Today's CNN 10 Transcript

---

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What's up, sunshine? Welcome to the show. I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. Happy Friday.

If your week was anything like mine, you were feeling the heat, feeling some pressure, and you put in the time to get through. But heat, pressure, and time, the same things that test our fortitude, also make diamonds. So, let's rise up, shine bright, and get your 10 minutes of news.

Now, we begin with potentially groundbreaking news in the fight against cancer involving a vaccine. An experimental mRNA vaccine has shown promising results in late-stage clinical trials aimed at preventing the return of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Results of the ongoing study have shown that when combined with an immunotherapy drug, the vaccine prevented the cancer from returning or spreading among high-risk patients. It uses the same basic mRNA technology that became widely known through COVID-19 vaccines.

mRNA, or messenger RNA, carries genetic instructions that tell our cells how to make proteins. Now, vaccines, particularly mRNA vaccines, are a source of skepticism for some people, and it's important to point out this treatment is still experimental. The complete trial data have not yet been released, and regulators still have to evaluate it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN REINER, CARDIOLOGIST: They take the mRNA that codes for those mutations in the patient's actual tumor, and they give that back to the patient, and the patient makes antibodies to their own tumors. This is a customized, personalized vaccine to treat your own tumor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So, promising? Absolutely. Proven cure? No. But potentially an entirely new chapter in how doctors fight cancer. More than 1.5 million Americans were living with melanoma in 2023, according to the National Cancer Institute. Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck, who are co-developing the treatment, say they plan to file for approval from regulators within months.

This weekend, Washington, D.C. becomes Washing-ton of horsepower. The nation's capital is set to transform into a bona fide racetrack, hosting its first ever IndyCar race, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. The 125-lap race carries a roughly $35 million price tag, all paid for by IndyCar, making it among the most expensive races on their calendar.

Extensive construction was needed to allow open-wheel IndyCars to race safely at speeds of up to 180 miles per hour, including walls to protect both racers and spectators in viewing areas along the track. The roughly one-and-a-half-mile circuit is centered around the National Mall, and flanked by some of the capital's biggest landmarks.

It even features a Pennsylvania Avenue pit lane just blocks from the Capitol Building. The one-of-a-kind race rounds out a summer of celebrations that included a mixed martial arts fight on the White House lawn, a fair on the National Mall, and what was billed as the biggest fireworks display in history.

Pop quiz, hot shot.

Which of these is an actual feature of the rhesus macaque, the monkey commonly found around Delhi, India?

A second stomach, cheek pouches, retractable claws, or a prehensive tail?

Answer is cheek pouches. It's like their own snack pack. Rhesus macaques can stuff food into expandable pouches inside their cheeks and save it for later. The pouches can expand roughly the size of their stomach, basically a lunchbox built into their face.

In the streets of Delhi, India, organizers of the Badminton World Championships have hired people with one of the strangest job descriptions we've ever heard of. Professional monkey whisperer, our Ivan Watson, has more on how they're trying to keep monkeys away from one of badminton's biggest stages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How do you keep the monkeys that roam New Delhi's streets out of an international sports event? One solution might involve a monkey whisperer.

Here's a monkey whisperer shared by Radio India at Delhi's Indira Gandhi Stadium, where Badminton's World Championships are currently being held. He's imitating the call of a langur monkey to scare away smaller rhesus macaque monkeys.

For years, authorities here have been trying to come up with ways to keep Delhi's monkeys from infiltrating major events without hurting the animals.

They put up life-sized cutouts of langurs when Delhi hosted the G20 summit in 2023. And during the Commonwealth Games in 2010, officials actually employed live langurs to scare away monkeys. But that's illegal now.

A monkey was spotted at Indira Gandhi Stadium at a different badminton event earlier this year. When asked what to do if it happens again this week, the head of India's main badminton association joked, maybe he'll just give the monkey a banana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now to Panama, where conservationists just found something that hasn't been documented in this community in nearly three decades. Tracks in the sand leading to a nest belonging to the biggest sea turtle on the planet. Community conservationists say they've located a leatherback sea turtle nest near Hake on Panama's Pacific coast for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Officials say at least one leatherback turtle came ashore after conservationists discovered its tracks in the sand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVER VALENCIA GAMBOA, SEE TURTLE CONSERVATION VOLUNTEER (through translator): From 1998 to 2026, we have significantly increased the sea turtle population here. Previously, only one species, the loggerhead, was found here. But now, of the five species found in Panama, four have already arrived in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: The turtle's return marks major progress for the town, where conservationists have spent close to two decades dedicating their time to protecting the animals.

Imagine studying for one of the biggest tests of your life, passing, and then being told, yeah, we're going to need you to take that again. That's the reality for tens of thousands of college applicants at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico's largest university and one of Latin America's most prestigious.

It annulled the results of around 3,000 tests after the results showed an unusually high number of perfect scores, suggesting some students may have cheated using A.I. 58,000 applicants were called to take a new test, even if they were not accused of cheating, this time in person and under strict supervision. CNN's Valeria Leon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After an alleged A.I. fraud using in the admission exam, thousands of students are now lined up to get to this admissions test for the second time to get into the National Autonomous University in Mexico, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities of Latin America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I have to go through the whole process again, but I trust what I know and I used these past few days to study and reinforce it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): It's not fair to everyone. Some people didn't put in the effort, so I think it was necessary to retake the exam.

LEON: This is the first time that the UNAM applied this test online. And after this fraud, allegedly signaling students using A.I. for this first test, the university decided to reapply this test.

LEONARDO LOMELI, UNAM RECTOR (through translation): I think it's very important to provide certainty for the students who are about to start the school year.

LEON: And this is what the students feel of retaking the exam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): It ended up creating twice as much work for the university. They should have done it in person from the beginning and they wouldn't have had to go through this whole process.

LEON: Around 50,000 students have presented this test, the second one, for the admission to the university, the UNAM. And here in Mexico City, this is the place, Palacio de los Deportes, where thousands of students and also their families, as you can see here, they are waiting for hours until their students can present the test and finally go out.

This is the last date for the students to get inside and get this test done and finally, get a place in one of the most important universities in Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, a mama bear who would do anything for her son, including getting some serious ink, 11-year-old Hunter Fletcher has nonverbal autism and communicates using augmentative and alternative communication or AAC, a virtual tablet with words and symbols. But when the device's battery died, mom had to try something new.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA FLETCHER, HUNTER'S MOM: I got a piece of paper and I wrote the alphabet and he kind of got a little frustrated. He flipped it over and started writing the keyboard and he fake typed on the keyboard to tell me what he wanted to eat.

WIRE: Inspired by that one afternoon at a restaurant, Fletcher decided to permanently tattoo a keyboard on her arm.

FLETCHER: That sparked the idea for me that I can't limit him to technology because technology does fail us.

WIRE: One viral social media video later, the Fletcher family has now partnered with a clothing company to sell shirts with keyboards on their sleeve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: A mom giving a whole new meaning to wearing your heart on your sleeve.

Let's end with some Friday fun. We have a shout out going to Mr. Taylor at Lorain Preparatory High School in O-H-I-O. Thank you for commenting and subscribing on our CNN 10 YouTube channel.

And this shout out goes to Liz Angley at Graded: The American school of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thank you so much for sending us this very sweet flag and this little dude. Bom dia, brother.

Play that Friday music, Nadir. Go out, have an awesome weekend. Go out, make someone smile. You never know how or when or who, but you may be the spark of joy someone needs.

I'm Copy Wire. This is CNN 10. It's been a blessing to spend this week with you.

END

CNN 10's Weekly News Quiz

---