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STORY1: NORTH KOREAN CRACKDOWN
We're going to turn, next, to the confrontation over
In
The US Navy has no plans to stop the ship at sea. Instead, US officials would like to see it inspected when it next pulls into port for refueling. That is expected to happen within the next five days. But as of now, there is no agreement on who would do the inspecting. Jonathan Karl, ABC News, the Pentagon.
STORY1-1: ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE
When you travel around a country like this, you always accumulate a sort of scrapbook, snapshots, things so vivid you know you'll never forget them.
Scenes from a land hidden in the shadows. First, the incredible discipline, the eerie perfectionism of the children. At the same time, signs of a nation with no money. Dark halls. Few light bulbs. Run down buildings. But inside, people proud of their three rooms, carpeted in pictures of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. We also noticed that traveling through the streets, we never once saw an obese person. We never once saw a dog or cat, either, for that matter. We are looking at two worlds, very different views and few bridges between. We noticed in the magazine on the way in that it said the
Diane Sawyer on her trip to a country so few of us will ever see.
STORY2: UNHOOKING
While the ups and downs of energy prices make a big difference to millions of families, what if you didn't care because your energy bills were zero? Today, one man in
The backyard workshop has long been a source of birdhouses and bookcases. But Mike Strizki used his to build something that just might save the planet.
This is the heart of the system.
It is a homemade, pollution-free power plant. And it will run his home using only sunlight and water.
How many solar panels?
Around 56 panels up there. That's 10 kilowatts worth of power.
These solar panels provide most of the juice but only as long as the sun is shining. In order to store energy for rainy days and winter months, this gadget pulls hydrogen out of water and pumps it into these tanks. If they bring visions of the Hindenburg explosion, don't worry. Mike is used to calming his neighbors.
There were these letters to the editor saying I'm building the
So, this is as safe as bottled propane?
This is safer than bottled propane.
Much the way the hydrogen in this balloon powers a fuel cell fan, the hydrogen in the tanks will power his rather comfortable home.
I have the hot tub, the swimming pool, the big-screen TV. I have all the amenities. I'm living large, just like lots of Americans.
You're not eating tree bark in there?
That's correct.
And to further prove no sacrifice in lifestyle, he shows off the horsepower in his fuel cell car, also powered with homemade hydrogen. As a working prototype the system was not cheap. $150,000 paid for with a utility grant. But Mike is quick to point out that early computers were also big and expensive.
We have to start somewhere. This is that somewhere. Not to be tied to a utility, it's kind of the American thing to do. And, you know, I'm offering that independence. You know? I feel like the forefathers.
Bill Weir, ABC News,
STORY3: BREAST CANCER SCREENING
And we have news tonight about testing for breast cancer. Mammograms, the primary test, have saved millions of lives. 70% of women aged 40 and above have had a recent mammogram. But mammograms miss about 20% of cancers. So many women are encouraged to add other tests. ABC’s John McKenzie reports tonight on a much more sophisticated test that few women know about.
It can be a lonely, frightening wait for any woman. Barbara Hardy, who's 62, has been called into this
Right now, I'm just very, very concerned, you know, anxious. I wanted to –I wanna find out.
So Barbara's getting the latest screening technique - radioactive imaging, designed specifically for the breast. She's injected with a small amount of radioactive liquid. Which will pass out of her body within hours. But during the next 40 minutes, if she has breast cancer, it can find it.
Cancer cells are more active than normal cells so they will take up more of this little bit of radioactive tracer than the rest of the surrounding cells and very simply produce a black spot.
It's very useful in some cases to help us problem-solve.
Doctor Betsy Angelakis of the Lahey Clinic says it's especially useful for the many women with dense breast tissue.
Twenty-five percent of mammograms can be very dense so it's very hard to discern a mass.
Ines Fusco had a mammogram and ultrasound. Neither showed any sign of cancer. But because she felt a small lump in her breast, she was screened again with radioactive imaging. And there it was.
I give it all of the credit in the world. It saved my life.
Any family history of breast cancer?
Radioactive imaging is now offered at 33 hospitals in the
Can I have a hug?
You, absolutely, can have a hug. I'm so happy for you.
Oh, thank you, God. Thank you.
John McKenzie, ABC News,
STORY4: FIVE YEARS OF SUCCESS
A birthday to note. Five years isn't much time to conquer the world but Apple managed to do it with the iPod. The little white music player made its debut five years ago today. And those white headphones have made their way into millions of ears, even the President's. More than 67 million have been sold and the place that sells the music, iTunes, has sold 1.5 billion songs. How many 5-year-olds have done all that?
STORY5: MYSTERY MAN IDENTIFIED
Finally tonight, a man without memory. A month and a half ago he turned up in
Jeffrey Ingram hugged his fiancé today who, just 24 hours ago, he couldn't even identify. He didn't even know himself. In fact, the mystery man went on national television over the weekend hoping someone would know what he did not.
I feel totally lost. I feel totally alone. Very depressed. Very anxious about everything and I don't fit in anywhere.
Mister Ingram was found wandering the streets of
Pancakes, everybody loves pancakes.
And I just tried to look for information in my head and it's not there.
It's just blank?
Yeah.
Soon after his national plea came his answer. His family saw him and called police. But with his biggest question answered, there is now an avalanche of others. How did he wind up in
Absolutely. In most instances I don't believe that these are just people who are malingering or making up their symptoms.
Ingram left his home last month to visit his mother in
Sometimes it's just a stress-related phenomena (SIC) where a person so to speak goes off the deep end.
And when we asked the doctor, could this happen to anyone? He simply answered yes. This type of amnesia affects up to 600,000 Americans. And while Mr. Ingram was reunited with his future wife today, he has yet to get his memory back. David Muir, ABC News,
STORY6: PERSONAL APPEAL
There is a highly emotional issue being raised in a few hotly contested races across the country, being raised by a high-profile entertainer. The celebrity is Michael J. Fox. The issue is stem cell research. Fox is appearing in a series of ads targeting specific candidates with a very personal message. Here's ABC’s Jake Tapper.
Michael J. Fox has been an impassioned advocate for years.
This is Michael J. Fox's third appearance before this subcommittee.
Lobbying for embryonic stem cell research, which he argues can help people who suffer as he does from Parkinson's disease. But Fox has never injected himself so directly and so emotionally on the campaign trail and on TV until now.
In
That's one of three TV ads so far. Fox has recorded for candidates this season. This one goes after Republican Senator Jim Talent of
In this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He is moving all around and shaking. And it's purely an act.
After listeners contacted Limbaugh to say it was no act, the radio host apologized.
Roughly 60% of Americans support embryonic stem cell research, though it's unclear how many will cast votes based on the issue. Regardless, politicians across the spectrum are trying to use it to their advantage.
A Democratic group is running this ad, which vilifies Republicans who oppose this research?
How come he thinks he gets to decide who lives and who dies? Who is he?
And anti-abortion activists who oppose the destruction of embryos use the issue to target and rally troops to the polls. Through flyers, letters to churches and radio ads against the research.
Which ballot amendment seems family-friendly but would let scientists buy and cell human eggs?
A debate about life, science and faith, distilled to raw and passionate politics. Jake Tapper, ABC News,
STORY7: HEALTHY HEARTS
Some of the country's top heart doctors are meeting in
It is a tiny metal mesh that keeps arteries open and blood flowing to the heart. But it turns out the popular drug-coated stents can cause potentially fatal blood clots months - even years after they're implanted.
The clot forms in the stent, closes the stent off, and the blood flow stops down the artery. And so, that area of heart muscle has a heart attack.
At today's conference, one analysis getting lots of attention suggests drug-coated stents may be responsible for 6,000 heart attacks a year.
Even though there's considerable debate still about the magnitude of the risk involved, it seems to be greater than was appreciated before.
Drug-coated stents prevent the build-up of scar tissue in the artery. But they leave the stent in direct contact with the bloodstream, making it easier for clots to form. Lee Moore, who's 69, had a stent implanted today at the Mayo Clinic in
The reason my husband's going with the bare metal is because we talked to the doctor and it's the one that is less likely to clot.
They are not alone. Sales of drug-coated stents are down as much as 6% from a year ago.
The safety concerns are not only causing some doctors and patients to shy away from the newer stents. It's causing anxiety among those who've already had the stents implanted. Doctors say, for them, it's critical to remain on blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin and Plavix.
By far, the majority of all these clotting events that are happening, are happening in patients who have stopped one or both of the blood-thinning medications.
The Food and Drug Administration plans hearings in December to analyze the new safety data and suggest just which patients should be getting these stents. John McKenzie, ABC News,
STORY8: SHARE THE WEALTH
Finally tonight, a stock market phenomenon. The stock of the Berkshire Hathaway Company closed yesterday at $100,000. That is $100,000 for each share, the priciest stock in the world. There was a time, and not all that long ago, when you could have bought a share of Berkshire Hathaway for next to nothing. The investor Warren Buffett did. Here's ABC’s David Muir.
The year, 1962, John F Kennedy was president. The hottest-selling car? A Chevy Impala. And on television, "Father Knows Best.” It turns out, though, there was someone else who knew best. Warren Buffett. He turned 32 that year. And he had his eye on stock in a small
So, Mr. Buffett bought that stock at $7 a share. And he kept buying. And within three years' time, that $7 stock was now worth $18. And he had so much of it, he then had control of the company. By the 1970s, just like "The Jeffersons," Berkshire Hathaway stocks were on the rise. At $7 stock was now worth $158, Buffett's portfolio growing from insurance to Coca-Cola to candy.
Really companies that have a great brands recognition, a great competitive advantage in that, you know, you would recognize if you were going grocery shopping or if you were going just through a mall on a Saturday afternoon.
In the 1980s...
I want you to buy 20,000 shares of Blue Star.
...as Michael Douglas was wheeling and dealing in "Wall Street," Buffet's stock was nearing seven grand a share. Even at that price, investor Gerry Miller's friend told him it was a deal.
I invested in one stock for about $6500 to $7,000 around that time.
Which was a lot of money then.
For me it was, yes.
But it sure paid off because Gerry went on to buy four of those shares, each of them at about $7,000. And now, early two decades later, those shares, they're worth $100,000 each. And he owes that friend, who gave him the tip, a phone call.
You've reminded me. I have to look him up again and thank him.
Too bad he didn't call the rest of us. But analysts say, even at $100,000 a share...
It's still a bargain.
David Muir, ABC News,
STORY9: EXXON POSTS SECOND-LARGEST QUARTERLY PROFIT
Our next story is headlined by a gigantic number, ten and a half billion dollars. That is the profit reported today by the Exxon Mobil oil company, their profit just for the past three months. That works out to be the second-highest quarterly profit ever recorded. ABC’s Mike Von Fremd, tonight, is in
Charlie, Exxon's world headquarters is just down the street from this gas station. And a top executive told me today the company's astounding profits are a public relations problem for both the oil giant and the entire industry.
Exxon's earnings are up 26% from a year ago. The $10.5 billion it made last quarter works out to about $113 million a day, more than $75,000 per minute, and nearly equals the yearly gross national product of
Had to get enough money from us. You know, why should we give them more?
Exxon investors expect to receive more than $7 billion this year in dividends, which is about 10 times more than the company spends on research and development. But in a conference call, Exxon says it's also spending more than $5 billion per year, searching for more oil. And deserves every penny earned.
We're making about a dime a gallon. The taxman is making about four times that.
Some energy analysts agree, saying Exxon is doing an amazing job drilling for oil in some of the most difficult and dangerous places on the planet.
Why should they be embarrassed? They do it better than just about anyone else. They're smarter than a lot of other companies or they wouldn't be making this kind of money.
But with oil prices reaching record levels this year and gas prices breaking $3 a gallon this summer, consumer advocates say enough is enough, demanding Congress impose a windfall profits tax on big oil.
Fuel is an essential product for the American public. And they have been squeezed like lemons at a lemonade stand, in terms of the amount of money that's been extracted from their pocketbook.
With oil prices falling, Exxon's future earnings may take a hit. But right now, executives have another earnings gusher. And they're doing their best to convince consumers their profits are a good thing. Charlie?
Mike Von Fremd reporting tonight in
STORY10: STRUGGLING HOUSING MARKET
While big oil makes big dollars, there is more tough news for the struggling housing market.
The median price of a new home has taken its sharpest plunge in more than 35 years. Last month, that price fell to $217,000, down almost 10% in a year. As ABC’s David Muir reports, the steep slide is now hurting more than just home sellers.
The new numbers are bruising for builders. It is the largest drop in prices year-to-year in more than three decades.
Fifty to $60,000 off of our prices where they were, say, a year ago.
Nearly a million more homes are on the market now than there were this time last year. And for homeowners trying to sell, they've been forced to offer deals, too. This four-bedroom home in
We met with the homeowners, and we were quite frank with them. They're gonna have to bite the bullet.
But homeowners aren't just having trouble selling their homes. Others are simply trying to hold on to theirs. Many of them just bought while the market was still hot, using adjustable rate mortgages to get more than they can afford.
Adjustable rate mortgages, in the wrong hands, are a little bit like handing someone a loaded gun without giving them any training.
It's been disastrous for single mother Patty Altman of
Being unable to refinance, there's no other alternative. So, I'm actually having to let the house go.
So, Patty will now rent like so many others on the sidelines, many of whom are simply waiting for this housing market to settle.
The courageous soul who's willing to go out there now and doesn't mind putting in a low bid is a very smart buyer.
But until they're ready, the builders and the brokers will be forced to keep cutting prices. David Muir, ABC News,
STORY11: UNDER THE VEIL
We're gonna take "A Closer Look" at a furious debate occurring across the western world, in Europe, in this country and, today, in Australia, about Muslim women wearing veils in public. The wearing of a veil by Muslim women is an exercise of a most fundamental western right - the freedom of religion. But many westerners also see it as an act of defiance, a rejection of western culture that, in this age of terrorism, causes anxiety, even anger. Here's ABC’s Dan Harris.
Good evening. Islamic leaders are still meeting in
He's a disgrace to all well-meaning Muslim people.
An uproar in
I am very, very sorry for that, people misunderstanding my talk and my message.
The idea that women are to blame for rapes is preposterous. It's an appalling concept.
It's very sad.
From
It is a mark of separation.
In
That's what happens when people are attacked. It's just human nature. They circle the wagons. They get very intense about their faith. Their identity gets – their religious identity gets stronger.
The veil has long been debated among Muslims themselves. Many believe there is nothing in the Koran that say women have to cover their heads.
Some Muslim women say veils are oppressive. Others say they are liberating.
This is my choice. I feel free. I'm happy.
No one certainly judges me by the size of my bust or the length of my skirt anymore. And that is really liberating.
For centuries, Muslims have argued about the veil. Now, the veil has become a powerful symbol of the struggle between Muslims and the West to understand one another. Dan Harris, ABC News,
STORY12: ALL IN THE FAMILY
Finally from us tonight, the baby picture being seen around the world. Twin girls, one mother, one father, two very different skin colors. Extraordinary, indeed. But looking beyond the surface, it turns out that these girls, one black, one white, are remarkable not for how different they are, but how much alike they are. Here's ABC’s Ned Potter.
Okay. So, that's Alicia and this is Jasmin. And as different as they look, Australian newspapers are gushing over black and white twins. One paper called this a million-to-one miracle. But wait. Now meet
I just can't understand why they're different, when, to me, they're not. They're just the same birth, mixed, biracial.
The parents are of mixed race. But so are a surprising number of people in the modern world. So, mixed sets of twins are unusual but hardly impossible.
It's not that unusual because of the way genes are transmitted from parents to child.
To understand more, visit this lab, where they decipher the human genome, the long, spiral strands of DNA in virtually all the cells of your body. What did they find? That even if one person has blond hair and another has black, even if you are African American and your neighbor is Asian, genetically, we are almost identical, 99.9% the same. Look again at your DNA. There are about three billion base pairs or "rungs" on that spiral ladder. They combine into 35,000 genes that determine your characteristics. And of those, only about 10 have much to do with skin color.
In modern society, especially, racial classification makes no sense.
One of these sisters may face discrimination, the other doesn't. Even though they have the same parents, the same family tree, and are really the same deep inside. Ned Potter, ABC News,
STORY13: THE LAST FORD TAURUS COMES OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE
There's some irony that at the same time oil company profits are booming the American auto industry seems bust. Case in point, the Ford Taurus. The final Taurus ever built came off the assembly line today. The slow death of the Taurus mirrors the long decline at Ford, which this week announced it lost almost $6 billion in the third quarter alone. ABC's Steve Osunsami, on how Ford took a winning idea and drove it into the ground.
This morning, the very last Ford Taurus rolled off this assembly line in
The new Ford Taurus.
When it was first sold in 1985, the Taurus quickly became the top-selling vehicle in
The Ford Taurus is the only number one car that was relocated to the scrap heap by a combination of ineptness and just pure neglect.
Analysts say that Ford was shortsighted when it placed all its hopes in gas-guzzling SUVs. The Taurus went years without any significant improvements. And consumers went elsewhere. Last year, sales were under 200,000, less than half of its all-time high.
If Ford had wanted to preserve the car, they very well could have done it.
Jason Kennedy is a member of the Taurus Car Club of America. He says Ford took most of its loyal customers for granted.
They did cost-cutting measures, trimming small features that can really make the car.
It's easy to forget the Taurus was quite an achievement in aerodynamic design. It was the first American sedan with the headlights built flush to the car to reduce drag and make the vehicle more efficient. Today, these lamps are everywhere. Even the doors were designed to make the interior airtight.
Ford dealers say the Taurus was always a much better vehicle than anyone gave it credit for.
It's all in the eyes of the beholder. I see some of these cars that, you know, are just a box. You know, if it had Ford on it, everybody would shoot the damn thing. But it's got a foreign make on it and everybody buys it.
His dealership is up the road from the plant that built the car. The plant that's closing this weekend. Here, the end of the Taurus is personal.
You know, we're talking about my father. He retired from the plant. And a lot of his supervisors and friends, they bought from me here. So when they come up, you know, they still don't really understand why.
Why a car that served Ford so well is being allowed to simply disappear. Steve Osunsami, ABC News,
IKE 통대준비반 DEC, 2006
Food &Health LISTENING REVIEW (13)
STORY14: WAR ON FAT
We are gonna take "A Closer Look" tonight in another giant step in the movement to make
When fried is your middle name, tinkering with the cooking oil is a very big deal.
KFC has some very exciting news to share.
After years of rebuke from health officials and facing a transfat lawsuit, KFC is throwing out its traditional hydrogenated soybean oil.
What do you think?
Tastes pretty similar. KFC’s president says the search for a transfat-free replacement oil took two years and hundreds of taste tests.
We tried other oils, corn-based oil and canola, and we couldn't get the taste right with those oils.
Did it taste too greasy? Too...
It just wasn't finger-lickin' good.
The solution finally came in the form of a new soybean with some genetic modifications.
Transfats are so artery clogging that the American Heart Association recommends consuming less than two grams a day. Until now, a KFC three-piece, extra crispy meal, contained more than seven times that.
The tide is shifting now, where transfats are starting to be reduced in foods, and perhaps in some cases, even eliminated.
Today's announcement led the Center for Science in the Public Interest to drop its lawsuit against KFC and drew applause from the nation's nutritionists, with one caveat.
Foods that are lower in transfatty acids are not lower in calories. Just because the food is healthier doesn't mean we should be eating more of it.
That three-piece extra crispy meal will still contain well over 1,000 calories. Nancy Cordes, ABC News,
STORY14: WAR ON FAT
We are gonna take "A Closer Look" tonight in another giant step in the movement to make
When fried is your middle name, tinkering with the cooking oil is a very big deal.
KFC has some very exciting news to share.
After years of rebuke from health officials and facing a transfat lawsuit, KFC is throwing out its traditional hydrogenated soybean oil.
What do you think?
Tastes pretty similar. KFC’s president says the search for a transfat-free replacement oil took two years and hundreds of taste tests.
We tried other oils, corn-based oil and canola, and we couldn't get the taste right with those oils.
Did it taste too greasy? Too...
It just wasn't finger-lickin' good.
The solution finally came in the form of a new soybean with some genetic modifications.
Transfats are so artery clogging that the American Heart Association recommends consuming less than two grams a day. Until now, a KFC three-piece, extra crispy meal, contained more than seven times that.
The tide is shifting now, where transfats are starting to be reduced in foods, and perhaps in some cases, even eliminated.
Today's announcement led the Center for Science in the Public Interest to drop its lawsuit against KFC and drew applause from the nation's nutritionists, with one caveat.
Foods that are lower in transfatty acids are not lower in calories. Just because the food is healthier doesn't mean we should be eating more of it.
That three-piece extra crispy meal will still contain well over 1,000 calories. Nancy Cordes, ABC News,
IKE 통대준비반 DEC, 2006
Food &Health LISTENING REVIEW (14)
STORY15
And here in
You won't find transfat in Pringles anymore, says so right on the label, same with hundreds of other products. From Triscuits, to Lay's potato chips, to Wheat Thins to Kozy Shack chocolate pudding. Restaurants such as Chili's, Ruby Tuesday’s and Wendy’s are also dropping transfat like a hot stuffed baked potato.
Anytime you take something, a bad ingredient out, and maintain the taste and quality of food, that's a good deal.
Restaurants are doing this because they think it's the right thing to do.
But many public health officials say the food industry isn't abandoning transfats out of the goodness of its heart or for the goodness of consumers' hearts.
Expecting the industry to do these things voluntarily is like living in fairyland. You absolutely have to make them to do it.
Critics say the food industry is instead motivated by fear of bad press, lawsuits and tough new laws. For example, public health officials say restaurants are abandoning transfat because they know the ban being discussed in
The ways in which foods are marketed are very similar to the ways in which cigarette companies marketed their products. And I think that's the point of vulnerability, is marketing to children.
The issue is much bigger than transfat and it's true the industry is running scared. They have a lot to lose here.
So the food industry may be jumping from the trans fat frying pan right into the fire. Dan Harris, ABC News,
STORY15
And here in
You won't find transfat in Pringles anymore, says so right on the label, same with hundreds of other products. From Triscuits, to Lay's potato chips, to Wheat Thins to Kozy Shack chocolate pudding. Restaurants such as Chili's, Ruby Tuesday’s and Wendy’s are also dropping transfat like a hot stuffed baked potato.
Anytime you take something, a bad ingredient out, and maintain the taste and quality of food, that's a good deal.
Restaurants are doing this because they think it's the right thing to do.
But many public health officials say the food industry isn't abandoning transfats out of the goodness of its heart or for the goodness of consumers' hearts.
Expecting the industry to do these things voluntarily is like living in fairyland. You absolutely have to make them to do it.
Critics say the food industry is instead motivated by fear of bad press, lawsuits and tough new laws. For example, public health officials say restaurants are abandoning transfat because they know the ban being discussed in
The ways in which foods are marketed are very similar to the ways in which cigarette companies marketed their products. And I think that's the point of vulnerability, is marketing to children.
The issue is much bigger than transfat and it's true the industry is running scared. They have a lot to lose here.
So the food industry may be jumping from the trans fat frying pan right into the fire. Dan Harris, ABC News,
IKE 통대준비반 DEC, 2006
Food &Health LISTENING REVIEW (15)
STORY16: STUDENT REVOLT
We're gonna turn next to a remarkable show of student power at the country's only liberal arts university for the deaf.
How do you not take it personally when the news that you've just been fired ignites a celebration and they burn you in effigy?
I'm plenty deaf enough to be president of Gallaudet.
Jane Fernandes, speaking back when she was first selected to be next president of
This is about the issue of failed leadership.
Today protesters insisted that theirs is a complaint about leadership, not deaf identity, that she was stubborn and unresponsive and chosen without a broad enough search. Sure, they put her on t-shirts and set that fire last night. But the student body president told me, “Don't call this hatred.”
Hatred is a strong word for a situation like this. The burning of that effigy was symbolic to show the level of frustration that the students were put through.
But they won. They got the veto, an extraordinary thing for any group of students in any university. John Donvan, ABC News,
STORY17: DEEP SEA SECRETS OF THE TITANIC
Finally tonight, explaining the Titanic. We all saw all the movie. We've all read the history books. We all know it hit an iceberg. But why did the supposedly unsinkable ship not only sink but go down like a rock into the
It lies on the bottom of the
Has anyone analyzed Titanic rivets to this extent?
No.
Any school kid can tell you it was an iceberg that sank the Titanic. But what's baffled historians is why it sank so fast. Metallurgists Tim Foecke and Jennifer Hooper McCarty say their 10-year forensic investigation kept turning up one key problem. The Titanic's rivets, which were used to keep the ship's hull together, seemed to have simply popped without even stretching first.
When they're missing a head, you know that they were not acting the way they should have acted.
Most of the ship's three million rivets were made of steel but those used in the bow, the point of impact, were made of wrought iron. Under a powerful microscope, they discovered those iron rivets were riddled with weak points from substandard material.
This is the manifestation of all of the work in looking at - the Titanic rivets, in doing historical research, we put it all together and it comes down to this right here.
To prove the theory, they made replicas of the Titanic's rivets using the very same materials, even using blacksmiths in the same part of
They put the rivets to the test simulating the amount of pressure the Titanic's hull would have been under after the collision. Even before the maximum pressure point, they snapped. As the rivet snapped one at a time, they believe the Titanic's hull opened up like a zipper, flooding what was supposed to be an unsinkable ship in just two and a half hours.
Quite often in engineering failures, it's the small component that's gonna get you in trouble. It's the weakest link.
And it may have been responsible for 1500 deaths on the most famous ocean liner in history. Neal Karlinsky, ABC News,