Web pages.
WAN: Flipping is one of the reasons why people want to print things out to read, because when you flip you can navigate through the information very quickly. Imagine if you have a scroll of 100 pages of information, if you want to see the last 100th page, you have to scroll all the way to the last part of the scroll.
PEK (on camera): Not the stuff of sophisticated killer applications, but a humble tool that has users turning the page nonetheless, taking the brave new world of the Internet out of the dark ages of scrolling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Video recording technology is also turning a page, with more and more people buying DVD players and shunning their VCRs. One of the country's biggest sellers of electronics has been paying attention.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN (voice-over): The nation's second largest electronics retailer, Circuit City, is going digital, replacing VHS movies with DVDs at all its stores. For some, it's no surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's right about the right time. I mean VHS is old news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I buy is DVD format and all I rent is DVD format, so that's it.
WADE HUNT, CIRCUIT CITY DISTRICT MANAGER: Most of our customers are asking about DVD movies and not VHS movies.
KELLAN: A big advantage with a digital format like DVD, you never have to rewind. And you can easily access different places on the disk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DVDs are the new wave of the future. VHS, out of there.
KELLAN: But considering 95 million households have VCRs compared with 30 million with DVD players, some say the move by Circuit City is premature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Videotapes discontinued, that was a surprise.
KELLAN: And according to the Video Software Dealer's Association, people still rent three times as many VHS titles as DVDs.
(on camera): DVD players just out started selling VCRs last September, so VCRs aren't going away any time soon. One reason, you can't record on a DVD player unless you're willing to spend at least $700.
(voice-over): That's why Circuit City continues to sell blank VHS tapes and recorders. They're not relics yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say we're looking at probably 10 to 15 years before really consumers stop utilizing the product.
KELLAN: For some, upgrading to new formats is old hat. Remember vinyl albums?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My grandma has a few.
MARY WILLIAMS: Actually, I'm old enough to have had an eight track player and an eight track tape. I actually replaced it in cassette and then replaced it in CD. So there you have it.
KELLAN: This time around, Mary Williams has a plan -- to wait until the prices drop.
WILLIAMS: You're going to spend yourself into poverty being the first one on the block to have the new rewritable DVD. So I'll just wait.
KELLAN: But how long to wait? If history is an indication, VHS tapes will go the way of audio cassettes. They'll still be around in 20 years, but they won't be the technology of choice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: For more on the VHS-DVD controversy and other stories in our show, check out our Web site, cnn.com/next.
Coming up in our NEXT half hour, transportation for the war on terrorism. The U.S. Army has a new armored vehicle, but is it worth the money?
And add elevators to the list of places you can watch TV. Well, at least it beats watching those numbers light up. First, we'll take a quick break, and then go to the CNN newsroom for an update on the latest news. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. We're here in Atlanta at CNN's headquarters.
When you think of children's music, what comes to mind? "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Mother Goose?" How about Ravel or Rachmaninov? A new study studied the way eight-month-olds respond to these complicated concertos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands -- or shake your egg.
DAWN BELL, CREME DE LA CREME: Children so young can benefit from music, even in the womb. Just almost the mesmerizing effect it can have when they follow your voice.
KELLAN (voice-over): At this Atlanta day-care center, music is played to all age groups, including these eight-month-olds. What kind of music should you play to an eight-month-old?
BELL: The tried and true "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We sing mostly, you know, the nursery rhyme songs and the things that, you know, every day.
KELLAN: How about a little Ravel? A study at McGill University set out to determine if eight-month-olds can remember more than just a simple tune, something complicated like Ravel. Could exposing complex music to infants spawn child prodigies like 13-year-old Corky Chocallo? Or 10-year-old Victor Ronchetti?
VICTOR RONCHETTI, VICTOR'S FATHER: When he was 4...
ADELA RONCHETTI, VICTOR'S MOTHER: We tucked it under his chin and it looked perfect.
VICTOR RONCHETTI: It's like now I've been hearing these songs for three years, I can play them now.
A. RONCHETTI: The moment he picked it up, he just fell in love.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't start music, someone starts you. KELLAN: On that note, this is what researchers did. They asked parents to play one specific Ravel piece for their infants three times a day for two weeks. Then...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We collected the CDs and asked parents, "please don't play this music."
KELLAN: Two weeks later, they tested the babies. Using lights to catch the infants' attention and hidden cameras and speakers in a room like this, Beatriz Ilari tested 45 eight-month-olds. Would they remember that complex piece?
BEATRIZ ILARI, MCGILL UNIVERSITY: Just by getting them to make a head turn toward a loudspeaker, we measure how long they will listen to a musical excerpt.
KELLAN: On one side of the room, they played the familiar Ravel. The other side, an unfamiliar tune. Ilari says the babies will listen longer to what's familiar. Turns out they remembered.
ILARI: These babies, they listened much longer to the music they heard at home as opposed to the unfamiliar one.
KELLAN: Twenty to 30 percent longer.
ILARI: And we can say that they learned because we also tested a group of babies that didn't hear any of these pieces of music at home, and they had no preferences.
KELLAN: Does this type of exposure a virtuoso make? Victor says classical music was just about all he heard growing up.
VICTOR RONCHETTI JR.: If my mom and dad played rock'n'roll, I think I would be playing something else, or not be playing at all.
A. RONCHETTI: I think it's a good idea to listen to complicated music. I think it certainly helped him.
KELLAN: Yet Corky was a perfect pitch, able to identify any note or chord you played, did not hear classical music as an infant.
CHRIS CHOCALLO, CORKY'S MOTHER: Not anymore than any other household.
KELLAN (on camera): Did you sing to him? Did you play -- think of music?
BILL CHOCALLO, CORKY'S FATHER: Did you sing to him?
CHRIS CHOCALLO: A little bit, like every mom does, but not really.
KELLAN: The researchers are not saying that by playing complex music to your infants you're going to end up with a child prodigy. This takes a lot of work. But what they are saying is that parents should feel free to play a wide variety of music to their children, whatever they like, as a way of bonding.
(voice-over): And don't worry if it's complicated. It may have a lasting impression.
ILARI: It has no side effects. So it's good. You can always play the things that you like.
KELLAN: And if you like it, odds are they'll pick up on it, and enjoy it, too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Just ahead, the latest on cell phones and whether they might cause brain cancer. That story and more coming up on NEXT@CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: One important buzzword in the world of wireless is 3G, which stands for third generation mobile technology. 3G takes cell phones way beyond mere conversation, offering everything from Internet access to streaming video. It's starting to appear in some Asian countries and is on the horizon in Europe and the United States, but it's not all clear sailing ahead for 3G, as Lisa Baron explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA BARON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The brave new world of 3G, where you can take photographs, play full-color games or browse the Internet all on your cell phone.
But how much demand will there be for Internet mobility? Will users pay? Will even newer technologies reach the mainstream market first? All questions very much on the minds of industry players.
(on camera): One key issue in the emerging 3G world, the expansion of wireless communications is being driven by two competing technologies. The U.S.-developed CDMA system, and Europe's GSM standard. In Asia, the battle lines are now being drawn.
(voice-over): Japan's two largest wireless carriers are split between the two camps, while Korea has adapted CDMA, but reserved the right to switch later on.
ALISTAIR SCOTT, MERRILL LYNCH: Ultimately, of course, they're meant to come together at some wonderful point in the future; however, I think it will be some years away before that happens.
BARON: China's number two mobile carrier, China Unicom, launched a CDMA network in January. But Unicom acknowledged last week that it is off to a lackluster start. China's 3G market overall presents more questions than answers, partly because it has added yet another standard called TDMA to the equation.
CHRISTOPHER SLAUGHTER, THE YANKEE GROUP: The government has still not made clear announcements about what's going to be going on in the 3G space, and to add to the confusion in a world already driven by two standards, there is a third standard that the Chinese have developed for themselves.
BARON: The industry will be paying close attention to China's 3G aspirations. With 160 million mobile phone users, it is already the biggest mobile market in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Do cell phones pose a health risk to users? Studies over the years have produced no solid evidence that radiation from mobile phones is dangerous, but a recent study done in Finland raises new questions about some of the phones in use worldwide. Steve Young has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest finding that cell phones could cause cancer came from a Finnish scientist presenting his results to the Bioelectromagnetic Society meeting in Quebec.
The researcher exposed human cells to the kind of energy transmitted by mobile phones in most of the world, though not to the majority of cell phone customers in the United States. A one-hour exposure alone was enough to show protein changes. Some scientists say that might be a molecular mechanism that could trigger cancer and other illnesses in the brain.
The theory? Mobile phone energy could lower the barrier that's supposed to exist between blood and brain.
DARIUSZ LESZCZYNSKI, FINNISH RESEARCHER: Our study was designed to find whether mobile phone radiation causes any biological effects. It was not designed to determine whether there are any health effects. This will be coming later.
YOUNG: It's no surprise the latest work comes out of Finland. Funding for studies of cell phone use and possible harmful health consequences largely dried up in the United States three years ago. But the U.S. industry denies backing away from the scientific inquiry.
JO-ANNE BASILE, CELLULAR TELECOM & INTERNET ASSN.: While in fact there is considerable amount of research happening in Europe today, if you recall, there have been major studies that have come out of the United States in the past. And so now there's kind of a passing of the baton, if you will.
YOUNG: But some critics compare the mobile phone industry in the U.S. to cigarette manufacturers.
LOUIS SLESIN, EDITOR, "MICROWAVE NEWS": Tobacco did the research and then hid it. Cell phone companies learned the lesson and just are not doing the work. They're basically asleep at the switch here. They don't want to know the truth. They just want to sell the phones.
YOUNG (on camera): Research into mobile phones and health has been under way for eight years. It could take that long or longer to prove conclusively their safety or danger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Up next, an armored vehicle built for the 21st century war. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: The Pentagon recently took delivery of a new vehicle called the Stryker, designed to help the Army become a lighter, more mobile force. But critics are already taking pot shots at the concept, arguing the program is a $4 billion boondoggle. More from Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a ceremony in Aniston, Alabama, the U.S. Army welcomed what it sees as its express ticket to the front lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Army's newest vehicle, the Stryker.
MCINTYRE: Stung by its inability to quickly deploy forces to hot spots like Kosovo and more recently Afghanistan, the Army is switching from treads to tires. With a top speed of 60 miles per hour, the Stryker armored vehicle is twice as fast as older track vehicles and can travel four times as far on a tank of gas. But with a $2 million a copy sticker price, critics argue the Stryker is too expensive and offers too little protection against light weapons, especially rocket- propelled grenades.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I believe it's a waste. You can build alternatives, modify alternative resources that we have right now in the military, like the M-113, for less than half the cost of producing the Strykers, and get more capability.
MCINTYRE: Army leaders defend the Stryker as key to transforming the Army into a faster, more nimble fighting machine, and argue it's not intended to replace heavy armor.
TOM WHITE, ARMY SECRETARY: It's not a tank. And the tactics of it are to give tactical and operational mobility to dismounted infantry. And consequently, we don't plan on using this to assault things.
MCINTYRE: Complicating the Stryker's debut, initial tests showed its lightweight armored tiles could not stop heavy machine gun fire, a problem the Army insists has been corrected.
The Army plans to spend $4 billion to buy more than 2,100 Strykers in 10 different models, including a combat version with 105 millimeter gun.
(on camera): The Army says the Stryker is a quick fix to make sure it can get its soldiers into the fight now while it continues a more gradual transition to a lighter, more agile fighting force in the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Coming up, if you like elevator music, you're going to love this. Elevator television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLAN: Everybody has seen the portable bathroom at construction sites or big outdoor events. But how do you provide mobile restrooms for boaters? If you ask the California State Parks Department, the answer is the float-a-potty. Dave Bienick from our affiliate KCRA has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pull water out of the lake.
DAVID BIENICK, KCRA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With chemical free tank, solar panels on the roof and a full stock of toilet paper, the SS Relief 133 represents the latest in float-a-potty technology.
KEITH STELLCOP, PARK MAINTENANCE CHIEF: So far, we're thinking they're a whole lot better. The smell, especially.
BIENICK: The California State Parks Department recently installed this floating restroom on lake Natoma, because it says not enough boaters were taking the time and effort to use the facilities on land.
LEE AVILES: I think it's very convenient. And whoever thought of this, you know, did a good job.
BIENICK: But not everybody who has seen the new float-a-potty agrees.
TOM ACEITUNO: I thought it was an idea that needed to be flushed.
BIENICK: Local lawyer Tom Aceituno says the problem is the Parks Department originally anchored the restroom right in the middle of what many people consider the most scenic spot in town.
ACEITUNO: When I rode down there on my bike and saw this outhouse sitting in the middle of the lake, I was just appalled.
BIENICK: So now, after several similar complaints, the Park Department has temporarily moved the SS Relief to a less conspicuous spot on lake Natoma, while it searches for a permanent home that is both out of the way of sightseers but still easy for boaters to find.
JACQUELINE BALL, CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS DEPARTMENT: We want to be very strategic where we put it. We obviously don't want to put it in another location that has a negative aesthetic impact. We also want it to be a place where it has a lot of value.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: Lake Natoma covers 18,000 acres and is a popular spot for crew races and kayaking, so the float-a-potty should get a thorough test before the summer's over.
And here is some uplifting news for elevator riders. You know how passengers avert their eyes, or endure awkward silence crammed in among strangers? While, CNN's Jeanne Moos reports, they're piping more than Muzak into elevators these days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Elevator riding has reached new heights.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is it? OK. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Whoa.
MOOS: Used to be all you could do in an elevator was watch the floor numbers, stare at the shiny walls, contemplate someone's hair in your face.
But now, look who's going up.
Everyone from the man of steel to Charlie Chaplin. Tourists at the Sears Tower can see what they're ascending.
These days you can watch CNN in some Hilton hotel elevators. Written news, weather and stock quotes and others.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're totally addicted to them.
MOOS: An outfit called Captivate Network has installed elevator screens in some 400 office buildings. One of the favorite features is a definition.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The word of the day.
MOOS: It happened to be pithy the day we cruised the elevators.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love this television. We were just talking about it at lunch. I just quoted it at lunch. Road rage shortens the life span.
MOOS (on camera): Don't believe everything you read in the elevator.
(voice-over): They say the average office worker takes six elevator trips a day, each trip averages a minute, which means that person spends...
MICHAEL DIFRANZA, PRESIDENT, CAPTIVATE NETWORK: Twenty-four full hours a year riding in an elevator.
MOOS: Captivate charges buildings $5,000 to $7,000 per screen, plus a monthly fee of around 200 bucks. The buildings get a cut of what advertisers pay. Captivate's president dreamed up the idea five years ago, where else, in an elevator.
DIFRANZA: I was watching the dysfunctional behavior of the fellow passengers, and as they fidgeted and looked at the floor indicator and back at their shoes.
MOOS: No wonder the screens are a hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I watch them so much so that I miss my floor a lot of times.
MOOS: Though not everyone is mesmerized.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you know, the naughty is one of them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's sort of sick on a certain level, because it makes you where you can't even just chill out in the elevator.
MOOS: Depends who you define chill out.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: When I heard it, I was like, where is it and then I was like, TV!
MOOS: New York's Hotel Parker Meridian features vintage cartoons and clips without advertising. Since elevator rides last mere seconds, the big challenge for general manager Steven Pipes is...
STEVEN PIPES, GEN. MANAGER, PARKER MERIDIAN: Looking for something that has action within a short period of time.
MOOS: Of course, there are drawbacks to elevator entertainment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's up too high.
MOOS: OK, so it's not quite a multiplex. But having TV to pass the time might make you more willing to hold the elevator.
Popcorn?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KELLAN: So if you're watching us in an elevator, share the popcorn.
Before we go, take a peek at what's coming up next week. We'll take you to an after-school clubhouse, but this is not your typical hangout. It's a high tech haven, designed to help inner city kids make their own music videos, build robots, create computer games, opportunities they might not normally have.
And we'll take you on a subway ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and I will see a little bit of slittiness (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLAN: To see an innovative way for advertisers to get their message across. That's coming up on NEXT.
Until then, we'd like to hear from you. You can e-mail us at next@cnn.com. Thanks so much for joining us this week. For all of us, I'm Ann Kellan. See you next time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
