>> "teen kids news" is just ahead, and here's what we've got. >> i'll help you focus on ways you can protect two of your most important possessions. >> i'll show you a new museum in washington that's makingws headlines with visitors. >> it's the scene of the most famous indian battle in history. i'll tell you how -- i mean where -- in flag facts. >> and i'll introduce you to a teen with a talent... for helping others. >> so get ready. "teen kids news" starts right now.

>> welcome to "teen kids news."s i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's this week's top story. >> a surprising number of visits to the emergency room are caused by problems with contact lenses and other eye injuries. so we've been looking into the issue. here's harry with a report. >> look up for me. good. blink. look down. good. cornea looks good. >> each year, almost a million kids suffer eye injuries. a lot of those happen around the home -- for example, an accidental poke in the eye or handling household cleaners. sports are another cause. in fact, every 13 minutes,

someone is rushed to an emergency room for a sports-related eye injury. se that one person thinksngs i that the game is over, everybody else thinks the game is still going, and an eye injury can occur. >> so, what sports do you think are most likely to cause eye injuries? >> eye injuries. um... squash. >> um... field hockey, because, like, the ball is coming up, and tennis, definitely. >> probably golf. >> or maybe soccer. >> eye injuries. um... i would say...lacrosse. >> i don't know. maybe baseball, if you were trying to catch a pop fly and then it hit you in the eye. >> i play basketball, and i know that a lot of eyes get injured with elbows and, like, just the roughness of the game. >> they're both correct. basketball and baseball are

where most accidents happen. experts say wearing proper eye protection could reduce these injuries by as much as 90%. >> the kind of protection you need depends on the sport. >> my dad is an eye doctor, sos anything with contact -- basketball -- anything where people are going for the ball, you know. even football, too, through the face mask, so you got to be careful about eye injuries. >> sports where you wear a helmet, like football, baseball, or hockey -- you should use a plastic eye shield. for other sports where you may get hit in the eye, goggles might be the ticket. if you swim, goggles that are watertight are a good idea. chemicals like chlorine can damage your cornea. >> i do track, so i don't need any eye protection for that. >> actually, you probably do. outdoor sports like track and skiing expose your eyes to the sun's harmful ultraviolet light. so look for goggles that give full protection against uva and uvb rays. >> my sister and i really love to go on the moguls. those bumps go really fast. >> hannah was wearing glasses

under her ski goggles. she thought she was protected, but she wasn't. >> and then i just fell. one of my sides of the glasses that connects to your ear, it just broke off. >> when you're playing sports, and you're wearing glasses underneath your goggles, if you get hit in the face, the goggles can get compressed and then compress the glasses. the lenses are usually shatterprone, but the frames can break, and a broken frame near the eye can certainly damage the eye. >> that's why many athletes wear contact lenses. however, some parents think kide need to be teenagers before they can wear contacts -- not true. hannah got her first contacts while still in grade school. >> the issue is more the maturity of the person and not the maturity of the eye. once somebody is responsible enough to take a foreign body and put it on the front surface of their eye with clean hands, can learn when it's appropriate to wear a contact lens, when it's not, how to care for them

and clean them, then i'm ready to fit them with contact lenses. >> besides proper everyday care, the doctor has this advice... >> teenagers are known for over-wearing their lenses. i generally recommend that contacts not be worn longer than 12 hours a day. this gives the eye time to rest and oxygen time to reach the cornea, which is the front surface of the eye. also, they share their lenses. this is a definite no-no, because you have bacteria that live on your system that can be transferred to somebody else. lastly, sometimes i see teens taking out their lenses, or if their lens comes out, putting it in their mouth and then putting it back on the front surface of the eye. the bacteria that live in our mouth belong there and certainly not on the front surface of the eye. that's risking infection and other problems. >> then there's contact lenses some people wear just to make their eyes look more attractive. these are called "costume" or "cosmetic" contacts. >> if they're not fit properly, they can damage your eye.

they can cause inflammation. they can scratch the cornea, which can lead to an infection, which can lead to scarring and, in the worst case scenario, vision loss. contact lenses are medical devices, and they're meant to be prescribed only by ophthalmologists and optometrists. >> remember, even if you have perfect vision, protecting your eyes is an important goal to keep in sight. for "teen kids news," i'm harry. >> we'll be right back with more "teen kids news." >> so don't go away.

>> let's check in with this week's "flag facts." here's scott. >> it's home to cowboy ghost towns, custer's last stand, seven indian reservations, the world's shortest river and largest migrating elk herd. the state animal is the

grizzly bear. [ grizzly bear roars ] and its sweeping vistas earned it the nickname "big sky country." we're talking montana, pardner. >> montana is from the spanish word for "mountains" or "mountainous." ws>> admitted to the union in 1889, its flag honors both the land and its people. >> so, you see the tools of a miner -- a pickaxe, a shovel. you also see farming tools for the settlers who came and settled the land, and in the back, you see the river, the waterfall, and the rocky mountains, in reference to the great nature they have in montana. >> montana is rich in precious minerals. the banner across the bottom boasts "oro y plata," which means "gold and silver." montana is also rich in wildlife. it has more species of mammals than any other state. our 41st state has some pretty strange laws. for example, it's illegal for unmarried women to go fishing by themselves on sundays. i guess in montana, there's

better ways to hook a husband. with "flag facts," i'm scott. [ chomp! ] >> when it comes to fast food, bigger is not always better. >> serving sizes are getting bigger and bigger at fast-food restaurants. beverage sizes are getting bigger. what does that mean? kids are eating more, our portion sizes are bigger, and people are getting bigger. we don't need all that food. >> colleen thompson andfood. ellen shanley are the authors of "fueling the teen machine." so, ellen, how much should the typical teen eat for lunch? >> well nicole, we measure our intake by our calories. and an active young man eats about 800 calories for lunch, and a young female should eat about 700 calories. >> so, i think you have some examples that bring those numbers toife. >> i do. we have a big mac, a large fry, and this is about 1,340 calories, and we see with the

big mac, we have two burgers, three slices of bread, and their special sauce, which is loaded with calories and fat. >> so that's a lot of calories over here. >> it's a whole lot of calories. >> what do we have over here? >> here is a regular hamburger, a small fry, and a small soda. and this is only about 630 calories. so you've been able to cut out half of your calories if you make that choice. >> so, since you're withid your 700, 800 limit, are you able to eat this every day for lunch? >> well, i don't think i'd make that choice. you really are not getting the fruits and vegetables that you need. so there's a lot more nutrition that you should be getting on a daily basis. >> i think my mother would agree with you. of course, if you switch the fries for a salad and the soda for low-fat milk, you can enjoy your occasional hamburger with far less guilt. for "health bites," i'm nicole. e

>> you're doing something right now that's an important part of our democracy -- watching the news. in washington, d.c., there ks a understand why journalism is a key to our freedom. annie takes us on a tour. >> 35,000 newspaper front pages, real-life pieces of recent history, the first announcement of the death of a president, the thrilling news that a world war was over, dramatic stories that reporters and photographersws risked their lives to tell. you can find all this and more at the newseum. en this spectacular new attraction in washington, d.c., explores one of our most important freedoms -- the freedom of the press, guaranteed by the first

amendment of the constitution. >> the first amendment guarantees that you can say what you want, you can publish what you want, including ideas that are not popular. and if you don't have the ability to let that person or that idea get out, you never have access to it, so you never have change. you won't have change, you won't grow as a society. >> the newseum celebrates the freedom of the pressn a big way, with seven levels of galleries and 15 theaters, including one that takes you to a new dimension. >> it's a 3-d movie with theatrical effects that are added in. so there's wind, your seat moves, and there are some other things i won't tell you about 'cause i don't want to spoil the surprise. >> shh. >> at the touch of a screen, you can access 500 years of news gathering, see prize-winning photographs that capture a story in an instant, or check out cartoons that prove freedom of expression can be funny. >> we're the most interactive museum in the world, we believe.

there's interactivity all over the place. >> one of those places lets you be the reporter. you not only get to be on camera, but through the magic of tv, you can report from the capitol, the white house, a sports stadium, or -- mys personal favorite -- the weather set. i forecast a record snowfall. school's closed for the week!ne [ kids cheering ] the newseum goes beyond showing how the news is gathered and delivered. it also examines particular stories that hit the headlines and touched our hearts. can you please tell us about the 9/11 gallery? >> sure. the centerpiece for that gallery is the top 36 feet of the broadcast antenna that stood atop the world trade center, and we've also got a collection of newspapers from the day after 9/11 from around the world that shows how that story was played. we've also got a theater there that shows a film about, basically, the first 48 hours of

covering that story and what that was like, and a very moving story about bill biggart, who was a photographer who was killed that day as he was rushing toward the north tower to collect more photographs. >> how can kids who cannot come to washington be involved in the museum online? >> well, they can go to our website at newseum.org, and we have a lot of virtual tours >> as the newseum reminds us, news is history in the making, and journalists write the first draft. i'm annie for "teen kids news." >> ♪ we're going to the zoo,s." zoo, zoo ♪ ♪ and you can go too, too, too the riverbanks zoo and garden -- right here in columbia, south carolina, coming up next.

>> it's the world's largest living land animal. famous for its memory, it's said to be as intelligent as the dolphin. and as carly reports, they have a rather unusual way of communicating. >> when you think of an elephant, you probably think "trunk." some grow up to be seven-feet long. it is for smelling, touching, and grasping. tell me about their trunk. >> well, their trunks are fascinating. it's one of the first things us, that we notice about elephants, and it's a very fascinating feature of elephants. they couldn't survive without their trunks. they're essential to their feeding, to their drinking, to their daily care. they communicate with them with each other. they wrap them -- wrap trunks around each other and communicate, like shaking hands or hugs. they drink and they eat with

them. they'll pick up food. they drink intheir trunks, but nthrough their trunks. that woune be like us drinking throughcour noses. they draw water up into it -- about five gallons or so -- and squirt it into their mouth. they have very fine motor skills. they can pick a leaf off of a tree, and they can also uproot trees and snap tree limbs in half. the number of muscles that allows them to do that -- it's actually 40,000 or more. >> i heard that these elephants can step on an egg without breaking it. why is this? >> that's correct. they're very agile and very sensitive animals. they have great sensitivity in their feet, and they actually use their feet to communicate. they can sense the vibrations through a form of communication that they use with each other across great distances, across the savannas of africa and asia -- it's called "infrasound." it's below our level of hearing, but they can feel the vibrationk in their feet. so as large as they are, they're actually quite agile. >> what do these animals eat? >> they eat about 200 pounds of food a day, which consists of, like, grain and hay, fruits and vegetables. they're herbivores, so they don't eat any meat. they eat tree bark and tree limbs and tree branches, so a

very high-fiber diet for elephants. >> from columbia, south carolina, i'm carly for "teen kids news." k >> the medal of honor is the highest award the united states can bestow on a person for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. >> actually, 19 people have received more than one medal of honor. some cases, it was for the same action, receiving them from both the army and the navy, for example.id the most famous case, probably, though, is george armstrong custer's brother, thomas custer, and he was killed at the battle of little bighorn with george armstrong custer. but thomas custer had been a cavalry commander during the civil war, also, and in the end of the war, in two separate

actions, he received the medal of honor, which didn't make george too happy, and at one point, he wrote to his wife that at a formal dinner, tom had shown up wearing both his baubles. this reminder is brought to you by the national road safety foundation. don't forget! february 29th is the deadline for the "drive 2 life" contest. anyone in grades 6 through 12 can submit an idea. the concept should be for a psa that runs from 30 seconds to twe minutes. to enter, you need to send in a script or a storyboard. however, not send a video -- it won't be accepted. the creator of the winning concept gets a $1,000 prize and a trip to new york city, where you'll work with a professional director and crew to turn your vision into a reality. for more information and an entry form, go to... s

>> we're all good at something. some of us excel at sports, others math. one teen figured out a way to use his musical talent to raise money for charity. sam has the story. [ "smoke on the water" plays ] >> like a lot of teenagers, nick giordano likes to jam on the guitar in his bedroom. >> now you want to do, like, "smoke on the water"? [ "smoke on the water" plays ] >> but nick doesn't only playcl. he plays the classics. >> well, classical guitar --

there's, like, three different things that that has to do with. the first is the guitar itself -- its specific shape, which is the traditional pear shape. the second is the style, which is you use these four fingers to play as opposed to a pick on another type of guitar. and also the strings -- instead of being made of steel, they're made of nylon. and the final difference is that the neck is wider, and so that makes it a little bit morehc difficult to play. and the final part of classical guitar is the repertoire, which ranges from renaissance to baroque to classical to romantic, and even some modern songs, such as by the beatles. >> well, i think that was more than three, but never mind that. check out those nails! >> when i first -- i went to a new school about a year ago, and when i got there and they saw my long nails, they're like, "dude, cut your nails!" i have to keep them long 'cause i play classical guitar, because some people use their fingertips, but traditionally,

you use your fingernails -- these four fingers -- to play, and it makes you play easier and faster. >> nick's guitar teacher gives him high praise. >> nicholas can go any place he wants with his guitar in a scholastic sense and in a career sense. he plays from his heart. >> but nick doesn't just play from his heart. he givefrom his heart, too. >> well, when i did my first concert, i was 10, so i didn't really feel i had to keep all the moy at 10 years old. >> so what did he do? he donated his earnings to charity. his generosity did not come as a shock to his family. >> that's one of the things that nicholas never really could come to grips with, is that there are people who don't have a place to live, or may not eat or have clean clothes to wear, and he never really understood why that was. >> once nick got a taste for giving, there was no turning

back. he spent over a year prepping for a big benefit concert at his church. that show raised a serious chunk of change. >> $12,000. a total of $12,000. >> and nick gave every cent of it to the make-a-wish foundation. >> it just feels right to give 100% away, 'cause if, you know, you give, like, 50% -- i almost feel guilty, you know, keeping the money for myself. you know, i just feel much better giving everything away. >> it's not every day that we have a single child who has such talent as nicholas does that wants to put on a concert and donate the proceeds from his efforts. >> nick's gift will bring a smile to the face of a kid with a major illness. and his own plans for the future? >> well, music -- i'm not 100% positive it's gonna be my main career, yet, but it's always definitely gonna be a part of my life. i'm always gonna keep working for charity, because i just feel like it's your duty. >> nick giordano proves that one person -- even a teenager -- can

make a difference. >> for "teen kids news," i'm sam. >> that's it for this edition of "teen kids news." >> thanks for watching. see you next week.