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Snows of Kilimanjaro Melting; Environmentalists Oppose New Mercury Emissions Proposal; High Speed Train Passes Milestone

Aired December 06, 2003 - 15:00 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.

DANIEL SIEBERG, HOST: Hi, everybody, I'm Daniel Sieberg.
Today on NEXT@CNN, fire and ice. We'll take you to the roof of Africa and tell you why the famous snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone.

And you may know Dean Kamen for his Segway scooter. We'll show you a side of thus inventor you may not know about. Trying to help solve the global shortage of safe drinking water.

And we'll show you an exercise in really conspicuous consumption. If you've ever wondered what two years worth of garbage looks like, well at the end of our show, you'll wonder no longer.

All that and more on NEXT.

Across the globe, glaciers are shrinking. Whether you believe that human activity is causing climate change or if you think it's a natural phenomenon, there's no argument that warmer temperatures are causing glaciers to recede.

Jeff Koinange trekked to the top of Africa's highest peak to see why the snows of Kilimanjaro are melting away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It begins with a simple fire like this, as farmers clear land for planting crops. Before long, the fire spreads indiscriminately, setting off a series of events that lead to entire forest areas be reduced to ashes.

Forests are essential to the generation of rain. Less forest means less rain. Less rain means imminent drought and famine, forever changing the character of a region.

The story is not unusual on a continent where population growth far outstrips the availability of arable land. But scientists studying changing weather patterns in the region have noticed something for ominous affecting Africa's most famous symbol.

CHRISTIAN LAMBRECHTS, U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM: It's now estimated that by the year 2020, there will be no glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: As we made the climb up the summit, we found evidence of all too frequent forest fires. Accompanying us on the ascent, German scientist Andreas Hemp, who says despite the meltdown, the priority right now is not to save the glaciers.

ANDREAS HEMP, BAYREUTH UNIVERSITY: Most people think they see the glaciers, OK. There is water, and we are getting water from this area, but that's not true. And to preserve the forests, this is the most important thing on Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: The landscape changes rapidly as we climb up through different climate zones, all the while with Kilimanjaro's imposing precipice as our backdrop. Along the way, rivers once bursting with mountain spring water are now simply reduced to babbling Brooks. The glaciers that spawned these rivers are shrinking.

HEMP: Even the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), glaciers, Kilimanjaro and the forest bed is a very important ecosystem for all of northern Tanzania. And I think there is some hope that we can preserve this function of the forest and Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: As dawn breaks on the fourth day, we are virtually at the summit. The sight before us, as magnificent as it is majestic.

Altitude sickness, a frequent killer of mountain climbers, means we have less than an hour to follow Hemp as he installs his weather station and other appliances on the mountaintop.

As time runs out, we realize the clock, too, is ticking on Kilimanjaro's glaciers, everywhere around us. Evidence that the mountain's once mighty ice cap is not as thick as it once was.

(on camera) At nearly 6,000 meters or to be more precise, 19,340 feet, this is Kilimanjaro's highest point. Wind chill factor, minus 15. But with less and less rain falling on Africa's highest peak and global warming increasing at an alarming rate, it's no wonder that one of Africa's icons that has come to symbolize a continent's beauty will soon, sadly, be a thing of the past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Back in this country, President Bush has signed legislation that he says will help prevent catastrophic wildfires, like those that destroyed thousands of homes in California earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, we will help to prevent catastrophic wildfires. We'll help save lives and property. And we'll help protect our forests from sudden and needless destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: The bill will increase funding forest thinning projects on federal land. Thinner forests means less fuel for wildfires.

But critics call the bill a payback to the timber industry that won't help areas most at risk of fire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN COSGROVE, SIERRA CLUB: The bill is actually going to increase commercial logging in remote forests in the back country, miles away from these communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: Another point of contention between the White House and environmental groups: mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants.

Elaine Quijano has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to mercury, environmentalists agree with the government on one thing.

JOHN WALKE, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: In its simplest terms, mercury is a brain poison.

MIKE LEAVITT, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Mercury is a dangerous substance.

QUIJANO: Neither side disputes the scientific link between mercury in the air, entering waterways and winding up in the fish people eat. What they're not seeing eye-to-eye on is how best to reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Critics are taking aim at new White House proposals that would change the EPS's approach to the problem.

Until recently, the agency was set to require power plants to meet a certain standard for mercury air emissions, a process the industry strongly opposed because of costs.

So the EPA is now considering a cap and trade program, in which, for example, a plant in Ohio that couldn't meet federal regulations for mercury emissions could buy credits from a plant well within federal limits, say in California.

WALKE: And the theory behind a cap and trade program is that nationwide everything should work out and you should get a level of reductions nationally. But people don't breathe nationally. People breathe in their local communities.

QUIJANO: Still, the EPA's new administrator insists the proposals would be effective in reducing the country's overall mercury emissions from 48 tons annually to 34 tons annually by the year 2010.

LEAVITT: Our purpose is to protect unborn fetuses and pregnant women from mercury. And for the first time, this country will be regulating mercury from power plants.

QUIJANO: Some industry groups, meanwhile, say any EPA rule changes need to be flexible. Otherwise, they say utilities unable to meet the limits could be forced to switch to natural gas.

SCOTT SEGAL, DIRECTOR OF ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COORDINATING COUNCIL: And while on the surface that may sound appealing, you need to recall that natural gas is already selling at three times its historical average.

QUIJANO: But some say not equipping older, coal burning power plants with newer, cleaner technology will end up costing society more in the long run.

REP. JIM NORTON (D), VIRGINIA: The real people that are going to pay the steepest price are our children. Now what kind of a message is that for us adults to send to a world we'll never see?

QUIJANO: The EPA has until December 15 to outline the new standards and plans to take public comment. Final approval on any rule changes wouldn't happen until next year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up on NEXT@CNN...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's an invasion of my privacy.

ANNOUNCER: ... how your car can testify against you if you break the law.

Also ahead, milestones for high speed trains in France and Japan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: All right. If you think you have a long commute, consider this. Some French commuters live 200 miles from work. They do have an advantage, though. On the French high-speed train, the TGV, they can make that trip in a little over an hour.

Now, the train recently carried its one billionth passenger, and the celebration brought an outpouring of train worship. Yes, I did say train worship.

Jim Bittermann has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Love is not a word frequently associated with 400 tons of steel, but as France's high speed train, the TGV, was about to convey its one billionth passenger, those who run it and those who ride on it were positively gushing.

RICHARD BROWN, CEO, EUROSTAR GROUP: I don't think it is just a train. It's very difficult to express what it is, if it's not a train. But there is a magic and there's a thrill. And there's a sense of travel and adventure when you get on a TGV.

BITTERMANN: With that kind of veneration in the air, it's perhaps not surprising the trains, which have never had a fatal accident in 22 years of service, were applauded for the way they have changed the country.

And the country being France, there were stories of TGV romances, recounted by the woman who voices railroad departure announcements.

And there were poems and personal testimony, written by passengers who swear their lives have been transformed by fast trains.

PAULINE BAKULU, PASSENGER: Three hours to go to Marseilles, when you live in Paris. And two hours and a half now to go in the center of London. It's quite revolutionary for me.

BITTERMANN: Indeed. When trains can, in just one hour, go 300 kilometers, more than 180 miles, it does change one's perspective.

High-speed trains now carry daily commuters who live 200 miles, nearly 325 kilometers, from where they work. And the Eurostar trains now carry 65 percent of travelers going between London and Paris.

LOUIS GALLOIS, PRESIDENT, FRENCH TRANS. SYSTEM: This is a train of everybody. It's for -- I think it's the basis of the service of this train.

BITTERMANN (on camera): In the beginning, the TGV was not without its critics. Too much investment, they said, in a transportation system that had its origins in the previous century.

(voice-over) But fast trains quickly overcame the naysayers and are fast spreading through Europe. By 2007, cutting the travel time between Paris and Frankfurt to less than four hours and from Paris to Geneva to three.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: And plus, it's also a little more scenic than flying.

And Japan is also a leader in high-speed train technology. This week, an experimental train there set a new speed record for trains.

The magnetically levitated train got up to 361 miles per hour. That's kilometers per hour for you metric folks, and it beat the speed record set by the same train just last month.

Maglev trains use magnets to float slightly above the track, reducing friction to almost nothing. This Maglev train is part of a government-financed project to develop faster trains.

Well, even though normal cars can't match the speed of a high tech train, they can and do routinely go faster than the speed limits on U.S. highways. Speeders who think they got away with it may be surprised to tell that their car can tell tales.

Mike Brooks explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHUCK TIEDJE, ARLINGTON HEIGHTS POLICE OFFICER: I got hit by a funeral hearse on Friday the 13th.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three years ago, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, police officer Chuck Tiedje's squad car was broadsided by a hearse that ran a red light.

TIEDJE: I was given less than a five percent chance to live.

BROOKS: He lay in a coma for 26 days.

TIEDJE: I woke up a month later in the hospital on election day.

BROOKS: His back was broken, both hips, his collarbone, a rib.

TIEDJE: I still have a considerable amount of pain every day. I'll have that forever.

BROOKS: The hearse driver said he blacked out at the wheel, but a so-called black box in the hearse, a data recorder few people know about, said otherwise.

The upward line at the left shows the driver pushed down on the gas pedal to run the light. The vertical line at the right means he hit the brakes only at the last second.

Tiedje sued the funeral home. His lawyer.

(on camera) What did the data recorder mean to you?

ROBERT CLIFFORD, ATTORNEY: Gotcha.

BROOKS: What was the final settlement?

CLIFFORD: Officer Tiedje received in excess of $10 million.

BROOKS (voice-over): The data recorder is part of the sensor in every vehicle that triggers the air bag in a crash. In this Buick, the black box -- it's really silver -- is hidden under the carpet.

(on camera) Could you show us exactly where it is?

SR. TROOPER RICK DOWSETT, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: Sure. The recorder is right in this box here.

BROOKS (voice-over): It captures a five-second history of speed, acceleration, braking.

(on camera) How would someone know they had one in their car?

DOWSETT: You'd have to read the owner's manual.

BROOKS (voice-over): Most people don't. An insurance industry survey shows 60 percent of the public does not know about the boxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really? I did not know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had no idea that it was that high tech.

BROOKS: The same survey found almost half the people are against using a box to investigate accidents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not if the cop is telling you how fast you're going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that's really good. I think it's an invasion of my privacy.

BROOKS (on camera): Right now, the data can easily be retrieved in only about 30 percent of all new vehicles, mainly GM models. But access to that data is growing, and so is its use in criminal as well as civil cases.

(voice-over) In the snow last Christmas Eve near Rockville, Maryland, a pickup truck crossed the center line. The head-on crash killed the other driver. But the weather left no skid marks to determine speed.

CPL. GARY LEWIS, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., POLICE: So I couldn't tell you whether he was accelerating or decelerating, rotating, skidding, flipping, or anything else prior to the wreck.

BROOKS: The data recorder answered that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This particular one came out of the GMC pickup truck.

BROOKS: On the computer graph, speed is red.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The red line starts at 70.

BROOKS: That's 30 miles over the limit. The pickup driver pleaded guilty to hit and run and manslaughter.

(on camera) The crash data recorder made it a slam-dunk.

DOUGLAS GANSLER, STATE'S ATTORNEY: The crash data recorder made this case a slam-dunk and every other case like it a slam-dunk.

TIEDJE: If you don't have anything to hide, you don't have anything to worry about.

BROOKS: For Chuck Tiedje, it's not a question of privacy, it's an answer he needed.

TIEDJE: That black box spoke the truth for me when I couldn't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: For more on the car data recorders and other stories on our show, just check out our web site. That's at CNN.com/Next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Next on NEXT@CNN...

SOICHI NOGUCHI, ASTRONAUT: I still need a couple to make it more safer and to operate.

ANNOUNCER: Astronauts practice preparing shuttle tiles in orbit as NASA continues on the long road back to space.

And later a device that produces efficient energy as well as clean drinking water. From the mind of the man who invented the Segway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: The Pentagon is using spy satellites to check for damage to the International Space Station.

Last week, the two men on board the station heard a loud noise that sounded like a flapping piece of metal. You can bet they were concerned, but they couldn't find anything wrong. And all systems seemed to be working normally.

NASA asked the Defense Department to use its satellites to look for clues. NASA officials say the agency is more attentive to potential problems on the space station in the wake of the Columbia disaster.

The shadow of Columbia is also affecting preparations for the next shuttle mission.

Miles O'Brien has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to fly up.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's not sure when it will happen or what it will take to get there. Commander Eileen Collins says she and her crew will be ready to fly the first shuttle mission after Columbia, perhaps as soon as September, 2004, more likely early 2005.

EILEEN COLLINS, SPACE SHUTTLE COMMANDER: This is a very hard -- the engineering and the organizational changes that we're making are very difficult. But I have confidence that we're going to get there.

O'BRIEN: And in some areas, they're making good progress. On board NASA's plane that simulates weightlessness in brief spurts, affectionately known as the Vomit Comet, they are refining a technique for repairing damaged insulating tiles in space, using everything from a custom made glue gun to a 25 cent foam paint brush. (on camera) You feel fairly confident if it ever had to be done for real in orbit, it could be done?

NOGUCHI: I think it could be done, yes. And I still need a couple of practice to make it more safer and easier to operate, but right now, I think it's a very good solution.

O'BRIEN: NASA engineers also believe they have a good solution to reduce the risk of insulating foam falling off a shuttle's external fuel tank during launch, which caused the fatal breach in Columbia's wing.

NASA's proposed fix: remove the foam from the high risk areas, struts that attach the orbiter and tank, using heaters to keep them from icing up. But changes like that bring a raft of new concerns for the new shuttle program manager, Bill Parsons.

BILL PARSONS, SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: As we do other things to this vehicle, we have to understand how that impacts the entire vehicle and what we might have created, another hazard.

O'BRIEN: And there is still at least one engineering riddle without an answer. The foam that struck Columbia breached a carbon panel protecting the orbiter's left wing. The craft disintegrated two weeks later during the heat of reentry, killing the crew of seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, we have the plug concept.

O'BRIEN: NASA is testing some on-orbit carbon panel repair ideas: a flexible cover, a balloon to fill the void behind a panel, an adhesive patch or an umbrella-like hole plug. The ideas are new, and the engineering jury is still out.

PARSONS: It's like this. We have good days; we have bad days. And so, you know, when things don't go as planned, and we have to step back and reassess it, well, then, that does take away from us. But these folks are real resilient.

O'BRIEN (on camera): As it turns out fixing the falling foam or broken thermal tiles or carbon panels may be the easier task now facing NASA. Because, along with the nuts and bolts recommendations, the Columbia accident investigation board also suggests NASA cannot fly safely unless it reengineers its culture.

(voice-over) The board said shuttle managers were not listening to their own people, that they ignored many warnings from midlevel engineers. Those managers say they hear the concerns loud and clear.

(on camera) Do you do things differently? Are you thinking differently than you did before?

COLLINS: Let me tell you what I do. As a commander of the next mission, I'm telling my crew, we all need to listen. When people talk to us, we need to listen.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Listening to co-workers. On the voyage to space, technology itself can only take you so far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up when NEXT@CNN returns, there may be no such thing as a free lunch, but you can't say the same for overseas telephone calls. We'll tell you how it's done.

And later, so you think lemmings periodically commit mass suicide? You won't want to miss this story. Don't go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back. There's a challenge to the new rule allowing you to switch your home phone number to your cell phone. A telephone industry trade group this week asked a federal appeals court to halt the rule, at least temporarily. The United States Telecom Association, which represents local phone companies, says the rule is unfair, because it's easier now for their customers to switch to cell phones and for cell customers to switch to them.

Well, phone companies are offering a lot of deals in the wake of new number portability rule. But how about a deal that lets you make calls overseas for free? Well, Kristie Lu Stout reports on an Internet technology that lets you do just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American columnist Dan Gillmor is on assignment in China. But he's still using a California area code.

DAN GILLMOR, COLUMNIST: My editor in San Jose can call me on a local number there and it just rings into the apartment here.

STOUT: A phone call to the other side of the world with no international charge. That's the perk of voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP. The technology turns your PC into a phone, breaking down voice into packets of data to be sent over the net. VOIP companies like Voinage (ph) provide phone calls on the cheap, but Skype gives it away.

NIKLAS ZENNSTROM, CEO, SKYPE: We can really turn the telephone market upside down by providing free telephony, and that's something that is really appealing to me, because as a consumer myself, I would love to be able to make free phone calls.

STOUT: The service allows free calls between any two users who have Skype software. So far, more than three million have made the download.

ZENNSTROM: There are several hundred millions of users on the broadband Internet, and I believe that in the next few years, as the broadband penetration continues to double every one and a half years or something like that, more and more people will be starting to use the Internet to make phone calls.

STOUT (on camera): For technology that's almost 100 years old, it seems that the writing is finally on the wall.

In fact, according to Yankee Group, by 2006, 60 percent of all new phones sold will be for use on IP-based networks.

(voice-over): So regulators around the world are scrambling to update the rule books.

M.H. AU, HONG KONG TELECOM AUTHORITY: Well, in the long-term, more and more traffic of the telephone services will be migrated to the IP network, and that is going to have some impact on certain aspects of deregulation. For example, whether access charges, interconnection charges are paid, and whether the cost for universal service is equitably shared.

STOUT: In the U.S., phone companies want regulators to subject voice over IP to the same rules and fees levied on traditional networks, a move that could signal the end of those cheap net calls.

And yet, there's another hurdle.

GILLMOR: It's not trivially simple to do. It's not difficult. But it's not -- it's not so easy as getting a phone, plugging it into the line in the wall and making calls.

STOUT: Only a true devotee could be this plugged in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one of the underwater wonders of the world. We'll tell you about new steps to protect it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A myth is shattered, that lemmings periodically commit mass suicide by leaping over cliffs just isn't true, according to a study released in the journal "Science." Researcher Olivier Gill (ph), who spent 15 years tracking lemmings in Greenland found that lemming populations die off simply because they're tasty treats to predators like arctic foxes and snowy owls, and because the area is barren, with few places for lemmings to hide. Predators get their fill, so much so every two or three years, lemming populations are nearly wiped out. Predators leave, and then the populations slowly rebuild. Their sudden disappearance, according to the study, isn't really as sudden as you might think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They reach the final precipice. This is the last chance to turn back.

KELLAN: Or, as Disney portrayed in the 1958 movie, "White Wilderness..."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yet, over they go, testing themselves bodily out into space.

KELLAN: That movie staged this scene, built on a Scandinavian myth that lemmings were suicidal and leapt to their deaths. Instead, there is a four or five-year cycle, where predators eat almost all of the lemmings, and lemmings slowly bounce back.

Ann Kellan, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Australia is planning strong new steps to protect the Great Barrier Reef. About a third of the huge reef will be off limits for fishing and ships under the new plan, which will be voted on by the Australian Parliament. The reef covers more than 134,000 square miles, as one of Australia's main tourist attractions, an amazing sight.

Currently, though, only about 5 percent of it is protected. Australian officials say the new plan will create the largest network of protected marine areas in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KEMP, ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: Around the world, we've seen coral reefs badly damaged. In some cases, damaged beyond repair, by inappropriate practices, pollution, and overuse. The government is determined that we will never say that about the Great Barrier Reef.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: But some environmentalists say the plan doesn't go far enough and that some of the areas most in need of protection are being left out.

Well, if you only know Dean Kamen as the inventor of the Segway scooter, you might assume his main interest is cool gadgets, but Kamen's concerns go a lot deeper than that. Sean Callebs reports on what Kamen is up to now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along New Hampshire's Merrimack River in the northeastern United States stands a string of old mill warehouses, lingering testimony to this region's contribution to America's industrial revolution.

Leaves change and so do revolutions. A 21st century battle is now being waged here, fueled by the lofty aspirations of inventor Dean Kamen.

DEAN KAMEN, INVENTOR: You build yourself a level of expectation that always keeps you on the edge of frustration. You always are trying to grasp something that might be a little out of your reach, and at this point we're looking at some really big, global problems that we see as global opportunities.

CALLEBS: Kamen and his army of about 200 workers at Decca, his private company, are focusing on developing nations and the need to have clean water and efficient energy.

KAMEN: I think we have the opportunity to make a really big difference for billions of people.

CALLEBS: Kamen believes this device, roughly the size of a small washer and dryer, could address the global problem.

KAMEN: It's a realistic alternative...

CALLEBS: Kamen and Decca call it Project Slingshot, and he has reportedly spent $20 million of his own money on this. It is a modern take on the Sterling engine, developed back in 1816. Water and any kind of heat, in this case provided by propane, can be used to generate power.

KAMEN: This engine is producing electricity and a byproduct of what it produces is waste heat, like all engines. It has waste heat. But instead of letting its waste heat go off and pollute the world, we take its waste heat and we use it to help process the water in here, in a vapor compression distillation process.

CALLEBS: The result is the engine not only generates electricity without filters, chemicals, activated charcoal, it also produces clean drinking water. To prove it, a short trip to the Merrimack River.

Into the machine, and bottoms up.

(on camera): And?

KAMEN: Good water.

CALLEBS (voice-over): And here's how it happens. The waste heat runs on precise electronics that takes water to a boiling point. Kamen and crew developed technology that re-condenses the vapor into a clean liquid water.

KAMEN: This will make 10 gallons per hour of fresh water, or 1,000 liters a day, and 1,000 liters of water a day is way more than even the various international health organizations suggest is enough for 100 people.

CALLEBS: And what about the 1,000 watts of electricity the one machine generates? Enough to power all of this: a small refrigerator that could store medicine, lights, a fan. Life changing.

In case you think it can't happen, Kamen has heard it before. During all the years and years it took to perfect this. He calls it the iBOT.

KAMEN: You notice, you're back now to original height, and you could shake hands with somebody, and by the way -- if you were on a barstool that high and somebody pushed you this hard, you'd fall over. So that's why we continue to remind people, this is not a wheelchair.

CALLEBS (on camera): This is an iBOT.

KAMEN: It's an iBOT.

CALLEBS: Developed over decades in part with a huge U.S. health products corporation, Johnson & Johnson, a series of computers, electronics and gyroscopes help it seemingly defy gravity and go places many disabled thought they would never be able to go.

(on camera): You're looking at the Segway, and if you haven't seen one of these things in person, no doubt you have heard or read about it. It is arguably the invention that has garnered Kamen the most amount of attention, the greatest hype. That's all well and good for his company, but these days the quirky inventor is focused on something else: America's youth.

(voice-over): These competitors are from some of the more than 650 high schools across the United States taking part in FIRST, which stands for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. His goal is to make scientists as attractive to students as sports heroes and pop stars.

Kamen says he hopes challenging students to think and devoting time and money to address some of the globe's most pressing concerns will be his enduring legacy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, a Webcam with a mind of its own. It follows your face. Cool gizmos for holiday gift shopping when NEXT@CNN returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Unless you've finished all your holiday shopping, and, of course I have -- right. I wish I had even started. Then you're still trying to find the perfect tech gift for that computer fanatic in your life. Well, fear not, because our help desk is coming to your rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (on camera): If you're having trouble finding something for the person on your holiday wish list who loves high tech toys, we are joined now by Marc Saltzman, who is a resident tech guru here. With Mark, a couple of tech guys in the same room. We can only hope it doesn't explode with all this stuff here. Let's start with the PC, though, because it's really the hub of all of this, right?

MARC SALTZMAN, TECH GURU: That's right. We're looking at a nice pavilion PC from HP. But the point of this piece today, Daniel, is that if you don't want to buy a new PC every year, or you can't, and let's face it, we all can't afford a beautiful PC like this every year, let's look at some accessories and sort of the hardware add-ons as a solution to spice things up, or add some longevity to your desktop.

SIEBERG: All right, this one looks like a picture frame.

SALTZMAN: It does, doesn't it? But this is actually the world's first see-through scanner. It's also from HP, called the Scanjet 4670. And the reason why it's see-through, which is I think such a brilliant idea, is that it eliminates the guesswork in trying to align the paper.

SIEBERG: Ah, twist in the picture.

SALTZMAN: That happens to me all the time with the one that I've got at home with a lid. And the reason why it also looks like a picture frame is because you can move it around, and put it on things, even on a picture on the wall, so it's a really neat little product.

SIEBERG: All right, speaking of moving around, this device has the same shape, but a lot different. It packs a lot into it.

SALTZMAN: Yeah, this is from RCA, called the Lira Audio Video Jukebox. It's like their, you know, last year's hard-drive based portable music player. But this, as you can see, has a really bright LCD screen, so it's not just music anymore. It's music videos, or movies, or TV shows. What you choose to put on the hard drive is entirely up to you. Great little product, and it does have that little stand there, which is cool.

SIEBERG: Now, head phones here, now for the audiophiles who would prefer to have some speakers rather than some headphones. What are these all about?

SALTZMAN: Well, instead of doing the 5.1 surround sound solution if you don't have a lot of space, or you're a minimalist, this is great. This is Creative's I-treat speakers, the 3,500. Very sleek looking. As you can see. And these speakers, despite their small size, deliver beautiful audio. So it's a nice little touch to your desktop.

SIEBERG: A very intriguing i-treat. Now, speaking of intriguing, I'm intrigued by this eye right here, who seems to be following me. Am I being watched?

SALTZMAN: Yes, you are. Now, look at this. This is a Webcam. It's called the Quick Cam Orbit, and it will follow you up and down, back and forth, and side to side.

SIEBERG: Not called Big Brother?

SALTZMAN: Not big -- it looks like it, doesn't it? It looks like Hal from "2001 Space Odyssey." And that's great, because we rarely chat and sit in one spot. So it moves around, it follows you.

SIEBERG: Mark, did you break this keyboard? Do we have to return it?

SALTZMAN: No, it looks like, doesn't it? This is a new product, also from (UNINTELLIGIBLE), called the De Novo (ph). And as you can see, it's flat, wireless. It's got Blue Tooth activity, but it's got this removal sort of media pad it's called, so you can access all your favorite music, videos, pictures, what have you, all with this sort of remote control-like function. It also has a calculator and you can use it as a numeric keypad if you're using it for business. So a great little product and very high end.

SIEBERG: Wireless sort of seems to be the buzz word these days, Mark. And a lot of mice also seem to be going that way.

SALTZMAN: Yes, this is a Microsoft Intelimost (ph) Explorer 2.0. What's neat about this, Daniel, as you can tell, it's got a black leather finish.

SIEBERG: Oh, that new mouse smell.

SALTZMAN: So it's very comfortable. After all, this is the accessory that we use the most. Our hand rests on this for much of the day if you work in an office environment. So might as well be comfortable.

What's also neat about this, Daniel, is that you can scroll left and right, not just up and down. It's called tilt wheel technology, so -- and apparently it's the number one feature people ask for in a mouse is a nice scroll wheel. So when you've got an Excel document, for example, a spreadsheet, move left and right, not just up and down.

SIEBERG: OK.

SALTZMAN: Neat little product.

SIEBERG: Now, Microsoft has also got another wireless product out here. This is more for the home network.

SALTZMAN: That's right. This is a WiFi solution. Wireless Fidelity. It's a wireless router. Microsoft calls it a bay station. The reason why you want to set up a WiFi network is two or more PCs can communicate together, share the same high speed Internet access, share peripherals like a printer, and it's a neat product because of high speed.

SIEBERG: Now, DVD burners seem to come with a lot of new computers. Why would I need this one?

SALTZMAN: Very good point. It sounds redundant. We have a DVD burner. But what's neat about this product from HP, is it's called the DVD movie writer, and it's an analog to digital converter. So yes, it's a DVD burner, an external DVD burner, so you can connect it to a laptop or desktop PC.

But if you can see underneath here, this is ideal for those who have VCRs or old camcorder footage, maybe a High 8 tapes. You can connect it directly to this device, install the software, you press record, using your mouse, play on the device and it will back it up onto DVD. Take that DVD out of there, and pop it into your TV-based DVD player and enjoy the old home movies all over again. SIEBERG: All right, Mark, some great ideas for the holidays as well as a way to extend the life of your PC. Mark Saltzman, thanks so much for joining us.

SALTZMAN: Thanks, Daniel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Still to come, an art exhibit that critics can rightfully call garbage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, 'tis the season for conspicuous consumption, from pigging out on turkey to overspending, to buy that impressive gift. Maybe we're all a little guilty. But how would you like to have a record of everything you've consumed for years, to see all of that leftover packaging? Most of us would probably shudder at the thought. But for one New Yorker, that record is art. Jeanne Moos has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks just like a grocery store, until you realize everything's empty.

DAVID SHAPIRO, ARTIST: These were tomatoes, you know, cheese...

MOOS (on camera): This is like deli stuff here.

SHAPIRO: Ham deli.

MOOS: Yes.

SHAPIRO: This is aisle two, beverages, beer, liquor.

MOOS (voice-over): Normally stuff like this ends up in the trash, but artist David Shapiro saved the packaging from everything he's consumed over the past two years.

SHAPIRO: This is all from a vending machine.

I like the white tuna in the can because the other one reminds me too much of cat food.

MOOS: Check out the dog food aisle, stocked with everything his pooch Alice consumed. Shapiro even kept takeout containers.

SHAPIRO: And then when you lay it out end to end, side to side, you realize god, I'm a pig.

MOOS: And proud to display it at a Brooklyn art gallery called Jack The Pelican Presents, in conjunction with Eye Wash. Gallery goers got a taste of his innermost appetites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of hummus and a lot of whiskey. MOOS: Shapiro stored it all in his basement. Women had a bone to pick with his cleaning products.

(on camera): These are the only sponges you've used for two years?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a paucity of laundry detergent.

MOOS (voice-over): As for the 179 toilet paper rolls...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very few, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, he doesn't (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED) very much.

MOOS (on camera): David may not have many toilet paper rolls, but he's got plenty of toothbrushes.

(voice-over): He admits to an oral fixation.

SHAPIRO: No cavities.

MOOS: And no girlfriend after this project.

SHAPIRO: She just couldn't stand it anymore.

MOOS: It's like throwing open your fridge and your medicine cabinet.

(on camera): Now I really see why the girlfriend got a little upset. Pregnancy test, huh?

(voice-over): Art work for sale for a mere hundred thousand bucks, fish sticks not included.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: A hundred thousand bucks? I guess one man's trash is the same man's art, or something like that. You decide.

Well, that's all the time we have for now. Here's what's coming up next week. A special edition of NEXT@CNN will celebrate 100 years of aviation, from the Wright brothers' historic feat to a craft that could change the future of man's space exploration. "The Wright Stuff: A Century of Flight" airs in our regular time slots next weekend.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let us hear from you. You can e-mail us 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 this week. For all of us on the sci-tech beat, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll 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

Mercury Emissions Proposal; High Speed Train Passes Milestone>

Aired December 6, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DANIEL SIEBERG, HOST: Hi, everybody, I'm Daniel Sieberg.
Today on NEXT@CNN, fire and ice. We'll take you to the roof of Africa and tell you why the famous snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone.

And you may know Dean Kamen for his Segway scooter. We'll show you a side of thus inventor you may not know about. Trying to help solve the global shortage of safe drinking water.

And we'll show you an exercise in really conspicuous consumption. If you've ever wondered what two years worth of garbage looks like, well at the end of our show, you'll wonder no longer.

All that and more on NEXT.

Across the globe, glaciers are shrinking. Whether you believe that human activity is causing climate change or if you think it's a natural phenomenon, there's no argument that warmer temperatures are causing glaciers to recede.

Jeff Koinange trekked to the top of Africa's highest peak to see why the snows of Kilimanjaro are melting away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It begins with a simple fire like this, as farmers clear land for planting crops. Before long, the fire spreads indiscriminately, setting off a series of events that lead to entire forest areas be reduced to ashes.

Forests are essential to the generation of rain. Less forest means less rain. Less rain means imminent drought and famine, forever changing the character of a region.

The story is not unusual on a continent where population growth far outstrips the availability of arable land. But scientists studying changing weather patterns in the region have noticed something for ominous affecting Africa's most famous symbol.

CHRISTIAN LAMBRECHTS, U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM: It's now estimated that by the year 2020, there will be no glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: As we made the climb up the summit, we found evidence of all too frequent forest fires. Accompanying us on the ascent, German scientist Andreas Hemp, who says despite the meltdown, the priority right now is not to save the glaciers.

ANDREAS HEMP, BAYREUTH UNIVERSITY: Most people think they see the glaciers, OK. There is water, and we are getting water from this area, but that's not true. And to preserve the forests, this is the most important thing on Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: The landscape changes rapidly as we climb up through different climate zones, all the while with Kilimanjaro's imposing precipice as our backdrop. Along the way, rivers once bursting with mountain spring water are now simply reduced to babbling Brooks. The glaciers that spawned these rivers are shrinking.

HEMP: Even the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), glaciers, Kilimanjaro and the forest bed is a very important ecosystem for all of northern Tanzania. And I think there is some hope that we can preserve this function of the forest and Kilimanjaro.

KOINANGE: As dawn breaks on the fourth day, we are virtually at the summit. The sight before us, as magnificent as it is majestic.

Altitude sickness, a frequent killer of mountain climbers, means we have less than an hour to follow Hemp as he installs his weather station and other appliances on the mountaintop.

As time runs out, we realize the clock, too, is ticking on Kilimanjaro's glaciers, everywhere around us. Evidence that the mountain's once mighty ice cap is not as thick as it once was.

(on camera) At nearly 6,000 meters or to be more precise, 19,340 feet, this is Kilimanjaro's highest point. Wind chill factor, minus 15. But with less and less rain falling on Africa's highest peak and global warming increasing at an alarming rate, it's no wonder that one of Africa's icons that has come to symbolize a continent's beauty will soon, sadly, be a thing of the past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: Back in this country, President Bush has signed legislation that he says will help prevent catastrophic wildfires, like those that destroyed thousands of homes in California earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, we will help to prevent catastrophic wildfires. We'll help save lives and property. And we'll help protect our forests from sudden and needless destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: The bill will increase funding forest thinning projects on federal land. Thinner forests means less fuel for wildfires.

But critics call the bill a payback to the timber industry that won't help areas most at risk of fire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN COSGROVE, SIERRA CLUB: The bill is actually going to increase commercial logging in remote forests in the back country, miles away from these communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: Another point of contention between the White House and environmental groups: mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants.

Elaine Quijano has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to mercury, environmentalists agree with the government on one thing.

JOHN WALKE, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: In its simplest terms, mercury is a brain poison.

MIKE LEAVITT, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Mercury is a dangerous substance.

QUIJANO: Neither side disputes the scientific link between mercury in the air, entering waterways and winding up in the fish people eat. What they're not seeing eye-to-eye on is how best to reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Critics are taking aim at new White House proposals that would change the EPS's approach to the problem.

Until recently, the agency was set to require power plants to meet a certain standard for mercury air emissions, a process the industry strongly opposed because of costs.

So the EPA is now considering a cap and trade program, in which, for example, a plant in Ohio that couldn't meet federal regulations for mercury emissions could buy credits from a plant well within federal limits, say in California.

WALKE: And the theory behind a cap and trade program is that nationwide everything should work out and you should get a level of reductions nationally. But people don't breathe nationally. People breathe in their local communities.

QUIJANO: Still, the EPA's new administrator insists the proposals would be effective in reducing the country's overall mercury emissions from 48 tons annually to 34 tons annually by the year 2010.

LEAVITT: Our purpose is to protect unborn fetuses and pregnant women from mercury. And for the first time, this country will be regulating mercury from power plants.

QUIJANO: Some industry groups, meanwhile, say any EPA rule changes need to be flexible. Otherwise, they say utilities unable to meet the limits could be forced to switch to natural gas.

SCOTT SEGAL, DIRECTOR OF ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COORDINATING COUNCIL: And while on the surface that may sound appealing, you need to recall that natural gas is already selling at three times its historical average.

QUIJANO: But some say not equipping older, coal burning power plants with newer, cleaner technology will end up costing society more in the long run.

REP. JIM NORTON (D), VIRGINIA: The real people that are going to pay the steepest price are our children. Now what kind of a message is that for us adults to send to a world we'll never see?

QUIJANO: The EPA has until December 15 to outline the new standards and plans to take public comment. Final approval on any rule changes wouldn't happen until next year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up on NEXT@CNN...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's an invasion of my privacy.

ANNOUNCER: ... how your car can testify against you if you break the law.

Also ahead, milestones for high speed trains in France and Japan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: All right. If you think you have a long commute, consider this. Some French commuters live 200 miles from work. They do have an advantage, though. On the French high-speed train, the TGV, they can make that trip in a little over an hour.

Now, the train recently carried its one billionth passenger, and the celebration brought an outpouring of train worship. Yes, I did say train worship.

Jim Bittermann has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Love is not a word frequently associated with 400 tons of steel, but as France's high speed train, the TGV, was about to convey its one billionth passenger, those who run it and those who ride on it were positively gushing.

RICHARD BROWN, CEO, EUROSTAR GROUP: I don't think it is just a train. It's very difficult to express what it is, if it's not a train. But there is a magic and there's a thrill. And there's a sense of travel and adventure when you get on a TGV.

BITTERMANN: With that kind of veneration in the air, it's perhaps not surprising the trains, which have never had a fatal accident in 22 years of service, were applauded for the way they have changed the country.

And the country being France, there were stories of TGV romances, recounted by the woman who voices railroad departure announcements.

And there were poems and personal testimony, written by passengers who swear their lives have been transformed by fast trains.

PAULINE BAKULU, PASSENGER: Three hours to go to Marseilles, when you live in Paris. And two hours and a half now to go in the center of London. It's quite revolutionary for me.

BITTERMANN: Indeed. When trains can, in just one hour, go 300 kilometers, more than 180 miles, it does change one's perspective.

High-speed trains now carry daily commuters who live 200 miles, nearly 325 kilometers, from where they work. And the Eurostar trains now carry 65 percent of travelers going between London and Paris.

LOUIS GALLOIS, PRESIDENT, FRENCH TRANS. SYSTEM: This is a train of everybody. It's for -- I think it's the basis of the service of this train.

BITTERMANN (on camera): In the beginning, the TGV was not without its critics. Too much investment, they said, in a transportation system that had its origins in the previous century.

(voice-over) But fast trains quickly overcame the naysayers and are fast spreading through Europe. By 2007, cutting the travel time between Paris and Frankfurt to less than four hours and from Paris to Geneva to three.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: And plus, it's also a little more scenic than flying.

And Japan is also a leader in high-speed train technology. This week, an experimental train there set a new speed record for trains.

The magnetically levitated train got up to 361 miles per hour. That's kilometers per hour for you metric folks, and it beat the speed record set by the same train just last month.

Maglev trains use magnets to float slightly above the track, reducing friction to almost nothing. This Maglev train is part of a government-financed project to develop faster trains.

Well, even though normal cars can't match the speed of a high tech train, they can and do routinely go faster than the speed limits on U.S. highways. Speeders who think they got away with it may be surprised to tell that their car can tell tales.

Mike Brooks explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHUCK TIEDJE, ARLINGTON HEIGHTS POLICE OFFICER: I got hit by a funeral hearse on Friday the 13th.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three years ago, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, police officer Chuck Tiedje's squad car was broadsided by a hearse that ran a red light.

TIEDJE: I was given less than a five percent chance to live.

BROOKS: He lay in a coma for 26 days.

TIEDJE: I woke up a month later in the hospital on election day.

BROOKS: His back was broken, both hips, his collarbone, a rib.

TIEDJE: I still have a considerable amount of pain every day. I'll have that forever.

BROOKS: The hearse driver said he blacked out at the wheel, but a so-called black box in the hearse, a data recorder few people know about, said otherwise.

The upward line at the left shows the driver pushed down on the gas pedal to run the light. The vertical line at the right means he hit the brakes only at the last second.

Tiedje sued the funeral home. His lawyer.

(on camera) What did the data recorder mean to you?

ROBERT CLIFFORD, ATTORNEY: Gotcha.

BROOKS: What was the final settlement?

CLIFFORD: Officer Tiedje received in excess of $10 million.

BROOKS (voice-over): The data recorder is part of the sensor in every vehicle that triggers the air bag in a crash. In this Buick, the black box -- it's really silver -- is hidden under the carpet.

(on camera) Could you show us exactly where it is?

SR. TROOPER RICK DOWSETT, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: Sure. The recorder is right in this box here.

BROOKS (voice-over): It captures a five-second history of speed, acceleration, braking.

(on camera) How would someone know they had one in their car?

DOWSETT: You'd have to read the owner's manual.

BROOKS (voice-over): Most people don't. An insurance industry survey shows 60 percent of the public does not know about the boxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really? I did not know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had no idea that it was that high tech.

BROOKS: The same survey found almost half the people are against using a box to investigate accidents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not if the cop is telling you how fast you're going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that's really good. I think it's an invasion of my privacy.

BROOKS (on camera): Right now, the data can easily be retrieved in only about 30 percent of all new vehicles, mainly GM models. But access to that data is growing, and so is its use in criminal as well as civil cases.

(voice-over) In the snow last Christmas Eve near Rockville, Maryland, a pickup truck crossed the center line. The head-on crash killed the other driver. But the weather left no skid marks to determine speed.

CPL. GARY LEWIS, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., POLICE: So I couldn't tell you whether he was accelerating or decelerating, rotating, skidding, flipping, or anything else prior to the wreck.

BROOKS: The data recorder answered that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This particular one came out of the GMC pickup truck.

BROOKS: On the computer graph, speed is red.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The red line starts at 70.

BROOKS: That's 30 miles over the limit. The pickup driver pleaded guilty to hit and run and manslaughter.

(on camera) The crash data recorder made it a slam-dunk.

DOUGLAS GANSLER, STATE'S ATTORNEY: The crash data recorder made this case a slam-dunk and every other case like it a slam-dunk.

TIEDJE: If you don't have anything to hide, you don't have anything to worry about.

BROOKS: For Chuck Tiedje, it's not a question of privacy, it's an answer he needed.

TIEDJE: That black box spoke the truth for me when I couldn't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: For more on the car data recorders and other stories on our show, just check out our web site. That's at CNN.com/Next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Next on NEXT@CNN...

SOICHI NOGUCHI, ASTRONAUT: I still need a couple to make it more safer and to operate.

ANNOUNCER: Astronauts practice preparing shuttle tiles in orbit as NASA continues on the long road back to space.

And later a device that produces efficient energy as well as clean drinking water. From the mind of the man who invented the Segway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: The Pentagon is using spy satellites to check for damage to the International Space Station.

Last week, the two men on board the station heard a loud noise that sounded like a flapping piece of metal. You can bet they were concerned, but they couldn't find anything wrong. And all systems seemed to be working normally.

NASA asked the Defense Department to use its satellites to look for clues. NASA officials say the agency is more attentive to potential problems on the space station in the wake of the Columbia disaster.

The shadow of Columbia is also affecting preparations for the next shuttle mission.

Miles O'Brien has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to fly up.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's not sure when it will happen or what it will take to get there. Commander Eileen Collins says she and her crew will be ready to fly the first shuttle mission after Columbia, perhaps as soon as September, 2004, more likely early 2005.

EILEEN COLLINS, SPACE SHUTTLE COMMANDER: This is a very hard -- the engineering and the organizational changes that we're making are very difficult. But I have confidence that we're going to get there.

O'BRIEN: And in some areas, they're making good progress. On board NASA's plane that simulates weightlessness in brief spurts, affectionately known as the Vomit Comet, they are refining a technique for repairing damaged insulating tiles in space, using everything from a custom made glue gun to a 25 cent foam paint brush. (on camera) You feel fairly confident if it ever had to be done for real in orbit, it could be done?

NOGUCHI: I think it could be done, yes. And I still need a couple of practice to make it more safer and easier to operate, but right now, I think it's a very good solution.

O'BRIEN: NASA engineers also believe they have a good solution to reduce the risk of insulating foam falling off a shuttle's external fuel tank during launch, which caused the fatal breach in Columbia's wing.

NASA's proposed fix: remove the foam from the high risk areas, struts that attach the orbiter and tank, using heaters to keep them from icing up. But changes like that bring a raft of new concerns for the new shuttle program manager, Bill Parsons.

BILL PARSONS, SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: As we do other things to this vehicle, we have to understand how that impacts the entire vehicle and what we might have created, another hazard.

O'BRIEN: And there is still at least one engineering riddle without an answer. The foam that struck Columbia breached a carbon panel protecting the orbiter's left wing. The craft disintegrated two weeks later during the heat of reentry, killing the crew of seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, we have the plug concept.

O'BRIEN: NASA is testing some on-orbit carbon panel repair ideas: a flexible cover, a balloon to fill the void behind a panel, an adhesive patch or an umbrella-like hole plug. The ideas are new, and the engineering jury is still out.

PARSONS: It's like this. We have good days; we have bad days. And so, you know, when things don't go as planned, and we have to step back and reassess it, well, then, that does take away from us. But these folks are real resilient.

O'BRIEN (on camera): As it turns out fixing the falling foam or broken thermal tiles or carbon panels may be the easier task now facing NASA. Because, along with the nuts and bolts recommendations, the Columbia accident investigation board also suggests NASA cannot fly safely unless it reengineers its culture.

(voice-over) The board said shuttle managers were not listening to their own people, that they ignored many warnings from midlevel engineers. Those managers say they hear the concerns loud and clear.

(on camera) Do you do things differently? Are you thinking differently than you did before?

COLLINS: Let me tell you what I do. As a commander of the next mission, I'm telling my crew, we all need to listen. When people talk to us, we need to listen.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Listening to co-workers. On the voyage to space, technology itself can only take you so far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up when NEXT@CNN returns, there may be no such thing as a free lunch, but you can't say the same for overseas telephone calls. We'll tell you how it's done.

And later, so you think lemmings periodically commit mass suicide? You won't want to miss this story. Don't go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back. There's a challenge to the new rule allowing you to switch your home phone number to your cell phone. A telephone industry trade group this week asked a federal appeals court to halt the rule, at least temporarily. The United States Telecom Association, which represents local phone companies, says the rule is unfair, because it's easier now for their customers to switch to cell phones and for cell customers to switch to them.

Well, phone companies are offering a lot of deals in the wake of new number portability rule. But how about a deal that lets you make calls overseas for free? Well, Kristie Lu Stout reports on an Internet technology that lets you do just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American columnist Dan Gillmor is on assignment in China. But he's still using a California area code.

DAN GILLMOR, COLUMNIST: My editor in San Jose can call me on a local number there and it just rings into the apartment here.

STOUT: A phone call to the other side of the world with no international charge. That's the perk of voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP. The technology turns your PC into a phone, breaking down voice into packets of data to be sent over the net. VOIP companies like Voinage (ph) provide phone calls on the cheap, but Skype gives it away.

NIKLAS ZENNSTROM, CEO, SKYPE: We can really turn the telephone market upside down by providing free telephony, and that's something that is really appealing to me, because as a consumer myself, I would love to be able to make free phone calls.

STOUT: The service allows free calls between any two users who have Skype software. So far, more than three million have made the download.

ZENNSTROM: There are several hundred millions of users on the broadband Internet, and I believe that in the next few years, as the broadband penetration continues to double every one and a half years or something like that, more and more people will be starting to use the Internet to make phone calls.

STOUT (on camera): For technology that's almost 100 years old, it seems that the writing is finally on the wall.

In fact, according to Yankee Group, by 2006, 60 percent of all new phones sold will be for use on IP-based networks.

(voice-over): So regulators around the world are scrambling to update the rule books.

M.H. AU, HONG KONG TELECOM AUTHORITY: Well, in the long-term, more and more traffic of the telephone services will be migrated to the IP network, and that is going to have some impact on certain aspects of deregulation. For example, whether access charges, interconnection charges are paid, and whether the cost for universal service is equitably shared.

STOUT: In the U.S., phone companies want regulators to subject voice over IP to the same rules and fees levied on traditional networks, a move that could signal the end of those cheap net calls.

And yet, there's another hurdle.

GILLMOR: It's not trivially simple to do. It's not difficult. But it's not -- it's not so easy as getting a phone, plugging it into the line in the wall and making calls.

STOUT: Only a true devotee could be this plugged in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one of the underwater wonders of the world. We'll tell you about new steps to protect it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A myth is shattered, that lemmings periodically commit mass suicide by leaping over cliffs just isn't true, according to a study released in the journal "Science." Researcher Olivier Gill (ph), who spent 15 years tracking lemmings in Greenland found that lemming populations die off simply because they're tasty treats to predators like arctic foxes and snowy owls, and because the area is barren, with few places for lemmings to hide. Predators get their fill, so much so every two or three years, lemming populations are nearly wiped out. Predators leave, and then the populations slowly rebuild. Their sudden disappearance, according to the study, isn't really as sudden as you might think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They reach the final precipice. This is the last chance to turn back.

KELLAN: Or, as Disney portrayed in the 1958 movie, "White Wilderness..."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yet, over they go, testing themselves bodily out into space.

KELLAN: That movie staged this scene, built on a Scandinavian myth that lemmings were suicidal and leapt to their deaths. Instead, there is a four or five-year cycle, where predators eat almost all of the lemmings, and lemmings slowly bounce back.

Ann Kellan, CNN, Atlanta.

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SIEBERG: Australia is planning strong new steps to protect the Great Barrier Reef. About a third of the huge reef will be off limits for fishing and ships under the new plan, which will be voted on by the Australian Parliament. The reef covers more than 134,000 square miles, as one of Australia's main tourist attractions, an amazing sight.

Currently, though, only about 5 percent of it is protected. Australian officials say the new plan will create the largest network of protected marine areas in the world.

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DAVID KEMP, ENVIRONMENT MINISTER: Around the world, we've seen coral reefs badly damaged. In some cases, damaged beyond repair, by inappropriate practices, pollution, and overuse. The government is determined that we will never say that about the Great Barrier Reef.

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SIEBERG: But some environmentalists say the plan doesn't go far enough and that some of the areas most in need of protection are being left out.

Well, if you only know Dean Kamen as the inventor of the Segway scooter, you might assume his main interest is cool gadgets, but Kamen's concerns go a lot deeper than that. Sean Callebs reports on what Kamen is up to now.

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SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along New Hampshire's Merrimack River in the northeastern United States stands a string of old mill warehouses, lingering testimony to this region's contribution to America's industrial revolution.

Leaves change and so do revolutions. A 21st century battle is now being waged here, fueled by the lofty aspirations of inventor Dean Kamen.

DEAN KAMEN, INVENTOR: You build yourself a level of expectation that always keeps you on the edge of frustration. You always are trying to grasp something that might be a little out of your reach, and at this point we're looking at some really big, global problems that we see as global opportunities.

CALLEBS: Kamen and his army of about 200 workers at Decca, his private company, are focusing on developing nations and the need to have clean water and efficient energy.

KAMEN: I think we have the opportunity to make a really big difference for billions of people.

CALLEBS: Kamen believes this device, roughly the size of a small washer and dryer, could address the global problem.

KAMEN: It's a realistic alternative...

CALLEBS: Kamen and Decca call it Project Slingshot, and he has reportedly spent $20 million of his own money on this. It is a modern take on the Sterling engine, developed back in 1816. Water and any kind of heat, in this case provided by propane, can be used to generate power.

KAMEN: This engine is producing electricity and a byproduct of what it produces is waste heat, like all engines. It has waste heat. But instead of letting its waste heat go off and pollute the world, we take its waste heat and we use it to help process the water in here, in a vapor compression distillation process.

CALLEBS: The result is the engine not only generates electricity without filters, chemicals, activated charcoal, it also produces clean drinking water. To prove it, a short trip to the Merrimack River.

Into the machine, and bottoms up.

(on camera): And?

KAMEN: Good water.

CALLEBS (voice-over): And here's how it happens. The waste heat runs on precise electronics that takes water to a boiling point. Kamen and crew developed technology that re-condenses the vapor into a clean liquid water.

KAMEN: This will make 10 gallons per hour of fresh water, or 1,000 liters a day, and 1,000 liters of water a day is way more than even the various international health organizations suggest is enough for 100 people.

CALLEBS: And what about the 1,000 watts of electricity the one machine generates? Enough to power all of this: a small refrigerator that could store medicine, lights, a fan. Life changing.

In case you think it can't happen, Kamen has heard it before. During all the years and years it took to perfect this. He calls it the iBOT.

KAMEN: You notice, you're back now to original height, and you could shake hands with somebody, and by the way -- if you were on a barstool that high and somebody pushed you this hard, you'd fall over. So that's why we continue to remind people, this is not a wheelchair.

CALLEBS (on camera): This is an iBOT.

KAMEN: It's an iBOT.

CALLEBS: Developed over decades in part with a huge U.S. health products corporation, Johnson & Johnson, a series of computers, electronics and gyroscopes help it seemingly defy gravity and go places many disabled thought they would never be able to go.

(on camera): You're looking at the Segway, and if you haven't seen one of these things in person, no doubt you have heard or read about it. It is arguably the invention that has garnered Kamen the most amount of attention, the greatest hype. That's all well and good for his company, but these days the quirky inventor is focused on something else: America's youth.

(voice-over): These competitors are from some of the more than 650 high schools across the United States taking part in FIRST, which stands for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. His goal is to make scientists as attractive to students as sports heroes and pop stars.

Kamen says he hopes challenging students to think and devoting time and money to address some of the globe's most pressing concerns will be his enduring legacy.

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ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, a Webcam with a mind of its own. It follows your face. Cool gizmos for holiday gift shopping when NEXT@CNN returns.

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SIEBERG: Unless you've finished all your holiday shopping, and, of course I have -- right. I wish I had even started. Then you're still trying to find the perfect tech gift for that computer fanatic in your life. Well, fear not, because our help desk is coming to your rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (on camera): If you're having trouble finding something for the person on your holiday wish list who loves high tech toys, we are joined now by Marc Saltzman, who is a resident tech guru here. With Mark, a couple of tech guys in the same room. We can only hope it doesn't explode with all this stuff here. Let's start with the PC, though, because it's really the hub of all of this, right?

MARC SALTZMAN, TECH GURU: That's right. We're looking at a nice pavilion PC from HP. But the point of this piece today, Daniel, is that if you don't want to buy a new PC every year, or you can't, and let's face it, we all can't afford a beautiful PC like this every year, let's look at some accessories and sort of the hardware add-ons as a solution to spice things up, or add some longevity to your desktop.

SIEBERG: All right, this one looks like a picture frame.

SALTZMAN: It does, doesn't it? But this is actually the world's first see-through scanner. It's also from HP, called the Scanjet 4670. And the reason why it's see-through, which is I think such a brilliant idea, is that it eliminates the guesswork in trying to align the paper.

SIEBERG: Ah, twist in the picture.

SALTZMAN: That happens to me all the time with the one that I've got at home with a lid. And the reason why it also looks like a picture frame is because you can move it around, and put it on things, even on a picture on the wall, so it's a really neat little product.

SIEBERG: All right, speaking of moving around, this device has the same shape, but a lot different. It packs a lot into it.

SALTZMAN: Yeah, this is from RCA, called the Lira Audio Video Jukebox. It's like their, you know, last year's hard-drive based portable music player. But this, as you can see, has a really bright LCD screen, so it's not just music anymore. It's music videos, or movies, or TV shows. What you choose to put on the hard drive is entirely up to you. Great little product, and it does have that little stand there, which is cool.

SIEBERG: Now, head phones here, now for the audiophiles who would prefer to have some speakers rather than some headphones. What are these all about?

SALTZMAN: Well, instead of doing the 5.1 surround sound solution if you don't have a lot of space, or you're a minimalist, this is great. This is Creative's I-treat speakers, the 3,500. Very sleek looking. As you can see. And these speakers, despite their small size, deliver beautiful audio. So it's a nice little touch to your desktop.

SIEBERG: A very intriguing i-treat. Now, speaking of intriguing, I'm intrigued by this eye right here, who seems to be following me. Am I being watched?

SALTZMAN: Yes, you are. Now, look at this. This is a Webcam. It's called the Quick Cam Orbit, and it will follow you up and down, back and forth, and side to side.

SIEBERG: Not called Big Brother?

SALTZMAN: Not big -- it looks like it, doesn't it? It looks like Hal from "2001 Space Odyssey." And that's great, because we rarely chat and sit in one spot. So it moves around, it follows you.

SIEBERG: Mark, did you break this keyboard? Do we have to return it?

SALTZMAN: No, it looks like, doesn't it? This is a new product, also from (UNINTELLIGIBLE), called the De Novo (ph). And as you can see, it's flat, wireless. It's got Blue Tooth activity, but it's got this removal sort of media pad it's called, so you can access all your favorite music, videos, pictures, what have you, all with this sort of remote control-like function. It also has a calculator and you can use it as a numeric keypad if you're using it for business. So a great little product and very high end.

SIEBERG: Wireless sort of seems to be the buzz word these days, Mark. And a lot of mice also seem to be going that way.

SALTZMAN: Yes, this is a Microsoft Intelimost (ph) Explorer 2.0. What's neat about this, Daniel, as you can tell, it's got a black leather finish.

SIEBERG: Oh, that new mouse smell.

SALTZMAN: So it's very comfortable. After all, this is the accessory that we use the most. Our hand rests on this for much of the day if you work in an office environment. So might as well be comfortable.

What's also neat about this, Daniel, is that you can scroll left and right, not just up and down. It's called tilt wheel technology, so -- and apparently it's the number one feature people ask for in a mouse is a nice scroll wheel. So when you've got an Excel document, for example, a spreadsheet, move left and right, not just up and down.

SIEBERG: OK.

SALTZMAN: Neat little product.

SIEBERG: Now, Microsoft has also got another wireless product out here. This is more for the home network.

SALTZMAN: That's right. This is a WiFi solution. Wireless Fidelity. It's a wireless router. Microsoft calls it a bay station. The reason why you want to set up a WiFi network is two or more PCs can communicate together, share the same high speed Internet access, share peripherals like a printer, and it's a neat product because of high speed.

SIEBERG: Now, DVD burners seem to come with a lot of new computers. Why would I need this one?

SALTZMAN: Very good point. It sounds redundant. We have a DVD burner. But what's neat about this product from HP, is it's called the DVD movie writer, and it's an analog to digital converter. So yes, it's a DVD burner, an external DVD burner, so you can connect it to a laptop or desktop PC.

But if you can see underneath here, this is ideal for those who have VCRs or old camcorder footage, maybe a High 8 tapes. You can connect it directly to this device, install the software, you press record, using your mouse, play on the device and it will back it up onto DVD. Take that DVD out of there, and pop it into your TV-based DVD player and enjoy the old home movies all over again. SIEBERG: All right, Mark, some great ideas for the holidays as well as a way to extend the life of your PC. Mark Saltzman, thanks so much for joining us.

SALTZMAN: Thanks, Daniel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Still to come, an art exhibit that critics can rightfully call garbage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, 'tis the season for conspicuous consumption, from pigging out on turkey to overspending, to buy that impressive gift. Maybe we're all a little guilty. But how would you like to have a record of everything you've consumed for years, to see all of that leftover packaging? Most of us would probably shudder at the thought. But for one New Yorker, that record is art. Jeanne Moos has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks just like a grocery store, until you realize everything's empty.

DAVID SHAPIRO, ARTIST: These were tomatoes, you know, cheese...

MOOS (on camera): This is like deli stuff here.

SHAPIRO: Ham deli.

MOOS: Yes.

SHAPIRO: This is aisle two, beverages, beer, liquor.

MOOS (voice-over): Normally stuff like this ends up in the trash, but artist David Shapiro saved the packaging from everything he's consumed over the past two years.

SHAPIRO: This is all from a vending machine.

I like the white tuna in the can because the other one reminds me too much of cat food.

MOOS: Check out the dog food aisle, stocked with everything his pooch Alice consumed. Shapiro even kept takeout containers.

SHAPIRO: And then when you lay it out end to end, side to side, you realize god, I'm a pig.

MOOS: And proud to display it at a Brooklyn art gallery called Jack The Pelican Presents, in conjunction with Eye Wash. Gallery goers got a taste of his innermost appetites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of hummus and a lot of whiskey. MOOS: Shapiro stored it all in his basement. Women had a bone to pick with his cleaning products.

(on camera): These are the only sponges you've used for two years?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a paucity of laundry detergent.

MOOS (voice-over): As for the 179 toilet paper rolls...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very few, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, he doesn't (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED) very much.

MOOS (on camera): David may not have many toilet paper rolls, but he's got plenty of toothbrushes.

(voice-over): He admits to an oral fixation.

SHAPIRO: No cavities.

MOOS: And no girlfriend after this project.

SHAPIRO: She just couldn't stand it anymore.

MOOS: It's like throwing open your fridge and your medicine cabinet.

(on camera): Now I really see why the girlfriend got a little upset. Pregnancy test, huh?

(voice-over): Art work for sale for a mere hundred thousand bucks, fish sticks not included.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: A hundred thousand bucks? I guess one man's trash is the same man's art, or something like that. You decide.

Well, that's all the time we have for now. Here's what's coming up next week. A special edition of NEXT@CNN will celebrate 100 years of aviation, from the Wright brothers' historic feat to a craft that could change the future of man's space exploration. "The Wright Stuff: A Century of Flight" airs in our regular time slots next weekend.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, let us hear from you. You can e-mail us 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 this week. For all of us on the sci-tech beat, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time.

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