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Science and Technology Week

Mysterious Form of Lightning Ignites Western Wildfires; Next Wave of File-Sharing Programs Makes Napster Look Tame; Technology Helps Athletes Go for the Gold

Aired August 26, 2000 - 1:30 p.m. ET

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

RICK LOCKRIDGE, GUEST HOST: A mysterious form of lightning ignites Western wildfires. The next wave of file sharing programs makes Napster look tame. And technology helps athletes go for the gold. Those stories and more are coming up on SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK.

Hello and welcome, I'm Rick Lockridge, in for Ann Kellan.

Wildfires have raged across millions of acres in the Western United States this summer. Fire experts say 75 percent of the wildfires in the American West are started by lightning. And they say this year, there are two to three times the normal number of fires in the region. Why the big increase?

David George reports part of the answer lies with a phenomenon called "dry lightning."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In an exceptionally dry year like this year, nature conspires to create a vicious cycle. Fires sparked by lightning generate their own weather, spawning more lightning, starting more fires.

Here's what happens. A big fire sends heat and smoke as high as six miles into the sky. The heat encounters cooler air, producing a cloud. The cloud generates only a little localized rain but lots of what's commonly called "dry lightning."

BAY JOHNSON, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: In other words, it may be raining here, and the bolt would shoot out five miles from where the rain is and hit the ground where there is no rain. And we see a lot of that this year in the west.

GEORGE: A bolt of lightning is about as wide as a human finger. Negatively charged lightning, the most common kind in thunderstorms, lasts about 41 microseconds, 41 millionths of a second. But almost every positively-charged bolt, the kind most often associated with dry lightning, lasts longer, up to a full half a second, zapping the ground with a 30,000 degree burst of what scientists call "continuing current." DON LANHAM, FIRE SCIENCES LABORATORY: So the positives are more effective at starting fires, but not because they're positive necessarily, but rather because they have a continuing current, whereas not all negatives do.

GEORGE: By studying pictures from the space shuttle, scientists have learned that lightning can occur up to 50 times a minute in a big storm. Infrared cameras aboard huge flying laboratories help create computer animations that enable firefighters to plot the likely course of fires caused by lightning.

But in this, the worst year for wildfires in nearly a century, they still don't have a way to break nature's vicious cycle of fires started by lightning starting more fires.

For SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK, I'm David George.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: For Boeing's Delta III rocket program, it turns out the third time's a charm. One of the new rockets was launched from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, carrying a mock satellite into orbit. It's the first successful launch of a Delta III, and follows two expensive failures. Boeing officials expect the next Delta III launch will be sometime next year, carrying a real satellite for a paying customer.

To keep up in today's global economy, you just about have to be computer savvy and connected. That's true for countries as well as individuals. A study out this week looks at 42 countries around the world to see if they're ready for the digital future.

Jeanne Meserve reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They say the Internet has changed the world: not all the world, not yet.

HARRIS MILLER, WORLD INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES ALLIANCE: Many governments simply don't get it.

MESERVE: A new study ranks the e-readiness of 42 developing countries, comprising nearly three-quarters of the world's population. The findings affect us all.

BRUCE MCCONNELL, MCCONNELL INTERNATIONAL: We are concerned that technology-led growth of the global economy is at risk unless countries take prompt action.

MESERVE: Countries were ranked on five criteria, including connectivity, the cost and accessibility of Internet networks, the skills and efficiency of the work force, their legal protections for Internet commerce, and government commitment to e-business. Not one country got top ratings in all five areas, although Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, South Korea and Taiwan did best. Russia, Egypt, Ghana, and Ecuador did very poorly. But at the bottom of the rankings, with failing grades in every category: Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Pakistan.

AARON LUKAS, CATO INSTITUTE: It's simply stating the obvious. It says that poor countries have less information technology than rich countries.

MESERVE: And the obstacles to overcoming this so-called "global digital divide" are huge.

CARLOS PRIMO BRAGA, WORLD BANK: It has become almost conventional wisdom to say that the Internet impacts everything. The reality, however, is that 42 percent of the population above 15 years of age have never made a phone call.

MESERVE (on camera): The report urges government and industry to invest in technology education, to encourage competition in their telecommunications industries, and to pass cyber-laws. But the authors admit there is not checklist of actions a country can take to guarantee it will be a global e-player.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: Later in the show, a milestone for a popular panda. And up next, if you like Napster, you'll love some of the newer file- sharing sites that are now available or on the way. We'll be right back with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOCKRIDGE: Napster's Internet music-sharing service has changed the way many people get their music. The recording industry's lawsuit against Napster is now making its way through the appeals courts.

But as Paul Vercammen reports, there are plenty of new Web sites trying to outdo Napster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While the fate of the case is up in the air, trading technology keeps charting new grounds.

JACK VALENTI, PRESIDENT, MPAA: Scour.com is Napster with movies.

VERCAMMEN: Scour is the latest target of the entertainment industry's legal guns, who are now suing the company. Scour offers a free program that not only facilitates the trading of music, but also images and movie files.

VALENTI: I've been on the scour.com web site. I typed in "The Perfect Storm" and "Gladiator" and "Mission Impossible 2," and guess what, then I'm lead to a number of places where I can literally call it down. VERCAMMEN: But downloading movies on the Internet requires much more time, effort and technology than simply swapping music.

BEN BERKOWITZ, INSIDE.COM: It's really not something that's happening, by and large. It's out there, people are doing it, but they're not really doing it to do it on a regular basis. They're doing it just to see that it can be done.

TRAVIS KALANICK, V.P. STRATEGY, SCOUR.COM: We spent four months doing the legal research and analysis. The application complies with all DMCA regulations and all other applicable laws. It has several non-infringing uses, so it's definitely a legal application.

VERCAMMEN: Still, musicians are concerned.

THE EDGE, GUITARIST, U2: If they think Napster's bad, I can tell you, there's a lot worse coming. You know, the software that is untraceable, just around the corner. So Napster is nothing compared to what's about to happen.

VERCAMMEN: Sites Cute MX, Gnutella and I-Mesh offer file exchanges. The-soon-to-come Free Net will offer completely anonymous and untraceable file trading.

JERRY CASALE, DEVO: It's the Medusa head with just multiple arms coming at you. You fix that problem, and new technology is over here to take over. That's why there has to be an overall philosophical and legal understanding about, well then, how does an artist get paid for what they do?

VERCAMMEN: Questions over entertainment content and online distribution are now moving from the court of public opinion to federal court. The answers are still out there, somewhere, between the judge's bench and cyberspace.

For SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK, I'm Paul Vercammen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: Coming up, technology aimed at winning Olympic medals. High-tech testing in training centers this summer could help determine who wins at the Sydney games next month.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOCKRIDGE: For Olympic-caliber athletes, there's a lot more to training than just practicing. In almost every sport, there are high- tech systems to analyze what an athlete is doing and how it can be done better.

Ann Kellan reports on three examples, ranging from skaters training for the 2002 winter games, to target shooting, to cycling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Lance Armstrong's Tour De France victory, trainers had calculated how hard he had to pedal each time to win. That power, measured in watts, was about 450, enough to power a small radio station, and about three times the average cyclist's output.

Trainers have figured U.S. Olympic contender Mari Holden, given her weight, has to maintain 325 watts over the three-hour Olympic road race for a shot at a medal.

MARI HOLDER, USA OLYMPIC CYCLING: I think it's great that we can work on all these things. All these little benefits are really going to help us.

KELLAN: Using special pedals equipped with sensors, trainers at the U.S. Training Center critique her form to maximize that power.

JEFF BROKER, U.S. OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER: The pedals that we have on this bicycle are measuring the forces that the athlete delivers to those pedals.

KELLAN: The pedals are wired to a computer.

BROKER: So the green circle is your left pedal, yellow pedal is your right, and you're seeing this real time. Kick the right pedal for a couple of strokes. See that? Almost instantaneously, you see a change.

KELLAN: Corrections are immediate. She's forceful when pressing down on the pedals, weaker on the upstroke. That's where she could gain ground.

BROKER: Now lift the leg, lift the pedal through, and drive it forward. There you go. See that? That's good. That's great. See how that works, and how you're lifting your leg?

HOLDER: Yes, yes.

As you lift your leg, now you're being more productive or more effective in the upstroke.

HOLDER: To me, it feels different because I ride hundreds and hundreds of miles in this one way, and then to change any little thing makes it feel strange, but it's something that, just like everything else, you kind of work in over time and it will make you a better cyclist, so.

KELLAN: Speed skaters are already preparing for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Short-track skating requires speed, dexterity, balance and quick recovery. There are short sprints and long endurance races.

At the U.S. Olympic Training Center, these speed skaters aren't jumping for joy. They're learning, among other things, whether they're better suited for long or short races. If you can jump high, you tend to be a sprinter, with more of what's called fast twitch muscles. Low jumpers have more slow twitch muscles, better for endurance races. Knowing this helps determine how an individual should train and how to make the most of their natural-born power.

JOHN CRAWLEY, BIOMECHANICS RESEARCHER: And so we'll run this through some specialty software that we've developed, and that gives us an idea of the power that you've generated.

KELLAN: At the Training Center shooting range, where the bullseye, 33 feet after away, looks like a black blob. Lasers and cameras help athletes and coaches zero in on target and fine tune the shooters aim.

TIM CONRAD, SPORTS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ENGINEER: To give the athlete some feedback on their technique, we've have attached a small laser to the rifle. It's infrared, so you can't see with the naked eye,k it doesn't disturb anyone.

KELLAN: But if she breathes, the laser shakes. If she's off- target, it shows her how far. The coach can see, too, on a monitor.

CONRAD: Now the coach can then sit back and watch

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This allows the coach and the shooter to work together, because a lot of times a shooter has a hard time describing exactly what he or she is seeing through the sights.

CONRAD: Her shot removed dot from the target, good, solid 10. That's what you have to do.

KELLAN: And to be a champion in this sport, you have to hit that elusive bullseye at least nine times out of 10.

For SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK, this is Ann Kellan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: We'd like to hear what you think about our show. You can e-mail us at scitechweek@cnn.com. We can't answer every e-mail personally, but someone will definitely read it.

When we come back, we'll take a ride on a smart road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOCKRIDGE: When traffic engineers want to test vehicles, or drivers, they need realistic conditions, but they can't always do their experiments on a real road. A new highway test bed in Virginia offers reality that researchers can control and monitor.

Carl Rochelle reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL ROCHELLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two miles of road that goes nowhere and isn't on any maps, may be one of the most important stretches of highway anywhere.

RAY PETHEL, ASSOC. DIR., VIRGINIA TECH TRANSPORTATION INST.: It's the only real highway test bed in the world. It's the only facility that can make its own weather.

ROCHELLE: To monitor the movement of cars and different conditions, sensors the size of a small pizza were implanted in this stretch of road near Blacksburg, Virginia as it was being built, and a magnetic strip was rolled into the surface. The smart road is unique in its ability to provide a variety of test conditions on demand.

TOM DINGUS, DIR., VIRGINIA TECH TRANSPORTATION INST.: We can make it rain, snow, or have fog on demand. We can make roadway lighting that simulates 95 percent of the roadway lighting in the U.S.

ROCHELLE: Engineers use the road to test vehicles, signs and pavement. One experiment determines the effect of distractions, like using a computer or a cell phone, when rain reduces the visibility to near zero.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't do it. I'd have to pull over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the problems with cell phones is some people don't pull over.

ROCHELLE: Even when it's not raining, the distractions make it difficult to keep the car going straight.

DINGUS: Using all this information together, we make a judgment -- educated guess, so to speak -- about how distracted you are and how that might impact safety in the future.

ROCHELLE: Commercial firms pay a fee to use the road for testing products, such as new headlights and taillights, to see if they are more effective than current ones. When the road bed was built, 12 different types of surfaces were laid, to test durability and traction in rain and snow. So far, the project has cost more than $17 million in state and federal funds. Ultimately, the state will add about six miles of road and turn the project into a four-lane connector. But they'll continue to use the smart road to gather intelligence that will make driving safer.

Carl Rochelle, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: Scientists at the Smithsonian institution are oohing and aahing over a plastic dinosaur skull. The skull, unveiled on Tuesday, was made by using a laser scanner to get extremely detailed measurements of a real triceratops skull. The scanner data were processed by computer so the skull could be cast in plastic. The entire skeleton should be done by February. Scientists say it will be sturdier and more accurate than the real triceratops skeleton in the museum now, which is made from fossilized remains of more than a dozen different individuals.

Like many endangered species, giant pandas don't reproduce well in zoos, so researchers in San Diego had good reason to celebrate this week when a zoo-born panda had her first birthday.

Chris Riker has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS RIKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When she was born a year ago, Hua Mei came in at about the size of your thumb. She was the first giant panda born in the western hemisphere since 1990. That alone was cause for celebration. Scientists around the world marveled that the tiny creature not only survived, but thrived.

Hua Mei is the offspring of two giant pandas on loan to the San Diego Zoo from China. Her mother, Bai Yun, was born nearly nine years ago at the Wolong Giant Panda Conservation Centre in China. Her father, Shi Shi, was born in the wild 22 years ago. Giant pandas have long been an endangered species; their habitats threatened by the spread of man's civilization.

Scientists hope breeding programs may one day restore their numbers, but the programs have not been too successful. Hua Mei is an exception. So far, she is thriving. On her 1st birthday, there's cause for celebration. There was a bamboo cake delivered to Hua Mei. She took a taste or two, then dropped it to the ground, before settling down for a noon day nap.

For SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK, I'm Chris Riker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOCKRIDGE: Thanks for joining us. I'm Rick Lockridge, in for Ann Kellan.

Next week, is anybody out there? Researchers looking for signs of intelligent life out in space will finally have a new radio telescope to help in the search. That's coming up on the next SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK. We'll see you then.

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