i'm phil torres, an entomologist. now let's do some science. ♪ ♪ >> hey guys welcome to techknow where we bring you life changing innovations in the field of science. i'm phil torres and i'm here with kosta rachelle and lindsay. >> when we think of camp lejeune, we deal with soldiers to go into the field. but there's an epidemic with soldiers returning with completely invisible wounds, i'm talking about ptsd. be camp lejeune has innovative ways of technology to combat this problem. the ugliness of war has made an indelible mark on the minds of many americans. and can linger longer after deployment has ended. posttraumatic stress disorder or ptsd was first diagnosed in 1980 but has existed for as long as there has been war. >> clearly it appears the underlying cause of those conditions were the same as the underlying causes whraf what we call posttraumatic stress. we know very little of what is at the cellular level of what's causing them. the only way we can find out those answers is through technology. >> one pro

i'm phil torres joined by lindsay moran, dr. shay somora and dr. dilworth. i just got back with an exciting week of my life, and it was all for science. with you jump on an one-ton tiger shark? well, that's the opportunity i got to do with these researchers based out of university of miami. we went on a boat in the bahamas sbahamas bahamas, in the name of sharks. let's take a look. >> shark on! >> shark. the very name inspires wonder and fear, vilified as the world's ultimate killing machine, but their bad-boy image is all wrong, according to these guys. >> i haven't had a single bad day with sharks in 35 years of doing business. >> if there is a shark around, you're likely to find jim in the water with the camera. >> we have 400 billion years of sharks shaping our ocean's health. and in the last 50 years on my watch we've literally destroyed it. >> one in six of all sharks that have been threatened with extinction . >> the university of miami, one of his primary missions is to study sharks in the wild so policymakers can make good policies based on science.

i'm phil torres, joined by shini somara, marita davison, and cara santa maria. we are in for a treat. shini - you just got back from on amazing journey to one of the most spectacular places in the world. please tell us about it. >> well, it was an absolute dream come true mission that i was on. i went to greenland and i was mapping glaziers with n.a.s.a. on a peace-free aircraft. the views were stunning. let's take a look. i travelled half a world away to get to a case some call the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change. greenland. i was here to observe an n.a.s.a. mission called operation icebridge. since 2009 n.a.s.a. has been flying airborne missions out of kangaloosa, a former u.s. airbase. the goal is to measure changes to the arctic sea ice and the ice sheet over greenland. we are just on our way to the air base and i am feeling kind of a bit nervous. i'm not the most relaxed of flyers. so let's see what happens. >> it was 6am, and about 10 degrees farenheit. >> so it's usually about a quarter of a mile walk to the plain. whatever conditi

shini somara with kosta grammatis and phil torres. now phil's got a really fascinating story, but it's also an adorable one. >> guys, i've never been jealous of a dog before until i met these dogs. they actually travel around the world saving endangered species and they also fight invasive species right here in the u.s. so let's go to montana and take a look. >> near polson montana biologist aimee hurt is using one of the most effective tools available to prevent an invasive species infiltration. her four legged, furry partner - wicket, is a conservation dog---trained to sniff out endangered species as well as invasive species. >> when did this idea of using dogs in conservation first get started? >> field biologists have taken their pet dogs out with them all the time when they are looking for something ... and dogs are like oh you're looking for this i can help you with this let me point it out...what conservation dogs do differently is that...maybe this month we're working on one thing and the next month we're working on something

>> and i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. i visit a shrimp farm in the middle of indiana... yes, indiana... that could revolutionize the industry. >> wow, this is like a little laboratory here. >> yes it is. >> and a shrimp farm. >> cara santa maria is a neuroscientist. >> imagine that you are one of the first to take a trip to mars. this is the definition of pioneering. >> that's what makes it exciting. >> that's our team, now let's do some science. >> hey! i got some! >> hey guys and welcome to techknow i'm phil torres joined by doctor shini somara and cara santa maria. now guys i'm not going to lie, one of my favorite things is shrimp sizzling away on a hot grill. but i also have a fair amount of hesitation when it comes to actually knowing where that shrimp comes from. >> yeah and you may not realize it but shrimp raised overseas can have high levels of antibiotics and other additives that don't always pass american safety standards. >> and america imports a lot of shrimp over a billion pounds worth. so we asked the food and drug administration, the agency responsible fo

>> that was techno's phil torres reporting. you can see more at 4:30 eastern right here on al jazeera america. >>> it's hard to imagine a 4th of july weekend without fireworks, but those booms would be polluting the air you breathe. >> americans for the most part love our fireworks, so this does not last long enough to cause wide-spread health concerns but it makes sense how it happens. as they explode they release tiny particles, small enough to get into a person's respiratory track. noaa has over 300 cites across the country, and over ten years they monitored this, noticing a spike on the 4th of july. this is small pollutants like dust and dirt. they go up 42% the evening of the 4th of july the worst time being from 9:00 to 10:00. we have over 14,000 displays, some of the worst cities are cities like los angeles chicago, seattle bigger cities with more displays obviously you see more of this. how does this tend out? the yellow line is our baseline pollution. on the night of 4th of july, peaks at 9:00 to 10:00 and gets back no

i'm phil torres. i'm an entomologist. >> wow! that was something else, i mean it was a real rush for me. >> that's our team. now let's do some science. [ ♪♪♪ ] >>> hey guys - welcome to "techknow", i'm phil torres joined by lindsay moran, dr. crystal dilworth and dr. shini somara. it's a debate that somehow is still raging on - is the climate changing, is man to blame and is there anything we can do to stop the disaster. most agree the answers is yes. that's most scientists, not all of them. shini, crystal, lindsay, you each had a piece of the story. >> at the c.i.a. i was trained to analyse complex and sometimes contradictory data. climate change fits into that model as well. washington d.c. - politics are part of the equation. no matter what the science is, there's going to be contentious debate. >> i had a different experience. i was dealing with the scientists and citizens who are not debating if climate change is happening, but they are living it now. >> i think it's interesting that both sides of the debate claim to b

i'm phil torres and today we are going to be talking trash and a ton of it. joining me with this trash talk dr. crystal dilworth, dr. shini somara. now first up the water bottle, by some estimates here in the u.s. we use 50 billion of these every year and myth number one is that this is going to be recycled. >> correct, actually it's probably not going to be recycled. a lot of water bottles that we think are headed for recycling facilities end up in landfills and those landfills can have some really negative impacts on the surrounding communities. >> it's actually quite shocking that a material that is designed to be used over and over again actually only gets used once and what we've done is take a water bottle just like this and follow its journey after its been blue binned to see exactly what happens. >> the world is addicted to plastic. it was sold to us as the product of the future... >> plastic... plastic... plastic. >> this educational video from the 1940s celebrates the convenience of plastic. >> here they are in our homes, augmenting our comforts...

. >> i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. that's our team, now let's do some science. >> hey guys welcome to techknow i'm phil torres, joined by marita davison and dr. crystal dilworth. now bigger and potentially more dangerous, that's the best way to describe what's happening the smoking alternative known as e-cigarettes, or vaping. >> it's an industry that seems to really be exploding i mean you're seeing it everywhere. and a part of me wonders if this might be because of some misinformation about vaping, that's my sense. >> and our dr. crystal dilworth, you have your phd in nicotine studies so we've asked you to keep a tab on this. there's a lot academic research that's being done on the safety of use of these devices, but it can't really keep up with a growing industry. >> i enjoy the taste of it and not get the harmful effects of what smoking does. >> call them vapers, or foggers or competitive cloud chasers... all are welcome at crystal vapor, one of thousands of vape shops across the country. since techknow first repor

>> and i'm phil torres i'm an entomologist. >> you want to make a lab cocktail? >> that's our team, now let's do some science. >> hey guys welcome to techknow, i'm phil torres joined by dr. shini somara and cara santa maria. you guys let's jump right into it. gmos, just three letters but a whole lot of debate. and of course we're talking about genetically modified organisms here, anything from tiny bacteria to fish to even giant trees. and guys this debate it targets science and scientists. >> it's true you know the anti-gmo movement it's got a lot of street cred, it's very popular. but it's also really anti, i don't know another way to put it, it's anti-science. >> i covered the march against monsanto and i was actually really kind of personally hurt that most people think that science is a really bad thing when it comes to gmo. >> yeah and let's be real this is a sensitive one for us because we're scientists. but as scientists we're trained to look at the data and that's what we try to keep in mind as we investigated genetically modified foods... >> genetically

phil torreschukche. phil torres is on a coast guard cutter. >> it's pretty darn cold out. i don't know if you have been on an ice breaker but as we're going over and crushing the ice it is like an earthquake, airplane turbulence and thunder all mixed into one. this year is the puma drone and this has been working with the coast guard as they do search and rescue drills. you can imagine if you are out here on the ice and need help, you are going to need help with especially something like this, eyes in the sky that can see infrared. we are so far to the north that the sun never actually sets. we have been out watching and filming into after midnight. it gets confusing for us as you can imagine. we're going to check with you guys later because we're going to be in the actor for another week. back to you in new york, john. >> phil, thank you very much. "techknow" airs on al jazeera. now to japan and a new debate playing out in that country's parliament. it could bring big changes to be japan's military. antonio mora is here. >> john, new security bill going through parliament

on that vehicle is al jazeera's reporter phil torres. they left yesterday from nome alaska. over the come weeks it will travel through the arctic ocean and heading north. thank you so much. tell us where exact i are you right now? >> reporter: hi. we're in the chub sea, and this is the reason why shell oil will be drilling the first offshore rig in the arctic. that represents a will the for the region. it represents the potential change and profit and mostly that poe tebl risk is something like an oil skill. we can see the united states on the rice and russia on the left. both of these countries are looking north at opening seas and opening access to resources. >> wend a couple experiments are already under way. tell us about that. we awe say drone shot off the deck. it can fly ahead and detect things like potential oil spice or dangerous ice or even used to survey marine ma malls. they have a lot of a amazing things we are forced to tanned inti and loss. >> how parent are the warming temperatures hitting the region? what have you done? >> it is really apparent. you talk to

i'm phil torres, here to talk about innovations that can change lives. we are doing this in a unique way, this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out our team of hard core in other words. marita davidson, is on the front lines of a devastating wildfire. and crystal dilworth is a molecular neuroscientist, how police work could stop crime before it happens. lindsay moran, shows us how mushrooms may replace polystyrene packaging. i'm phil torres, that's our team of scientists, now let's do some science. ♪ ♪ >> it has been another fantastic week of science on the road. we've got crystal, lindsay and marita here. marita, you were basically a very high tech firefighter for a week. tell me about this. >> i was on a story to tell us how we fight the rim fire in yosemite. here it is. this is a very unusual piece of technology. it almost looks like an alien insect. they've got it in a hangar and they're going to fly it up to yosemite and going to be eyes in the sky to generate action from the ground. let's check it out. the size and scope of th

i'm phil torres in los angeles for al jazeera. >> a professional server is lucky to be alive after a shark attack in the middle of a competition. it happened during the off the coast of south africa. he managed to escape after landing several punches to the shark's nose. >> i don't know, i had this instinct that something was behind me. all of a sudden i felt my board going underwater. and then it came back, and then right there i saw it thrashing around but i was being dragged around. you know, even though it's kicking in. i'm tripping out. >> the commissioner's office has decided there will be no final run today. is that a concern for you at this stage? >> i'm happy to not even compete ever again. like seriously. to walk away from that, to--oh man. >> yes. his leg rope was bit in half by the shark. but neither he nor another surfer attacked by the shark were hurt. lucky surfers. remember, for the latest headlines you can go to our website www.aljazeera.com. >> hundreds injured. fest. >> the draft resolution has been adopted unanimously. . >> the u.n. security council endorses the d

. >> welcome to techknow im phil torres joined by marita davison and dr. shini somara. guys there are outlaws out there working in the shadows committing horrible acts against defenseless yet majestic animals. we're talking about the ivory poachers who have decimated the populations in africa. >> it's really alarming because ivory goes for about a thousand dollars a pound, that's more valuable than illegal drugs. >> and you know what that means is that the damage has been devestating over a hundred thousand elephants have been killed in just the last three years and the question is what can we do about it? we found a team of scientists who are using some unexpected weapons- dna and radiocarbon dating- let's check it out. >> april 18th, 2015. thai customs intercepts 4 tons of ivory smuggled in bean sacks from the democratic republic of congo. it is the largest seizure in this country's history. the ivory, on the way to laos seized in bangkok after a tip. the seizure makes headlines >> thai customs displayed over 3 tons of confiscated african ivory worth 6 million dollars

i'm phil torres. tonight sharks. both people avoid sharks. we're out to meet them. tag them. learn all about this pep. >> sharks don't eat people. >> five days and nights at sea on our especially rigged shark laboratory. exhort research is next.

phil torres joins us now with the latest on this, phil. >> hi, david we talked to biology john carlson that says it looks like the tiger shark is to blame for some of these, be uh the question remains why is this happening. it looks like water and weather may have effected the food supply, one thing that emphasize is this is out of the ordinary, i got to spend a week with a team of tiger shark researchers. sharks are mice, and the world doesn't know this. >> jim loves sharks and he wants you to love them too. that's one of the reasons he became a pioneer, in cage free shark diving offering people the chance to encounter them up close in the wild. >> it is up to those of thaws have that ability that really know what is going on to project them the way they need to be projected so what we with protect what we love. >> what myths are you trying to disspell. >> i wish we with could put a stop to the monster shark thing. dogs in america bite something every 40 seconds but we don't have dog week, do we, in florida we with have a dozen fatalities from vending machines but we with don't have v

i'm phil torres for al jazeera. >>> the tennis world crowned a new men's wimbledon champion, he's a familiar face. novak djokovic. he beat roger federer, it's his third trophy at the all england club. set patch was delayed for rain by a short time. nothing could stop the world's number one from beating the swiss. i'm erica pitzi in new york. the news continues with >> greek prime minister alexis tsipras and his creditors trying to hammer out a deal. >> in vienna, observers awaiting word on the iranian nuclear talks. the search on tonight for el chapo, whose escaped from a mexican prison a second time. >> crucial moments in the next few days for hillary clinton's presidential campaign. >> we begin with the greek debt crisis, and if you're watching, the clock you know, that self imposed midnight