curtain from 1919. the judge is set to hear more testimony next month. we want to thank each and every one of you for watching al jazeera america. "techknow," featuring tornadoland is next. and you can check us out 24 hours aday just be going to aljazeera.com. >> hello and welcome. i'm phil torres here to talk about innovations that can change lives. hardware and humanity and we're doing it in a unique way. a show of science by scientists. dr. shini somara shini somara is a mechanical engineer. as scientists test new building tines can they survive the most powerful twisters on the planets? kosta grammatis, feeding a

hungry planet. he's touring the farm going inside one of america's busiest airports. and i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. i study spiders in the rain forest of peru. that's our program, let's do some science. ♪ ♪ are hey guys welcome to "techknow". i'm phil torres and here with kosta and shini. here in the u.s. when you think about tornado alley, you think of oklahoma. you recently went there. >> very high frequency of tornadoes, 50 on average. we went to moore, oklahoma, it

was devastated by tornadoes on may 20th. we went to university technologists, let's take a look. >> west side of burton we have a major tornado coming down. >> may 20th, 2013, one of the worst tornadoes on record is captured on a time lapse video that went viral. >> people in west moore must be underground for this tornado. we have large large chunks of debris. >> the entire nation watched, as the tornado took a direct hit on the hig elementary. in moore. >> from the looks of the school i knew it wasn't looking good. >> winged recorded at over -- winds recorded at over

210 miles per hour. turning the ground into a pile of rubble. >> it needs to be a priority. you need to have a shelter. >> 300 miles from moore in texas tech university lab, they work to make it a reality. >> what we have here is an air cannon called boomer . virtual potato bottomer on steroids. >> pictures i've seen of the damage after a tornado is all about impacts. >> where wind really becomes an issue is that the debris opens up the building envelope, the walls, the roof. once you have that envelope

opened, now you have got double the trouble. the most predominant projectile that we see in these storms is normally something like a two by four. >> what you tend to see coming out of this cannon is what you tend to see flying around. when a tornado is spinning? >> absolutely. we did shelter research for the national science foundation back in may, after the moore tornado. specifically, just to look for shelters in the storm path. >> the question now is not whether to rebuild, but how. >> we're smart engineers. we know how to design for wind speeds. and now, we know how to design for impact resistance. >> research is performed tests on a variety of building materials. some of them failed. through trial and error,

invocation came from the reinforcement engineering. >> should we load the cannon? >> load the can upon. okay, let's do it. wow! >> 103 miles an hour. >> 103! it's completely fine. >> this particular wall is what we call a double-wide brick. in other words, you've got one wall of brick here, and another wall of brick here. and then, there's a four-inch cavity that's full of reinforced steel. >> but this shows that you can have a safe place above ground. >> the beautiful thing about an above-ground shelter is it's a dual use space. >> is that what you would advise >> absolutely. >> in the heart of tornado alley in oklahoma city, oakdale

elementary was hit twice. >> in 2003 that school was completely destroyed. >> they took the engineers at texas tech and built a gym that doubles as a safe room. >> when you have students in an age group 4 to 14, we knew we needed to build a gym. we knew maybe we could do something to address those safety concerns. we tawld the architect -- we called the architect and said this is your job. and they did. >> to tell us what kind of construction will withstand those project isles. >> jeff and john design oa oakdale's safe room. >> the pressure of 250 mile-per-hour wind or an efi tornado. >> these walls were really thick.

thickened to become a safe room. 12 inches thick. >> another important thing in the safe room is the connections. where the wall and the room intersect, you don't want that coming apart and the roof comes off and then the wall can fail and all these kind of terrible things can happen. >> is that where the innovation lies? >> the two forces pulling the walls apart and the projectiles coming through the walls. >> he said i wanted something safe where it wouldn't be coming in on these kids. >> how do you feel? >> like we have a safer place to come than we did before. and in those times when we may have to have a safer place to bring our students, we have it. >> and that's the hope for schools like oakdale and plaza towers that by using innovative building techniques, they can keep their children and community safe.

>> what i can't believe is that 60% of the schools in oklahoma don't have a shelter for tornadoes. >> yeah, it's insane considering how frequently they're hit. above ground shelter seems to be the way forward. because being inside a bunker was not pleasant at all. >> i grew up in colorado where we would get tornadoes and they would have us basically get low. in movies, people get below ground but now they're saying it's not the safest way to do it. >> before i actually shot this film i thought blows-ground shelters were perfectly adequate. but i realize, going inside one >> welcome back to aljazeera america, i'm stephanie sy in nen new york and we're standing by for a live press conference expected out of the hospital where yesterday's victims of the fort hood shooting are being treated. i want to bring you some of the

latest details of this investigation and we go to brandon from texas, and we did get some information this morning on the suspected shooter. >> yes, we did, more is being detailed. what we have learned is he was not in combat when he was dermoid to iraq. he was deployed to iraq for sometime. but he was not in any combat, and that's what we learned new today. >> okay, we have learned that a congressman has been named as the shooter. a congressman, 34 years old. and what you're referring to, the secretary of the army has implied that this suspect did not incur a traumatic brain injury, as is being suspected. we talked about

ptsd being a possibility here. >> we have learned that he was being treated for depression and anxiety. and he's in the process of being diagnosed with ptsd and that takes a good amount of time. but he was being treated for depression and anxiety. >> i know this we're standing by for a press conference from the scott and white memorial hospital and that's where the victims of this shooting are. >> what do we know so far? >> we have been told that the victims with the serious injuries, you have three currently in critical condition, and you have six right now in serious condition, but they figure to be upgraded to fair condition sometime today. so that's -- all things considered in this situation, at least a small bit of good news.

>> and hopefully we'll get an update on the medical condition, and presumably we will as the press conference gets underway. let's bring in randall pinkston and aljazeera, and you've been covering the developments from that angle. and what was significant about what the secretary of the army, mchugh, had to say this morning? >> well, with a great amount of speed, they have done a thorough background check on the suspected shooter, who has been identified as ivan lopez, and without giving his name, secretary mccuen listed in interstate in the infantry, and when he reenlisted, he was a truck driver, and he had two deployments, serving in the army. and at one point, he was serving for a year, and at some point he served for 18 months in iraq

where he was a truck driver. and brandon has referenced what secretary mchugh referenced, that he was not involved in any kind of combat situation, which is to say shooting. you could argue that going into iraq was automatically a combat situation, but respect to a firefight or being near an ied or explosion, apparently none of that happened. and secretary mchugh said that the record did not indicate any type of situation that would result in a traumatic brain injury. still, he was receiving medical care, screening for psychological problems, and ambien. >> he was undergoing a variety of treatment and diagnoses for depression and anxiety.

and he was prescribed a number of drugs to address those, including ambien. he was seen just last month by a psychiatrist. he was fully examined. as of this morning, we had no indication on the record of that examination that there was any sign of likely violence, either to himself or others, and no suicidal ideation. >> of course as they continue to investigate what may have motivated this action by this shooter, they will be talking to his friend and relatives, and they have already iniewed his wife last night, which must be a point of deep distress and sorrow for her. her husband allegedly involved in murder and hurting of others, and killing himself. and she has to answer to whatever it is that she may have observed in the final moments of his life. >> we should say that we're

talking about a suspected shooter that has been named by a congressman as 34-year-old ivan lopez, but th army has not officially confirmed that. as you said, we're standing by right now to see a live press conference and it looks like that is starting to get underway. this is where the 16 victims that were shot, and injured, were brought to, and so we're hoping to hear an update on their medical condition. among the speakers there, an intern, steven sivet. and let's listen in. >> i want to thank you for join us today. and please join me in extending our thoughts and our prayers to our victim, to the families, and to all of our men and women in the armed services, and to our community at large. fort hood is very much part of our family here. our thoughts and prayers go ou to them.

what we're focusing on today is ongoing patient care, and you'll be hearing from dr. davis, the medical director of trauma services about specifics, and we're also focusing on help for families. dr. alex thompson is to my right. and he can answer questions to that. the final thing i want to say is, i want to extend a very sincere thank you for what they did last night and what they're doing dr. davis. >> thanks, steve. i want to echo some of those comments before i address the patient status. specific attention needs to be given to darnel hospital. they did an exceptional job. and they did an exceptional job. i would like to thank my colleagues in trauma who worked tirelessly throughout the night, along with my colleagues in the

emergency department, nursing and icu, et cetera, it was a well-played team effort. in terms of the patients, this morning we have nine patients here at scott and white. and three of them are in critical condition, two in fair condition, and the remainder in good condition. some may be discharged today. some have minor injuries and will not require further hospitalization or procedures at this time. the ones awake and talking are in good spirits, and i talked to them this morning, and to the families who made it to the bedside. we haven't been able to contact all family members for each of the patients who are here. and so that has been a good thing to accomplish this morning. again, they're in good spirits. and we have had some good discussions this morning. at this point, that's kind of what i have prepared. and i'm happy to answer any questions that you guys may have.

>> can you describe the injuries that you're looking at now with the patients? >> specifically, our critical patients have injuries to the neck. we have potential spine injuries, and we have an abdominal injury. those are the three patients that i would still consider in critical condition. >> reporter: [ unintelligible ]. >> there are two patients that will require further surgeon. the third is undergoing diagnostic testing, and the other two will require operations, one today and probably one tomorrow. the one patient has an abdominal injury, and we need to make sure that bleeding is controlled. and basically make sure that everything is

physiologic, and ready to put back together. the neck injury, we'll need further explosion, and exploration by a specialist looking at the injuries in the neck there. >> reporter: [ unintelligible ]. >> my understanding is they're all military, again, eight males and one female. >> i think the as young as 21 and up to their 40s. puerto o

..i wake and am thankful to live in a great state, but also wake up not knowing what i will be facing, whether it's a report in

2001, or whether it was months later that a major event had occurred in south padre when a bridge is knocked out. when i think about the hurricanes, the largest influx of people into our state with katrina and ike. so every day i never know what i'm going to face as the governor of the state. what i do know there are men and women as professional as there is in this country, ready to step in to address the issues - whether they are natural disasters, or whether, as we had here, an individual and a tragic event. i don't have time to be thinking about my personal needs. i don't have time to be thinking about how this is affecting me. what i need to do is work with

these individuals, and i'm proud that we have amazing - amazing men and women. first responders, professionals in our health care. this state is a strong state. and we get hit with some very substantial matters - whether they are natural disasters of epic proportion or whether they are because this is large military complex that we have, and home to military men and women all across from el paso, south texas to the panhandle. we are blessed to have great good men that do our work, take care of our people, and that is important. say that again? >> reporter: do you believe there are safety measures that

could be put in place to prevent [ inaudible ] . >> there's plenty of time to talk about policy and challenges that need to occur. this is not the time for that >> reporter: [inaudible] special problems last night or yesterday that [ inaudible ] . >> i think that, again, this is not the time for politics, it's time to work with the men and women that have needs that need to be addressed. >> reporter: these people that you interviewed, have you had a chance to talk to them - all of you - what did they tell thaw they saw when the shooting happened. >> right >> reporter: and did anyone have an idea why this happened? >> i will direct you to the leadership of the post, to general milley's staff, and those individuals to address that >> reporter: senator cruz, does this raise concerns for you nationally about whether

veterans coming back from conflict may have - may or may not have adequate services for, for example, ptsd and [ inaudible ] what does this event say to you about that? >> all of us are concerned about taking care of the men and women active duty in the military and taking care of our veterans. at this point the investigation is ongoing, understanding what occurred and why it occurred, and we should let the investigation play out. i will tell you know, what was most striking, visiting with soldiers wounded, visiting with their families, first responders, doctors and nurses and health care providers that took care of the wounded was the resilience and strength. it reminded me of last year,

visiting the tragic circumstances at west texas, at the explosion. you'll recall that occurred at the same time as the boston bombing and i remember visiting with senator elizabeth warren, who had just gotten back from boston, and the same reaction, amidst the tragedy and loss of life, you couldn't help but be inspired that americans, when we face adversity and inexplicable horrors, we come together. that was the strongest sentiment i had was a sense of inspiration that at the time of adversity there are no partisan lines, racial or ethnic lines. we come together as americans to stand together to support brothers and sisters. >> you are listening to tex at senator ted cruz and governor

rick perry, addressing reporters concerning the shooting in texas. ivan lopez killed three others, 16 wounded before turning the gun on

>> afghans prepare to vote for a new president. two foreign journalists shot by a police officer. president hamid karzai is urging people to defy the violence and make their vote count. >> you are watching al jazeera live from london. coming up. clashes in the west side fire tear gas at palestinians, protesting at the cancellation of a prisoner release. >> chad pulls peace-