baked taste, now with a full order of soft, cheesy breadsticks. taste. believe. it's not delivery. it's digiorno pizza & breadsticks. she found the box. maybe because you left it right on the counter. welcome to "news 4 this week." >> hello, everybody. i'm craig melvin. we are going to show you stories. a doctor nearly struck from space by a meteor rite and the incredible details on the 4.5 billion-year-old rock. and domino's does away with its old recipe. can it beat papa john's and pizza hut. the national aquarium gets an extreme makeover. first, thoe, a pastor and his wife from hay market, virginia,

are back home from haiti with their adopted son. the warrens were trying to adopt for 12 years. time after time the adoption fell through. after meeting their son in haiti, they knew nothing, not even an earthquake will get in the way. we have more on their amazing journey. >> reporter: through the lens of pastor warren his new son is introduced to family. grandparents, aunts and uncles swarmed baby sterle. >> i'm so thankful. i ask our government please help the families that are still sitting at the embassy crying like i am. it's just a dream come true. one of the happiest days of my life. >> reporter: this emotional day has been months in the making.

through the adoption process, everybody was almost set until january 12th when the earthquake hit and the adoption papers were destroyed. the warrens decided to return to haiti and bring him back themselves. with no paperwork it took nearly two weeks to overcome red tape. >> our haitian lawyer produced everything she could. we had friends in virginia breaking into our house scanning paperwork. >> on tuesday when the second earthquake hit we were 80, 90 miles away. my wife felt it. at that point we said we have to do everything we can to get sterle home. >> reporter: a military flight was scheduled to bring the family home. >> he is well worth the wait. he is so relaxed and loving and snuggly and observant. he has been gracious to us over these past few days. it has been rough.

>> reporter: at home his new room is set up, a playpen, bed and memories of his homeland, a painting of haiti and a picture of his biological mom. they want him to remember where he came from while adjusting to life in northern virginia. >> the warrens hope their struggles and ultimate success will help encourage others to adopt. there are lots of ways you can help the people of haiti go to nbcwashington.com and find a list of legitimate organizations that are collecting organizations. search help once you get to the site. there is a link in the middle of our home page. a boy in our area had a really close call trying to save his dog from an icy pond in prince george's county. a split-second decision left the kid in the water with no way out. darcy spencer has his story and an important lesson we should all learn. >> reporter: 14-year-old brandon

white is walking buster through his neighborhood. a little more than a week ago a walk like this one turned dangerous and nearly tragic. the teen and the dog ended up in the icy waters of the neighborhood pond. >> he saw some ducks. they flew up. he ran across the ice and fell in midway there. >> reporter: brandon followed his instinct to go after buster, ice that couldn't support the yo yorkie couldn't support the teen. >> i ran across the ice thinking it was thick enough and i fell in. i was able to push buster to the shore to doggie paddle to the shore. i was still stuck. >> reporter: brandon says he was in the water up to ten minutes and was beginning to go down. >> i got tired of moving my arms. i thought i was going to drown. >> reporter: meanwhile his 10-year-old sister brianna ran for help. >> i looked in the retention pond and saw a head bobbing in

the water. >> reporter: brianna's desperate door to door attempt to find help paid off. >> i said make a motion with your hands like this. which he did. when he did so it began to propel him through the water. once he made it to shore i reached my hand out and pulled him out. >> reporter: fire and rescue officials say recent cold temperatures have frozen area ponds and rivers but looks can be deceiving. they are warning people to stay off the ice so they don't end up like brandon and buster. >> it could have been tragically worse. thankfully through the grace of god he is still with us. dog is fine. son is fine. and quick thinking sister and excellent, excellent, great neighbors. brandon was in the hospital for about six hours. he is doing just fine. buster shaken up but he is doing fine now as well. from that dog to a cat in northern virginia named second

chance. and, of course, there is a good reason he's got that name. the little guy was found nearly beaten to death. he was in such bad shape the woman who found him took him to a vet to be compassionately put to sleep. the vet thought the cat had enough spunk to pull through. he did. after several operations he is with a foster home and needs a permanent home if you would like to see him go to our home page. what the chances of getting hit by ameteorite? a space rock crashed through a doctor's office in lorton, virginia, now the smith soen yan has it. >> reporter: this meteorite fell on a doctor's office along

richmond highway. >> it is probably 4.5 billion years old. >> reporter: i'm sorry. how old is it? >> 4.5 billion. >> reporter: meteorites fall over the world. most fall in the ocean. this surprised the doctor when it fell through the roof of his offices. >> we heard an explosion. i thought the bookshelves fell. i looked to the left. there was a lot of debris in the hallway. i looked into the room, there was dry wall fragments, foam from the roof and a rock that was broken up in the center of the room. >> reporter: the doctor sent the meteorite to the smithsonian where it will be studied under microsco microscopes. how do you know it is a meteorite not just a rock? >> we can tell because there is a brown coating called fusion

cust. a little bit melts and forms this coating. >> reporter: everyone wants to know how much is it worth? >> it would have a financial value of whatever the dealers are willing to pay for it. there is a market for meteorites on the street. >> a patient of mine this morning said there is a one in a billion chance this could happen in this area. it is amazing it did happen and happen so close and nobody was hurt. >> reporter: tom sherwood, news 4. >> a lot of people contact the smithsonian about rocks, but few of the items have any real value. still to come on "news 4 this week" -- a surprising new study on cell phones. and how they affect our health. the d.c. born teacher is showing students how hip-hop and

so if you've ever flown out of dulles you probably had that long walk to the main terminal

to the gate. there is rest for the weary. the airport unveiled its new $1.5 billion aerotrain system moving passengers in 72 seconds and they run every two minutes. they will replace the mobile lounge units that will take passengers to their concourses across the runway. there is a unique literacy program that got national attention it is helping students improve reading and comprehension by using hip-hop lyr lyrics. jim haney shows us how it made a difference at belew high school. >> reporter: students are listening to the work of rapper ti. it is part of a program called help, hip-hop educational literacy program, a series of

supplemental reading workbooks designed to help students of all reading levels. >> the gift my ancestors gave. i am the dream and hope of slave, i rise, i rise, i rise. >> we take the lyrics of popular hip-hop songs and use those for the basis of vocabulary, comprehension. >> reporter: founder gabriel bend says h.e.l.p. improves reatding comprehension. it provides a cultural relevance that engages them. >> we wanted something socially relevant to relate to their everyday life but at the same time be academically rigorous enough. >> reporter: rapper ti's lyrics led to a spirited discussion of struggles and comebacks. >> it is a song of redemption, look, i know i messed up. this is my offer to make the

changes. >> he is talking about overcoming the things they go through. >> that is the point of a teacher, the point of education, to get the student to care about what they are learning and have an opinion and say about what is being presented. >> that was jim hanley reporting. the program has been at belew three years. coming up, opinions on where

there's been a lot of talk and speculation over the past few years whether cell phones are bad for your health, specifically whether they contribute to cancer. there is some surprising new research that shows cell phones may prevent or reverse alzheimer's. >> reporter: there's been a lot of talk recently about possible health concerns related to the use of cell phones. >> i hear about it all the time,

the rays and things like that. >> reporter: now researchers at the university of south florida have uncovered an actual health benefit associated with cell phones. >> usually there is a contradiction down the road. it is bad for you and then it is good for you. i'm surprised it could be good for you. >> reporter: researchers showed dozens of mice being exposed to cell phone signals two hours a day for seven to nine months. in mice genetically programmed to develop alzheimer's, memory impairment disappeared and harmful amaloid plaques were erased. this is exciting news to this university of miami neurologist. >> any evidence from mice is promising. still a ton of work needs to be done. at least it shows a glimmer of hope. >> reporter: and this was the second such cell phone study in a month with such promising results. >> in december 2009 in the

"journal of the national cancer institute" it showed a study that followed 60,000 individuals over five to ten years. this study showed no increased incidents in brain cancer. if you are running to the pizza shop this weekend you want to see this taste test. domino's is out with a new recipe after getting harsh criticism for the old recipe. a new cust, sauce and cheese, but will it win our taste test against pizza hut and papa john's? liz crenshaw has more on how the new recipe did. >> reporter: very rarely does a company trash its own product in its ads. >> domino's pizza curust is lik cardboard. >> reporter: domino's rallied, created a new ad and pizza

recipe. >> new cheese. >> reporter: can it win a blind taste test? we are taste testing it against pizza hut and papa john's. we want you to tell us which one you like the best. we lined up the taste test in arlington, virginia, we ordered all cheese pizzas identified as a, b and c. a is papa john's, b is domino's new pizza and c is pizza hut. you picked? >> i'm going with a. a was the better pizza. >> what about it? >> moist, lots of cheese. >> reporter: a is papa john's. >> a had more garlic.

>> a was like cardboard. >> you liked a. >> cheese. >> reporter: domino's recipe was our b pizza and got a mixed review. >> i like b because of the sauce and crust. >> b was nasty. >> b was flat. >> i like the flavor in b. >> what is it about b? >> the crust. >> reporter: you didn't pick pizza hut. pizza hut is c. >> i like c. >> reporter: why did you like c? >> it tastes more like it had olive oil in the sauce. to make the cheese better. >> reporter: true italian. >> c was too sweet. >> i think i liked c the best. >> reporter: what about c? >> the sauce. i'm a sauce girl. >> reporter: after 57 taste

testers made their way through the pizza line we tallied the results, the least favorite pizza papa john's with seven votes, domino's new recipe came in second with 14 votes and pizza hut letter c buried the competition with 36 nods. >> c because? >> because the sauce packs a punch flavor wise. >> c got the flavor. you need flavor. >> pizza hut won but domino's new recipe is winning over new customers. the company just released its 2010 pizza results that had domino's last. it included the new recipe, domino's earned second place tied with pizza hut. up next, the new and

travel website, tr tripadviser.com. the dirtest hotels, the quality inn in northeast. virginia takes the third and fourth spot for the dirtiest hotels. the tropicana resort hotel and super8 in virginia beach. the number one dirtiest hotel is the heritage marina hotel in san francisco, california. when was the last time you visited the national aquarium? you probably don't know it is there. it has been in the basement of the commerce department since 1932. recently it had an extreme makeover. it is ready to inspire you about the wonders of american marine life and what you can do to save it.

we take a look. >> reporter: the old plastic fish and steal exhibits have been replaced by live animals. you'll find sharks, caribbean wonders and my personal favorite, this little guy putting on a show for the thousands of visitors who are starting to rediscover this gem just a block off the national mall. >> we were ratty off the edges. >> reporter: the national aquarium in d.c. has updated 55 of 65 exhibits. it focuses on america's aquatic treasures. it is important to understand the marine creatures because their habitats are being destroyed by us. like this exotic lion fish, an

invasive species, murder on a native habitat. it found its way to our waters because people with home aquariums started dumping the fish when it got too big. in addition to the animals the aquarium highlights the saving of the coral reefs. >> some of these coral head cans take 40 to 50 years to grow. it takes one anchor to kill them permanently. >> reporter: it is not as grand as our sister in baltimore, but come on your lunch hour or when you are spiriting visitors, it is one block down on the mall. like taking a dip on a hot summer day you are going to want to flow through this one. don't be in a hurry. >> our leader is telling us to hurry. >> we have to go get on the bus.

>> did you enjoy it? >> we loved it. yes. >> that looks pretty cool. again, d.c.'s national aquarium is in the basement of the commerce department on 14th and constitution. go to nationalaquarium.org. that's it. thanks for joining us. have a fantastic weekend.