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Near-Record Temperatures Strike India And Pakistan; Holograms Are Explored For Their Potential Use In Medicine; Space Tourists Talk About Their Trip. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired May 04, 2022 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: So glad you found 10 minutes to watch our show. I`m Carl Azuz, and we are covering heat, holograms and hotels today on CNN
10.
We`ll start in the nation of India. It is not unusual for heat waves to strike in May and June, but the ones that settled over the country last
month made it India`s third hottest April in 122 years. What kind of temperatures are we talking about? One hundred four degrees Fahrenheit or
higher in the Indian capital. New Delhi saw seven days in a row of that last month.
And while 104 is near normal in neighboring Pakistan, across India`s northwest border, at least two cities there recorded highs of more than 116
degrees Fahrenheit late last week. A Pakistani government official said it was like a year without a spring and that that hadn`t happened for decades.
A significant lack of weather disturbances and thunderstorms throughout April kept temperatures high and rainfall lower than normal. That`s
according to the Indian government as reported by the Indian express news company. There`s been huge demand for electricity as you might imagine and
that caused a coal shortage in India. Most of the nation`s power comes from coal, millions lost electricity for almost nine hours a day and hundreds of
passenger train routes were canceled through the end of this month so that more cargo trains could get coal to the country`s power stations.
Schools were closed in some states, health advisories were issued. That`s how India has dealt with heat waves in the past. Residents were told to
stay indoors and stay hydrated.
But not everyone`s able to do that. One Indian official says farmers, construction workers, people who labor outdoors, many of them have had to
suffer in the heat. Crops have been lost and water levels are down.
So, is there any relief in sight? Yes, this week, government forecasters expect high temperatures in northwest India to drop between five and seven
degrees on average and by the end of this week, temperatures in Pakistan are predicted to be near where they usually are.
But the start of the monsoon rain season which can bring lasting relief to the region is still at least a month away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of these doctors performed the first open heart surgery?
Joseph Lister. Virginia Apgar, Daniel Hale Williams or Alexander Fleming?
In 1893, before x-rays were even developed, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams saved a life with open-heart surgery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Operating with holograms might sound like a bit of science fiction but the fact is, this is another example of how new technologies could
eventually reshape medicine as we know it. This goes deeper than Pokemon go, but let`s start there. You`re looking at computer-generated characters
overlaid on real world backgrounds.
What if you could apply that idea to a complex medical procedure? That`s one of the goals of mixed reality as you`re about to see, but the concept
has its drawbacks. For one thing, you need the computer equipment to make it possible. That`s expensive.
Some people may have trouble adjusting to the technology. Virtual reality for instance can cause motion sickness. There are concerns that doctors
could become too dependent on the technology and that they may not be able to effectively treat people without it. And it`s all new, it hasn`t been
proven or refined yet in the real world, so it`s too early to say if this is the future of medicine or an idea that won`t work in practice.
However, efforts to incorporate it are advancing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this hospital in Israel, Elchanan Bruckheimer is mending a heart using tools the width of pencil
points called catheters. But he can`t see the heart with his own eyes.
ELCHANAN BRUCKHEIMER, CATH LAB DIRECTOR, SCHNEIDER CHILDREN`S MEDICAL DIRECTOR, REALVIEW IMAGING: Imaging is how we understand what`s inside the
patient, what`s going on, where we need to move our catheters. My depth perception has to be down to the sub-millimeter.
CRANE: In recent decades, advances in imaging technologies like X-rays and ultrasounds have helped make this process more accurate and commonplace.
But Bruckheimer believes mixed reality technology can give surgeons an even clearer picture. He`s developing a system that turns medical images into
holograms.
That might sound like something out of a movie like the three-dimensional projections you find inside Iron Man`s suit, but Bruckheimer says his
company Realview has been working on a telescope eye for almost 15 years. You need a specialized overhead device to see these holograms though.
SHAUL GELMAN, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, REALVIEW IMAGING: It`s like a d printer of points of light. So, it allows the physician to see a hologram that is
hovering in front of him he can visualize information and he can interact with it.
CRANE: And as Bruckheimer sees it, that benefits both patients and hospitals.
BRUCKHEIMER: You`re going to do complex procedures quicker, easier and you can do more of those.
CRANE: Some bigger players in technology agree. Microsoft is partnering with hospitals and startups like New York-based Metavis to adapt its
hololens to device for surgery.
How does Microsoft`s cloud platform interact with this technology?
DAVID RHEW, GLOBAL CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, VP OF HEALTHCARE, MICROSOFT: The ability for us to be able to pull the data from the different sources like
electronic health records, that`s all cloud-enabled technology.
CRANE: One issue that could arise, slow bandwidth. This is according to Ngiam Kee Yuan from the National University Health System in Singapore. His
team is collaborating with Microsoft to trial the technology for live operations.
NGIAM KEE YUAN, GROUP CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM: We are trying to test out use the use of 5g technology to, you
know, improve our bandwidth and reduce our latency.
CRANE: Some are already working on what they see as the next milestone, projecting holograms right onto the patient`s body. Microsoft believes that
collaboration across the industry could help speed up progress.
For Bruckheimer, it`s all about what`s best for the patient.
BRUCKHEIMER: Any improvement we can have that can reduce suffering of our patients is my mission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Five months ago, a spacecraft lifted off from Texas. The vehicle was made by Blue Origin and for the first time, it was carrying six passengers
at once. Blue Origin is a private American space flight company that`s received tens of millions in grant money from NASA. It doesn`t say how much
it`s 11-minute trip to the edge of space costs but a ticket was auctioned off last year for $28 million. And some critics have questioned whether
private space flight will ever become affordable for the average person.
Blue Origin`s mission in December was the third time the company took people to space a couple of them took cameras to document their flight of
fancy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laura --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light this candle.
(CHEERS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
SUBTITLE: Passengers on a Blue Origin flight recently detailed their experience, from training to landing.
(CHEERS)
DYLAN TAYLOR, BLUE ORIGIN PASSENGER: It literally is a take your breath away moment. I mean, I literally was gasping.
SUBTITLE: Dylan Taylor and Cameron Bess joined Michael Strahan and three others on the December 2021 flight.
TAYLOR: Then, of course, once you`re up there, once you have main engine cut off, once you have booster separation and you can unstrap, I mean, it`s
just magical I went to the window, as you may have seen and turned myself upside down. So I had the perception of you know really kind of floating in
free space above the Earth. So that was amazing.
CAMERON BESS, BLUE ORIGIN PASSENGER: I did have a little bit of motion sickness when I was in zero gravity, near the end, but it was manageable.
My eyes are watering.
TAYLOR: My perception and it was just a brief one, was that I could see pretty much the entire North American continent. I was looking for things
like the moon which I didn`t see and then, of course, when you see the sun, there is no atmosphere to scatter the photons. So it doesn`t look yellow.
It looks it looks bright white like a light bulb.
(CHEERS)
SUBTITE: The crew took a supersonic, 10-minute flight that reached 60 miles above the Earth`s surface.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
AZUZ: Why go all the way to space just for a few minutes? I mean, once you`re up there, why not check it to a hotel? That`s the idea by a company
called Orbital Assembly. It hopes to start turning this concept into reality by 2025 or 2026. And it would be a luxury hotel.
The company`s former CEO told "The Washington Post" last year that a three- and-a-half-day stay would cost $5 million. But think of all the weight you`d lose.
Up in space, everyone`s a superstar, every head is in the clouds, every lover`s star crossed, everyone`s above the crowds, who needs a spot where
you`ve got space you`ve docked, don`t need a parking place. The view is great unless you`re scared of heights that fright at night just might make
your feet wish for solid ground back down, to feel all right outside. But one thing space cadets and astro-nuts can all assume is that a space hotel
is remote, as well as miles closer to the moon.
Whew! Glad I got through that one.
Want to give a shout out today to Lone Peak High School. It is in Highland, Utah.
Thanks so much for watching CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz.
END
