hi, welcome to assiment 7. today on our program local doctors are trying to cure children from an extremely rare skin disea, plus... we go behind the scenes at the california academy of sciences to find out why it takes eight people to gi them a physical. and check to see what are the hottest selling video games this holiday season. state regulators are concerned about more pg&e customers forced to live without power could dramatically increase the utility installs more smart meters. it makes it easy for the utility to disconnt their electrici. michael finney has the results

of a 7 on your side investigion. >> this is a tragedy no one wantso see repeated. investigators in fairfield blame this fire in april on an unattend candle used to light the home. four children died in the fir >> it was customer who had been disconnected. they were unfortunately using apparently candles inappropriately. >> pg&e had used smart meter technology to cut off elecicity to the family because the family wasn't keeping up with its bills. some say shutoffs will happen more frequently. now as more smart meters are installed. >> our concern is that with the advent of smart meters that have the capability of remotely shutting off customers without havi to go physically visit the hoe that could significantly increase. >> for the first five months of 2009, pg&e used smart meters to cut off power to 4300 customers.

that increase of 52,000 for the sameeriod this year. pg&e insists that smart meters have not changed the way it does business. >> the advent of the smart meter has not changed the process with working with customers. >> they point to a different set of numbers. >> through t end of ma the number of shuffs in 2010 is down 33%. >> it points to the total number of all disconnections, not just smart meter disconnections, but the increase in smart meter shutoffs practitioners to be disproportionly large. there are three times more electric meters installed but they he increased 12 fold in one year. >> we have asked for a moratorium until the investigation is complete until we determine what are the problems wh the smart meters.

>> we have a large variety of programs that customers can reach out to us. they can arrange a payment or mere qualify for an assistance program. >> through the first five months of this year, 46% of customers that lost their power remotely were in the energy care program. gas meters does not have the remote shut-off capability. there may be new hope what some parents have called the most paiul disease that nobody has ever heard of. the victims are children. here is carolyn johnson,. >> 13-year-old garret spaulding lives with pain. he has to be tough because his skin is so fragile. >> it's so painfu for him, the

pain management. >> garre was born with a genetic skin condition common referred to as e.b. that can produce open wounds. they rewrap the multilayered bandages that several times a day. >> we do limb by limb and it takes a long time. it can take hours. >> the same rare condition might have prevented andrew perez from ever holding his pirate story. they brout him her for surgery base the skin on the fingers was beginning touse together. >> it was like this. they separate them. >> e.b. is so rare it affects only about 1 in 50,000 children and lucille packard has the only dedicated e.b. clinic in california. the children also suffer from other issues. >> in addition to the wounds we

try to look at other medical issues they could be having. we're checking for anemia and looking at nutrition. we want to keep them active. >> still for decades the main mission this to help children manage the pain because there is no treatment o cure for e.b., but that could soon change. >> we are extremely excited about the future. >> the doctor believes that his team could be ready for clinic trials using advanced skin grafting techniques. one involves genetically engineering. >> it takes a gene which the patients are missing, pting that gene into their cells, having the cells make the correct protein and grafting those cells back on the patient. >> in other words, replacing damaged skin with healthy tissue. they received another boost when they awarded a $11 million grant

that will allow his team to use a similar grafting approach using stem cells. >> there is so much new opportunities that are coming through in this disease in the last three years then thereave been in the previous hundred years. >> if either strategy is successful, it would offer the first hope what som parents have called the most painful disease. >> it would be the biggest miracle, true life miracle th are dealing with e.b.. dr. lane is currently recruiting e.b. patients for preliminary trial. the goal is to have a stem cell based therapy in the next four years. >> up next, out of this world artwork. bay ar woman who paints planets and galaxies no one has ever seen. >> we're out performg with everybody.

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thanks to the hubble and kepler telescope we have had an unprecedented area of discovery. the problem is so many are far away we can barely see them. wayne frdman introduces us to a local woman that turns pixels into planets. >> they are explorers just as much of the crews of the nina and pinta and santa maria. they are looking for new wor worl. this is more subtle than that. >> it's like watching a mosquito flying across headlight of a car. >> so now to the hardork part. finding the launcof the kepler space telescope.

kepler looks at fixed point in the sky and measures the brightness of stars. when one of them dims it's often becaus a planet has gotten in the way, a measurement measured by quicy lines and then intense scrutiny by ni by this woman. >> most person peoe, the lay person loo like a littl plot and a graph and all these going up and down and why should they care about little squigglys. >> lynette cook has turned those discoveries into an art form of distant planet sces. >> if mind's eye you are there already. forget the cost or the years it would take to get there. be an armair traveler. >> until 1995, she was just another typical artist, but that is the year they discovered

first planet orbiting the sun that wasn't our own. they wanted to advertise the discovery and hence the birth of a cottage industry. >> i can only report what i see. at the earth scape known as u.c. berkeley, he has earned a reputati as the most famous planet hunter of them all. he has discovered hundreds of them. many adorn the wall, i will net's rendition of them. >> she has the science and she has artistic touch to bring it to the public. >> i'm supposed to do sometng with that. >> or became they begin at blobs but not afr lynette takes and applies those visualto the data. it has an artisc side and also

with a person that majored in science. >> there are parameters. "can't put purple polka dots on the planet for example, that would not work. >> moons are oy. she is b on moons >> i put the moon. >> why? >> because i wanted to. >> this depicts a world in orbit arnd the sun a place that alternates between very hot and very cold. >> it's making it available to the public with my art that there is more to astronomy than just a moon and a star or a planet and a star. >> there is no question about that. it's also very good living for a woman that gets away from it all by nurturing the life forms in her own backyard garden. >> what is your favorite planet?

>> i would have to say earth. >> as they say there is no place like home, especially for a woman who travels so far. >> a sky is emergingn south bay city. his talent is crystal clear but potential outcome is what separates him from the pac here is teresa garcia. >> this south bay musical theater rehearsal of hello dolly marks one of a dozen stage productions brandon has performed in. he h characters to delve in him bt there is something that sets had him apart from this 18-year-old. most in the audience can't pick him out as the blind doctor. >> it's a great feeling, you are out performing with everybody.

>> instead of using sight to guide him, he uses auditory cues and touch. >> you touch the person and make sure, make sure you are not this close to him. >> and it takes a while to memorize the lines. >> i memorize the stage and pieces are and when i come out, everytng better be where they are supposed to be. >> his arts have excelled because o natural talent but also supporte up bringing. >> he never let anything get in his way he wants to experience something, thene let him. we never hd him back. >> sonya says it was a shock when the family learned that brandon had a very rare eye disease, a condition gradual leading him to total blindness. it compelled her to be a

certified teacher for the visually impaired. >> you just wonder how is he going to be able to do that. he is able to have a job. >> indeed, brandon is livi a life without letting blindness holding him back. he is studying at college and pursuing the arts. >> reach for the stars is the family's motto. >> his efforts have won him 2010 yes, i can award for his achievement. they honor 27 students that excel. brandon's next one, she rehearsing the role of the bishop for upcoming play. >> when we continue, the extraordinary effo to save sea

turtles from the gulf of mexico's oileak. bayrea researchers are standing by. how do you give a 63 pound catfish a physical exam? think about winning is my favorite thing. t we lost today. ♪ no, weidn't. ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh

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welcome back. an effort has started along the gulf coast to rescue turtle eggs. monterey bay aquarium may be calledo help. >> this is a nineonth old green sea turtle on display at the re than the ray bay aquarium. it's and endangered species i the gulf coast which is why there is an extraordinary effort to unearth turtle eggs and get them to a safe place for hatching. its delicate process and mike

murray says conditions must be controlled. >> you have to watch out for humidity so the eggs don't lose too much water too quickly because ju like a bird egg they are relatively porous. >> their natural instinct would take them on a dangerous journey in the oil contaminated waters. >> once they hit the water they are known to swim for 48 hours straight at a very gh speed to get away from the sur line. >> biologists say there are an estimated 70,000 turtle eggs that need to be dug up and transpted to florida's contend did i space center for hahing. ideally the ones that survive will be brat back to the atlantic ocean. >> montey bay aquarium says if needed they are prepared to care for some of the gulf turtles. >> this is t first time they have had young turtle on display and is ready for a gulf refugee.

>> we haven ability to take them in and give them care until time they can be released. >> seeing the turtles up close gives the visitors a special appreciation for efforts to hunt for the literate go eggs. >> it's definitely important, because the turtles are a big part of the ecosystem. >> while the egg rescuers, it provides more hope than the alternative h alternative. >> some turtles to fish now. seven giant catfish had annual physical at california academy of sciences, it may not sound like a big deal but they are big fish with sharp spin. >> when you put a live rain forest insi a giant glass dom you have to be ready for a lot of challges. this is a giant red tail catfish

one that lives in the rain forest xisht. they way up to 63 poun and some are as long as three and a half feet. people can stroll above the tank and look down but sometimes they drop things. >> glasses, pacifiers or shoes or bottles. >> soon after the rain forest opened, academy staff realized they had a problem. >> we had a radio call this that there was a red tail catfish that had glass in the mouth. >> they discovered that glasses was notnly thing the catfish swallowed. once a year they have to have their insides exane. >> we call it the round-up. >> it takes eight people, divers to have catch the fish, not easy the tank is hundred thousand galls full of nooks. >> the bigger fish are herded to

the to where they are scooped up and then carried in stretchers to holding tanks. water in the tanks is treated with a chemical sort of like novemb oh cane that dentists use on people. >> that will sedate them. >> a veterinarian says handling red tail catfish can be tricky. >> they can get big and mean. >> they also have sharp spines on their fins. >> so they wait unti the fish are good and sleepy. >> we want to get a visl on the belly. we do a gener physical around that is a visual on how their inner scale coat looks. >> then there is the delicate matter of checking the stomach. smalaller fi get a tube slipped down their throat. it's lined with aluminum when it reflects. when they shine a light in they can see what is inside. this fishgot a clean bill of health. >> he's fine. >> tub won't work fo the

bigger fish. the vet has to put his arm in the fish -- no kidding. first he covers up for protection >> they have these sandpape pads in the back of the throat. you have to push against me. >> now thiis the hard part. get those teeth, okay. >> on this day, none of the fish had anything inhe stomach that wasn't suose to be there. if you are thinking of putting red tail catfish in your aquarium, beware. most of them were donated by people that bought them when they were a few inches long, not anymore. >> up next, a look at a bay area giant new video game targeting kids and adults.

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likely be the best selling video games of the holiday season and they are coming from the world's biggest game producer, electronic arts redwd city. >> life like action and pulsatinsound, realism defined video games. this is electronic arts summer showcase the games that will be in stores in the next few months. >> to bring the franchise to downloadable arcade games for the very first time. >> e.a. is the world's bigge producer but they can't re because more peopl are getting involved which means more competition in a business that has mushroomed. >> it's exploded in the last ten years. it iced to be something that a younger boy would do in his basement on a p.c. and now it's older people. >> then there is the best

selling of all time. mostly girls and wait a minute 12-24 years old. >> you can be a celebrity, you can become a vampire. >> se there is new edition of n.f.l. football and it brought out patrick willis. >> they have a more realistic look about them. technology just keeps getting better. >> we want to give you the tools using the stick or joystick to do moves and create moves like kobe or lebron would on the court. >> and mixed martial arts, it could more realistic. and the opportunities continue. >> we're in the entertainment business. >> these people are expected to

create amazing things. they have at least 20% of the market and the last quarter they said they made close to a billion dollars. by the way, i'm the most overdressed person here. don sanche, "abc 7 news." >> if yo want more information our program today, go to www.abc7om and look under the news links for assignment 7. that is all for this edition of assignme 7. i'm kristen sze. thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you backere next time. in my wedding dress

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