CNN news 2012-01-28 加文本

cnn news 2012-01-28

AZUZ: When your malleus and stapes are focused on what`s coming out of your headphones, it might make you less aware of what`s going on around you. That`s what this new report looked at. Scientists examined an increase in injuries for people who wear headphones while they`re walking.

AZUZ (voice-over): Between 2004 and 2005, there were 16 reported crashes involving pedestrians using headphones. Over the next seven years, that number nearly tripled. People were hit by bikes, cars, trains -- one of the authors said there are some limitations to the study. Some of these injuries don`t get reported, and it`s difficult to know why some of these accidents happen.

But some cities are considering taking action. New York had a proposal last year that would ban using a cell phone or MP3 player while you cross the street.

AZUZ: Well, shifting gears from people walking across streets to vehicles driving on them, according to one group, the cars on America`s roads are getting older. The average age, right around 11 years old now.

AZUZ (voice-over): That is the oldest since the group started tracking this statistic back in 1995. Service departments and repair shops might see this average age increase as a good thing. It could mean more work for them as people maintain their cars to keep them on the road.

But the companies that make new cars probably aren`t too thrilled, because if people are driving their old cars longer, it means they`re not buying new ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can ID me. I`m both a mammal and a carnivore. I breathe air, although I don`t live on land. I don`t have much of a sense of smell, but I make up for it with a great sense of hearing.

I`m a dolphin, and there are dozens of species of me around the world.

AZUZ: And some of those species work for the U.S. Navy. Dolphins have been part of the Marine Mammal Program since the 1960s. These animals have a natural sonar ability called echolocation and they use it to help the Navy identify potential dangers.

So you`ve heard of bomb-sniffing dogs? This is kind of like the underwater version. Kaj Larsen shows us how it all works.

KAJ LARSEN, cnn REPORTING (voice-over): Dolphins` jobs go beyond what the Navy calls swimmer interdiction. It turns out that they are good at finding not only people in the water but also things, things like mines.

BRADEN DURYEE, DOLPHIN TRAINER: So the animal is using its echolocation, looking out in front of the boat.

LARSEN (voice-over): Braden Duryee supervises operations for the Marine Mammal Program and works with the Navy`s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit.

DURYEE: Over time we have to train the animals to discriminate between -- you know, it could be a lobster trap.

Oh, sorry. Got a positive. Right now the animal just went positive.

LARSEN: All right, so what`s she doing now?

DURYEE: Right now, she`s carrying the marker down to the mine shape that she`s told us she`s found. That means the marker has deployed. The diver`s going to go down, go to that anchor and then do a circle search, verify that the animal has found the target.

LARSEN (voice-over): In 2003, the Navy performed this operation in wartime, deploying mine-detecting dolphins to Iraq to ensure safe passage for humanitarian ships, meaning some of these dolphins are Iraq war veterans.

LARSEN: What about danger to the animal? You`re asking them to go get close to explosive devices underwater.

HARRIS: Mines are very complicated, high-grade machinery. They are not set off to go on dolphins. They are set off to go on ships.

AZUZ: Interesting stuff. We promised you today`s "Before We Go" segment would be a jewel. We weren`t kidding.

AZUZ (voice-over): We`re going to pause for a little suspense and there it is. An absolutely enormous emerald -- it`s real. This thing was found in Brazil. If you`re thinking it could make a good necklace, you`d better have a strong neck. It weighs 25 pounds and an appraiser estimates that it`s worth more than $1 million. But there are already people lining up to buy the sought-after stone.

AZUZ: One thing is for sure: the bidders who don`t get the emerald will certainly be green with envy. Probably got some stone-faced reactions from you guys, but we`re hoping that some of you thought it was a real gem.

Man. Emerald puns rock. For cnn Student News, I`m Carl Azuz.