Scientific American Frontiers (PBS)

A visit with an engaging if unruly bunch of cousins that we formally broke up with about 6 or 7 million years ago - with whom we share almost all of our genes but not a lot of our lifestyle. Why the difference? Maybe it's in how we learn.

A look back at the decades of effort that culminated in the deep sub Alvin reaching the ocean floor, and a look forward to what's next now that Alvin's retiring.

In spite of the risks, people are lining up to solve their weight problems in the operating room. And if the latest device -- an implantable stomach "pacer" -- works out, millions more will be taking the surgical way out. We follow two patients as they go through the life-transforming experience of gastric bypass surgery, causing dramatic weight loss. Both patients achieve major life goals, from the simple act of shopping in a regular - not plus-size - clothing store, to the substantial reduction of health risks like heart attack and diabetes. Alan Alda observes Amy's surgery at a Boston hospital, and visits Rodney as he recovers the day after his operation. Gastric bypass, in which a small, one-ounce, stomach "pouch" is created to replace the natural stomach, is the most common stomach surgery in the US, with 100,000 procedures performed a year - ten times the rate ten years ago. Nationally, 75% of those patients will achieve substantial permanent weight loss, although some will be able to "behaviorally" reverse their surgery. The "lap-band" procedure is an alternative weight-loss procedure to gastric bypass, involving the surgical placement of a restrictive plastic collar around the top of the stomach. "The bottom line is none of these surgeries are a cure for obesity in a vacuum. They all have to be part of a program that provides the behavior and the counseling." says Shikora. The obesity surgical group at the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston is now beginning large scale clinical trials of the latest surgical approach to weight loss. A "pacer" - similar to a heart pacemaker - is implanted just under the skin of the abdomen and connected to electrodes attached to the stomach. Regular, imperceptible electric pulses create a feeling of fullness. With the pacer in place, patients are able to control their constant "grazing" eating behavior.

The fully automatic car may be down the road a ways, but cars that do your thinking for you are just around the corner -- they watch out for hazards, they listen to you, they read your lips, they even know when you're distracted. Alan travels to Germany to find out what happened to the research program originally intended to develop cars that would drive themselves. He finds the goal changed; DaimlerChrysler engineers now working on technology that will help the human driver by alerting him or her to potentially dangerous situations. Equipped with stereo cameras, the research cars are now able to recognize hazards that the driver may have overlooked - like bouncing balls or wayward pedestrians. In a strikingly realistic driving simulator called VIRTTEX at Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, Alan finds out for himself the distraction caused by using a cell phone in a car traveling at high speed on a highway. The VIRTTEX simulator is also being used to study how tiredness affects a driver, and is helping to develop ways to alert the driver to his or her potentially deadly inattention. At IBM's Industry Solutions Lab in Hawthorne, New York, Alan goes for a drive with a virtual smart passenger named Sally. Sally listens in to the driver all the time, picks up on what he or she is saying, and responds appropriately. Sally also knows the driver's likes and dislikes, so if Alan says he's hungry she directs him to the nearest Italian restaurant, not a German one! Sally also checks to see if the driver is showing signs of sleepiness, and offers to play a game - such as "Name the Tune" - to keep him entertained and alert.

So you think global warming won't affect you? Wait until the great Atlantic Conveyor shuts down. And find out what's already happening in Alaska.