CNN news 2012-02-26 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-26

LANCE (voice-over): Some isotopes can be radioactive, and that includes the ones that were released during the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last year. A lot of that material ended up in the Pacific Ocean, and scientists have been studying its impact on fish and plant life.

The results that were reported on Tuesday are kind of a good news-bad news situation. Bad news: the levels of radioactive materials are higher than they were before the meltdown.

The good news: they`re not high enough to pose a threat to the public.

LANCE: So there`s at least some positive news there.

The same can`t be said for Japan`s economy right now. Kyung Lah reports on how bad things are for the island nation.

KYUNG LAH, cnn REPORTER: The economic news out of Japan is not just bad; it is historic.

LAH (voice-over): The government of Japan is saying for the month of January this country logged a record trade deficit of $18.6 billion U.S. dollars. That is the highest since this country started keeping track in 1979. It is higher than in the aftermath of a 2008 financial crisis. It is certainly setting off some alarm bells and concerns about the health of this economy.

There was also other bad news. That`s showing that foreign investment out of Japan was going overseas, both among foreign companies, international companies choosing not to do business here in Japan, and also Japanese corporations pushing production outside of Japan.

For the second straight year, that exodus was continuing. It is the second highest on record.

LAH: So again, alarm bells being set off that there is something wrong with the state of the world`s third largest economy -- Kyung Lah, cnn, Tokyo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s Shoutout goes out to Ms. Fernandez`s social studies class at Oliveira Middle School in Brownsville, Texas.

What is the name for soil that is frozen for more than two years? You know what to do here. Is it mantle, taiga, permafrost or savanna? You`ve got three seconds, go.

Permafrost is the name for ground that`s been constantly frozen for at least two years. That`s your answer, and that`s your Shoutout.

LANCE: It may be frozen, but that doesn`t mean there isn`t anything underneath. For example, Russian scientists found some seeds a few years ago in Siberia. Now these things were chilling out under the permafrost for 300 centuries, and now they`ve helped regrow an ancient plant.

Chad Myers talked with cnn`s Brooke Baldwin about how it all happened.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Scientists digging down in the permafrost --

BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, cnn NEWSROOM: The permafrost?

MYERS: -- find burrows from squirrels from 30,000 years ago. These seeds, fur, fruit still in the burrows that the squirrel didn`t eat.

They take it -- they take it to their scientific lab, kind of a little bit of magic, kind of cloning, kind of stuff. They find the placenta part, the tissue of the middle. You couldn`t just plant the seeds.

BALDWIN: Wouldn`t be viable.

MYERS: Because they wouldn`t be viable. They would have rotted.

BALDWIN: Placenta part of the seed?

MYERS: And they took it -- almost like science fiction. This is like, you know, I`m thinking you know, OK, here come the dinosaurs, if we do this right. They tried to do this years ago. They tried to do it with the woolly mammoth years ago. It didn`t work.

The DNA of the woolly mammoth had broken down. But they found the DNA of this plant. They cloned the plant. They made it. They planted the seed that they made. It grew a real plant.

They took those seeds from that plant, planted it again and now --

BALDWIN: See my jaws like --

MYERS: -- again.

LANCE: Americans have been commemorating Black History Month throughout February, and a new museum dedicated to that topic broke ground yesterday.

LANCE (voice-over): It`s the Smithsonian`s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and this is a virtual tour of what it`ll look like. The idea for a national black history museum first came up nearly 100 years ago. President Obama talked about that long road during yesterday`s ceremony.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This museum should inspire us as well. It should stand as proof that the most important things in life rarely come quickly or easily. It should remind us that, although we have yet to reach the mountaintop, we cannot stop climbing.

LANCE: And, finally, I hope you guys can stomach another eating competition --

LANCE (voice-over): -- because that`s what we have in store for today`s "Before We Go" segment.

Now, this time around the chosen delicacy is one of my favorites: donuts. And the time limit is five minutes. The winner downed an even dozen, which is a little short of his personal record. Before you consider entering, keep in mind that these aren`t your average pastry treats. They`re made extra large and they have filling, too.

LANCE: So winning won`t be a cakewalk. This is one serious competition, no holds barred. That rounds out today`s show. For cnn Student News, I`m Natisha Lance.