>> hello and welcome. i'm phil torres here to talk about innovations that can change lives. we're going to see the intersection of hardware and humanity and doing it in a unique way. a show about science by scientists. let's check out our hard core in other words. coaskosta grammatis. one of day the 3d printer will help save a little boy's nights . rachelle

oldmixon , and lindsay moran, plastic that can stop a bullet, why is it ending up in some classrooms? i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. i study spiders in the rain forests of peru. that's our team, now let's do some science. ♪ ♪ >> hi and welcome to "techknow". i'm phil torres, i'm here with kosta, rachelle and lindsay. you looked at 3d printing. >> 3d printing is an industry

that's blowing up right now. we explored and visited all these different groups and laboratories, that are doing 3d printing. let's take a deep dive. from trinkets and 96 inaction, 3d fashion and -- and from auto makers prototyping new parts to nasa lamping a 3d printer to replace parts. >> space exploration, this is absolutely a critical technology. >> from diy medical solutions. >> we've seen the people who made the robo hand project. >> to life altering research. >> i'm dr. ben asser. our lab makes ears. it's alive whit goes into the

printer and comes out of the printer. >> each is prototighting 3d printers aren't anything like your home printer. >> 3 printing is a process that makes physical objects. a 3d print er gradually layer by layer. not a picture of a cup of coffee but the coffee itself. >> he is a printing pioneer. >> every design file tells what the printer, where to put the material. what you see here is the printed speaker. in any design software you can go ahead and make changes. >> that information has been sent to the printer that prince layer after layer, hour after hour. >> what do we have here? >> we have here is the first entirely 100% 3d printed consumer electronic device. it's a loud speaker.

>> why is this a big innovation? >> we have begun the second chapter, from passive parts to integrated systems. that can act, react. >> we created our first innovation institute in youngstown, ohio. >> earned a shout out from the president. >> that has the potential to revolutionize how we make almost anything. >> across the cornel l campus. >> heart valves are pretty complex shapes, and if we use 3d printing we can duplicate that shape. >> researcher laura hockaday is working on stem cells. >> you could fabricate a living heart valve that would then be used as the prosthetic. >> just 3-print a valve with

using the patient's own stem cells. put it in and it will grow with them. >> yes, that's the idea. >> if it works it will be life changing for boys like nine-year-old max page. he's that cute pint sized darth vader from the supercommercial from volkswagen. >> we noticed max was in trouble when i went in for my 38-week appointment. they took him by c section. >> max had a heart valve operation in 2012. >> is not adequate for an active seven and a half year old boy. >> for max the valve won't grow with him. when he gets to be late teen he'll need a valve to match that size body and when he's a full adult he'll need the valve to match that body.

>> so the work at cornell is very specific. >> it makes me feel good to know that we have somebody on our side. >> we talked to somebody whose child currently suffers from this condition. they're so excited about the work you're doing. >> wow, these technologies are so close to a break through. it's for us our future our reality. and it's not just dreaming about kids that might be born today. it's this kid right here. >> from the beginning of the personal computer revolution, the world wasn't quite sure what a computer was good for besides counting and calculating missile trajectories. it's sort of where we are today, with 3d printing. there's a great deal of potential as printers become easier to use.

and this may be the epicenter of that change. nicker bot. the idea that 3d printing is going to revolutionize our loams, that hasn't come to life quite yet. happen. if you have a computer that you have at home you can't avoid having a 2d printer at home. who would need those in the home, the same is going to happen with 3d printers. >> across the country in los angeles, liz and cal von hasseim create in the sugar lab. >> it spreads a very fine layer of sugar. it paints with water, wherever that model exists at that cross-section and then it spreads another very fine layer

of sugar and it paints the next cross section from the very bottom to the top layer until the whole model is built. and it is totally a magical process. >> then comes the fun part. >> we calls call this the excavation station. that's when we clean off all the sugar that's burying the model now. >> that's like the mow delicious air i've ever breathed. >> it's like you annihilated some sections of it here. >> i know how to get rid of these damaged goods. it's delicious! >> all right, kosta, what did 3d printing taste like? >> it tasted dry and sugary. but this is the most importantly, this is a 3d printed heart valve, children who have heart disease, 40% of them die.

and this little guy is going ochange that about ten years away. >> is this the scaffolding that the cells go on? >> not even scaffolding. the cells are infused in it. >> oh yeah. >> what are these things we're looking at here? >> that is an architectural model that some architecture students created. >> i just can't believe the amount of detail that you see in this and the layers you see too. >> even the detail inside. >> it's incredible and the colors and everything. it's so hard to believe that this is achievable now. this really seems a glimpse into our future and i really think this is going to become much more of our detail lives . ra chel yoracial rachelle you did something different.

we'll be checking about that next. we want to hear what you think about these stories. join the conversation, by >> al jazeera america presents a global finacial powerhouse >> the roman catholic church, they have an enormous amount of power >> accusations of corruption... >> there is a portion of the budget that takes care of all the clerical abuse issues. >> now we follow the money and take you inside the vatican's financial empire. >> when it comes to money, this is one of the sloppiest organizations on earth... >> al jazeera america presents... holy money only on al jazeera america real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america.

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anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. ♪ ♪ >> hey guys welcome back. now rachelle tell me, are oysters in trouble? >> they might be. oysters are kind of the qua canary in the coal mine for the ocean.

they're the reflection of the acidity that they're in. there are some things that cosh changincouldbe changing the acie water they're in. why don't we go to hog island in california. it's not every day that you can tag along with a california oyster farmer. >> that little island is hog island. >> but it's exhilarating. >> this is one of the ways we grow our baby oysters. >> the 15 mile long tomales bay is peppered with some of the most prolific oyster farms, including the hog island oyster farm. the work is extremely demanding. >> how many oysters are in there? >> that pallet right there is probably 8,000 oysters.

>> the payoff is delicious. careyy why sawyer has been farming oysters for over 20 years. his company provides oysters to the restaurants in the san francisco bay area. >> everything these guys need to grow. >> as you can imagine, people love their oysters. so the industry has been doing very well since the 1970s. unfortunately, in 2006, some problems began to emerge. >> what we're seeing is all these larvae or the juvenile oysters, the entire populations are crashing, they're dying. it's throorming say th loormingo alarming to say the least. >> they began honing in on the real cause. >> when you have the entire loss like that, that entire crash,

that is ocean acid fictio ification that we're talking about. >> ocean acidification is happening at least ten times faster than we could see in the record. >> ten times faster? >> alarming i agree. >> he started working with professor testa hill and u.s. davis's marine laboratory in bodega bay. >> about 30% what we put into the atmosphere just gets soaked like into that ocean. and that carbon dioxide changes the chemistry of the water. and that's what we called ocean acidification. >> as it moves from the air to the ocean it binds with water monthly cuns forming what we call carbonic acid, rapidly

changing the chemistry and the chemical cal balance o balance . >> all of those use complements of sea water to build thier shell. and those building blocks are calcium and carbonate. all those animals who build shells to actually make their shells. >> amazingly it could take up to three years for an oyster to use calcium carbonate to grow large enough for markets size. >> these are our smawls. it's a big enough oyster to put on the grill. >> the problem poses a serious threat for farmers who can no longer produce oysters whose shells develop. using innovative sensor equipment and scientific tests, hill's team has spent a year

closely monitoring the actual chemical work in the bay. >> we're measuring the chemistry of the water, we are getting temperature, salinity, ph and oxygen every 30 minutes for the last month it's been out and we've been doing this for a year straight now. >> tafned to th attached to the bouy. ,. >> for a week or a month, a season, if a storm blows in. the reason why that's important is it's hard to predict and understand what the impact of acidification will be, if we don't understand those little

fluctuates. >> the research are team hopes to make this a long term exr set. >> the hope is a long term set so we have some way of tracking ocean acidification. >> has it told us anything about the bay? >> it's told us a lot. entire moralities, we hope to have different strategies. >> like the famous mix cove. >> on a busy day we go through anywhere from 1600 to 2,000 which is a lot of shucking. >> chef perkins has seen the shortage of oysters in california in the recent years. that's troubling for multimillion dollar eateries, nation.

>> are you worried about your supply? >> sure. unless it's controlled we're not ever going to know until we don't have oysters anymore. the science has to be researched to see if we're going to be the last generation that's going to have any oysters at all. >> that's exactly what hill and her team are literally racing to find out. even if it is just helping to solve one 15-mile part of the scientific puzzle. >> and if there are a lot of ideas about how to protect small scale environments like what we're looking at here, but those are pretty small pieces of the pie compared to the global issue of ocean acidification which can only be sofd . >> rick: solved -- solved through one emission of carbon dioxide. >> when people think of the impact of greenhouse gases we're always focused on what's happening on our level above the earth. but in the water it really seems like it's having a significant

effect. >> the water is a sponge, especially for c 02 and it makes carbonic acid and that movement of the water isn't just affecting northern california. it's affecting oregon, central washington and the coast of california. so it's a huge coastal are problem. >> thank you, really fascinating stuff. lindsay, what do you have for us? >> well unfortunately we are going to explore school shooting again. i explored technology for the the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> the stream. on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream.

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>> ♪ ♪ >> hello and welcome back to "techknow". now school shootings are unfortunately a reality that we have to live with. and lindsay you looked at some technology to try to make them a little less damaging. >> i went to the eastern shore from maryland where i'm from and looked at a technology originally developed for the military. we put this technology to a test. so let's have a look. as a former cia agent i learned how to shoot a variety of guns. so when "techknow" asked me to cover a story about the trend in but proof back to school supplies it appealed to me both

as a former operative and to my other side, as a plom. mom. back to school shopping. it's always the most stressful time of year for parents like me who are not prepared, and now, we've got one more thing to worry about. some parents are buying items like this insert intended to but proof backpacks to their back to school shopping list. in the wake of the mass shooting at sandy hook last year that left 20 children dead, it's no surprise that this year security is a big concern. i visited one company called hard wire, based in maryland which manufactures but proof school accessories. >> where are we going now? >> we're going to go out on the factory floor and this factory was built right in the height of the iraq and afghanistan conflict. so it started as a vehicle armoring company.

we moved into body armor and then after sandy hook we really took that same technology and applied it to school. >> part of hard wire's products are made from a synthetic fiber called dynema used in back packs and snow boards. >> you can see what it's made of. >> don't floss your teeth with this, guys. >> this is gorilla floss, for sure. the key is time, temperature and pressure. we found that with increasing pressure, ballistic properties went up. so the harder we could squeeze it, the more the ballistic are quality went up. >> backpack inserts or white

boards. >> i've got to be honest though. it's so light, i'm having a hard time believing that this could withstand rapid fire weapons. >> that little piece of plastic that's less than a quarter inch thick has 400 layers in it. but you're talking about something that is eight, nine times lighter than steel with the same stopping power. >> but as they say, seeing is believing. we wengt to a firing range to test hard wire's imr bulletproof backpack insert. >> let's turn this into a ballistic backpack. ear plugs in in. >> clear. >> definitely hit it. thank you .

oops. >> nothing penetrated the pack but you can see a couple holes down here writ hit. some of the rounds were deflected down through the bottom. and the ones that didn't go through, there they are. >> these are still hot. >> i'm going to go ahead and admit that i am pretty impressed by how the ballistic backpacks withstood some really powerful weaponry at the range. but it's not just how well they can take the gun fire. there is also the question of whether or not teachers can really use these in the classroom. dr. barry toll is the head plaster at worchester preparatory. after sandy hook, hard wire are approached him with a proposal.

>> he was going to offer ballistic backpacks for the staff. >> how did elizabeth find out about the armada? spies. >> do you think that the fact that this just looks like another classroom acu accouterment makes it less threatening? >> if it weren't for the considered, this is a shield. >> watching teach, seems like a security measure that's classroom. could you demonstrate how you would use it? >> if i had to, i could use it like this, like a shield if i had to use it. hopefully not. >> rush at the intruder or just hold it up? >> i don't know. i'm not sure what i would do. >> that just really seems controversial. because we can't be asking our children to become heroes in the classroom.

>> i totally agree. and i'm of two minds about the use of this technology in schools. on the one hand, i feel like any great. at the same time, i know my kids, and i know when they have that flight or fight, that the flee is going to kick in. that's going to be their instinct. i am fine with that, i think that's the best thing to do. >> especially when there's a effective. >> that's right, no armor is completely impenetrable. we saw that there are certain types of weapons that this is not going to do anything to protect a child. >> i must say, it is sad that we have to protect our children with military hardware at this point. but hopefully it is part of the of of a -- of a multifaceted school shootings that have taken place. thanks everyone and we'll see you next week on "techknow".

>> go behind the scenes at pldge al >> al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. bulldozers and bare hands pulling debris from washington state. >> if russia continues on its course sanctions will deepen. >> president obama warning russia unless it negotiates with world leaders. and objects found on satellite that may be linked to