This mouse is blind. Slowed down by water for proper observation, the mouse can't find its way towards light.

It suffers from Retinitus Pigmentosa, a genetic disease that affects the eye's ability to communicate with the brain. The disease affects an estimated two million people in the United States alone.              

Alan Horsager, a professor of neuroscience at USC, is using an experimental gene therapy that delivers light-activated proteins to the cells of the mouses' retinas. He's hoping the proteins will create new photoreceptor cells which will allow the mouse to see.

He doesn't have to wait long before the mouse begins to respond exactly as intended.

[Alan Horsager,  Neuroscience Professor, University of Southern California]:  

"What we find is that these mice that are originally blind, these are models that represent retinitis pigmentosa in people, actually have restored visual function."

The success of the experiments has spurred Horsager to form EOS Neuroscience - a company that aims to commercialize treatment for people who suffer from retinal disease. The treatment is based on optogenetics - an emerging field of research that uses light to control genetically engineered cells. 

Ed Boyden, an assistant professor at MIT, is one of the pioneers of optogenetics. His specialty is the study and potential control of neurons, the cells that comprise the brain.

[Ed Boyden, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts Institue of Technology]:           

"What we like to be able to do and what we have started to be able to do is to use light to turn on and off each of these regions and then pathways and cell types within those pathways in order to figure out how they work together. So we turn something off we can figure out what it was needed for, we have deleted it and we can assess its necessity. And by stimulating something we can figure out what its power could be, what it could do causally to its neighbors."

In his lab he uses rats to show that by engineering neurons to become sensitive to light, he can target and control different parts of their brains. 

Ultimately, he says, his research will be applicable to humans. 

The human brain is made up of billions of neurons, all inter-connected to form a complex network that scientists are just now starting to understand.  

[Ed Boyden, Assistant Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]: 

"If we think about the complexity of the brain, only a very small portion has been studied in very great detail. What we would like to do is really reveal the principles of how to control these circuits to fix their problems when they go awry." 

Boyden says optogenetics could eventually lead to treatments or even cures, for neurological disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

While the research is still in its infancy, Alan Horsager believes that optogenetics has the potential to restore vision in people, as it has in his lab mice, in the near future. He hopes to start clinical trial on humans in a couple of years.

Both he and Ed Boyden believe that curing some forms of blindness will be the first of many benefits to come from this emerging field.

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber is headlining a new venue - Madame Tussauds in New York.  

Fans flocked to Times Square to see the pop icon immortalized in wax.  

Demi Herasme was first in line, showing very clear symptoms of Bieber fever.   

[Demi Herasme, Justin Bieber Fan]:              

"So excited but like my cheeks hurt from smiling so much." 

The fever was contagious, causing one fan to steal a couple smooches.  

[Dally Matos, Justin Bieber Fan]:                

"Best kiss I've ever had."   

Over 250 measurements were taken of the pint-sized pop star during a three-hour sitting in order to perfect the replica. 

But one glaring difference is the wax figure's hair. Bieber recently cut-off his trade-mark do for a more "mature" look.  

[Bret Pidgeon, General Manager, Madame Tussauds New York]:               

"We've captured a moment in time with him. If the new hairstyle becomes just as iconic we can always change it in the future."   

The wax figure in New York is one of three. The others are displayed in Amsterdam and London.  

Justin Bieber's figure will be placed in the VIP room next to his mentor Usher.   

Two men, one store and all the stars - welcome to "Got To Have It," a small store in busy uptown Manhattan. 

Have you ever wanted to drive Bruce Springsteen's car, wear Michel Jackson's famous white glove, or own Elvis Presley's tuxedo?

[Peter Siegel, Owner]:

"It’s an iconic pop and rock’n roll auction, and we have some great iconic pieces, We’re very excited to have it. Some of the great items we have…. Right behind me we have a picture of Bruce Springsteen in his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible which was his first car, we are very excited to have it, We actually have the registration, old the registration, etc., all the paper work that goes with the car, and we’re just ecstatic to have that. The reserved price of that is 390 thousand dollars, and we're hoping it to sale for more than that.

 We have one of…it’s a very rare item, it’s an actual stage used guitar from Bruce Springsteen. We have a great video of him playing it on stage. We’ve got of course still pictures and he actually signed it, which is a pretty tough signature, and we are very happy to have that. And mimin bid on that is  60 thousand."

[Peter Siegel, Owner]:

"This is the first Michael Jackson glove we’ve had. It’s one of the white gloves he wore in concerts, stage worn. Again. Michael jackson’s items are very very much in demand, we have a big following both here domestically and internationally. We hope that the  glove goes into a nice collection that someone will enjoy forever."

[Peter Siegel, Owner]:

"The Elvis Presley we have some great items, this is over here is Elvis Presley’s first tuxedo that he wore, there are many pictures of him wearing it and inside the label it says made especially for Elvis Presley which is really cool. We have his Karate gi which was his training gi that he wore when he trained with Ed Parker, who was a very well know martial arts teacher. And this is actually the gi that he wore and at the back it’s got the big EP in big letters which is very cool. We’ve got his army hat that he wore in Germany. We’ve got some great Elvis items, we've got a  his very well known clothing and jewelry most of his photo ID'ed depicting different times that he wore it, so again a very exciting collection."

If you're not a Rock and Roll fan, this store also holds many other wonders, from the royal family to one of NBA’s best.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Looking for something no one has? How about the red dress Princess Diana wore, or Michel Jordon’s credit card? 

Thanks to "Got To Have It," you could take home a piece of the stars.

Laura Cooksey, NTD News, New York

As revolutionaries in Libya battle forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi's regime, two former Libyan ambassadors told a news conference in Washington Friday that they now back the rebels.

The two men had been meeting with U.S. government officials.

Former Libya Ambassador to the United States, Ali S. Aujali, said that their number one priority is garnering support for a no-fly zone over Libya.

[Ali S. Aujali, Former Libya Ambassador to the US]:
"Our main priority now is the no-fly zone because our people, they're being killed every day. The regime of Gaddafi, they are using everything in their hands, sky, air and ground, and also sea. They are bombing from every side, and using every kind of weapon they have in their hands."

He said that the revolutionaries are risking everything for their cause, and that they would accept all forms of assistance short of international troops on the ground in Libya.

[Ali S. Aujali, Former Libya Ambassador to the US]:
"The Libyans – they have no choice – either victory or they die. There is no choice. If they don't die in the war, then Gaddafi, he will slaughter them. Then anything they can help with, we are ready to accept, as far as no physical presence on our soils."

Former Libya Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdel Rahman Shalgam, described his vision for a post-Gaddafi Libya.

[Abdel Rahman Shalgam, Former Libya Ambassador to the UN]:
"He will be the last tyrant of the world, and Libya will be an excellent country because we suffered a lot of dictatorship. Our remedy will be democracy. We will have a new religion: Islam of freedom; society of freedom; women of freedom; youth of freedom; Libya of freedom."

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday the United States and its allies are slowly "tightening the noose" on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and that a no-fly zone remains an option to put pressure on him.

The new iPad 2 features a dual-core A5 chip that enables clearer graphics, the same 10 hours of battery life, front and back cameras, and "face time”.

Many Apple fans like the white appearance better.

[Alex, First Buyer]:
"Sure white, because everybody is waiting for a white one."

And they also have ten other colored covers to choose from.

Alina Wang, NTD News, New York

This morning shortly after 7:30 a.m, the first tsunami waves resulting from Japan's devastating earthquake arrived at Crescent City harbor. Thirty-five boats were damaged and most of the docks were ruined.

According to the spokeswoman for the National Weather Service, the biggest waves to hit mainland US were in Crescent City and reached 3.7 feet. Weather forecasters warn that the highest waves are not necessarily first to come, and that waves could get as high as 7 feet.

Crescent city was hit by devastating tsunami waves in 1964, back then 11 people died. No casualties were reported this time around.

During the morning, officials had activated tsunami warning sirens urging the residents of Del Norte and Humboldt county coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground.

Santa Cruse, Monterey Harbor and Sun Francisco were also hit by tsunami waves at about 2.4 feet higher then the usual. Waves have also reach shores in Oregon.

Although most of California's beaches were closed, surfers along the southwest cost ignored the warnings and took advantage of the higher waves.

Hundreds of Tibetans marched to the U.N. building in New York City on Thursday to mark the 52 anniversary of the Chinese regime's invasion of Tibet.

[Tenzin Dolkar, USA Director,Students for a Free Tibet]:

“It’s reminding us of why we are in exile, what struggle we have to continue”. 

But this March 10th will be remembered for another reason – the Dalai’s Lama historic announcement that he will give up his political duties.

[Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet]:

“The Dalai Lama has set up the Tibetan democratic system in exile, as soon as he arrived in India, and since then for the last 50+ years he has been encouraging the Tibetan people to take more responsibility, to adopt more democratic practices”.

By separating religion and politics, the Dalai Lama has done what no Tibetan leader before him ever has.

[Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet]:

“As soon as His Holiness started speaking, he said that he really admires the courage of the new generation of Tibetans in Tibet.”

[Tenzin Dolkar, USA Director,Students for a Free Tibet]:

“There is that entirely new generation of Tibetans, in Tibet and in exile, who are more then determent now to regain this freedom and to secure the future for the Tibetan people.”

Those to speak at the rally were not only Tibetans but also human rights activists. They were there to show their solidarity with the Tibetan people.

[Tang Baiqiao, Human Rights Activist]:

“The murderer is the CCP. They murder and killed the Tibetans, they killed Chinese, they killed Shin-Jiang people, they killed Mongolian people, they killed every region’s people. We are all human, we are all one.” 

[Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet]:

“We are not alone in this, this is not only that the Tibetans are rising,  the vigor people are rising, and now the Chinese people, they are rising up.”

From the United Nations the demonstrators moved on to the Chinese Consulate but it seems that the demonstration is not only directed outward but also inward towards the Tibetan community. 

[Tenzin Dolkar, USA Director, Students for a Free Tibet]:

“It’s effects the Tibetans inside Tibet who are now reminded, who now know that there are people outside, Tibetans outside Tibet, to support them in their struggle”.

This demonstration may commemorate a tragedy, but morale is high. People here believe that change is coming.

“A free Tibet is inevitable”

“One day Tibet will be free! I’m sure!”

“I came all the way from my college in Massachusetts so I can attend.”

“The wave is going to come to Tibet and china and we are ready. I think that Tibetans, we are ready."

While no one knows what the future holds, Tibetans are looking forward to a brighter tomorrow .

NTD news, New York

Babies may know more about the complex world we live in than previously thought. 

Researchers at Harvard University say ideas like social dominance, long thought to be "learned knowledge" may already be encoded in our DNA.

[Susan Carey, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University]:

"Knowledge of dominance and the relation between dominance and size may be part of our evolutionary endowment."

Susan Carey, a professor of psychology, and her colleagues tested children between 8 and 16 months old by showing them videos depicting a large block and a small block pitched in a battle to cross a table.

They measured the infants' understanding by recording the length of time each child spent watching different scenarios in the video.

The researchers say the fact that babies watched longer when the small block defeated the bigger block suggests that they were surprised by the outcome and to be surprised meant they understood that the big block should have won the battle simply because it was bigger.

[Susan Carey, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University]: 

"If you think that that is learned by eight months or nine months you have to say 'Well, on the basis of what experience could you have learned it?' The alternative is that it is just so important that evolution already built in some of the relevant software."

Professor Carey says the study could have far reaching implications for developmental learning procedures. If children understand complex ideas like social dominance then parents and educators can use that knowledge to better teach babies about the complexities of social interaction.

[Susan Carey, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University]:

"Knowing that even very young children already see the social world this way means that we could talk to them or intervene about these issues and they would understand what we were talking about."

Carey wants to know what else children understand during the first years of their lives although she stresses that while they may be born with more inherent knowledge than previously thought, in the end, they're still just kids.

Chromosome separation in a pigs kidney cell during cell division, observed as never before thanks to new microscope technology.

The man behind the microscope is Dr. Eric Betzig of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

[Dr. Eric Betzig, Howard Hughes Medical Institute]: 

"With this microscope we're able to see the three-dimensional totality and furthermore, watch the dynamics of what that cell is doing in real time."

It's called a "Bessel beam plane illumination microscope." 

It projects ultra-thin sheets of light onto a living cell from different angles while taking multiple pictures of individual slices of the cell. 

Each slice is then stacked by a computer program to produce three dimensional images that can be studied from any angle while the cellular process is still under way.

[Dr. Eric Betzig, Howard Hughes Medical Institute]: 

"If all you have is a series of still pictures of something like say, an electron microscope takes or other microscopes, it's informative but it's again like seeing just the quarterback throwing the ball in a still shot and the cheerleaders creating a pyramid on the sideline and you're wondering how these things are connected, but if you can watch the whole game and watch it happening in real time then you can really understand the rules of the game, and biology is all about understanding the rules by which we go from molecules to actual living things called cells."

Cells which develop long waving filaments called Filopodia, used for locomotion, or the membrane which envelops the nucleus, all now observable live and in 3D.

Researcher Liang Gao calls his boss a genius. He says he feels privileged to have been involved in the project.

[Liang Gao, Howard Hughes Medical Institute]:  

"It's great to work with a genius and working on great things, yeah. It's a fantastic project."

Today is the anniversary of the death of The Notorious B.I.G, aka Biggie Smalls or his real name, Christopher Wallace. The rapper was shot and killed 14 years ago. Biggie Smalls has by no means been forgotten by his fans. At around midnight  P. Diddy  tweeted on his @iamdiddy Twitter account,  "Today is #BIGGIEDAY – send me all your videos, links, photos, exclusive content ... ALL things BIGGIE so I can RT to the world!!.”  Fan’s of Biggie Smalls left Tweets quoting the lyrics, songs or just leaving a note “RIP Big poppa.” #biggieday has been the top topic trending today on Twitter.

Biggie Smalls was killed in his car after driving away from a music industry party at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The case remains unsolved, but family members suspected LAPD involvement and filed a wrongful death claim against the LAPD in 2005.

Biggie’s second album entitled “Life After Death,” was released shortly after he died. Two singles from the album reached number 1 in the charts making Biggie the first performing artist to achieve two number ones after his death. In 1997 Puff Daddy (now known as P.Diddy) released “I’ll be Missing You,” a tribute song to Biggie Smalls. The song was based on “Every Breath You Take” by the Police, with altered lyrics.

Michael Woodmansee was supposed to serve a 40-year prison sentence for the gruesome murder of 5-year-old Jason Foreman. But now he may be released from prison 12 years early…for good behavior.

Outraged and forced once again to confront the painful memories of his son’s murder, John Foreman told WPRO-AM radio that he will kill Michael Woodmansee if he is released, “I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity, or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man.”

Michael Woodmansee’s murder of Jason Foreman is one of Rhode Island’s most gruesome murders. South Kingstown Police Chief Vincent Vespia was involved with the case in 1982. He said to the Providence Journal last week, “This is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen and I’ve been around the block a few times…he deserves to be incarcerated for life as a guarantee that our citizens do not experience this kind of animalistic behavior again.”

The murder, which occurred in 1975, remained unsolved for seven years, until Michael Woodmansee was arrested for attempting to strangle a local paperboy in 1982. In police custody, he confessed to the murder of Jason Foreman. When police searched his house, they discovered Jason’s shellacked bones in a box on Woodmansee’s bedroom dresser and a journal detailing the murder. The journal’s contents were so horrifying, so chilling, that Micahel Woodmansee was allowed plea bargain for a charge of second-degree murder and 40 years in jail, allegedly so that the case could be sealed, and the details of the journal never made known to the Foreman family. Vespia said the contents of the journal are “absolutely terrible.”

Jason’s mother, Joice died in 2000 at the age of 50. John Foreman went on to say in his radio interview that he will kill Michael Woodmansee “as aggressively and painfully,” as he killed his son.

A 20-year-old female student who became the police chief in one of Mexico's most dangerous drug war towns was fired by the mayor on Monday.

The reason…not showing up for work after Mexican media reported she had received death threats.

Marisol Valles, a criminology student in Mexico's violent city of Ciudad Juarez, took charge of the police force in the neighboring municipality of Praxedis near El Paso, Texas, in October.

Valles, the mother of an infant son, was due back at her post this week after taking leave to attend to personal matters.

But Ciudad Juarez media reported she had fled Mexico after being threatened by drug gangs.

Town hall officials in Praxedis last week denied she had sought asylum in the United States and said they had received no reports of death threats.

In a statement, the Praxedis mayor's office said she had failed to return on Monday without giving any notice - grounds for her firing.

Praxedis officials declined to comment on the possible motives for her absence, her whereabouts or her safety.

Valles, a petite woman with black glasses, amazed many Mexicans with her bravery for taking up the post just days after drug hitmen killed the mayor in a nearby town, in a region where many police officers have quit or been killed.

The “Heart Attack Grill” restaurant’s giant spokesman, 575 pound 6-foot-8 tall Blair River, died today, at the age of 29.

His death is somewhat ironic considering the Arizonian restaurant's name.

In the Heart Attack Grill’s video commercial, River carelessly throws away a pair of giant pants, already too small for his size. “Who needs this old pants? I get to eat for free!” he says while above his head the add asks customers: “Over 350 pounds? Eat for free!”

The menu includes fries cooked in lard, fattening milkshakes and a huge quadruple burger of 8000 calories. 

Other controversial slogans include: “Go away, if you come in this place, it's going to kill you” and “caution! This establishment is bad for your health”. 

The restaurant manager and founder Jon Basso explains that he is just being honest and at the same time addresses people who are sick of hearing “you can’t” and “you shouldn’t” and “it will kill you”. So he dresses like a doctor and dresses his especially good-looking waitresses like nurses – joking all the way on the health trend. 

Basso said River was much more then the caricature figure from the commercial and called him a “creative genius”. He mourned him today in an interview with Fox News saying “the measure of a man is how he leaves the world after he's been here, and I can tell you Blair River was my friend”.

River was Arizona state heavyweight wrestling champion in 1999. His friends said he died from pneumonia he contracted after a hard struggle with flu. River leaves a young daughter.