All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

There's not usually a lot of activity at Palm Beach's exclusive marina around 5:30 in the morning. But when we showed up there a few weeks ago, a small fleet of boats was preparing to venture into open waters for the 50-mile journey to the Bahamas. For these well-off boat enthusiasts it was the beginning of a weekend mixing fun in the sun with a good cause. We were there to cover an important environmental story for the Evening News.

We were heading over to Turtle Cay, a small Bahamian key where a small fish with a big appetite had taken over the reefs. It's called a lionfish and – having arrived in the U.S. as a pet – it is poisonous and so has no natural enemies here, which both government researchers and local fishermen describe as a grave danger to the fragile ecosystems of this part of the Atlantic coast.

The group we were with – headed by an unstoppable Palm Beach organizer, Bobbie Lindsay -- was going to try and help the local fishing fleet catch some lionfish and serve them for dinner. The idea behind the event – which organizers called a "lionfish rodeo"--is that the only predator that could possibly take on the lionfish, that are protected by an array of spines that can deliver a very painful sting, is us.

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A friend of mine heard Scott Harrison speak at an event in Los Angeles. She called me immediately afterwards to say that she’d met Scott and that he was well spoken and had an amazing story to tell.

As I looked into Scott’s story and his non-profit Charity:Water. I thought that it was a great story for CBS News and that it’d be fantastic to get to work along with producer Karen Raffensperger to tell.

Having lived in India while working for CNN and having spent quite a bit of time overseas in developing countries; the issue of fresh drinking water was one that resonated with me. Karen got excited about the story too as there are a number of innovative ways that Scott is using technology to track the water projects he builds and finds interesting ways to engage donors.

He raises money to cover the administrative costs of "Charity:Water" separately so that all of the funds can go directly to the water projects. Scott loves the grassroots effort seems to take particular pride in connecting with lots of donors who can give a modest amount (instead of engaging the multi-million dollar donors - though he made it clear he’d hardly turn those big-ticket donors away). Starting this fall, he plans to unveil a system that will let folks track even the smallest of donations.

He feels that one should give out of the excitement of trying to make a difference rather than the "guilt" that can go along with donating to a charity. Though after Karen and I spent some time with Scott we turned to each other and thought (aloud) "Well, what are WE doing with our lives"?

I hope you check out our story on the Evening News as it’s the tale of one guy who was on a very different life path until he saw a problem that he decided he wouldn’t ignore.

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There's a saying in the Marine Corps: pain is weakness leaving the body.

Perhaps it takes a strong man or woman to endure physical pain in silence. But a new study says there may be a better way: swearing.

Researchers at Keele University in England asked more than sixty people to submerge their hands in icy water and repeat a favorite curse word. They then stuck the other hand in the water and repeated something more family friendly. When they cussed a blue streak every one of them could endure the cold for longer.

It may have something to do with the fight or flight mechanism in our brains - a rush triggered by the use of those swear words.

So the next time you stub your toe, or burn your finger on a hot pan, provided there are no kids around, maybe it's okay to use those four-letter words.

If you get horrified looks from your friends, tell them a little weakness just left your body.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

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They're everywhere on a hot summer's day: those plastic bottles of water we all seem to carry. Americans drank $16 billion dollars worth last year, but how much do you really know about your favorite brand?

Two reports out today recommend better labeling. The utility that pumps water to your house has to publish an annual quality report. Bottlers don't. In fact, out of 188 brands analyzed, only two disclose where their water comes from, how it's purified and what chemicals it may contain.

Bottlers test their water regularly and insist it's pure and no one disputes that. But what comes from the kitchen faucet practically for free is often just as good or better than what you paid two bucks for.

By not giving customers the facts, there's no way to tell and some bottlers like it that way. 40 percent of bottled water comes from the tap. If you knew YOURS did, would you still buy it?

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

Daniel Sieberg is CBS News' science and technology correspondent. He blogs regularly over at Tech Talk.

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Google Earth is getting a facelift. If you're a regular user, then you've noticed that about 70 percent of the Earth's surface has been, well, missing from the exploratory features of Google Earth. But with the latest update, Google Earth 5.0, people will now be able to dive into the deep blue from their desktop.

Google partnered with countless scientists and organizations worldwide from NOAA to the Navy to create a realistic map of the ocean floor using bathymetry (underwater topography), and there are many "hot spots" to click on to get more information like video, photos, and research data. While it's not like you can quite swim with the fishes ...

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Take a walk down the street or through the park and you'll see them – people of all ages toting bottles of water. Last year, Americans drank nine billion gallons out of those little plastic bottles. Sure, it's healthier than soda, but all that plastic is just as bad for the environment, creating an estimated 1.5 million tons of waste each year.

So, more and more places are banning bottled water. Washington University in St. Louis will end almost all sales by the end of this semester. San Francisco declared it a no-no in city offices last year. Other local governments may do the same.

Some brands, including Coca-Cola's Dasani and Pepsi's Aquafina, come from the tap – and supporters of these measures argue you're better off just filling a reusable container at the water fountain for free.

A cheap, calorie-free alternative that doesn't hurt the environment. Now, I'll drink to that.

This was not the sort of news that the people at Evian and Poland Spring wanted to hear.

Two scientists this week reported that most of our ideas about how much water we should drink ... don't really hold water.

For more on the idea that eight glasses of water a day aren't necessary, just click on my Notebook.

With the advent of World Water Day, millions of children around the world need access to clean drinking water.

It's one investment that will never go down the drain.

For more from my Notebook, just click the monitor.

For today's First Look at the Evening News, Washington Senior Producer Jim McGlinchy and Pentagon producer (and frequent Couric & Co. contributor!) Mary Walsh discuss the investigation into the scandal at Walter Reed. Just click the monitor to watch.