Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- A Russian company is seeking to buy a controlling interest in one of the largest uranium extraction operations in the United States -- a sale that requires U.S. government review because of possible national security implications.

Uranium One USA, now a subsidiary of a Canadian company, operates a uranium processing facility in Wyoming and has assets in Utah, Texas and Colorado. The sale of the company's existing and pending operations could give Russia control of about 20 percent of U.S. uranium extraction capacity, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials estimate.

Industry observers tell CNN they do not believe the sale of Uranium One to Joint Stock Company Atomredmetzoloto, or ARMZ, would jeopardize U.S. security, saying that the United States relies on Russian dismantled nuclear weapons for much of the uranium used in nuclear reactors today, and that sources of uranium are plentiful.

"I have no concerns about it at all," said Fred McGoldrick, former director of the State Department's Office of Nonproliferation and Export Policy. "I don't see any national security threat to the United States from the Russians partly or entirely owning a mine in the United States."

He added, "The Russian's aren't coming. They came and went. They are no longer the Soviets. I think it's to our mutual interest that we cooperate with the Russians."

Said Ed Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, "Looking at the big picture here, I don't really think this has major security implications. I'd be interested in hearing arguments otherwise, but I just don't see it."

In an application submitted to the NRC, JSC Atomredmetzoloto, which currently owns 23.1 percent of Uranium One's common stock, says it is seeking to buy a controlling 51 percent interest. The Russian company is controlled by Rosatom, the Russian government agency that oversees Russia's nuclear industry.

Uranium One would continue to be publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, its U.S. facilities would remain under their current management teams and five of the nine directors on the company's board would be non-Russian, the company said.

"The bottom line is any of the uranium we buy or sell has to be used for peaceful purposes and it's subject to all the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community), or any other governmental agency having jurisdiction over the United States" and customer countries, said Chris Sattler, spokesman for Uranium One.

Uranium One USA is involved in the "recovery" of uranium, a form of mining in which a solution is injected into an ore body and the uranium leaches into the solution, which is then extracted, said NRC spokesman David McIntyre. The company is licensed to produce up to 2.5 million pounds of uranium a year, it said.

Stockholders approved the sale August 31, Sattler said, but the companies are awaiting approval from numerous regulatory agencies in the United States, Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan.

The NRC must approve the transfer of the NRC license for its Irigaray-Christiansen Ranch recovery facility in eastern Wyoming, McIntyre said. "Generally, we look at whether the new ownership would have the technical expertise and the financial wherewithal to maintain the site and clean up when operations cease," he said.

Further, the sale needs to be reviewed by the Committee on Financial Investment in the United States, an inter-agency panel that advises the president on any transaction that could jeopardize U.S. national security. Committee officials declined to discuss the sale, saying they are prohibited by law from disclosing such matters.

And the sale may require approval of the Federal Trade Commission because it involves a stock transaction, and the Federal Communications Commission because one of the sites has a radio license, the NRC said.

The NRC released details of a pending license transfer in the Federal Register, in an item giving the public an opportunity to request a hearing on the issue. The NRC involvement is limited to the company's operations in Wyoming. The states of Texas and Utah regulate uranium mining operations there.

Response: The company is one of the largest uranium extraction operations in the U.S.. NRC: Russia would control about 20 percent of U.S. uranium extraction capacity. Former U.S. nonproliferation official says he has "no concerns about it at all".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- China rekindled memories of the 2008 Olympics with a spectacular opening ceremony for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on Friday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao formally began the event, which will be the largest in its 59-year history with 28 Olympic and 14 non-Olympic sports and 476 gold medals to be won.

China, which won a leading 166 golds at the previous competition in Qatar four years ago, has a delegation of 1,454 members including Olympic champion hurdler 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang and badminton star Lin Dan.

He Chong, who won diving gold in Beijing, capped a massive fireworks display in the middle of the Pearl River on Haixinsha Island by ignited a giant flare to light the cauldron that houses the Asiad flame.

Afghanistan's athletes were the first of the 45 nations taking part to parade, with China concluding the march with Olympic women's rowing champion Jin Ziwei as flag bearer.

"Remember, you are part of history right here, right now," Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, of Kuwait, said in front of 30,000 people attending the ceremony.

"Please show us your best performance, and show us the spirit of sportsmanship, fair play, friendship and respect to your fellow athletes and officials."

The event's official website reported that Guangdong Province built and updated 70 stadiums for the competition, which runs until November 27, and that 900,000 volunteers will be on hand.

It said since winning hosting rights in 2004, Guangzhou officials have given out one million brochures and sent 40 million text messages to teach its citizens better manners, including instructions on how to smile.

This year, cricket, dance sports, dragon-boat racing, roller sports and Go chess will make their debut appearances in the competition.

Response: Chinese city of Guangzhou succeeds Doha as host of the 16th Asian Games. Spectacular ceremony launches beginning of the 15-day competition. China seeking to continue its winning run from four years ago with team of 1,454 members. It will be the largest Games since the first in Delhi in 1951 with 476 gold medals on offer.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Several times a day, helicopters land and take off from the helipad above Seattle's Fisher Plaza.

But this time was different.

The sound -- what the lead investigator described as an "unusual noise" -- gave away Tuesday morning that something was amiss. What followed immediately afterward proved it, as a news helicopter tumbled to the ground and burst into flames, with those flames spreading to several parked cars in its path.

"I looked and the helicopter was almost immediately pitched sideways and off balance," construction worker Bo Bain told CNN affiliate KING. "And he kind of just nose-dove over the trees, and clipped the top of the trees and crashed just on the other side of the street there."

The two people aboard the helicopter died in the crash, and another person who'd been in one of the three vehicles that caught fire was critically burned, officials said.

The incident rattled a vibrant part of the Emerald City, falling a few feet from the Space Needle and near the Experience Music Project, Children's Museum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offices, a quarter-mile away.

Why did what had started out as a routine takeoff turn into a disaster? Authorities offered little clarity just after the crash, but promised to find out.

"We want to understand what actually happened, so we can understand what we can do in the future to prevent this from happening," Mayor Ed Murray said.

Man leaves car 'in flames,' bleeding

The 2003 Eurocopter AS350 was owned and operated by Helicopters Inc., a company that specializes in providing news-gathering copters. While KING indicated on its website that it sometimes made use of the helicopter, it was being leased at the time by CNN affiliate KOMO.

The helicopter had just come from Covington, Washington, and was planning to head next to Renton, said Dennis Hogenson with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

"A witness described as the helicopter lifted off from the building and began to rotate counterclockwise and subsequently crashed," he said.

Daniel Alejandro Gonzalez told CNN affiliate KIRO that he had gone outside to smoke a cigarette when he heard the helicopter's engine turn over. "About 15, 20 seconds later, I heard it, it sounded like in the movies -- when it goes into slow motion, when you hear the ding, ding, ding ... and after that I heard it collapse. I heard it hit the ground, and that's when I looked up."

Within a couple of seconds, the scene was ablaze.

Video showed what was left of the helicopter immersed in flames, as well as a line of fire in the street that engulfed several vehicles.

One man emerged from a car that was ablaze, with "his shirt ... in flames, his head ... bleeding," Gonzales said.

"He walked about 20 feet and he collapsed."

The injured man -- in his late 30s -- was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition, with burns over 50% of his body, fire department spokesman Kyle Moore said.

A hospital spokeswoman, Susan Gregg, said doctors at the level-one trauma center had sedated the man, put him on a ventilator and were administering fluids. They were still trying to determine the extent and severity of the burns, she added.

Gregg said the man may have helped reduce the severity of his injuries by rolling on the grass, extinguishing the flames.

Media mourn loss of their own

Bain described the next few minutes as "chaotic," with people abandoning their cars and one driver who "made a U-turn and got out of Dodge as quickly as possible." The area was already abuzz with commuters heading to work but few tourists, since the Space Needle was still more than two hours from its scheduled opening.

Still, while it could have been worse, the crash had a devastating effect -- especially among those who knew the victims.

Murray described KOMO workers as being "in a state of shock."

KOMO identified the victims as Bill Strothman, a retired KOMO photographer who was working as a freelancer, and Gary Pfitzner, the pilot.

Strothman had earned 14 Emmy Awards during his career; his son works as a photographer for the station.

"He was a guy who really knew how his pictures could tell a million words," KOMO news anchor Dan Lewis said of Strothman, who also worked for the helicopter leasing company that was operating the aircraft. "... He was such a gentleman, a true gentleman."

Pfitzner too was a familiar face at the station. "He always had a smile on his face," said anchor and reporter Molly Shen. "He loved what he did, loved to be able to fly and be up there above the city and see things from a perspective that most of us don't get to see."

Seattle's mayor, Murray, met Tuesday with Strothman's family, having known the father and son.

"It just brought it home in a very personal way," the mayor told reporters. "... It just reminds us both that we are public servants. And people put themselves at risk in your business."

'Just a part of the tail and burnt-out metal'

Arriving firefighters found lines of blazing fuel in the street and thick, black smoke covering the area, with "wreckage strewn across the lawn along with wreckage across the street," said Moore, the fire department spokesman.

The first responders' prompt and "pretty outstanding" actions, as Murray described them, helped prevent a horrific situation from becoming worse.

Ten tons of sand were dumped on the street to absorb the helicopter's fuel, with vacuum trucks later heading to clean up the site, said the mayor.

The Space Needle closed due to the crash, as did the city's monorail and parts of streets in the area.

The helicopter did not appear to any have struck any nearby buildings before its fiery end.

"What we have left is basically just a part of the tail and burnt-out metal from the main chassis of the helicopter," Moore said.

Soon after the crash, investigators were interviewing witnesses, assessing the scene and gathering the wreckage in order to literally piece together what happened at an off-site location.

Hogenson, from the NTSB, said that his agency would issue a preliminary report in about five days and a full report -- including the probable cause of the crash -- within a year.

The president of Helicopters Inc., Stephen Lieber, issued a statement offering his company's condolences.

"We mourn their loss and suffering and our thoughts and prayers are with them," he said. "We will cooperate fully and completely with the National Transportation Safety Board and provide to it whatever information it wants in order to assist it in its work in determining what happened."

Response: Lead NTSB investigator says helicopter made "unusual noise" before crash. President of helicopter company offers condolences, help to NTSB. Mayor knew one of the victims, calls the deaths "very personal". The incident occurred near the 605-foot Space Needle; one person is in critical condition.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Efforts to remove cats from Macquarie Island, a sub-Antarctic island and World Heritage Site, have indirectly led to environmental devastation, according to a report published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Finch Creek on Macquarie Island in 2007 shows lack of vegetation on the island compared to 2001...

The removal of cats has led to a boom in the island's rabbit population -- another species introduced by humans -- causing widespread devastation to the island's vegetation.

According to the study's lead author, Dr. Dana Bergstrom of the Australian Antarctic Division: "Satellite images show substantial island-wide rabbit-induced vegetation change. By 2007, impacts on some protected valleys and slopes had become acute. We estimate that nearly 40 percent of the whole island area had changed, with almost 20 percent having moderate to severe change."

The removal of the invasive species from Macquarie Island, situated halfway between Australia and Antarctica, also serves as a wider warning about human interference in ecosystems and how good intentions can go awry.

It is a case from which important lessons must be learned, according to the report's authors.

The scientists behind the study claim that the Macquarie Island is a rare example of so-called "trophic cascades" -- the knock-on effects of changes in one species' abundance across several links in the food chain. As well as species extinction, in extreme cases it can even lead to an ecosystem "meltdown".

"This study is one of only a handful which demonstrate that theoretically plausible trophic cascades associated with invasive species removal not only do take place, but can also result in rapid and detrimental changes to ecosystems, so negating the direct benefits of the removal of the target species," says Bergstrom.

Macquarie Island was discovered in 1810 with the remote island's seal and penguin population targeted for the fur trade. Cats were introduced to the island soon after to eat rats and mice that threatened to eat the sailors' grain stores. It was sealing gangs who then brought rabbits to the island in 1878 to give sailors something to eat.

The rabbits provided easy prey for the island's cats, helping their number to grow, but the rabbit population was also causing catastrophic damage to the island's vegetation.

Myxomatosis, a disease fatal to rabbits was introduced to the island in 1968 to try and curb their number. It worked at first as rabbit numbers fell from a peak of 130,000 in 1978 to less than 20,000 ten years later and vegetation recovered.

However, with fewer rabbits as food, the cats began to eat the island's native burrowing birds, so a cat eradication program began in 1985.

The last cat on the island was killed in 2000, and Myxomatosis had failed to keep rabbit numbers in check; their numbers bounced back and in little over six years rabbits substantially altered large areas of the island.

According to Bergstrom: "Increased rabbit herbivory has caused substantial damage at both local and landscape scales including changes from complex vegetation communities, to short, grazed lawns or bare ground."

Bergstrom hopes that the problems facing Macquarie Island are a cautionary tale for conservation agencies: "Interventions should be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and plan for indirect effects, or face substantial subsequent cost," says Bergstrom.

The cost to remedy the problems of Macquarie Island is estimated at $16 million.

Response: Absence of cats left rabbit population to devastate Macquarie Island's vegetation. Cats and rabbits are invasive species introduced to the island in 19th century. Sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island provides cautionary tale of interventions and risks.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Kepler Meo isn't nervous. As befits a singer playing a principal role in a major opera production, he suffers the last-minute adjustments to makeup, hair and wardrobe.

Then finally he is left alone to prepare for this night's performance of Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw." Alone except for his mother. Michael Kepler Meo is just 12 years old.

"It's really fun to sing," the 'tween confides, as he runs through a series of scales and brief snatches of the music that he will soon be performing on stage. His voice is high, crisp and crystal clear. A boy soprano. And behind the voice is a power and control that seem almost alien in one so young.

Los Angeles Opera Music Director James Conlon briefly peeks into the dressing room to wish young Meo good luck. "Places please..." echoes through the dressing rooms and sends Meo scurrying through a maze of backstage cables to the massive turntable stage that will soon deliver him to the spotlight.

Michael's professional singing career began just a couple of years ago. He had been singing in a boys' choir in his native Portland, Oregon. It was one activity among many along with soccer and learning guitar. The Portland Opera company was holding auditions for "The Turn of the Screw" and Michael's choirmaster suggested he give it a try.

"I had a very vague idea even what opera was," Michael remembers, "All I got was the version I got in school of the fat lady singing."

Michael won the role of Miles, a troubled boy threatened by menacing ghosts in a rambling English country home. It is a pivotal role in the production. He also starred in the premier performance of "The Golden Ticket," an operatic version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Conlon says only a handful of boys are capable of taking on operatic roles. "You have to find somebody whose voice is strong enough, and somebody who can sing at all levels with a very focused tone. And Michael fits all of those characteristics."

"He was always making goofy noises all the time, from the time he was a toddler," says Michael's mother, Trudy Meo. Meo says she isn't sure where Michael came by his musical talent. "I'm not musical at all," she says, "When he sings I'm almost useless in helping him."

An opera career has meant occasional separations from the rest of his family, as Michael and his mom travel the opera circuit. "I don't have too much contact with kids my age," Michael says. "I'm always working with adults ... I miss that a little. But I think it's worth it."

Michael works hard in rehearsals, enjoys the performances and loves the applause.

"He is lucky that he found something that he is so good at at so young an age," says his mom.

By almost any measure, Michael's rise in the world of opera has been meteoric. As soon as his role in "The Turn of the Screw" ends in Los Angeles, he's off to New York and a New York City Opera production of "Séance on a Wet Afternoon."

But how long can it last? It won't be long before the boy soprano's voice changes. What then?

It will be a challenge, but, "It may be better," Michael says. "In opera you can sing even if you are old."

And Michael is already thinking about a whole new world of roles he could sing as an adult.

Response: Michael Kepler Meo, 12, performs pivotal role in "The Turn of the Screw". He plays a troubled boy threatened by menacing ghosts in English country home. L.A. Opera director: Only handful of boys have voices strong enough for opera. Meo also had role in an operatic version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- We had not been in Port-au-Prince in a month, not since those horrible days following the earthquake when the city looked like wreckage.

The city seemed so upbeat when we arrived Saturday morning on one of the first flights in since commercial airlines resumed service. Musicians wearing Western Union T-shirts greeted us near the hanger that now passes as baggage claim. Next to our hotel, street vendors peddled souvenirs outside a tent city surrounding the presidential palace.

But those optimistic signs were eclipsed Sunday night when a torrent of rain poured down on this wounded city where outdoor tent communities have sprouted up in every empty space. Then, just after 4:30 a.m. Monday, an aftershock of magnitude 4.75 shook and shook and finally gave a last forceful jerk before stopping. You could hear the wails on the street, the confused voices of people arguing over whether to stay outside or risk going back in.

This one-two punch of natural forces reverberated through the most vulnerable communities.

Full coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti

Ariana Manassero, 17, raced into the main room of her home following the tremor. Her parents direct the Maison de Lumiere, but the girls' home is unstable, so Ariana watches over the little ones at her house. They immediately started screaming. "When is it going to end?" she asked before spending her day coddling some very traumatized children.

Daphne, 4, clung to Ariana, shaking, acting out, sobbing for no good reason. The big quake on January 12 had rattled a cinder block wall in her play yard, crushing her leg, which now has a cherry red cast. The aftershock left her completely undone.

All day, staff members of Maison surveyed the damage to their community. A tent city they helped build across from their school had puddles of water sitting in the "homes."

Women ran up to the staff asking for food, new tarps and clean water for their children. The same scene unfolded in a nearby ravine whose inhabitants had attended a Sunday morning service at Maison. That day, women from the ravine had come escorting children who'd been washed with soap and rain water. Singing and laughing had filled the air.

By Monday, the heavy rain had soaked their tents where the "roofs" are made of scarves and sheets. The weather had become a great equalizer, reducing the people and the animals to the same conditions. In one alley, a father bundled a newborn with whatever he could find. In another, a dog cuddled her new puppies. Baby goats foraged for food in the garbage. Chicks picked at droppings.

No one had eaten fresh food in a week, and the Maison staff brought baby formula and rice. People pushed aside the dogs, the goats and the chicks and neatly lined up. Sad stories floated around the crowd. A woman who had attended the services had died after the aftershock, her heart suddenly seizing. A missionary worried aloud about a newborn wrapped in plastic whose parents had no formula for the baby's first five days.

The situation only worsened early Tuesday.

For the second time in as many days, an earthquake struck in the overnight hours.

The magnitude 4.7 aftershock was centered about 20 miles west-southwest of Port-au-Prince. It hit at 1:26 a.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. A second smaller quake shook the area a few minutes later. No immediate reports of damage were made, but the aftershock sent frightened people once again out into the bug-filled night.

When is this going to end? It doesn't seem like an answerable question.

The rain swells the latrines and unearths the sewage. Aftershocks rattle nerves and rearrange piles of debris. People sleeping outside now feel threatened by the rains, but sleeping inside carries the threat of the seemingly never-ending aftershocks.

In the food line, the crowd was so quiet for people who looked hungry and faced a long wait. Not much to say when a step forward is followed by a big leap back.

Response: CNN's Soledad O'Brien and her crew return to Port-au-Prince more than a month after quake. At first, they see signs of optimism among the people. A torrential rain and sharp aftershocks quickly squelch the new-found hope. Misery continues to stalk people who are weary of battling nature's harsh realties.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Say hello to the new Captain.

In the first issue of Marvel's "All-New Captain America," in stores today, onetime sidekick Sam Wilson sheds his Falcon persona and picks up the Captain's patriotic shield.

Sam replaces Steve Rogers, who begins to age rapidly after losing a battle (he came from the World War II era, after all.)

With a woman taking over the role of Thor, an African-American Captain America is yet another example of the diversity trend in comic books.

CNN recently spoke to writer Rick Remender on what to expect with this big change.

CNN: What led to this decision to hand over the role of Captain America?

Rick Remender: I had been writing Steve Rogers for a little bit; he's this kid raised in the Great Depression, and I wanted to explore that. That story has been the status quo of Captain America since the 1960s.

As I was developing the series, I fell more in love with Sam Wilson as a character and realized that in Marvel continuity time, he would be a Generation X-er, as am I. He'd have a more modern sensibility and be able to speak to an audience the way Steve Rogers wouldn't be able to, so we started building the story from there.

CNN: How will Sam handle things differently than Steve?

Remender: The two characters both come from a tumultuous, difficult place. But Sam is somebody who isn't reflecting on things as a soldier. He wants to stand up and put himself between the forces of evil and corruption and things that would harm the everyday citizen. Sam will not be working as closely with S.H.I.E.L.D. as Steve (spoiler alert!). Ultimately, the way they approach problems will be quite different.

CNN: What will Steve's role be now?

Remender: Steve Rogers -- who has aged now; time has caught up to him -- will still be a tactician, providing his military experience.

Steve is almost an eye in the sky. Since he is incapable of serving as Captain America, he will be at the Avengers mansion at the command station. Beyond that, he'll be a military strategist, the one thing that Sam really isn't.

CNN: What have you heard from fans?

Remender: The feedback's been great! Obviously, there's been a few ugly comments and people who have taken offense to the change for various reasons. But that's been the challenge of the modern era, to ignore the hate online and to focus on the positivity.

One of the things we got were photos of kids holding the shield. We got a photo from a predominantly African-American classroom, where the kids were jumping up and down with joy with the image of Sam behind them. Culturally, that's something that is significant. If it helps one kid feel a part of something and makes them feel that they are reflected in their heroes ... that's a wonderful byproduct that will hopefully have more positive effects than just being an exciting superhero comic.

CNN: Will Sam meet up with other characters, like the new Thor?

Remender: Jason Aaron -- who is the writer of "Thor" -- he and I have been cooking up some potential crossovers for the two books, along with appearing in "Avengers" stories.

CNN: How long will this last?

Remender: When I proposed it originally, it was seen as "You can't do it unless it's going to be a long-term change." Depending on how well I do my job and people's reaction, this could be a permanent change or something that goes on for a good long while.

CNN: What can fans expect in upcoming issues?

Remender: I wanted to put Sam into something that felt like a traditional "Captain America" comic book but wanted him to come up against an insurmountable wall unlike anything Steve has even faced.

This is basically the rise of Hydra in the Marvel universe, in a way we've never seen a terrorist organization rise before. Under the watch of Baron Zemo and Chancellor Cassandra, they're moving forward with some big James Bond-ian evil plans. Hydra has already won before Sam realizes that they're up to something. We put him up against a huge wall that's going to have giant ramifications for the entire Marvel universe. That has implications we can appreciate in the world we're living in today.

Response: Captain America's onetime sidekick Sam Wilson debuts as the new Captain. The writer notes that Sam comes from a very different background. The new Captain America will be around long-term.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Sidney Frank made millions marketing Jagermeister and other alcohol brands. Three years after his death, he's a big hit with students at the Ivy League college he briefly attended.

Sidney Frank, shown accepting an honorary degree in 2005, gave $100 million to Brown University.

He's a big hit not because of what he sold but because he's given dozens of them what he couldn't afford as a young man: an education at Rhode Island's Brown University.

On Sunday, 49 students from low-income families became the first four-year Sidney E. Frank Scholars to graduate from Brown, owing virtually nothing except gratitude to the late liquor magnate.

"The world of difference that he made for each and every one of us is unbelievable, incredible," one of the Frank Scholars, 22-year-old Shane Reil, said Sunday.

Frank -- who left Brown after one year in the late 1930s because he couldn't afford to stay -- gave the school a $100 million endowment in 2004. He stipulated that the fund's income go exclusively to covering all tuition and expenses for the neediest of Brown's admitted applicants.  Hear graduates say how their dreams came true »

For this year's graduates, tuition and expenses came to a four-year total of about $180,000 each. The median annual income of the recipients' families was $18,984.

The gift was the largest single one ever given to Brown and one of the largest ever given for undergraduate scholarships in the United States, according to the school.

Reil, a history major who is preparing to co-chair a student conference on U.S.-South Korean relations and aspires to work in politics or foreign service, says the scholarship was the stuff of dreams.

He was working up to 40 hours a week during high school so he could pay for clothes and even help with grocery bills. He and his mother were getting by, but the Massachusetts native thought community college or a big state school would be all he could afford.

When his academic achievements put Brown in his sights, he thought he'd have to go into too much debt to go there. But he applied anyway, and Brown invited him to campus to tell him about how much the school would award him.

"I sat in this guy's office ... and he said, '$37,000 for tuition,' " Reil recalled. "I said, "$37,000, that's going to be split over four years, so essentially I'm getting a $10,000 scholarship per year.'

"He said, 'No, no, that's $37,000 for this year, and it will be covered [the rest of the years] too.' "

Reil said he cried in the office and ran to his car, where his mother was waiting.

"She was crying so much, we had to sit in the car for so long because she couldn't drive. It was a great moment," Reil said.

"Having the opportunity to go to a really good school ... I think it took my world from a very small area and physical space and just expanded it in multitudes," he said.

Though other universities give full rides, Frank's gift was a coup for Brown. Like many other schools, Brown used to factor a family's ability to pay when deciding whether to accept students.

Brown no longer does that, and Frank's gift was "integral" in bringing the change, said Jim Miller, Brown's dean of admissions.

The school intends to give 30 to 35 Frank scholarships per year. Most recipients are the first in their families to go to college, Miller said.

That was the case for Eliana Reyes Castro, who was born in the Dominican Republic and came to the United States when she was 6. She said she attended a Massachusetts high school that had regained its accreditation only months before she graduated.

Like Reil, she was one of the Frank Scholars who graduated Sunday. She received a degree in education with a concentration in human development and will pursue a master's in secondary social studies and history at Brown.

She might have attended Brown even if she had to take out loans. But that might have taken her away from what she wanted to do -- teach -- in favor of something that she had less interest in but paid more, she said.

"Just teaching right after college ... might not have been as appealing if I had loans to worry about," Reyes Castro said.

Frank, though he went to Brown only one year, landed an engineering job at Pratt & Whitney in part because someone there had gone to the school, said his daughter, Cathy Halstead. The company sent him overseas and he worked on Allied airplane engines during World War II, she said.

Eventually he got into the liquor business, started the Sidney Frank Importing Co. and marketed Jagermeister and Grey Goose vodka in the United States. He took up Jagermeister in the 1970s, sending attractive young women to bars to persuade patrons to try the drink and coming up with the Jagermeister tap machine.

He created Grey Goose, had it distilled in France and brought it into the United States through importers. In 2004, he sold Grey Goose for $2.2 billion, said Halstead, 61, of Seattle, Washington.

When Brown gave him an honorary degree in 2005, not long after his gift and months before his January 2006 death, people gave him a hero's welcome, she said.

"People on both sides [of a procession] were yelling his name and yelling, 'Jager!' and yelling, 'Goose!' " she said.

He gave millions of dollars to other institutions and projects. As for the Brown scholarship fund, he started it because he saw that Brown had changed the course of his life, Halstead said.

"He really wanted kids who were coming from very economically challenged backgrounds to have the chance to make it all the way through," said Halstead, who attended Sunday's graduation ceremony.

Reil and Reyes Castro said they couldn't thank Frank enough if he were alive.

"What he did is a catalyst for a lot of great things, and I'm indebted to him to do the best with the education that I've gotten here to help people in any way that I can," Reyes Castro said.

Response: Sidney Frank left $100 million to Brown University months before he died. Frank attended Brown for one year in 1930s, left because he couldn't afford it. The gift covers tuition, other expenses for neediest accepted applicants. First students to receive Frank's scholarship for four years graduated Sunday.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:How hard is it to create a website to help people get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act?

For three 20-year-old programmers in San Francisco, it took about three days' worth of work.

Spurred by the problems that have surrounded the rollout of the official HeathCare.gov site, the trio created an alternative, Health Sherpa, quickly and cheaply. At first glance, it looks like a triumph of tech-startup nimbleness over government inefficiency.

George Kalogeropoulos, who created the site along with Ning Liang and Michael Wasser, said all three of them had tried using the government website to get insurance.

"We were surprised to see that it was actually fairly difficult to use HealthCare.gov to find and understand our options," he told CNN. "Given that the data was publicly available, we thought that it made a lot of sense to take the data that was on there and just make it easy to search through and view available plans."

The result is a bare-bones site that lets users enter their zip code, plus details about their family and income, to find suggested plans in their area.

"The Health Sherpa is a free guide that makes it easier to find and sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. We only use carefully vetted, publicly available data," the site reads. "The Health Sherpa is not affiliated with any lobby, trade group or government agency and has no political agenda."

Tech experts enlisted to help fix Obamacare website

The Sherpa are an ethnic group in Nepal, some of whom have long served as guides for people climbing Mount Everest and other mountains in the Himalayas. The name has come to be used generically for any kind of guide or mentor.

Of course, it's not fair to compare the creation of Health Sherpa to the rollout of the more complicated government ACA site, which everyone from President Obama on down has acknowledged as a horribly botched affair.

For one, you can't actually use Heath Sherpa to sign up for coverage. The site states that it's for research purposes only, and that users must verify the premiums and subsidies they find there with state health care exchanges, insurance companies or on HealthCare.gov itself.

"It isn't a fair apples-to-apples comparison," Kalogeropoulos said. "Unlike Healthcare.gov, our site doesn't connect to the IRS, DHS, and various state exchanges and authorities. Furthermore, we're using the government's data, so our site is only possible because of the hard work that the Healthcare.gov team has done."

But it does cast light on the difference between what can be done by a small group of experts, steeped in Silicon Valley's anything-is-possible mentality, and a massive government project in which politics and bureaucracy seem to have helped create an unwieldy mess.

NY government website lists bakery, mechanic for Obamacare help

Creating the original Sherpa site took three days and cost "several hundred dollars," according to Kalogeropoulos. The three programmers have continued fine-tuning the site as its popularity has grown. In less than a week, the site has had almost 200,000 unique visitors and over half a million page views, he said.

"We've heard from people of all ages and walks of life, and thousands of people have reached out to us directly via email, phone, and Twitter to thank us to and to suggest features and request improvements," he said. "Tens of thousands of  people have clicked through to buy a specific plan, suggesting that we are achieving our goal: helping people find a health insurance plan."

Maybe the Obama administration can learn from the Sherpa example. As it scrambles to fix the heath care site, the government  has sought to inject a little more Silicon Valley into the process by enlisting a "Tech Surge" of staffers from Oracle and Red Hat, as well as Michael Dickerson, a site reliability engineer on leave from Google.

Response: Three 20-year-olds create alternate site that lets people search for health care. Programmers built Health Sherpa in three days for "hundreds of dollars". Site does not let users actually sign up for coverage. It was built in response to problems that have plagued Healthcare.gov site.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN)  -- Their faces and darker skins make them look different. They are routinely called "slave" by the majority, whatever their profession. But Iraq's black population hopes that Barack Obama's rise to the White House will mark a turning point for minorities not just in the United States, but also in their country.

Jalal Thiyab Thijeel quotes Barack Obama, saying it is time for "change."

Jalal Thiyab Thijeel, general secretary of the "Movement of Free Iraqis," followed every detail of Obama's election campaign. "Inspiring," he calls it. Inspiring politically, and personally. Like Obama, Thijeel has family roots in Africa.

"We told our people, Inshalla, God willing, Obama is going to win, and if he wins, it will be a victory for all black people in the world," he recalls. "We're going to make him a model to follow. Even our old women were praying for him to win."

When news broke that Obama had won the election, it was early in the morning of November 5 in Basra -- but Thijeel excitedly called a fellow member of his political party.

It was a moment, he tells me as we talk on a street in Baghdad, that he'll never forget. "Now we, the dark-skinned people, feel even closer to the American people because Obama is one of us."

Thijeel's organization estimates there are approximately 2 million black Iraqis. The country's total population is more than 28 million, most of them ethnic Arabs. It's impossible to verify Thijeel's estimate, since the government does not keep statistics on race, but there is no denying there are many black Iraqis in the southern city of Basra.

Their history goes back 1,000 years to the time when Africans were brought as slaves to the south of Iraq to drain marshes and build Basra.

Many Iraqis still call blacks "abed," an Arabic word that means "slave." Thijeel grimaces when he pronounces it. It's demeaning, he says, and he wants the government to forbid its use. Many white Iraqis claim the word isn't meant to offend, but Thijeel says they have no idea how hurtful it is. "I never want my son to go through this," he says.  Watch what Obama means to some Iraqis »

He also wants his son -- and his daughters -- to have access to good jobs, something that is not the case now, he says. In Basra, many black Iraqis have menial jobs. Although no one can point to any official discrimination, there are no black members of the Iraqi parliament.

The Movement of Free Iraqis was founded two years ago and on January 31 it will run the first slate of black candidates in Iraq's modern history.

Thijeel hands me the party's documents that spell out its demands. Foremost is that the government recognize blacks as an official minority in Iraq. This is key, because power in Iraq is apportioned along ethnic, religious and even tribal lines. The party also wants an apology for slavery, although it is not asking for financial reparations. The movement also wants laws to combat racial discrimination.

The party has found some nonblack political allies. Awad Al-Abdan of the National Dialogue Front says, "There's been social oppression for a long time. We have a tribal-based society and, according to traditions and customs, the black man is considered to have lower status."

Some white Iraqis say that founding a political party on racial lines is divisive, especially when Iraqis of different communities need to pull together. But Thijeel, quoting Barack Obama, says it's time for change. Although he's speaking in Arabic, he uses the English word "change."

"There's a change in international politics," he tells me. "Obama won, and not that long ago, in his country, black people were marginalized, so this event has shattered all barriers."

Response: Iraqis of African descent are marginalized by society, called "slave". Obama's victory makes black Iraqis feel closer to U.S., one says. Slate of black candidates will stand for election for first time in modern Iraq.


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Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- It has been a watershed moment for Australian cricket.

The sport-crazy country's national team has been humiliated during the Ashes series against an England side they would once routinely embarrass.

Australia's crushing innings and 157-run defeat in Melbourne marks the end of a golden period where the team had dominated the game for the best part of a decade.

The result means that England, the holders, take an unassailable 2-1 lead into the fifth and final Test next week and will retain the Ashes even if Australia salvage some pride with a victory in Sydney to square the series.

Will Australia's one-day cricket reign end in 2011?

Yet every cloud has a silver lining.

On one hand, the hosts will have to make do without captain Ricky Ponting, still regarded as one of the finest batsmen of the modern game, who has been ruled out due to a troublesome fractured finger.

But his absence could mark a wholly different watershed: his replacement, 24-year-old Usman Khawaja, is set to become the first Muslim to play for the Australian national cricket team.

"It's been a childhood dream for me," Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan before moving to Australia as a young boy, told the Cricinfo website.   "Ever since I can remember I wanted to play for Australia."

Khawaja has been waiting in the wings throughout the series, and has been in sparkling form in Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield, boasting the highest average in the competition, close to 75.

The same can't be said for Ponting. A horrendous run of form with the bat, combined with his team's largely abject displays throughout the series, has seen the 36-year-old receive a mauling from the Australian media.

England retain cricket's Ashes with innings victory in Melbourne

But the promotion of Khawaja to the first team has come at a time when Australian cricket needs a good news story, and at a time when the country's attitudes to immigration and multiculturalism have been put under the spotlight by recent tragedy.

As many as 50 Iraqi and Iranian Kurdish immigrants died when their boat sunk off the coast of Christmas Island last month, an Australian territory that holds thousands of failed asylum seekers in detention camps to prevent them entering the mainland.

An Amnesty International report on the conditions at the island condemned "the sheer number of individuals who had clearly been suffering both physically and psychologically from the conditions of prolonged detention. Many had been detained for over a year, and incidents of self-harm and suicide attempts were visibly on the rise."

And while a survey by Australian TV network SBS in the aftermath of the tragedy found that 62% of those questioned agreed that Australia should be a multicultural society a minority, only 48%, "believe migrants should be able to maintain their culture without prejudice or disadvantage."

But for some, the emergence of Khawaja can have a far wider impact than leveling what has been a disastrous Ashes series for Australia.

''Obviously it will have a positive impact; It's good for the [Muslim] community," Tariq Khawaja, Usman's father, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

''It shows that it's a fair system and whoever puts in effort can achieve anything in this country. Not only Muslims, any religion.

"As a youngster, if you have passion and if you have dreams, you can make it work.''

Response: Ricky Ponting injured for the fifth and final Ashes test against England. Usman Khawaja will replace him. Khwaja will become the first Muslim to play cricket for Australia. England lead the series 2-1, and have retained their titled.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Three days after a consumers' group called for a meat boycott, the head of Argentina's beef industry said Thursday prices will fall by week's end.

Gustavo Valsangiacomo, president of the Argentina Beef Industry Union, declined to say the boycott was responsible for the price drop. But he acknowledged that demand for beef is falling, the official Telam news agency said.

"There are a sum of factors," Valsangiacomo told Telam. "I don't want to take importance away from the boycott, but it will be analyzed by the end of the week. Nonetheless, we undoubtedly believe that prices reached a point that the public cannot and does not want to accept."

On Monday, an Argentinean consumer group called for a one-week beef boycott in an attempt to lower prices in a nation that eats more beef than anywhere else in the world.

The price of beef has increased 40 percent to 50 percent since December, said the Association of Free Consumers, which called for the boycott.

The group cited success in a similar recent boycott of tomatoes, which also had risen in price. Within a few days of the tomato boycott, prices dropped, the consumer organization said.

Valsangiacomo said the beef industry had reached a particular point in which cattle growers have cheap feed but have tried to maximize their profits.

"There has to be an equilibrium between their costs and what consumers are paying," the industry chief said.

Argentina -- a nation of nearly 41 million residents and 51 million head of cattle in 2007, the latest year comparison figures are available -- has faced a crisis as cattle supplies have dipped to their lowest levels in 45 years, according to the Argentina Farm Federation.

The Association of Free Consumers cites three possible reasons for the decline in cattle stock: a significant increase in the number of slaughtered livestock; an acceleration in the cultivation of soy, with more than 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) converted from livestock to soy production; and more Argentineans buying beef.

Drought also has decreased the size of available pasture land.

Argentineans eat more beef than any other nation in the world -- 68 kilograms (150 lbs) per person annually, the Farm Federation said. Despite the high consumption, that's a significant decrease from the 80 kilograms (176 lbs) per person per year in the 1970s, the farmers' group said.

Argentinean beef is considered among the best in the world, and the nation is the third-largest exporter in the world, behind Brazil and Australia. But the drastic decline in beef cattle has led some Argentineans to worry the nation eventually could have to import beef to keep up with the high demand.

Response: Consumer group called for one-week beef boycott to try to lower prices. Argentina Beef Industry Union president won't say if boycott responsible for likely price drop. Price of beef has risen 40 percent to 50 percent since December, group says. Industry chief tells news agency public demand for beef on decline.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Your Twitter profile is about to have a new look.

Calling the changes "a whole new you," Twitter announced Tuesday that it will be rolling out a fresh design and new features to user profile pages. The company says the changes will make self-expression on the social network "even easier" and "more fun."

The new design gives Twitter users a much larger profile photo and a customized header image. Twitter says the new profile will highlight specific tweets and allow people searching through profile pages to find the kind of tweets they want. For example, followers can choose to see just tweets with photos and videos or replies in Twitter conversations.

A user can pin a favorite tweet to the top of his or her profile page, while tweets with the most retweets and replies will appear slightly larger so they are easier for others to find.

The new profile pages are currently available only to a small group of existing users as well as those new to Twitter. The social media company says the new features will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.

Among the first Twitter users to get the new profile design: first lady Michelle Obama (@flotus), boxer Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather), actress Kerry Washington (@kerrywashington), and the band Weezer (@weezer).

Response: Twitter unveils a new profile page. Updates rolling out to all users in the coming weeks. Michelle Obama among first to get the new profile design.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- A large ice shelf is "imminently" close to breaking away from part of the Antarctic Peninsula, scientists said Friday.

Scientists are investigating whether the ice breakup is caused by global climate change.

Satellite images released by the European Space Agency on Friday show new cracks in the Wilkins Ice Shelf where it connects to Charcot Island, a piece of land considered part of the peninsula.

The cracks are quickly expanding, the ESA said.

Scientists are investigating the causes for the breakups and whether it is linked to global climate change.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf -- a large mass of floating ice -- would still be connected to Latady Island, which is also part of the peninsula, and Alexander Island, which is not, said professor David Vaughan, a glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey.

The ice shelf experienced a great amount of changes last year, the ESA said.

In February 2008, the shelf dropped 164 square miles (425 square kilometers) of ice. In May it lost a 62-square-mile chunk.

That meant the "bridge" of ice connecting Wilkins to the islands was just 984 yards wide at its narrowest location, the ESA said.

Further rifts developed in October and November, said Angelika Humbert of the Institute of Geophysics at Germany's Muenster University.

"During the last year the ice shelf has lost about 1800 square kilometers (694 square miles), or about 14 percent of its size," Humbert said.

Antarctica's ice sheet was formed over thousands of years by accumulated and compacted snow. Along the coast, the ice gradually floats on the sea, forming massive ledges known as ice shelves, the ESA says.

Several of these ice shelves, including seven in the past 20 years, have retreated and disintegrated.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf had been stable for most of the past century before it began retreating in the 1990s.

"It had been there almost unchanged since the first expeditions which mapped it back in the 1930s, so it had a very long period of real stability, and it's only in the last decade that it's started to retreat," Vaughan said.

Wilkins is the size of the state of Connecticut, or about half the area of Scotland. It is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.

If the ice shelf breaks away from the peninsula, it will not cause a rise in sea level because it is already floating, scientists say. Some plants and animals may have to adapt to the collapse.

The Antarctic Peninsula is the piece of the continent that stretches toward South America.

Response: A large Antarctic ice shelf is cracking and may break away. Scientists are investigating whether or not climate change is to blame. Satellite photos show cracks in the Wilkins Ice Shelf. The ice sheet formed over thousands of years by accumulated snow.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Julia Roberts, star of the new movie "Eat, Pray, Love," which tells the story of a soul-searching character, is now a practicing Hindu.

Roberts, in an interview with Elle magazine, says she worships with her husband, cameraman Danny Moder, and their three children, People.com says.

The family, she told Elle, goes to temple together to "chant and pray and celebrate. I'm definitely a practicing Hindu." Roberts grew up in Georgia, the daughter of Christian parents.

Other celebrities who have practiced Hinduism include former Beatle George Harrison, author J.D. Salinger and NFL player Ricky Williams.

In her September cover interview, Roberts, 42, decries the use of botox and plastic surgery.

"It's unfortunate that we live in such a panicked, dysmorphic society where women don't even give themselves a chance to see what they'll look like as older persons," she says.

The star of "Pretty Woman" and "Erin Brokovich" also spoke about her relationship with her family.

"You make these people and you love them and you want them around for a thousand years," she said about her three kids -- 3-year-old Henry and 5-year-old twins Phinnaeus and Hazel. "And you want to be there for them for a thousand years."

Response: Actress Julia Roberts has embraced Hinduism. She tells Elle magazine she will not undergo plastic surgery. Roberts speaks about her love for her children.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- In the dystopian future imagined within the popular Terminator franchise, robots learn to think, self-replicate and eventually kill their human masters.

While this bleak vision assumes a number of seemingly distant technological and political developments, some ideas currently driving robotics research may, for some, bear an uncomfortable resemblance to those of the 80s sci-fi smash.

In particular, one area where life seems to be imitating art is the fledgling field of 'swarm robotics', in which scientists are creating teams of robots that can work together toward a single goal -- from mending a leak to clearing mines -- with minimal or no input from humans.

Much of the research is based on the observed behavior of 'eusocial' insects -- such as ants, bees and termites -- who work collectively on complex tasks without central management or higher order intelligence.

Consider for a moment a typical termite nest -- with its labyrinth of chambers and intersecting corridors. It's built entirely by vast teams of micro-sized, speck-brained creatures (no disrespect) -- without so much as a blueprint to work from. So, the question for researchers is: how can we emulate this type of behavior in robots to help us solve problems and generally make our lives easier?

Recently, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) unveiled 'M-blocks' - robots that can assemble themselves into different shapes to perform a range of basic tasks, without input from a human controller.

While M-Blocks may not look particularly inspiring, the way they reshape is the first step toward a future where robots rebuild themselves to solve new problems. An M-Blocks-based robot working underwater might make itself narrow to fit through a deep sea crevasse, or a tiny team of medical robots could spread themselves flat to plug a gap in the human heart -- all without having been pre-programmed to do so.

At the moment researchers are still working to make teams of robots complete more basic tasks. Sheffield University researchers, for example, are using swarms of robots to fetch, carry and push objects in unison.

Dr Roderich Gross, head of the Natural Robotics Lab at the University of Sheffield, says: "We are developing artificial intelligence to control robots in a variety of ways. The key is to work out what is the minimum amount of information needed by the robot to accomplish its task. That's important because it means the robot may not need any memory, and possibly not even a processing unit, so this technology could work for nanoscale robots -- for example in medical applications."

Some of the most interesting applications for swarm robotics exist where robots go beyond the realm of easy human reach, say into space or under the sea, or -- as Gross says -- inside the human body to perform medical tasks at a microscopic or 'nano' scale.

Aaron Becker, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University has been working on an experiment (that you can join in here) to test different ways swarm robots can be deployed, with a view to seeing 'nano-robots' eventually used in medical operations.

The project seeks to demonstrate how teams of robots could be utilized with minimal input from the outside world, possibly beneath the surface of the skin in a bid to tackle disease.

But how might this be done?

Researchers at the Nanorobotics Laboratory in Montreal are looking at using swarms of miniature drones to fight pathogens within the human body. Sylvain Martel, the laboratory's Research Chair, believes that preliminary research conducted in his lab could lead to future treatments where small magnetic robots are inserted into the body to fight cancer. Other researchers are investigating ways to use swarming robots in diagnosis, so that problems are detected before they become life threatening.

Becker believes that in future, swarms of nano-robots might even come to be used in surgery: "If we can shrink the surgeon and their tools while maintaining their effectiveness, non-invasive surgery could revolutionize health care. I want to be a part of that dream," Becker says.

Jan Carlo Barca, a member of the Swarm Robotics Laboratory at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia says that there are plenty of worthy applications for swarm robots, but some scientists working in the field worry that their research may end up being used for military purposes:

"Some potential application areas for swarms of robots are: cooperative search in disaster sites to support rescue efforts, pollution detection and monitoring, mine clearing, exploration, mapping and dynamic motion capture for the film industry," he says.

"However, all this comes at a cost as this technology also will be exploited by defense agencies all over the world. (For example) the U.S. Defense Force has investigated how the hunting strategies of wolf packs, coyotes and killer whales can be used in military contexts. The Israeli Defense Force is also investigating how one can use miniature robotic mosquitoes in the same context."

And while the apocalyptic events of James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day are relatively unlikely, it is reassuring that many within the swarm robotics community are determined that their work will be applied to the right ends:

"The big challenge," Barca says, "is not only to formulate technologies that can be used in the real world, but also to ensure that swarm robotics technology will be used for the betterment of mankind."

Response: Scientists are building robots that can work in teams. 'Swarm robots' operate like hive insects such as ants, termites or bees. MIT's M-blocks robot can self-assemble to solve different problems. Swarm robots could be used in search and rescue, medicine and space exploration.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- Turns out the "gotcha" moment in Thursday's New Hampshire debate wasn't so clear cut.

Republican Scott Brown, who is vying for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's seat, appeared to botch a question on New Hampshire geography during the final debate in the contentious race.

But after some post-debate map-checking, the former senator from Massachusetts, who moved back to New Hampshire after losing his Senate seat in 2013, actually got an apology from the reporter who questioned the candidate's familiarity with state geography.

So did Brown get it right and WMUR's James Pindell got it wrong? Turns out, both were partly right.

Poll: Dead heat in New Hampshire Senate race

First, the incident:

Pindell, one of the state's top political reporters, had his sights set on Brown's relative lack of in-state credentials and asked Brown to talk specifically about economic conditions in Sullivan County -- one of 10 counties in the state.

Brown didn't get into the specifics of Sullivan County, but talked about the economic conditions "up North."

"We're talking about Sullivan County, and I think you were talking about the north country," Pindell interjected, referring to the northern tier of the state that doesn't include Sullivan County.

"I'm talking about any place past Concord, actually," Brown retorted.

Pindell stuck to his line, explaining that Sullivan County is "west of Concord, it's not north of Concord, Sen. Brown."

That changed after the debate when Pindell apologized on air and said "Scott Brown was right, I was wrong."

Now, the fact check:

Most of Sullivan County is in fact north of the capital city of Concord, but Sullivan County is also further west of the city than it is north.

And a sliver of the county is even south of Concord, according to several maps.

So in truth, the vast majority Sullivan County is northwest of Concord, and even Brown conceded in a post-debate press conference that he "should have been more specific."

"I've visited every county and I'm going to continue to take that message of independence to every county," he said.

The nuance didn't keep Shaheen's campaign from pouncing on the opportunity to highlight Brown's outsider status.

Shaheen's campaign even announced after the debate that she would head to Sullivan County on Friday.

Response: Scott Brown appeared to botch a question on New Hampshire geography in the final Senate debate. But it's not so clear he did, and the reporter who asked the question even apologized. Most of Sullivan County is north of Concord, but it's further west of the capital city.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- Rep. Ron Barber, one of the last remaining lawmakers whose reelection fate has yet to be decided, has filed suit in federal court asking for 133 disqualified ballots to be counted as his contest with Republican Martha McSally heads to a recount.

"We are talking about 133 Southern Arizona voters who lived up to their responsibility â€” they registered to vote and then showed up to vote," Barber attorney Kevin Hamilton said in a statement out Monday. "We are asking the court to ensure that every lawful vote is counted. That's what America is all about."

Barber is trailing McSally, a retired Air Force colonel, by just 161 votes, a margin slim enough to trigger a recount when the votes are certified by the secretary of State, which is expected Dec. 1.

But his campaign has been working feverishly over the past few weeks to find and gather evidence of ballots they say were illegitimately thrown out.

They submitted with the lawsuit sworn affidavits from the voters in question outlining the issues they faced trying to cast their ballots. The reasons their votes were discarded range from signatures not lining up with their registrations to election officials failing to direct voters to their proper polling places.

Barber's campaign tried unsuccessfully last week to delay the canvass of votes in the two counties that make up the district, Pima and Cochise, hoping to buy time to continue to root out other votes that may have been wrongfully discarded.

But with the campaign's requests denied, Barber's options for ensuring those 133 ballots are included in the final count have narrowed.

His lawsuit is seeking a restraining order to prevent the secretary of State from certifying the election results until the ballots in question have been counted.

Barber holds the seat once held by his former boss Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

McSally, meanwhile, is continuing with business as though representative-elect. She spent last week in Washington D.C. at freshman orientation with other newly elected lawmakers from across the nation.

Response: Rep. Ron Barber's reelection bid is one of the few uncalled remaining House races. He's down by 161 votes to GOP opponent Martha McSally. That margin will trigger a recount when the vote is certified next month.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The University of North Dakota is one step closer to retiring its nickname and mascot, but changing the school's 90-year-old Native American moniker -- the Fighting Sioux -- has not been without complications.

The school faces a Monday deadline to comply with the NCAA's policy on mascots "deemed hostile or abusive toward Native Americans."

School officials were in the process of coming up with a new name and mascot this year until North Dakota legislators passed a law ordering them to stop, according to UND spokesman Peter Johnson.

The rock and the hard place the school finds itself between marks the last gasp of a decades-long fight not just in North Dakota, but in all of college sports -- the climax (or nadir, depending on some people's perspective) of a nostalgia-imbued resistance to political correctness on the playing field.

The kerfuffle at hand dates to 2007, when the North Dakota Board of Higher Education agreed to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname by August 15, 2011, in accordance with the NCAA's then-2-year-old policy on Native American mascots. If they ultimately chose not to do so, costly NCAA sanctions were promised, including the inability to host any championships and a ban on the use of the school's logo or nickname at any championship events.

After Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed House Bill 1263 into law this year, the school was left with the dilemma of having to either disobey the government that controls its purse-strings or to flout the rules of the NCAA, the entity that controls the arguably mightier purse-strings of college football.

The nickname controversy appeared to be closer to a resolution Friday when Dalrymple and other state officials traveled to Indianapolis to meet with NCAA officials in a last-ditch effort to resolve the matter.

"It's our understanding coming out of this meeting that the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo will be dropped," the NCAA quoted its Vice President for Communications Bob Williams as saying Friday. "The contingent from North Dakota made it clear that they were committed to changing the legislative action that would require retention of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. However, our settlement agreement remains in effect, and, as a result, the University of North Dakota will be subject to the policy effective Aug. 15."

Doug Fullerton will be paying close attention to what happens Monday. As commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, he is overseeing North Dakota's ascent from Division II obscurity to the far more lucrative stage of Division I football.

"When we invited (North Dakota's football team) into the (Big Sky) conference this was not an issue," he said. Citing the conference's "close, close ties to Native American tribes" and the promise of boycotts from other Division I schools if the name goes unchanged, he says the school's membership in the conference "could be in jeopardy."

The school is set to join the conference July 1, 2012.

According to an NCAA press release, Dalrymple said at the Friday meeting that he would appeal to the state legislature "to allow legislation to be introduced during a special session on Nov. 7 that will transfer the responsibility for the logo and nickname from the legislature back to the Board of Higher Education."

"I have come to the conclusion that the cost of retaining the Sioux logo is too great," the NCAA press release quoted Dalrymple as saying. "There's no question that the settlement agreement will stand according to the NCAA, and there will be no further negotiations."

The usage of Native American imagery in college athletics has been a long-simmering controversy. Such schools as Stanford University and New York's St. John's University, elected to drop their nicknames (the Stanford Indians became the Cardinals in 1972, then the Cardinal in 1981; the St. John's Red Men became the Red Storm in the mid-'90s), while others, like the University of North Dakota, balked.

In 2000, for example, then-UND president Charles Kupchella tried to retire the Fighting Sioux until a wealthy alum threatened to withhold a $100 million donation for a new hockey arena, an episode chronicled by author Deni Elliot in her book "The Kindness of Strangers: Philanthropy and Higher Education." Today, the school's state-of-the-art rink not only bears that donor's name, it's decorated with more than 2,000 Fighting Sioux logos.

In 2005, the NCAA sought to end the controversy surrounding Native American mascots once and for all by ordering nearly 20 schools whose nicknames and mascots they deemed "abusive in terms of race, ethnicity or national origin" to either get Native American permission to use their name and likeness, or to come up with a new one.

The resulting actions among the targeted schools were varied. The Arkansas State Indians became the Red Wolves; the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indians became the Crimson Hawks.

Other schools satisfied the mandate by tweaking their name, like Southeastern Oklahoma State, where the Savages are now known as the Savage Storm. Others, like the Bradley University Braves, whose name does not affiliate with a specific tribe, were allowed to keep their name so long as Native American logos and imagery were eschewed.

Schools with higher-profile athletic programs fared better. The Florida State Seminoles, University of Utah Utes and the Central Michigan University Chippewas each obtained permission from their respective namesake tribes to stay the course.

But the Fighting Sioux of the University of North Dakota -- winners of seven national championships in men's ice hockey -- was denied such an endorsement from the Tribal Council of the Standing Rock Sioux.

Response: University of North Dakota faces a Monday deadline to change its Fighting Sioux nickname. The state legislature passed a law this year ordering the school to continue using the name. The school faces NCAA sanctions if it continues to use the Native American mascot. Governor has indicated he will comply with NCAA, ask legislature to change law.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Lake Turkana, Kenya (CNN) -- Richard Leakey has spent a lifetime exploring Kenya's Turkana Basin searching for the origins of man.

Each layer of sediment, says the paleoanthropologist and founder of the Turkana Basin Institute, helps to tell the narrative of human evolution.

"You get the whole story of life represented going back from the present right back to the beginnings of an ape that has two legs as opposed to four," Leakey said.

"So the whole story of humanity you can actually trace to the Turkana Basin."

But Leakey says these ancient hills tell another story, a history of climactic changes that gave rise to some species and led to the extinction of others.

With climate change, he says, this history could be repeated.

"The future of humanity is not going to be in the sediments, it is going to be in our minds and our thinking and unfortunately what we find here is that evidence," Leakey said.

"What we find here that is scientifically provable, immutable facts doesn't necessarily get absorbed for the moment by the political class who simply don't want to know the ugly truth that the world is a mess."

On the shores of Lake Turkana -- the largest desert lake in the world -- they don't need to know the science of climate change.

For more than 1,000 years, fishermen have been bringing in their catch, but, in less than a generation, they have witnessed disturbing changes.

"When I was young this lake was full, says Lazarao Maraka, a local fisherman.

"The water just keeps going down. We used to get big fish every day, now they are tiny."

Maraka has reason to worry. Sometimes it is hard to see the effects of climate change, but not at Lake Turkana.

Global human impact on Earth

Thirty years ago the area was covered with water. Now, it is just sand and gravel. And scientists believe that in just a few decades it will be reduced to a couple of puddles.

Upriver dam projects could further hasten the retreat, a potential catastrophe for the entire region that depends on the lake for food and economic survival.

"I think the prospect of many of these half million people living around the lake today of having to relocate to cities and to slums and to abandon their culture, abandon their ancestral land, become paupers in their own land, I think it is very real," Leakey says.

"I think the way of life is gone...I have no doubt about that at all. I think if you came back here or my grandchildren came back in 50 years we wouldn't recognize what we are talking about today."

Leakey's Turkana Basin Institute is trying to understand how climate change is affecting the Turkana.

More: Could big cities lead fight against climate change?

Sometimes the best thing to do is listen. The Turkana say the rains are less frequent and the droughts come more often.

The unpredictable weather and vanishing pasture has decimated their herds.

Climate change does affect the Turkana people, says Ikal Angelei from the Turkana Basin Institute.

"With the increase of drought it has made the communities unable to adapt to the changes, because it happens so often," Angelei said.

Leakey says that anyone skeptical about climate change should visit the Turkana Basin.

"Coming to a place like this, I think you actually show people what happens. These are real issues that you can see and feel and almost touch that may make people understand that we are on the edge of a precipice and we are going over," he said.

"We have accelerated a process and it is based on the belief that somehow we can maintain control. I think our carbon dioxide emissions are out of control."

Even with the changes around Lake Turkana, fishermen like Lazaro Maraka still try to eke out a living the only way they know how.

He worries what will be left for his son Eroo if the lake continues to recede.

"If there is no lake or no fish, then the people will not survive around this lake. This lake is the Turkana's life," Maraka says.

This place has helped unlock humanity's past. Today, it could also be providing a window on its future.

Response: Conservationist Richard Leakey has been working in Kenya's Turkana Basin for years. Leakey says fishermen have seen evidence of climate change in the water as levels recede. Potentially catastrophic as entire region is dependent on the lake for food and economic survival.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- A copyright dispute over royalties from an acclaimed film, "Raging Bull," can go the distance after the Supreme Court on Monday allowed a lawsuit to move ahead.

The appeal deals with a 1963 book and screenplay on the life of former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta, who wrote it with his childhood friend and business partner, Frank "Peter" Petrella. LaMotta's story was made into the 1980 movie, starring Robert De Niro.

The justices, by a 6-3 vote, concluded Petrella's daughter did not wait too long to make her claims against Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, which made and distributed the Academy Award-winning drama. The case on the merits will now be heard in lower federal courts.

Entertainment companies will likely be affected financially by the ruling. Earlier courts had limited similar lawsuits, often filed many years after movies, plays, and television shows first premiered, by the estates of actors, writers, and producers.

With new electronic outlets emerging for a range of entertainment and literary properties, those companies may have to rethink their strategy when negotiating not only rights to the original creative property, but such retooled content as merchandising, spinoffs, and video games.

The underlying issue was a lot more dry and technical than the film itself: equitable defense and tolling for remedies in civil copyright claims.

That was apparently enough to temper the court's creative streak in Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's majority opinion -- no pop culture references to showbiz or sports; no clever rhetoric about this being a "knockout" legal fight; and no justice who would admit ever seeing the acclaimed film.

At issue is whether rolling time limits in filing copyright infringement lawsuits applied in this case. She claimed ownership over the original screenplay and the subsequent rights to the story. Her father died a year after the movie's release.

Federal copyright law gave Paula Petrella the sole right to renew the copyrights before the term expired, which she did in 1991.

But her lawsuit was not filed until 2009. MGM Studios and 20th Century Fox -- the movie's distributor -- say that violates the established legal principle of "laches," which bars most claims that are unreasonably delayed, on the theory it would unfairly burden the adverse party.

Both sides also dispute what ownership rights the studio retained after the elder Petrella's death, and which were subsequently returned to his daughter. Paula Petrella claims she is the sole owner of the book and the original screenplay, and that the subsequent film infringes on those copyrights.

She seeks damages dating back three years from the filing of the lawsuit, and an injunction on further distribution of the work without compensation. Her lawyers claim the delay over years was caused by fear of retaliation, lack of money to file the suit, and being told by the studio that "Raging Bull" was no longer making money.

The federal government backed her, at least in part.

MGM and Fox say they have invested heavily to convert the film to formats such as DVD for home viewing, and for overseas distribution. The companies say having an open-ended period to file copyright claims makes it hard to make future business decisions.

But Ginsburg, writing for the court, concluded the studio had the weaker argument.

"If the rule were, as MGM urges, 'sue soon, or forever hold your peace,' copyright owners would have to mount a federal case fast to stop seemingly innocuous infringements, lest those infringements eventually grow in magnitude," she said.

The three-year limitations period "allows a copyright owner to defer suit until she can estimate whether litigation is worth the candle. She will miss out on damages for periods prior to the three-year look-back, but her right to prospective injunctive relief should, in most cases, remain unaltered."

Ginsburg added, "Allowing Petrella's suit to go forward will put at risk only a fraction of the income MGM has earned during that period and will work no unjust hardship on innocent third parties, such as consumers who have purchased copies of 'Raging Bull.'"

Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy, along with Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.

Copyright experts say the high court's ruling will make it easier to press decades-old copyright claims.

"Hollywood has an insatiable appetite for recycling old film content," said William Kane, an attorney with BakerHostetler. "Increasingly copyright ownership for much of this older content has now been passed down to the families and heirs of the original creators. And if the current owners did not sign over all their copyrights to the industry, you end up with potentially multi-billion dollar clashes of interest."

"Raging Bull" won two Oscars, including best actor for De Niro, who portrayed the boxer.

LaMotta is 92 and not a party in the appeal. The fighter also known as the "Bronx Bull" held the middleweight title from 1949-51.

The case is Petrella v. MGM, Inc. (12-1315).

Response: The Supreme Court permits lawsuit to move ahead years after being filed. The justices say daughter of book co-author didn't wait too long to make her claims. She claimed ownership of the original screenplay and subsequent rights. Entertainment companies are likely to be impacted by the ruling.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN)It was a typical practice day for the Washington University of rowing team, but then danger came from beneath.

The scene was Creve Coeur Lake outside of St. Louis early Friday morning.

The team's boat got near the dock, when suddenly a swarm of Asian carp emerged from the water and went on the attack, some even going into the boat.

Team member Devin Patel described the moment of terror: "The fish was flopping on my legs. It was so slippery that I couldn't get a grip on it."

Patel screamed at teammate Yoni David, "Yoni, get it off me!"

Thankfully, no rowers were injured during the ordeal, but the strong smell of fish lingered in the moments afterward.

Watch iReporter Benjamin Rosenbaum's video above.

Response: Rowing team at Washington University attacked by flying carp. Member of the team caught the attack on video.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(AOL Autos) -- There are two good ways to buy your new car or truck at a reasonable low price and avoid all of the negotiating games and hassles:

1. Buy through the Internet

Buying your new or used car or truck through the Internet is the easiest and most hassle-free way to make the purchase.

All you have to do is choose the vehicle brand and model you wish to purchase as well as provide some basic contact information such as your name and e-mail address. In return, you'll receive - via e-mail - low bottom-line selling prices from dealerships in your area for the exact vehicle you want to buy.

Compare the various selling prices and find the lowest one. Then, simply go direct to that dealership's Internet Department, sign the papers and drive your new car home - no negotiating, no hassles.

To begin the process, get your free price quotes from AOL Autos. It only takes a few minutes. This service is totally free and you are under no obligation or pressure to buy. AOL, like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.

Within 24 hours, you'll receive your bottom-line selling prices from dealerships in your area. Once you've compared the various prices and found the lowest one, you then have four good options:

• You can go to the dealership that gave you the lowest price, sign the papers and drive your new car home -- no hassles, no negotiating. AOL Autos: Best deals of the month

• You can try to negotiate the lowest price with the dealership in order to get the price even lower. There's nothing that says you can't. AOL Autos: Aggressive car buying tactics

• You can shop the lowest price around to other dealerships to see if any of them are willing to beat it. AOL Autos: Which dealers treat you best?

• You can do nothing. If you feel unsure or uncertain, then set it aside for a while. You are not obligated to buy anything you don't want.

By getting these low bottom-line selling prices via the Internet, you're avoiding the car salesman's entire negotiating game altogether. And you're buying your car at about the same price you would expect after lengthy negotiations. It's certainly the fastest and easiest way to beat the car salesman. AOL Autos: New rules to car buying

2. Buy through the dealership's Fleet Department

Almost every dealership has a division called the "Fleet Department." It usually consists of only a handful of salespeople who specialize in selling fleets of cars -- large orders of several vehicles direct to businesses. This department is authorized by the dealership to sell their cars at bottom-line non-negotiable prices. The prices they offer are about the same as you would expect from an online price quote or after lengthy negotiations.

A secret of the car business is that many dealerships' Fleet Departments also sell direct to the public. By the rules of the game, however, they can't advertise to the public since they don't want to compete with the dealership's retail sales team. So to buy from the Fleet Department, you have to specifically ask.

To buy your vehicle direct from the dealership's Fleet Department, simply call the dealership and ask to speak with the Fleet Manager. When you get him on the line, explain to him that you're ready to buy a car and you'd like to buy it from him. If he asks you what business you are associated with, tell him where you work. He'll probably be happy to set up an appointment with you.

When you arrive at the dealership, the Fleet Manager will show you the vehicle, allow you to test drive it, and then bring you to the office to discuss price. With absolutely no negotiations, he'll offer you a reasonable bottom-line non-negotiable selling price for the vehicle.

If the price he gives you falls within the pre-set limits of your buying goal and you're satisfied with the deal, then you can buy the car. No pressure, no games, no hassles.

If for some reason, you don't want to buy the vehicle, you are under no obligation. Simply thank the salesman for his time and leave on good terms. Then, if you'd like, you can visit (or call) the Fleet Departments of other dealerships to compare prices. The selling prices offered by the various Fleet Departments can vary depending upon their inventories. AOL Autos: Have a car shopping game plan

Michael Royce is a consumer advocate and former car salesman. For more car-buying tips and advice, visit his Beat the Car Salesman Web site.

Response: You can solicit best price quotes from car dealers over the Internet. You can shop the lowest price to other dealers to see if they will match or beat it. Individuals can also buy car from dealer's Fleet Department.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- An internationally renowned paleontologist will plead guilty to stealing dinosaur bones from federal land, his attorneys said in a court filing.

Paleontologist Nate Murphy is expected to plead guilty to stealing fossils from federal land.

Nate Murphy, whose famous finds include Leonardo, one of the best-preserved dinosaurs in the world, will make that plea in federal court in Billings, Montana.

Earlier this month, Murphy pleaded guilty to state charges of stealing a fossil from private land in order to sell it. An expert cited in that case said Murphy's find was worth between $150,000 and $400,000.

The self-taught dinosaur expert, who is director of vertebrate paleontology at the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, could face jail time.

Murphy and his attorney did not immediately respond to phone messages Friday from CNN.

Jessica Fehr, lead prosecutor in the case, said the U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment until after the plea is entered.

In court papers, federal prosecutors say Murphy knowingly took fossils from federal property between about August 2006 and August 2007. The "paleontological resources" were said to be worth at least $1,000.

In the state case, Murphy pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft. As part of the plea, the state recommended Murphy's sentence be deferred for five years.

Douglas Erwin, president of The Paleontological Society and curator of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said "theft of fossils from pubic lands has long been a problem."

In a written statement sent to CNN on Friday, he said such thefts "can often result in the loss of important scientific information and the disappearance of specimens that belong to the public.

"At the same time, however, fossil collecting, particularly of common invertebrate fossils, has been a pastime enjoyed by many for decades, and is an important way of connecting people with their natural heritage."

An omnibus public lands bill, which the U.S. Senate passed Thursday, includes penalties for fossil theft from public land.

Response: Attorney says well-known paleontologist will plead guilty to stealing dinosaur bones. Nate Murphy, of the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, has made major fossil finds. Murphy is accused of taking fossils from federal lands in Montana. Smithsonian: "Theft of fossils from pubic lands has long been a problem".


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- The White House has been tight-lipped about how many uninsured Americans have signed up for health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act, which has led to some concerns about whether enough people are enrolling in private health plans to make the economic model work.

Under the law, insurance companies are required to cover anyone. But in order to make that economically feasible, everyone has to buy insurance.

The White House has set a goal of enrolling 7 million people in private insurance plans through the new health insurance exchanges by March 31, 2014, the end of the glitch-plagued open enrollment period that started October 1.

But it has been tight-lipped so far about how many people have actually enrolled in private insurance plans -- those who have both applied and paid the premiums in advance.

Officials announced Thursday that 700,000 people have applied for insurance plans in both the 36 states that are using a federally run health care exchange and the 14 states running their own exchanges.

Obamacare website 'fixable' by end of November

But don't apply that 700,000 application figure to the 7 million enrollment goal. For starters, there's no guarantee that all 700,000 will ultimately enroll in a health insurance plan.

And those 700,000 applications include Medicaid enrollments.

Medicaid programs are the public health insurance programs run by states to provide low-income people with health insurance.

As the law was originally envisioned, more than half of the uninsured people in the United States -- 24 million or so, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation -- who would be getting insurance through Obamacare would have been getting Medicaid. Anyone who makes less than 138% of the poverty level -- about $27,000 for a family of four -- isn't eligible for federal subsidies to buy insurance, so Medicaid is effectively their only option.

So it's not necessarily a bad thing if more than half of the people getting insurance under Obamacare so far are getting Medicaid. But in many of the states operating their own exchanges, new Medicaid enrollees account for more than half of the people who have obtained insurance under Obamacare since October 1.

Related: Finger-pointing over Obamacare

Should it be alarming that so many of these 700,000 new applications are people trying to get Medicaid and not private insurance?

Not yet, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

"There's nothing in what we've seen to suggest anything like that," he said. "Whether you're able to be eligible for Medicaid or not is totally dependent on your income."

But he did admit "Some of the numbers we've seen, preliminary, early numbers, do seem a little out of whack."

But he said there's a reason for that.

"In these small handful of states, they're aggressively targeting people they think might be eligible for Medicaid," Salo said.

Salo pointed to people who the states already know are on food stamps receiving some other kind of state or locally funded health program.

"You know who they are, you know what their income is, you know they're OK accepting government benefits. If you go after these guys, there should be no surprise that these people are being enrolled."

Also, in some states, Medicaid coverage starts immediately, meaning there may be more of an incentive to enroll early because you get coverage sooner than on the private market where no matter when you enroll in the first two and a half months coverage still starts on January 1.

In Arkansas they've insured more than 62,000 people in Medicaid since October 1. But in a novel twist they're doing it by using Medicaid dollars to buy people private insurance on the exchanges.

Related: Obamacare more than a phone call away

And Oregon has been approved to use food stamps and other metrics as a prequalifier for Medicaid enrollment. So the state sent letters to uninsured welfare recipients that detailed simple steps to enroll in Medicaid -- i.e. just sign a form and mail it back or call a hotline. This has resulted in tens of thousands of enrollees. But Oregon also has yet to allow online registration for private health insurance. It's the one state that elected to fix the glitches in its website before going live.

It may very well be that not enough people -- particularly the young and the healthy people who are needed to pay premiums to offset the benefits going out to older and less healthy -- are signing up for health insurance on the exchanges.

But with so little information from the government, it is too early to tell.

What we learned and didn't from Obamacare website hearing

Response: Early sign ups for the Affordable Care Act have lagged because of technical problems. But those first numbers may mask a different set of numbers. Many states are using Medicaid enrollees in their count toward initial Obamacare applications.