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President Biden Kicks Off Virtual Summit; Japanese Researchers Develop Skin-Deep Technology; Turkish Designers Envision Floating, Self- Powered Hotel. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 23, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN 10. Today is April 23rd, 2021 and who cares, Fridays are awesome. I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for
watching our show. Yesterday, April 22nd was Earth Day and that was when the White House kicked off a virtual Climate Summit, an online meeting of
dozens of world leaders. U.S. President Joe Biden promised that America would dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. These include
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Most climate scientists blame these gases for polluting the atmosphere and negatively impacting the
global climate. By the year 2030, President Biden wants to cut America`s emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 50 percent over what they were in
2005.
That`s one of the most ambitious pledges in the world but there are no penalties if the U.S. doesn`t meet that commitment and the Biden
Administration did not give details on how American would meet it. The U.S. hopes that having a high target in reducing greenhouse gas emissions will
give it leverage in convincing other countries to do the same thing. The president said that no single nation can confront climate related issues on
its own and he called on the other leaders in the summit, who included Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, to take
action in their own countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But while the U.S. leader says doing this offers an extraordinary opportunity to create jobs in the green energy sector, critics say the
president`s policies have caused thousands of job losses in the oil, gas and coal industries. Former President Donald Trump rolled back U.S.
government regulations concerning greenhouse gas emissions. His predecessor, Former President Barack Obama had instituted new regulations.
So American policies on this can change from president to president. The virtual Climate Summit runs through Friday.
10 Second Trivia. What makes up about 15 percent of our body weight? Water, skin, muscle or blood. It`s our skin, all 21 square feet of it that
accounts for about 15 percent of our body weight.
Wearable technology may be going skin deep. We`re talking about electronic skin. Devices that are soft and flexible and could be used to closely
monitor signals from the body. Technology like this could still take years to fully develop and there are concerns about privacy if personal medical
information could be seen on your skin or if it`s loaded online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wearing your heart on your sleeve or hand could be the future of healthcare monitoring. Thanks to an electronic skin or E-skin
with LED display. Designed by this man, Professor Takao Someya is an expert in E-skin an industry worth an estimated $4.5 billion in 2019.
PROFESSOR TAKAO SOMEYA: E-skin is a next generation wearables. E-skin is thin, lightweight, searchable and durable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here at his lab, the Someya Group Lab at the University of Tokyo, he and his team develop different types of e-skin and
experiment with application including measuring facial expression for speech recognition and tracking biometric signals like a heartbeat and
muscle movement to improve fitness and health, especially for Japan`s increasingly elderly population. The E-skin is made from an ultra-thin
hypoallergenic nano mesh material with a gold layer. It`s attached to a patient`s chest with some water and Someya says can be worn for a week at a
time picking up biometric signals like a heartbeat. Especially designed belt with a wireless transmitter can send that heartbeat signal to a nearby
smart phone, laptop or directly to the cloud which Someya says will allow doctors to monitor their patients remotely.
SOMEYA: To realize the (inaudible). It is very important to monitor the health condition of the senior people for low period of time with high
precision. E-skin is a powerful tool for monitoring (inaudible) chronic disease.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An LED display attached to the hand will show the patient`s data, like a heartbeat.
SOMEYA: When this way can be touched on the surface of your hand and it is so easy to see. That is very convenient for the senior people or people
with disability.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It can also receive simple characters sent from a Smartphone enabling others to send love from afar. An especially important
feature during a pandemic.
SOMEYA: I`m hoping that the skin (inaudible) will transmit the information as well as the warm feeling of people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pandemic has also changed how some sports people are able to train. For Japanese Tai Kwan Do athlete Mona Omahara (ph),
training with E-skin`s sports were developed by the Someya Group`s spin off company Zenoma (ph) really hit the spot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE TRANSLATED: My impression after wearing it is that it`s easy to use because it doesn`t interfere with movement at all. Now I can
get more precise absorptions with numbers or how many centimeters to extend or how powerful it should be. Even when it`s not possible to see my
teachers due to coronavirus, I can get proper instructions if I send them my video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While some products, like the LED display, are still in development, Someya`s work is stretching the limits of possibility of E-
skin as part of the growing industry with researchers across the world developing similar technology.
SOMEYA: So, the ultimate goal of e-skin is to monitor all the different types of human information easily, anywhere and at any time. E-skin is now
creating a company (inaudible) huge market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: We`re checking in now to what could become a five-star hotel of the future. We`re saying could become because it`s not being built yet. Some of
its proposed features would be used for the very first time and there are studies underway to find out if makes sense to build this with the final
cost unknown. It`s also possible it could lose power and engineers are trying to work out how it could be moved to land in case that happens. CNN
10 Contributor Chris James explains why there`s interest in the project.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS JAMES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey Carl. You know I love taking you guys on cool adventures to some of the world`s most exciting and unexpected places
and today is no exception. I`m going to tell you about something that really caught my eye, floating hotels. This phenomenon has been popping up
all over the world in recent years with Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar leading the way with their exciting and
innovative structures.
Check out this new concept from a Turkish design team that leads the way when it comes to eco-consciousness. This hotel features 152 rooms and get
this, it not only generates its own electricity, but it also collects and reuses rainwater and food waste. The designers have worked with numerous
experts including ship construction engineers and architects to come up with this bold project which has been in the works since March 2020. This
floating structure would work in a similar way to a dynamo, utilizing the water currents with wind turbines and tidal power as it rotates converting
the energy into electricity.
Its movement would be controlled by dynamic positioning. A computer program used to maintain the position and direction of ships as well as propellers
and thrusters. Now, I know what you`re thinking. Won`t you get dizzy with all that spinning? Well rest assured, the designers say guests are unlikely
to experience any dizziness as it takes 24 hours for the hotel to spin a full 360 degrees. Although the project has no estimated price tag yet, the
team has set a 2025 completion day. Back to you Carl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: It wasn`t too long ago that we showed you a cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal. So why would someone try to navigate a 308-foot super
yacht through the narrow canals of Holland. Well, the company that built the ship had to ship it, get it, from their shipyard to the North Sea. This
was the way to do that. The photographer who recorded the video said the process takes place four to six times a year. He also says people love to
see it unless they`re stuck at a drawbridge waiting for it to pass.
For them, it`s a hard "sail". They have a "vesseled" interest in getting through and probably wonder if they company can "alp" it. Why not "float"
the idea of "overnight shipping" and see what`s that all "aboat". It`s certainly something to "sink" about because in terms of "bayside" effort it
takes the "yacht". I`m Carl Azuz. Darden High School in Darby, Montana. We see you. Thank you for your request on our You Tube channel at
YouTube.com/CNN10. Have a great weekend everyone from all of us here at CNN.
END