An Armenian Political Crisis; Scientists Work to Help Rid the World of Plastic Waste; A Great Big Story about a Savant

1. An Armenian Political Crisis; Scientists Work to Help Rid the World of Plastic
Waste; A Great Big Story about a Savant
Aired April 25, 2018 - 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: A political crisis in Armenia leads of today`s edition
of CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz. Glad to have you watching.
Armenia is a small landlocked nation between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Its government
is officially a parliamentary democracy. But large protests welled up [sprang forth;
brotaron] in the country`s capital recently, because the Armenian public believes
their former prime minister had done something unconstitutional.
Serzh Sargsyan was the president of Armenia for 10 years starting in 2008. During
that time, he promoted changes in the nation`s constitution that made the office
[political position; puesto] of a prime minister, more powerful than the presidency.
And though he said he would not try to become prime minister, after his term as
president ended, the nation`s parliament, which is controlled by Sargsyan`s political
party elected to give him the job anyway.
Tens of thousands of people protested. They saw this as an illegal power grab [illegal
acquisition; apropiación]. And things escalated when members of Armenia`s
opposition political party were held [caught, apprehended] by police.
On Monday, though, Prime Minister Sargsyan announced he`d resign, saying the
street movement is against my tenure [time in position; permanencia en el cargo]. I
am fulfilling [satisfying] your demand.
So, what happens now?
Armenia is faced with a task of working out [elaborating] some sort of political
compromise [agreement] so the nation can move forward.
They`ve also been some rapid changes on the Korean peninsula. In late 2017, the
international community placed the toughest sanctions, economic penalties that it`s
ever put on North Korea after the communist country flaunted [showed off] it`s
nuclear and missile programs. Now, just a few months later, North Korea`s weapons
tests have apparently quieted down and the country`s dictator, Kim Jong-un, looks

2. like he`s ready to turn his back on years of isolation to appear on the world stage.
He`s preparing for a summit that will be held later this week with South Korean
President Moon Jae-in and a possible meeting in May or early June with U.S.
President Donald Trump.
Both South Korea and the U.S. have been rivals of North Korea since fighting stopped
in the Korean War in 1953.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We`re just a few
days now from that North-South Korean summit that the South Korean President
Moon Jae-in has called a guide post [sign post; poste indicador], a stepping stone
[peldaño, escalón], to the next summit, that between the U.S. President Donald
Trump and Kim Jong-un.
We have been hearing from White House officials. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
saying the U.S. is not naïve [innocent; ingenuo] in this process. They won`t make the
same mistakes the previous administrations have made, something we have heard
before. Also hearing from the White House that they`re not going to make any
concessions until Kim Jong-un does show that he is going to dismantle the nuclear and
missile programs.
So, the final preparations now ongoing [continuing; en curso] for the meeting on
Friday. We know there will be rehearsals [practice; ensayos] over the next couple of
days with both North and South Korean officials to make sure that everything goes
very smoothly [without problems]. They appreciate this is an historic moment.
It`s the first summit between North Korean and South Korean leaders in more than a
decade, but it`s going to be the first time that a North Korean leader crosses the
border into South Korea. And just for that occasion, they`re going to let South
Korean journalists cross the border into North Korea so they can capture that
moment on camera.
We`re told this will all be broadcast live with a welcoming ceremony and also a
banquet after the meeting. The meeting itself clearly won`t be broadcast live.
We also have the menu. Obviously, well thought out [planned, considered], this food
sources [is obtained] not only from the town of a South Korean president, but also
the two previous presidents who met the late Kim Jong-il at the two previous
summits, the father of the current leader Kim Jong-un. There`s also going to be cold

3. buckwheat noodles [fideos de trigo sarraceno] from North Korea. They`re bringing
a chef with them and the machine to make those noodles.
So, clearly, a lot of thought has gone into this, trying to show an even keel [stability,
balance] between the two Koreas. So, the preparations as I say are ongoing now as
both sides appreciate that this is an historic moment.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of the world`s major oceans is the shallowest?
Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, or Southern or Antarctic Ocean?
The Arctic Ocean has the distinction of being both the shallowest and smallest ocean
in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: We`ve reported on the great Pacific garbage patch [area]. Now, it looks like
the Arctic Ocean has one of its own, but it`s not necessarily visible to the naked
eye.
Researchers gathered samples from the Arctic in 2014 and 2015, and they say they
detected a tremendous amount of microplastic particles. Those are pieces of plastic
smaller than five millimeters. It`s possible that animals at the bottom of the food
chain could be eating them, and scientists say the biggest sources for this type of
pollution included packing materials, nylon, paint and a fiber often found in cigarette
filters. They believe some of these particles probably traveled through the air at
some point on their journey.
Last week, we mentioned how scientists had developed an enzyme that can help break
down a common form of plastic called polyethylene terephthalate or PET. Here are
the details on how that works.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

4. REPORTER: PET is found in everything, from plastic bottles to clothing. First
developed in 1940s, it`s now a major part of our plastic problem.
Euromonitor International forecasts more than 600 billion PET bottles will be made
next year alone. PET can take hundreds of years to break down in the environment.
But now, scientists have stumbled upon a shortcut.
JOHN MCGEEHAN, PROFESSOR, STRUCTURAL BIO, UNIVERSITY OF
PORTSMOUTH: A couple of years ago, there`s a Japanese group that made a
spectacular
discovery of a bacteria that can digest PET plastic in a recycling dump in Japan. And
what we`ve done is we`ve taken the enzyme that this bacteria produces.
REPORTER: That enzyme is called PETase. It works, but it doesn`t work fast enough
to use in an industrial scale.
Using this particular accelerator in Oxford in U.K., McGeehan along with his
colleagues in Brazil and the U.S. examine the enzyme write down to the economic
level. They found that by tweaking it slightly, it could break down plastic at an even
faster rate.
MCGEEHAN: The bacteria can break this down in a matter of days or weeks, but
what we`re hoping to do with the enzyme is just in the same way you use an enzyme in
a biological washing detergent, breaking down grass stains. These enzymes we hope
can break down PET ideally in a matter of hours.
That`s the goal.
REPORTER: McGeehan says its was the scientific community that developed plastics
and now that same community must use all the technology at their disposal to find
solutions to the problems plastics have caused.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: The subject of today`s "Great Big Story" is a savant, defined as someone who
has incredible skill or brilliance. And this is despite the fact that he was diagnosed
with autism, a developmental disorder as a child.
Today, Stephen Wiltshire is an architectural artist, and one amazing thing about him
is that he doesn`t draw his cityscapes from photographs or on plain air.

5. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN WILTSHIRE, ARTIST: I`m Stephen Wiltshire. I do drawings.
REPORTER: Stephen is an artist who creates incredibly intricate drawings of
cityscapes.
WILTSHIRE: I love drawing tall buildings, tall skyscrapers, skylines, street scenes.
REPORTER: And he does this entirely from memory.
SUBTITLE: Drawing the world from memory.
REPORTER: When Stephen was 3, he was diagnosed as autistic. He was completely
mute and lived entirely in his own world.
Early on, Stephen`s teachers noticed he loved to draw. He had found his way to
connect with others.
Stephen has the ability to look at a subject one and then draw an accurate and
detailed picture of it, including panoramas of entire cities based off just a quick look.
WILTSHIRE: I`ll go up from the helicopter and then memorize it, and then up to in
on a helicopter and then straight back at the hotel and then start to draw.
REPORTER: His incredible talent launched an artistic career that has taken him
around the world.
WILTSHIRE: Los Angeles, Dubai, Houston, Texas, and Tokyo in Japan.
REPORTER: And that`s just to name a few.
WILTSHIRE: New York is my favorite. Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and
there are a lots of yellow New York taxi cabs.
REPORTER: And Stephen has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
WILTSHIRE: Someone told me that people like my drawings, I feel good. Always be
happy about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)

6. AZUZ: You`re about to learn why I was told to be careful with today`s "10 Out of
10" segment.
First, it`s about the seventh planet from the sun. That`s Uranus. Second, it`s about
what scientists say they`ve detected in the planet`s clouds, hydrogen sulfide. That`s
the molecule that gives rotten eggs their stinky smell.
So, the possibly pungent planet probably isn`t particularly pleasant, but it also isn`t
likely anyone would notice since people couldn`t survive there.
Still, if they wanted to take a trip, they`d have to carefully planet. The journey alone
would stink. Traveling more than one and a half billion miles could take nine years. So,
maybe you`d want to Saturn your attention to the ringed planet, or Neptune your
compass to the farthest one. The seventh planet may not pass the sniff test.
I`m Carl Azuz and I`m pun-willing to say anymore than that.
END

7. AZUZ: You`re about to learn why I was told to be careful with today`s "10 Out of
10" segment.
First, it`s about the seventh planet from the sun. That`s Uranus. Second, it`s about
what scientists say they`ve detected in the planet`s clouds, hydrogen sulfide. That`s
the molecule that gives rotten eggs their stinky smell.
So, the possibly pungent planet probably isn`t particularly pleasant, but it also isn`t
likely anyone would notice since people couldn`t survive there.
Still, if they wanted to take a trip, they`d have to carefully planet. The journey alone
would stink. Traveling more than one and a half billion miles could take nine years. So,
maybe you`d want to Saturn your attention to the ringed planet, or Neptune your
compass to the farthest one. The seventh planet may not pass the sniff test.
I`m Carl Azuz and I`m pun-willing to say anymore than that.
END