(upbeat music) - Coming up next on NewsDepth, we get a look inside the newest branch of the military, Space Force, plus celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with an amazing artist, a slippery situation in California impacts businesses and wildlife, and we hear all about the businesses that you want to start.

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat music) They say don't cry over spilled milk, but spilled oil, that's a different story.

Hello everybody, I'm Margaret Cavalier, filling in for Rick Jackson.

Thanks for joining us.

A massive oil spill along the Southern California Coast is harming wildlife and businesses.

The spill, which began at the start of the month, has been traced to a damaged underwater pipeline near Huntington Beach.

Up to 144 thousand gallons of crude oil flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

Crude oil is a fossil fuel which is refined into gas to power vehicles and energy plants.

Officials say a 4,000 foot section of the pipe was bent and broken.

The pipe lays along the ocean floor about 98 feet underwater and is encased in concrete.

Officials are looking into what damaged the pipe.

Maybe the anchor of a ship?

And are scrutinizing pipe-owner, Amplify Energy.

Still, others are focused on cleaning up the major mess.

Sara Sidner reports from Huntington Beach.

Sara?

- [Sara] We have now learned the company that owns the pipeline responsible for the California oil spill says it did not detect a leak until the day after residents reported smelling strong fumes.

- We were not aware of anything Friday night.

- [Sara] The revelations are raising questions about its ability to detect spills.

Officials also up the maximum potential amount of crude oil that is gushed out into the Pacific Ocean from 126,000 gallons to 144,000.

- The impact to the environment is going to last years, potentially even decades.

- [Sara] Water quality scientists, like Luke Ginger, are sick and tired of excuses for oil spills.

- These spills have occurred for as long as oil extraction has happened and despite advances in technology, despite new regulations, this industry continues to skirt those regulations, ignore regulations, and continues to pollute.

- [Sara] The suffering from the oil spill, crippling birds, their feathers gummed up with a tar-like, toxic crude oil.

It may be weeks before we know the impact on other animals whose habitat has been contaminated.

As for people, they're still using the beaches, but noticing tarballs and ribbons of dark, sticky muck.

They are trying to clean it up as we speak, but there is a lot of work to do, and we still don't know the extent of exactly just how much oil has been spilled, but the damage is done.

Not just to wildlife, but the tourism business out on the water.

- Any kind of oil that you see, it's usually in a big clump.

It's usually a dark spot.

- Captain Peg makes his living chartering boats.

All rides are canceled for now.

How is this affecting business?

- Well it's affecting business 'cause nobody can leave the harbor.

- For how long?

- They say two to three weeks, minimum.

- [Sara] Meantime, Amplify is facing increased scrutiny created four years ago out of the bankruptcy of another small company.

Federal regulators found 125 noncompliance incidents over 11 years by Amplify's subsidiary responsible for the upkeep of the pipeline, government and court records show.

- We have examined more than 8,000 feet of pipe.

- [Sara] Amplify indicated it was sending divers down to find the source of the leak.

That did not sit well with Orange County's district attorney.

- If that is not done independently, that is a travesty.

The company should not be responsible for leading its own investigation.

- Thanks Sarah.

The Orange County district attorney, Todd Spitzer, who you heard at the end of that story, says he, along with the California State Attorney General and the Federal Justice Department, are pursuing a criminal investigation regarding the spill.

They want to know who is to blame and hold them accountable.

While from a big natural disaster, let's zoom on down to microscopic Mother Nature.

"Micro" is a prefix meaning small.

Think micro-organism, microchip, microscope, and have you ever heard of photomicrography?

The Nikon Small World Competition celebrates the beauty of photomicrography, images taken while looking through a microscope.

You might be surprised by the staggering art invisible to our regular eyes.

Jeremy Roth has a report on the winners of this year's contest.

Jeremy.

- [Jeremy] Mind blowing images and video captured through microscopes prove it's not just a small world after all, but an amazing one.

Since 1975, the Nikon Small World Competition has been an annual showcase for a very unique brand of visual artists, one who spends most of their time peering into a world of the unseen.

Photomicrographers of the world over submit stunning works and 2021's field of finalists represents micrography's delicate balance between clever artistry and scientific discipline.

- You really have to have a very good understanding of the microscopes and how they form images to be able to really, to put a lot of this stuff together.

- [Jeremy] First place winner Jason Kirk's image of the underside of a southern live oak leaf covered in white tricombs was a result, not of one microscope shot, but literally hundreds.

- They have a very shallow depth of focus, so what's in focus at any one given time is really, really narrow.

So you have to take a couple hundred images in some cases and then kind of squish them together into one final image.

- [Jeremy] This layering technique is one of many, including color staining and strategic pinpoint lighting used to achieve a desired visual effect.

In some cases, imagers even prompt chemical reactions at a cellular level.

It's this intersection between science and art that makes Nikon's annual competition and the inspired creators at its core so fascinating.

- It brings these kinds of worlds to the forefront to where people can see them and you're able to see something that you pass by every single day and you don't even know is there.

- [Jeremy] I'm Jeremy Roth, reporting.

- Thanks Jeremy.

For this week's question, we want to know what would you like to see under a microscope and why.

Bonus points if you send in a photo or drawing showing us what you think your item would look like up close.

And let's stick with art.

Did you know we are wrapping up Hispanic Heritage Month?

Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to recognize the impact and influence of Hispanic Americans on our history and culture.

President Ronald Reagan signed a law creating the designation in 1988.

The celebration runs from September 15th to October 15th.

The dates coincide with independence days in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Chile.

One Hispanic artist we want to recognize is Felix Semper.

He is a Cuban American who has taken sculpture to the next level.

No rock carving for him.

His pieces are about flexibility and movement.

Our friends at South Florida PBS shared this week's "Sketchbook" with us.

It's all about Felix and his fascinating work.

Take a look.

(ethereal music) - They can't believe that it just does this.

If you touch it, I mean, it's solid, and then all of a sudden it becomes something else that expands and moves and it gives you that idea of flexibility, of movement, and that's what I was trying to achieve when I made this, and not just the top, it goes all the way up to the bottom.

Somehow, I've been able to change the way that we perceive sculpture.

It entertains, it excites.

Hi, my name is Felix Semper and I am an artist.

My first paper sculpture, I glued solid, and I said, "How am I going to prove this paper?"

Took me about a year to kind of come up with a whole system and once that happened, that first sculpture, I took it to New York and I went to Washington Square Park and just kind of messed around with people.

I just wanted to get people's feedback and reaction.

It started going viral.

Most of my stuff is recycled paper and I try to do that as much as I can, so what I do is I take sheets of paper, individual sheets of paper, glue it in stacks, and then I cut 'em to about the size that I think the sculpture is gonna be and then I start carving it.

So all this process is eliminating paper.

It's kind of like the original technique of sculpting, but in a different method.

I'm using paper versus stone or any other medium.

But the fun part about it is that I paint it and give it the original look.

So you really, a lot of times you can't really tell if it's paper or of what we're talking about.

I was invited to a dinner, like a wine dinner, and then I brought this bottle with me and everybody brought their own bottle and stuff.

I walk in like, they say, "Oh wow, you got a nice French bottle right there."

I say, "Yeah, it's Bordeaux, man.

Here let me..." When I pour it like that, they were freaking out.

They went crazy.

Things that are inspiring me are things that are around me.

I made Lay's potato chip bags and then ASAP Rocky bought it and then, all these celebrities started talking, so it's just kind of exploded that way.

So, it involves painting, it involves sculpture and it involves performance art because I take these pieces and I go into the public, I open them and show them what it does, so it becomes a performance art.

(ethereal music) This is my new series.

This is actually, I finished this not long ago, this is a flexible wood sculpture.

So I said, "I'm gonna make a wood that I can twist and turn and it goes in any direction."

And then of course he has a hat that is flexible.

I went to a place where it had like old junk stuff and this old TV was just sitting around there.

When I saw the TV, it was from the 1950s, I said, "I wonder how many people watched it.

What was the most famous show back in day that kids loved?"

I did some research and it was "Howdy Doody."

So I said, "I bet I can put Howdy Doody in there in black and white."

And I want to just kind of bring it... You kind of mix all kinds of mediums together.

So I develop a motor and put it inside and Howdy Doody comes up, remote control, and he expands.

(upbeat music) Well, that's what this art does.

It engages the viewer, not only to look, but to participate.

It just keeps evolving and that's the beauty about this art.

I think it expands your mind because you're looking at an object that is solid and then all of a sudden this object does something else.

I can do anything, I think, with paper.

- Thanks to our friends at South Florida PBS for that awesome story.

Now, some awesome students in Ohio are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month too, our NewsDepth A+ winners.

The Cuyahoga Heights High School Spanish Club is breaking down language barriers, classroom by classroom.

For their work raising cultural awareness, they earned this week's NewsDepth A+.

Like a real-life version of a language app, the club members labeled common items in classrooms with their Spanish-equivalent words and it worked.

Club members say students learned the Spanish words for books, desk, and other classroom objects.

11th grader Kayla told us, "I know a few middle schoolers actually enjoy it because they find learning a second language scary.

So when you have the words everybody knows, then it makes it a little easier for them."

The Spanish Club has grown from 7 members to 40 in just one year.

Spanish teacher Christine Bennett said she thinks this is because of the positive example the high schoolers have set for the younger students.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, club members are also selling bracelets, or "pulsera" in Spanish, to help raise money to fund educational programs in Nicaragua and Guatemala, which do not provide free public education.

The Pulsera Project also helps provide trade skills for the workers in Central America who make the bracelets.

"Spanish Club has helped me learn what I can do to help these people who are less fortunate," said Amy, a sophomore in the club.

Anna, also a sophomore says, "When we learn about their heritage and they come to the United States, we can also have a better understanding to welcome them and accept them into our community."

Felicidades to the Cuyahoga Heights High School Spanish Club for spreading cultural awareness to their peers.

We're proud to award you this week's NewsDepth A+.

Okay, time to blast off.

We told you at the beginning of the season about the billionaires who flew to space over the summer.

Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, took the oldest and youngest person to space with him.

Well, Russia just made another first for space exploration.

The first movie made in space.

Last week, the country launched a film producer and actress into space.

They headed for the International Space Station, perhaps the most exciting set for a movie ever.

Before we fly to the stars with the stars, let's learn a little bit about their country, Russia.

Privet, welcome to the largest country in the world.

Russia covers about 1/10 of all the world's land.

Being so vast, it encompasses a wide range of ecosystems and comes with plenty of natural resources, including crude oil, coal, and natural gas.

The country has long, cold winters.

It's capital is Moscow, where the Republic is led by the people's elected president, currently Vladimir Putin.

All right, though, onto the space launch.

Julia Chatterley has the details.

- [Julia] It's the final frontier of filmmaking and a first for one lucky star who will feature in the first movie made in the stars.

It seems like a role custom made for actor, Tom Cruise, known for his gravity-defying stunts, like hanging off the side of a plane or scaling the world's tallest building.

Last year, NASA said it was planning to make a movie with Cruise on the International Space Station, but the winner of this space race is Moscow over Hollywood.

Russian actress Yulia Peresild lifts off Tuesday in a Soyuz spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station in what could be one of the most unusual commutes ever to a movie set.

(speaking Russian) - I'm not afraid of anything.

I just really want us to make a good movie and I really want our health, which as it turns out to be generally good, to not let us down.

- [Julia] The lead actress will be accompanied interspace by her director.

Both had to learn not only their screen parts, but work with professional cosmonauts for months, undergoing weightlessness training with a backup crew, as well as centrifuge tests and parachute drills.

(speaking Russian) - During this time, they really tortured us.

They didn't beat us up though, but made us memorize a lot of unknown abbreviations and squeezed us completely.

- [Julia] The two will spend 12 days filming on the space station.

Cosmonauts on the ISS will also appear in the movie, which is currently titled "The Challenge."

And that is what the actress says she expects experience to be, as she and her colleague will have to play multiple roles.

(speaking Russian) - Since he will have to be a camera operator, director, and a lighting engineer, I will have to be a makeup artist, costume designer, and an actress.

- Fans will have to judge if the film becomes an international blockbuster, but it's out-of-this-world location already makes it a groundbreaking movie.

- Thanks, Julia.

Now, this isn't the first time the United States and Russia have competed to be the first at something in space.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the two countries faced off in the Space Race.

Of course, back then, Russia was a member of the multi-country Soviet Union.

The Space Race was an unofficial competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to land a man on the moon.

The race began when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into space.

It was the first artificial satellite, but the US made it to the finish line first with Neil Armstrong stepping out on the moon in July of 1969.

The last time an American stepped foot on the moon was 1972, but NASA decided they want to go back.

Now they're trying to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon by 2024.

The mission is named Artemis and NASA is also eyeing sending humans to Mars too.

For this week's poll, we want to know which mission do you think NASA should focus on.

Head to our online poll to choose from returning to the moon or heading to Mars.

And why don't we take a look at the poll results from last week.

We asked if you participated in team sports.

Well, 74% of you said, yes, you do.

Y'all are an active bunch, but let's not get too far off track.

Get it?

"Track," like the sport.

Sorry, bad joke.

(laughs) But I've got one more space story for ya.

It's a long-waited update if you've been watching NewsDepth for awhile, you might, just might remember that we covered the news about former president, Donald Trump creating a new branch of the military.

Does "Space Force" sound familiar?

Okay, well that was back in season 49, so it's been awhile, but hey, it takes some time to start up a whole new military, but now we've got a chance to go inside the Space Force and see what it's all about.

Jim Sciutto has the details.

- [Jim] Inside mission control at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, Space Force Guardians, as they're known, fly the nation's missile warning satellites.

Using infrared sensors, these satellites, orbiting 22,000 miles above Earth, scour the planet 24/7 for missile launches and nuclear detonations.

- We never stop, always vigilant, and we've never failed because that's how important this mission is to our nation.

We provide decision quality data to tactical war fighters on the ground to save their lives.

- This satellite dish is in touch with missile warning satellites deployed in what's known as geosynchronous orbit.

If those warning satellites detect a launch anywhere on the surface of the planet, it beams that information back down to this ground station instantaneously at the speed of light, and then Space Force sends that information, that warning, around the world to US forces deployed abroad or here on the US Homeland.

Missile warning satellites are just a fraction of the hundreds of us government and commercial satellites monitored and defended by the Guardians of the Space Force today.

Defended because US adversaries led by Russia and China have deployed weapons to disable or destroy them.

- Space is a war-fighting domain.

It's the reason that we stood up the United States Space Force as a separate service.

So each and every day we're training our operators to deter conflict, but if deterrence fails, to compete and win in space.

- [Jim] The US has far more satellites than any other nation, some 2,500 compared to 431 for China and 168 for Russia.

And a whole range of US Military technologies depend on them.

Satellites help warships and aircraft navigate and communicate.

- We've got some squirters running up the ridge line.

- [Jim] Help war fighters monitor threats on land, sea, and in the air.

- There's nothing we do as a joint force, whether it's humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, or combat that isn't enabled by space.

- [Jim] More than many Americans realize civilian technologies are equally dependent on space.

The nation's constellation of GPS satellites, flown by Second Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, is the backbone of multiple critical infrastructures.

- The financial sectors rely on positioning and timing information for precise banking operations and transactions.

Our transportation sector for positioning and timing, air, land, sea, and rail all rely on the global positioning system to be able to execute our critical infrastructure.

- [Jim] The danger for the US is that greater dependence on space equals greater vulnerability to attacks in space.

China is launching kidnapper satellites with grappling arms capable of plucking satellites out of orbit.

Russia is deploying kamikaze satellites, capable of ramming and destroying US space assets and Russia now has a new space weapon that Space Force dubs "The Nesting Doll."

- Back in 2017, Russia launched a satellite and it opened up and another satellite came out and then it opened up and a projectile came out.

That projectile is designed to kill US satellites.

So in 2019, they did the same thing, but this time they put it up next to one of our satellites and then we started talking about it.

- You warned them away.

- We described what is safe and professional behavior and it's important.

Today, there's no rules in space.

It's the Wild Wild West.

- As for the US weaponizing, Space Force wants to avoid a space arms race.

Weapons are a last resort from the US perspective?

- We would prefer the domain to remain free of conflict, but like in any other domain, like air, land, sea, and now space, we'll be ready to protect and defend.

- [Jim] Adversaries have already attempted to use space weapons to temporarily disable US satellites.

Space war is not science fiction, but a battle already underway.

- Wow, thanks, Jim.

You really do learn something new every episode, don't ya?

And it might be awhile before any of you head off to explore space, but last week we asked you to imagine yourselves as business owners.

Let's see what shops you'd set up by opening up our inbox.

Sydney from Wilson Elementary in Cincinnati wrote, "If I could start a business, I would start a business about rescuing dogs and finding them new homes.

I've always been a dog person and both of my dogs, Stella and Luna, are rescue dogs.

I would rescue abused or wild dogs, fix them up and find them a more loving home.

Since dogs are loving, caring creatures, I'm sure this would be a success."

Here's one from Nevan at Bellevue Elementary in Bellevue.

"I would like to start a free babysitter business, so people that don't have money that have kids can look for a job without worrying about their kids or just for people to have somewhere to drop off for the hours that they have to work."

Konnor from William Bruce Elementary in Eaton wrote, "I would like to start a game-creating business.

The game-creating business I would like to start is going to be where we make all sorts of new games.

I've always wanted to create my own games, so this is why I want to have a game-creating business."

Leybi, from Springdale Elementary in Cincinnati, sent in this letter.

"I want to make houses because you get money if you work hard and because if you work hard, you are going to be anything in life.

I want to be like my dad.

He is a worker.

He makes houses.

He is the best dad.

When I grow up, I'm going to be like him."

And finally, all the way from their homeschool in Tigard, Oregon, we've got a double letter from Abe and Wes.

Abe wrote, "The business I would like to make is a Dungeons and Dragons store because D&D is my favorite role-playing game.

My store would have all the books and figures and all the stuff you need to start playing."

Wes wrote, "The business I would like to start is a video game shop because video games are fun to play.

I would sell consoles and games."

Hey, maybe you two could go in business with Konnor.

Excellent entrepreneurship ideas, everyone.

Well, I know a cat who already found her career calling, our very own cuteness correspondent.

Let's see what she's pawed up for us in this week's "Petting Zoo."

(tribal music) (cat meows) Seriously, News Cat?

I was just bragging about how great you are and you're just lounging around?

You better have a story ready for us.

Aw, so she does, sorry for jumping to conclusions.

Whoa, is that an orange lobster?

Very cool.

To find out how this curious crustacean was saved from being supper, click the "Petting Zoo" button on our website.

Thank you, News Cat.

You know, I got to give her credit, she always does have a story for us, and she did show up for her photo shoot the other day.

We're in the process of designing this year's News Cat poster.

Teachers, to get a poster for your class, make sure you're signed up for our newsletter.

You can find the sign-up right on the home page.

And that's gonna do it for us, but as always, we want to hear from you and there's plenty of ways to stay in touch with us.

You can write to us.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio.

Zip code here is 44115.

You can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org or you can tweet us.

Our handle is at @NewsDepthOhio.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Margaret Cavalier.

We'll see you right back here next week.

(upbeat music) - [Child] NewsDepth is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

(ethereal music)