Hey everyone, today is Wednesday,
February 11th. I'm Mina Derson in for
Koiwire and I'm so excited to fill in
for him while he travels to Italy for
the Olympics. Today is your word
Wednesday, so listen up and see if the
vocabulary word you submitted helped us
write today's show. We begin with a
landmark trial that could have big
implications in the world of social
media. The trial, which kicked off
Monday, centers on accusations that
social media giants, namely YouTube and
Facebook parent company Meta, are
intentionally addicting teens and
harming their mental health. Our Claire
Duffy has more on how it could reshape
the way social media lawsuits are
resolved. Yes. Opening statements kicked
off with the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark
Laneir, referring to these social media
platforms as digital slot machines for
children. The plaintiff in this case is
a 20-year-old woman known as Kaye, who
says she started using Instagram and
YouTube as a young child, and accuses
the platforms of intentionally
developing addictive features, things
like their endlessly scrolling feeds and
late light late night notifications. And
she says those features caused her to
develop mental health challenges
including anxiety, body dysmorphia. Now,
we also expect during opening statements
to get a sense of how the companies Meta
and YouTube will form their arguments in
this case. And the companies have said
that they reject this idea that their
platforms cause young people mental
health challenges. They also indicated
during jury selection that they plan to
argue that Tay's difficult childhood and
abusive father were responsible for her
mental health challenges rather than
these platforms. I'll also read to you
what a meta and YouTube spokesperson
told us about this lawsuit. A meta
spokesperson said, "We strongly disagree
with these allegations and we are
confident the evidence will show our
long-standing commitment to supporting
young people." A YouTube spokesperson
told me, "Providing young people with a
safer, healthier experience has always
been core to our work. The allegations
in these complaints are simply not
true." But this case is really a
significant moment for the parents, the
families, the advocates who for years
have been asking for more accountability
and more guard rails from these
platforms. This is just the first of
hundreds of lawsuits against these
companies and it really could have
significant ramifications in terms of
how those other cases are resolved. If
Kaye wins this case, we could see the
tech companies on the hook for monetary
damages and requirements to make changes
to their platform. So something that
we'll be watching very closely as this
trial plays out. It is expected to last
through the end of March. And we also
expect to hear from executives from
these companies, including Meta CEO, in
the coming weeks. Back to you
>> now to a quick update on one of the
biggest stories out of this year's
Olympics. The frightening crash that
ended skiing legend Lindseay Vaughn's
comeback bid. Vaughn, who was airlifted
to the hospital after that crash, took
to social media to provide an update on
her injuries along with a heartfelt
message to her fans. Our Scout Richards
has more. Lindsay Vaughn has spoken out
about her crash at the Winter Olympics.
She says she'll need multiple surgeries.
There had been speculation that Van was
not fit to race after she tore her ACL
ahead of the competition. But in a
statement on her Instagram, Van said she
had quote no regrets and that her quote
ACL and past injuries had nothing to do
with my crash whatsoever. She also said
that she sustained a fractured tibia
despite her injury. Van remained
optimistic, saying, "I tried. I dreamt.
I jumped. I hope if you take away
anything from my journey, it's that you
all have the courage to dare greatly."
Researchers in China have reportedly
developed a humanoid robot that uses AI
to help diagnose and treat autism in
children. According to state media, the
robot is fitted with a non-invasive
wearable brainwave sensor embedded in a
headband. That sensor picks up on
electrical signals within the human
brain, converts those patterns into
commands for the robot, and generates
data that can then be analyzed and
interpreted by clinicians. Researchers
say the robot can adjust how it
interacts to suit each child's unique
needs and can even change its voice
tone, giving the robot some verilitude.
When a child struggles to respond to
certain questions, the robot can guide
them more flexibly and quickly towards
the correct answer. It also provides
therapists with precise baseline data,
making it easier for them to work
together with the parents to develop
personalized treatment plans for the
child's next stage of therapy. More than
13 million people in China live with
autism. The robot is already being used
in collaboration with hospitals and
autism rehabilitation centers. Have you
ever played Makebelie? Well, it turns
out this skill is not unique to humans,
and some of our closest evolutionary
relatives do it, too. A new study from
Johns Hopkins University has documented
the remarkable cognitive skill in
bonobos, a species of great ape that
share nearly 99% of our DNA. The
researchers took part in a series of tea
party experiments with Kanzi, a
44-year-old bonobo renowned for his
in-depth understanding of the English
language. Here's how it worked. They
poured juice into one of two empty
bottles and asked Kanzi to pick which
one contained the juice, something he
got right every time. Then they poured
imaginary juice into both bottles. But
they also poured one of them back into
the picture. Kzi was able to identify
which bottle had the imaginary juice. a
remarkable 68% of the time, higher than
if he'd picked at random. The
researchers were able to replicate the
study with an imaginary grape, which
Kanzi passed with flying colors. The
behavioral breakthrough has led them to
conclude that this capacity for pretend
play is not uniquely human, paving the
way for it to be studied in other great
apes.
And it's time for 10-second trivia. Who
was the first solo act to headline the
Super Bowl halftime show? Was it Diana
Ross, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney,
or Beyonce?
If you said Michael Jackson, you are bad
to the bone. The King of Pop made his
debut on the Super Bowl stage in 1993.
His record- setting performance drew
higher ratings than the game itself.
If you saw the bushes moving during Bad
Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, you
weren't imagining things. They were
performers. CNN's Zayn Heinland spoke
with one of the volunteer actors about
blending in during one of the most
watched events of the year.
>> 40,000 people are rumored to have
applied for this Super Bowl halftime
job, the gig, Be a Bush. But not just
any Bush. One in Bad Bunny's Super Bowl
halftime show.
>> Like this is this is just the arm piece.
Like this is just what what goes on my
arm here. There's another arm piece that
we get. And then there's a headpiece and
a backpack and a tunic and a shoulder.
Like there's there's a whole whole
process.
>> Atheist flew around 2500 miles from
Philadelphia to San Francisco for the
job.
>> The requirements were you had to be
between 57 and 6 foot. Uh no bigger, no
smaller. Uh and you had to be somewhat
athletic and marching band experience,
which I kind of had. uh and also
comfortable with wearing a 45 lb costume
and not claustrophobic.
>> Iththeus says organizers opted to use
people instead of carts with props since
there's a limit to how many can be on
the field at once. But one of the
hardest parts, he says, was keeping the
gig a secret.
>> It was a very serious NDA. Uh they they
dropped like 40 people uh from this
because there were people that shared
stuff on Tik Tok. While he didn't get to
personally meet Bad Bunny, he says just
playing a small part in the show was
more than enough.
>> As a Jamaican, you know, being
surrounded by, you know, people of all
these different cultures and ethnicities
and, you know, a Puerto Rican superstar
that is, you know, on a global scale,
you know, we all feel like, you know,
we're Puerto Rican, you know, last night
and but at the same time, we all felt
human. We all felt like we were people
of the same planet.
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
Five history-making young men who are
just getting started in making a
difference. These five students from
Scouting America troops 500 and 190
became the largest group of
African-American Eagle Scouts inducted
together in South Carolina history.
>> Not a lot of individuals get to achieve
this rank. It's a very small percentage.
And being amongst a few, especially as a
young black man, it's it holds a lot.
You know,
>> the five teenagers earned scouting's
highest rank. And to achieve this, they
had to master at least 21 merit badges,
serve in leadership roles, and complete
service projects with the intention of
creating a lasting impact on the
community. They hope their journey
encourages others to take the same path.
Across the country, only around 6% of
scouts reach Eagle, a rank earned
through years of commitment and service.
These scouts say they plan to keep
paying it forward.
>> You know, it's my home church, so I plan
to come back and help out with the
younger generation. We have people that
are former Eagle Scouts that come back
and help us. So, I just want to return a
favor and help out somebody else.
>> Their scout master says this milestone
is only the beginning. This is just a
monumental uh occasion that's going on
because these young men, I've been with
them for a long time. So, I know what
they're capable of doing and that what
they will do in the future.
>> All right, superstars. Congratulations
to our your word Wednesday winner, Talut
Homeschool in Durham, New Hampshire, who
submitted ver similitude, a noun which
means the appearance of being true or
real. Thank you for making us a little
bit smarter today. And I have two
shoutouts for you today. This first one
is going to Miss Smith at Burton ISD in
Burton, Texas. Go Panthers. And Mr.
Hammer's fifth grade class at Pleasant
Ridge Elementary School in Glen View,
Illinois. Thank you for including us in
your classroom. Hope you all have a
great day. I'll be back with you
tomorrow. I'm Mina Derson and this is
CNN 10.