"teen kids news" is on now and here's what we've got. sports, drugs and scandal. i'll have the story. i'll report on a winning strategy for entering science competitions. we'll show you an "edgy" sport that combines discipline, grace and timing. find out why some students choose colleges where guys can't apply. teens turn into tutors, coming up. and much more, next on "teen kids news."

welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm jessica. here's our top story for this week. it has been a sad chapter in american sports. some call it the "steroid era." the records of star athletes have been called into question. olympic medals have been taken away. but out of the spotlight, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by teens has become an issue as well. felipe reports on why steroids are banned, and why they're especially dangerous for teens. reporter: steroids have been in the news a lot lately. the u.s. congress has accused dozens of professional and olympic athletes of using the drugs. some have confessed and some have been prosecuted for

allegedly lying about the use. and it's not just the pros who feel the pressure to cheat. >> if you do not succeed, you feel like you letting your team down. >> reporter: taylor hooton wanted to be the best high school pitcher in his league. his dad didn't know he'd do anything to reach that goal. >> somewhere along the way, he made the choice, the wrong choice, to use anabolic steroids. >> it is a class of steroids that its primary -- its primary function is to increase muscle mass, bones and red blood cells in the body. >> reporter: dr. john steever explains that steroids help make an athlete stronger, but they have a very negative side to them. >> you get increases and elevations in blood pressure. your clotting ability goes up, and so you become at risk for having things like heart attack, stroke, clots in the lungs or in your chest, or in your legs, and those are very dangerous side effects.

>> reporter: body builder brad cunningham felt those effects first hand. >> the day after christmas morning, i felt chest pains and a searing headache. i told my mom i think it's time to call 911. >> reporter: brad was lucky. he's okay today. things didn't turn out as well for taylor. his family says steroids sent him into a deep depression. taylor killed himself. mood swings are a known side effect of the drug. that's because steroids increase the amount of the hormone testosterone in the body. >> testosterone that's given to you externally suppresses your own internal production of testosterone, and one of the side effects that boys don't like is their testicles shrink. >> reporter: that can affect your ability to produce children later. other unwanted side effects for boys include acne and the growth of breast tissue.

>> for the girls, testosterone is also bad because it can masculinize them a little bit. so, they'll start getting facial hair. they might get male-pattern baldness, they might get acne and they can also get some genital effects that they may not like. >> reporter: steroids may be especially harmful to teens because our bodies are still growing. and there may be other long-term side effects we don't know about. olympic wrestler brandon slay took home a gold medal in 2000 because the original champ t u can compete at t very highest levels without having to cheat. >> you know, young athletes think, "well, the only way i'll make it into college athletics, the only way i'll make it to the pros is if i cheat." you know, a lot of pro athletes think, "you know, the only way i can compete at this level is if i cheat," and that's totally not the truth.

>> you just have to train and train, train, and exercise and work out. steroids are unnecessary. >> everyone can become great as an athlete on their own. you just have to work up to it and practice. >> reporter: they're right. the best way to be a good athlete is through proper training and diet. it's a slow process, but your body needs time to grow, without the help of drugs. >> we know that a 13- or 14-year-old is not going to be able to develop the very large muscles that an 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old can do, simply because most of their energy is going into growth. a good trainer, a good physician, a good nutritionist can help a teenager navigate all of that. >> reporter: and we should all be able to compete without worrying that someone else is getting ahead by cheating. to learn more about steroids, check out the taylor hooten foundation at taylorhooten.org stay with us. there's lots more ststststststs, on "teen kids news." >> we'll be right back.

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the competition is fierce. the preparation can take years. i'm not talking about sports. i'm talking about the top science prizes in the country. erika found out what it takes to succeed. >> reporter: these excited teens are competing for thousands and thousands of dollars in scholarships. they're finalists in the "yes" competition, vying for one of the top science prizes for high school students. [ cheers ] "yes" stands for young epidemiology scholars. epidemiology is the study of diseases and these students are focusing on public health. the judges were impressed. this kind of research is usually expected from students going for advanced degrees in college. >> the work we saw this weekend

was graduate-level work and these are high school kids. and that's the sort of talent that we need to meet the growing health demands today. >> reporter: so, how do you become a winner like gazelle from pennsylvania? start with a topic you care about. >> the study i presented to the "yes" competition was regarding the prevalence of migraines among teenage girls, and for my project, i won a $50,000 scholarship. >> reporter: gazelle gets migraines herself, so finding out how many other girls get them was a natural topic to explore. >> didn't we have a great time in washington? >> yeah. >> reporter: we visited another "yes" scholar at home, and found out that his research topic is also something that grew from his own experience. he was learning the lifesaving technique called cpr, cardio pulmonary resuscitation. >> we were required to take a cpr course at our high school in gym class, and when people were trying to perform cpr on the mannequins, i found that most people weren't able to do it. >> reporter: cpr can save someone whose heart has stopped

beating, but only if air gets into the victim's lungs. that's called ventilation. the usual technique is mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but john noticed his classmates were resisting. >> they either didn't want to perform cpr cause they didn't want to have their mouth touch the mannequin, 'cause it's kind of gross. or they just weren't able to create a proper seal around the mouth of the mannequin. >> and johnny looked at what are the other things that we could do to replace mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. >> reporter: john did his research with people of all ages, which he recreates here with his sister and brother. he tested peoples' ability to learn cpr the traditional way. then he had his subjects try using a device called a bag mask ventilator. finally, he had them test a device called an "i-gel." for all three methods, he even created "how to" videos starring his dad, who's a doctor. >> and my study found that

"i-gel" ventilation was the best out of all three. this is because the "i-gel" is easily placed into the patient's mouth. it avoids contact of bodily fluids between the patient and the rescuer. and finally, it delivers more successful breaths to the patient. >> i definitely preferred to use the "i-gel" because it prevented the air from escaping the patients. >> and begin. >> reporter: it took john three years to research his topic, develop the testing program and conduct the tests. then he had to translate his findings into a presentation. >> once i analyzed my results, i wrote a paper on my study. it was a 20-page paper and it included the review of literature, the methods, the results and the conclusion. and the conclusion, of course, was that the "i-gel" was a better airway device. >> reporter: john's teacher encouraged him to apply to the "yes" scholars program. and that's how he got to washington. he didn't win the top prize, but he was thrilled and so were his folks. >> and i think it's great when kids are taught not just to

regurgitate information, not to just accept the status quo, but rather to go out into the world and question, and go out into the world and challenge, and go out into the world and think about ways in which they can make a difference in society. >> reporter: john hopes his research might someday lead to a change in the way cpr is taught. if we can help reduce the time it takes for a patient to receive air during a cardiac arrest, we can possibly save that patient's life. >> reporter: and it all started with john noticing that teens like him did not like doing cpr. we have more information on the "yes" scholars program on our "teen kids news" website. now let's check out something cool to do online. click this. >> > do you wonder when the next wonder woman issue is due out? ironing your iron man shirt as we speak? then this site is just what dr. octopus ordered. comicbookresources.com is a hulk-sized database for

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these girls are on a championship synchronized skating team.

they practice matching everything, move for move with everybody else. and they practice -- >> you have to make sure you're counting right. you got to listen to the music. >> reporter: and they practice, on their own and as a group, hours and hours every week. >> it kind of takes over your life a little bit. >> reporter: if this makes you dizzy just to watch, imagine what it's like to try to get it right. >> there are lots of practices during the weekends and during the week. and we have to skate hard and practice a lot to be on the team. >> reporter: and some of these girls have been at it for years. >> it's like my life. it's a passion. once you do it, you can't stop. >> i think in figure skating, it's very lonely sometimes, cause you're just working on your own self to improve. in order to be on the team, you still have to work on your own figure skating and skating

skills and your expression and take your tests. but i think in team camaraderie, i think it's a lot of fun for girls to be in a unit working for the same result, which is always to do a good performance. >> reporter: they move up with the same team through age divisions, practicing and traveling to competitions, perfecting every move so, when it's showtime, they're ready. >> you all have to be looking in the exact same direction and you have to be doing everything the same. you want to look perfect. >> reporter: they compete according to rules set by the u.s. figure skating competition. the judging is on presentation, and very specific moves, such as lines, blocks, circles, and wheels. >> and then we have intersections, which is when the girls pass through each other. >> reporter: easier said than done. >> what makes an intersection so suspenseful is we're going straight at each other and everyone expects us to crash. but at the last second, we drop our arms and go through. >> reporter: it's a real crowd pleaser. but these kids seem to skate as much for each other as for the judges.

some of them have literally grown up together on ice. >> the friendship, the bond between the girls are unbelievable. it's like a sister, it's not even a friend. i don't even know. it's the bond, it's amazing. >> reporter: as they grow in their sport, the sport itself is expanding. it started with just a handful of teams in the 1950s and '60s. now, it's one of the fastest growing sports worldwide. someday, kids like this could be going for the gold. >> i believe that synchronized skating should be an olympic event. and hopefully one day, it will be. we see them all the time, but very few of us look closely, except for kristen, who has some interesting facts about our state flags.

>> reporter: "remember the alamo." those words honor the outnumbered defenders who died fighting the mexican army in 1836. but from that defeat came the birth of texas, first, as an independent republic, then as our 28th state. >> what's unique about the flag of texas is how much texans love their state and their flag. but they have reason to feel proud of that flag. >> reporter: the star symbolizes unity. it's also why texas is nicknamed "the lone star state." the five points are said to represent the ideal characteristics of a characteristics of a texan -- loyalty, prudence, fortitude, broadmindedness, and righteousness. texas values are also embodied in the flag's bold colors -- red for courage, white for purity and liberty, and blue for loyalty. >> i think they're happy to be americans. but there's that whole texas pride. and what you see on that flag is the independence of texas. >> reporter: tipping my hat to texas, i'm kristen with flag facts.

a recent study found that americans eat 156 pounds of added sugar each year. a lot of it is hidden in foods that we eat every day. jax hubbard is a nutritionist at long island college hospital. jax, what sort of foods are hiding sugar? >> sugars are hidden in many foods, including sweetened

yogurts, jellies and jams. even in breads, crackers, ketchup and tomato sauce. the more obvious foods are actually beverages like sodas, ice teas and lemonades. a 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 16 teaspoons of sugar. an eight-ounce bottle of chocolate milk contains about eight teaspoons and even sports drinks have almost 11 teaspoons of sugar in a 24-ounce bottle. remember to read the ingredient list. corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are two forms of sugars that sneak into lots of the foods that we eat. >> who knew sugar could be so sneaky? thanks, jax! >> thank you. at first glance, new york's barnard college looks pretty typical for a small school in a big city. located in upper manhattan, the campus is compact, covering just a few city blocks. about 2,400 students come here from all over the world. so, there's lots of diversity.

but all barnard students have one particular thing in common. they're all women. barnard is what's called a "single sex" college. >> there are probably about 60, 70 all women colleges out there in the united states now. i really think it's about building both women's self-esteem and their confidence levels. >> reporter: before you say no way, not me, keep in mind that single-sex colleges often have close relationships with other schools. in barnard's case, the other school is right across the street, columbia university. there are columbia students taking courses at barnard, and barnard students taking courses at columbia. >> reporter: back in 1889 when barnard was founded, women were not allowed to attend columbia. they weren't allowed to vote, either. nowadays most schools are co-ed, meaning they accept both male and female students. but even though many doors have opened for women, barnard is

here to open more. >> well, i think that barnard has just a very long history of providing leadership opportunities for women, and really pushing women out there in the working world. and that's true i think for a number of the women's colleges. >> reporter: and here's the proof. only 2% of all college grads come from women's colleges, but listen to this. 20% of the women in congress came from single-sex colleges. graduates from women's colleges are twice as likely to earn ph.d.s. and they are more likely to go to medical school. of the 50 top-ranking women in business, an amazing 30% came from, you guessed it, women's schools. dean fondiller told me that at a college like barnard, women get used to being leaders. and that carries them forward into science, government, education, wherever they want to go. >> the more and more that we

really helped our women pursue leadership opportunities, we really see the payoffs there. and i think it's really critical in our society. >> reporter: for more information, you can check out womenscolleges.org. at barnard college, i'm lauren for "teen kids news." here's a tip you won't want to miss.

researchers tested cats versus dogs on the ability to understand the concept of "cause and effect." the dogs won. all right, young america. what's your opinion? we'll find out in speak of the week. >> everyone has their tricks for getting through papers, midterms and finals. so, tell us your best study tip. >> my best study tip would be to give yourself enough time to study before a test or something and to have, like, materials and

questions prepared for you to use. >> i always copy my notes over and i study those. i try to get a good night's sleep before the test, eat a good breakfast. i also study with friends a lot. >> i'd say not to procrastinate. >> memorize what you need to memorize, but if you already know something, don't waste time going over it again. >> take a lot of notes and read them out loud for like 30 minutes, and you'll learn them a lot. >> i always go on the internet and stuff and facebook and check my mail constantly, so i think you have to remove the computers so you can concentrate better. >> plan out what you're going to do and study it day by day, a little bit each day. >> really buckle down and read the material. don't put it off until later, because you'll get distracted and then you won't be able to study right. i say right when you get home, if you need to do something, just get down and do it. >> my best study tip is to definitely start studying in advance, because even just a little bit every day, because it helps in the long run. >> did you know most people can

only concentrate for 45 minutes at a time? when studying, try to work for 45 minutes, then give yourself a 15-minute break to refocus. for "teen kids news," i'm siena. that wraps up our show, but we'll be back soon with more "teen kids news." >> thanks for joining us, and have a great week! -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and a big thanks to our troops in the middle east for their service.