CNN news 2012-06-12 加文本

cnn news 2012-06-12

AZUZ: It may not ever have made a trip into space, but Enterprise is still making history. NASA retired its space shuttle fleet last year. The four vehicles are heading to different museums around the country.

AZUZ (voice-over): And Enterprise is the first space shuttle to land on an aircraft carrier. The vehicle`s new home will be on board the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in order to get there, Enterprise had to travel on a barge down the Hudson River. It didn`t make the trip alone. You can make out the shuttle in the middle of this floating convoy. And check out that island that Enterprise just passed by. That is the Statue of Liberty, welcoming the shuttle to New York City.

These folks aren`t at an outdoor 3D movie, but they are using special glasses to check out something we reported on earlier this week. It`s an event that is truly once in a lifetime, because it won`t happen again for more than a century.

We`re talking about the transit of Venus. The giant glowing thing is the sun. That little black dot passing in front of it is Venus. Now, remember, Venus and Earth are pretty close to each other in size, so this definitely gives you some perspective on just how big the sun is.

One person who watched the transit in California said it was like watching grass grow, but he added, quote, "If you were told that grass only grows every 100 years, you`d probably want to watch it."

AZUZ: We`re going to stick with the space theme for our next report from Rima Maktabi. It`s about a student in Egypt and his science project on spiders. He entered a contest recently that asked young people to come up with experiments that could be run in orbit. Thanks to his idea, the International Space Station will be getting a visit from some eight-legged travelers.

RIMA MAKTABI, cnn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nineteen-year-old Amr Mohamed loves to read. There`s certainly plenty to choose from here at the Library of Alexandria. Right now, he looking for a book on spiders.

AMR MOHAMED, YOUTUBE SPACE LAB WINNER: Spiders, once they fork (ph).

MAKTABI (voice-over): Jumping spiders, to be exact.

They do not build webs. They approach their prey and when at a reachful (ph) distance, they jump and kill it with its jaws.

MAKTABI (voice-over): That`s how they hunt on Earth, of course. But what about in outer space? This young Egyptian is on a mission to find out.

MOHAMED: Hello. My name`s Amr.

MAKTABI (voice-over): Last year, Amr uploaded this home video to the Web. He entered it into SpaceLab, a YouTube competition launched to inspire students in science and space. Winners get a big prize.

Their experiments will be rocketed to the International Space Station this summer for testing. Thousands competed for viewer votes and eventually a jury selection. Only three people in the world won. And Amr was one of them.

MOHAMED: I was very happy and I was jumping around.

MAKTABI (voice-over): Jumping around, indeed. His other prize was a zero-gravity flight. No spiders on this plane, though, yet.

MAKTABI: Why spiders?

MOHAMED: Well, they`re interesting creatures. I mean, eight legs. Interesting. And cool.

MAKTABI (voice-over): Cool, maybe. But this self-described nerd may be onto something. If his spider test proves true, it may answer how or if humans can adapt in zero gravity.

Amr admits he was luckier than most in Egypt`s second largest city. In ancient times, Alexandria was a center for innovation. Today, Egypt`s education in math and science ranks among the lowest in the world.

MOHAMED: Science and technology are not pop culture here, OK? So I changed (ph) the way we think about science and technology.

MAKTABI (voice-over): Amr`s heading to California to study at Stanford later this fall. But he wants to return home some day and inspire more Egyptians to reach for the stars -- Rima Maktabi, cnn, Alexandria, Egypt.

AZUZ (voice-over): Many of you teachers know we offer a weekly news quiz at cnnstudentnews.com.

Since this is our last week on the air for the school year, we`ve got something special lined up for you, an end-of-the-year interactive quiz that includes 10 questions about events that happened throughout the 2011- 2012 school year. Find it in the "Spotlight" section of our website, cnnstudentnews.com.

AZUZ: Here`s a story that would have really rattled Captain Hook.

AZUZ (voice-over): You see those eyes poking out above this Florida pond right there? They`re of the reptilian variety. And when they recently spotted a bobcat sitting by the water`s edge, a photographer spied an opportunity and started snapping.

Now you just saw it. The gator scaled the sand so silently that the cat didn`t hear it until the very last moment. It jumped up just as the gator lunged and barely made it to the woods in time.

AZUZ: One more second, and it would have been lunch a la cat. If you wonder why their tails are so short, there`s one explanation. And as for the gator, we guess he`s still "feline" hungry. Back tomorrow to close out the week and the school year. I`m Carl Azuz for cnn Student News.