welcome to "news4 this week." >> i've, everyone, i'm veronica johnson. on today's show we're going to show you some of the more interesting local stories making news this week. among them how to extend the life of your laptop and why your lap is actually one of the worst places to use your computer. ♪ and i tried and i tried i can't get no ♪ satisfaction, hey, what's your workout? we're going to check out the class that combines spinning with a popular nightclub activity. and an accident turns an aspiring model into an amputee, sh how she says her struggle helped

her find her inner beauty. a mystery on met prothat led to dozens of complaints and questions online, we went to check out the possible source of a strange smell coming from the tracks. >> reporter: people that ride the metro tell united states that they smelled a foul odor and they started tweeting about it. now, the last time we heard the stinky reports was early january. there was speculation back then that organic brake pads caused an odor that smelled like rotting fish when the train stoppeded. today a dozen riders tweeted about a similar smell throughout the system. one says, quote, why does metro center smells like fish, and take a look at this, it smells like a fish store. we talked to riders. >> it has a fishy odor to it, that's kind of the only thing i can describe it as. >> closer we got actually from the location to this location. >> reporter: the metro employee told me he believes that brake pads caused the smell. now, a spokesperson wouldn't

confirm that but he did say he'll look into it. >> that's smelly tweets indeed. social media doesn't just help you voice your complaint, it can also help dreams come true for a couple families and that was the case for a maryland couple who adopted their son through facebook. now they are hoping for a second miracle. >> reporter: we first met noah, seth, and melissa two years ago like thousands of other families in the u.s. every year, they just adopted noah, but they didn't find him through an agency, they wanted a private adoption and found his mother, a friend of a friend, through facebook after posting a flyer on seth's page. >> it was frustration after a couple of months of trying advertisements or sending e-mails out to all of our friends. >> reporter: steph and melissa soon met noah's mother at a coffee shop, three weeks and several meetings with their lawyers later, they were with her for his birth, and the rest, as they say, is history. a very happy history.

their kensington home filled with love and smiles. >> wow. >> reporter: but since noah more heartbreak trying to conceive. now they're going back online in search of a sibling for noah. >> no difference whether you have a biological child or you adopt a child or donate, you love this child so much. >> reporter: finding noah was a pretty amazing feat. at the time seth had about 40 friends on the social networking site, but it ended up that was all he needed. >> all it takes is one. it takes the right match at the right time. >> reporter: if you search adoption on facebook, dozens of pages pop up, with families all over looking to find that bundle of joy. george washington university professor brad scherer says this is a perfect example of some of the benefits of social media. >> it's just unbelievable the types of things that you can do with the media, and i can foresee this happening more and more in the future. >> reporter: seth and melissa

say they're willing to wait for another perfect baby to come along. >> the baby you're supposed to have will find you. >> reporter: hoping someone, somewhere will see this ad and change their lives forever. >> whenever you're called mommy and daddy, that's the most important thing. >> reporter: in kensington, maryland, news4. >> the power of the computer. well, if you're browsing facebook or any other site on the computer, he's a big heads-up for a lot of us, don't use your laptop on your lap. that plus a lot of other common computer habits could drastically shorten the life of your laptop. the geek squad experts at best buy told our liz crenshaw what we need to know. >> so, they say on average the laptop should last you about three years. >> reporter: that's only if you care for your laptop properly. >> by not treating them properly, we can damage the parts prematurely and shorten the lifespan quite considerably. >> reporter: rob with the geek squad at best buy warns many

laptop users unknowingly make everyday mistakes, even though laptops often lead us away from our desks, portable computers made for convenience, but laptops are not meant to be used on your lap. he says let your laptop breathe. >> don't block that. and don't block this on the bottom. >> reporter: laptops have intake vents at the bottom of the computer. they're meant to be used on a hard surface, not on a bed, couch or pillow, blocking the vents or fans can cause the computer to overheat. >> basically causing wear to the laptop for no reason at all. >> reporter: and just when you thought your laptop was portable, passing it off or walking around with it when it's running can cause damage. laptops have a hard drive like this one and it has moving parts. >> think of your hardrive kind of like a record player where it has a needle that reads these platters that are inside of it, so while the laptop's on, the platters are spinning and it's trying to read that, so when you hand it to somebody, you can actually have the needle damage the platter or the needle gets

damaged itself. >> reporter: a common complaint from users, laptops run slower, freezing up, and he said it's usually by users that installed more than one anti-virus program. >> you may think more secure, great, not actually a good thing. >> reporter: that's right, a single anti-virus installation is better than having one. the programs do the same thing and end up fighting each other and canceling each other out. another tip to remember, let your laptop rest. leaving your laptop running all the time diminishes the battery life. next, make sure you debunk the dust. >> dust is one of the big contributors to overheating and that can actually cause the computer to shut down and damage the internal parts, so a simple cleaning that you can do at home is simply to take your compressed air. squirt it into the intake. >> reporter: use the compressed air when the laptop is off and avoid ammonia-based cleaners when wiping down the screen. >> it will be specific to an lcd monitor so you're not damaging

the screen with the additional chemicals. >> reporter: simple ways to save your laptop from unnecessary trouble. >> me personally, i always treat my new electronics as if it's a newborn, so i'm really gentle with them. >> reporter: liz crenshaw, news4. >> liz always has good tips. if you held on to your laptop for six years or so, you may want to consider buying a new one, because the laptop prices have come down a lot over the last couple of years and it might make more sense in the long run. a former child star comes to washington to make a difference for other kids. still ahead on "news4 this week," why nick cannon is tackling the issue of online privacy for children. and a look at a program designed to get more women involved in building our picture. and plus a peek at the

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america's got talent host nick cannon came to town to take on the issue of online privacy

for children. he met with students with we the pizza on capitol hill, he talked about the dangers of companies looking to take advantage of minors online. cannon also endorsed a bill on capitol hill that would make it illegal to track children's web viewing habits. >> i don't want people tracking them, and i don't want them, you know, innocently visiting someone else's page or someone else's site and then people having their information and being able to talk to them, like, we don't want strangers to be able to walk up to our kids and kind of have a conversation with them on the street, so why would we want that on the internet? absolutely. cannon is a spokesperson for safe communications, a company that makes product the aimed at filtering children's e-mails for inappropriate content. it's a startling gender gap across the united states. one out of ten women are engineers, just one out of ten. we learn how one fairfax county high school program is out to change that. >> 98%.

>> that's good. >> reporter: from an outsider's perspective, this looks like a typical classroom, but inside the chantilly high school academy, it's an incubator of sorts, encouraging young women to check out a career that few have chosen to pursue, engineering. >> it completely changed my life. i didn't really know what engineering was like we did today the guest speakers and we had our mentors. >> reporter: civil engineers have been mentoring the girls exploring engineering program knowns a ge-2 for five years, demystifying a male-dominated profession that they say could use more women in ranks. >> being a woman engineer, you have an advantage, not only are you a minority, but you have a different take on things, you have a different viewpoint on life and problem solving and challenges and i think that's such an asset to the field. >> reporter: in addition to lectures and mentoring and computer assisted design, these young ladies get valuable

hands-on experience, using tools. they even are exposed to robotics. many go on to join the chantilly robotics team along with their male counterparts and get involved in national competitions. the all-girl class was the brainchild of career specialist joan osdegon, to eliminate the intimidation factor and you can't argue with its success. >> since our first year, we were very, very proud to say that we've had over 135 girls participate in the program, and of those we've had about 79 graduates, some are still in lower, juniors and seniors having come into the program in their sophomore years and we're running about an 83% graduation rate off to engineering schools. so, we are delighted. >> reporter: the ge-2 students are delighted as well, getting a chance to see a career path they might never have known about. >> i want to go into system engineering and look at the different systems and put them

together. >> reporter: another ge-2 success? br bridging a gender gap. >> all right, i've got to give that group a hand, because that's awesome. anybody who is helping to get more women involved in math, science, or engineering. well, coming up, she lost her hand in an accident while on vacation. next you're going to meet the aspiring model talking about her will to recover and make life a little better for others. and the fitness class that has cyclists singing the praises of the word is swapportunity. can i have the definition? swapportunity: the opportunity to swap a higher calorie snack for a yoplait light. can you use it in a sentence? mmm. swapping a 300 calorie donut for this 110 calorie strawberry shortcake is a good swapportunity. that's not a real word. oh haha it's real. [ female announcer ] delicious, creamy, yoplait light. over 30 flavors each around 100 calories.

do the swap today.

this will put a smile on your face, and maybe get you to try indoor cycling. hey, you know, it's hard enough, but imagine singing at the top of your lungs while riding your bike. that's what the karaoke ride at crunch gym is all about and cyclists there say they love it, so we asked them what's your

workout? ♪ ♪ things don't really change >> i've always been the lead-off person. i love to sing. i love david bowie, that's, like, my formative years. ♪ but i try i try ♪ i can't get no no no no ♪ >> a little fast action by the rolling stones getting everybody happy. ♪ hey hey hey that's what i say ♪ >> karaoke ride is a spin class that we throw karaoke songs into it. ♪ ♪ you think i lay down and die >> we do greater challenges and in between the challenges we sing. as a group, individual, whatever you want. there's no pressure. you don't want to sing, you don't have to. you can just enjoy the show. ♪ i love rock 'n' roll >> you get a good workout in, a good cardio workout, good l

leg workout and burn some calories and it makes it challenging to sit and spin. you don't have to do, like, the intense spinning, you just set there and pedal along. we'll get a couple gears up or we're going fast and we're helping the singer with backup vocals and we've been working up harmonies and a couple duets. i think we are ready to take it on the road. ♪ yes indeed >> we'll make it and start smiling. >> we get you on the treadmill and the normal elliptical and it breaks out of your element and just the music gets everybody's heart pumping. >> it's entertaining, you are not just working out, you're being entertained at the same time. i try to provide the entertainment. ♪ put another dime in the jukebox baby i love rock 'n' roll ♪ >> hey! all right, the karaoke ride is

offered at crunch fitness in chevy chase and if you want to find out more, go to nbcwashington.com and search what's your workout. all right, on a more serious note now, what would you do if you lost a limb in an accident? it might be easy to sit back and think, okay, my life's ruined, but for one young lady, well, she had a bright future in the modeling industry, losing her hand gave her more strength than she ever knew she had. >> i had no idea my hand was gone. >> reporter: for brittany dominick it was supposed to be a weekend full of fun, just a group of twenty-somethings off-roading and camping in the california desert, but in an instant everything changed when the dune buggy she was riding in flipped over and left her without a right hand. >> it sounds strange, but i was hit like a ton of bricks with

strength. >> reporter: and she immediately began trying to calm her friends. she was losing a lot of blood, and one of the friends, a former marine, made a makeshift tubande for her. and doctors tried to re-attach her hand but had no success, she would be left an amputee. >> it didn't really hit me until i was out of the hospital, but i didn't realize this is forever until i had gotten home and started doing everyday tasks. >> reporter: just imagine trying to function without a hand suddenly, the things most of us take for granted become next to impossible. holding two things at once, using a computer or a cell phone. >> you can imagine the hand it's involved in everything we do. every functional activity. so, having that type of amputation takes a lot of someone's everyday life. >> reporter: dominick has gotten a prosthetic hand now, and she's working with occupational

therapist hassan holly at medstar national rehabilitation hospital. he says it takes a lot of strength to use this prosthesis, because it has sensors that can pick up signals from the muscles in her limbs, so when she thinks about opening her hand, the prosthetic opens. when she thinks about closing her hand, it closes. >> the goal is to be independent and meaningful activities and to get close to what she was doing before, before the amputation. >> reporter: holly said dominick's determination has gotten her very far in her therapy, just a few weeks ago she could barely take the styrofoam cups without crushing them, let alone making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. >> it's good. >> reporter: but what may be most surprising is dominick's ability to find humor in her situation. >> it's not the end of the world, you know? and i lost my hand, but i got so much strength and drive and i

just want to, you know, i want to succeed. >> reporter: doreen gentzler, news4. >> i love her spunk. brittany says that she's not sure if she'll ever get back to modeling, but she is hoping to go back to school so she can become a therapist and work with other amputees especially those military veterans and children. well, celebrating 20 years of celebrating our planet. we're going to get a preview of the 20th annual environmental film

it's an annual event here in our nation's capital that showcases our planet's diverse landscapes and creatures as well as the efforts to protect them, we take a peek at this year's environmental film festival. take a look. >> reporter: celebrating its 20th anniversary, the environmental film festival in the nation's capital is robust. we will be treated to 180 films in 64 venues, most of them free.

the problems and the wonders of our world, right before your eyes. >> it is recognized now that film is such a marvelous vehicle to take you places, show you -- show you issues and meet people. >> reporter: this year's theme is health and the environment, the unseen hazards of our modern times and how they are impacting the health of our planet and all the life forms that reside here. the broken moon, a brazilian film, looks at a tribe of himalayan nomads whose world is disrupted by climate change, their rivers drying up, and it may destroy the tribe. "silent snow" takes us to the arctic plain of greenland where chemical residues from around the world are ending up here, poisoning the snow and the inuit people who live in this harsh environment. but it's not all dire. there are glorious films, celebrating the eternal hope of all that is possible. the tsunami and the cherry

blossom, by acclaimed filmmaker lucy walker. it looks at the cherry blossom as a symbol of renewed life in japan in the wake of last year's shattering tsunami. >> already won sundance in the short documentary category and been nominated for an academy award. it's beautiful. >> reporter: for children there are dozens of films including the comet chase and a french film "the field of enchantment" where filmmakers use special lenses showing us the drama of life in a field as two children gain a passion for nature. technology is very much on display in this festival. >> and this remarkable ability to film in a field all the insect life, all the life that is going on. >> reporter: the environmental film festival of the nation's capital will bring robert read fr redford and ken burns anders this to celebrate our world and celebrating those who want to ease its struggles.

wendy rieger, news4. >> i'm hooked. that's beautiful. all right, well, that's all for "news4 this week." we're going to leave you with a look at a fun activity that i recently got a chance to take a part in. mechanical bull riding. don't ask me why. don't ask me why, i was just feeling in the mood! i know, it's crazy, right? let me tell you, this was a little trickier than i thought it would be. there was no place to put your feet and it was a big hoist to get on up there, but i had a whole lot of fun doing it. you can see there's just one little rope to hold on to. eventually i did fall off, but the folks tell me there that was at the national harbor, they tell me that, you know, i didn't do too bad. i made it up to i think the third or the fourth level. all right, i'm veronica johnson, and that's it for "news4 this week." thanks for joining us. hope to see you next time. ♪