>> no one is listening to us... george is innocent... >> the system with joe burlinger only on al jazeera america celebrations in egypt as former military chif abdul fatah el se sisi wins the presidential election. hello there, you are watching al jazerra live from london. also coming up. the presidential vote is extended in syria in an election bashar al-assad is almost certain to win. nato a proves the plan to strengthen its military presence in eastern our europe as tensions simmer over the ukraine. and the date is set for spain's new king to take to the thrown. but in tough economic times, is the monarch i still welcome?

♪ ♪ >> hello, abdul fatah el sisi is egypt's new will he elected he won nearly 97% of the vote. it turn out rate itself was about 47%. let's go straightaway and speak for our guest, he is a very lecture you are in the studies of islam and the muslim world at kings college mere in london, thanks for think doing in. we are hearing the turn out is 47%, clearly not the 80% that sisi had been hoping for before the election, but it is actually only just less than what the 52% that mohamed marcy had during md during the 2012 election, what do we make of it? >> there was great dissolution among the egypt po population ad the chain events with high hopes of democratic reform, and then military interference now back business as usual for the past

few decades, i think el sisi is kind of concerned probably about the exact legitimacy he has in winning in an election with a huge majority, but with a very low turn out. >> what sort of policies can we expect from this former military man? >> i think it will be very much a matter of maintaining the status quo. el sisi is maybe very much his own man in a sense that he triggered the chain of events last summer, but he's also a caretaker of a very big interest that goes way beyond el sisi demand and that is the mill mill military establishment which has held control in egypt since 1952. >> we saw a huge clamp down, crack down on opposition supporters during the run up to the election, particularly supporters of the outlawed muslim brotherhood. is that a poll say likely to continue? and what is the future for those who do support the plus lidge

brotherhood. >> if you listened to the very brief acceptance speech of el sisi there was on the one hand a general acknowledgment of his opponent in the elections and gratefulness towards those who cast their vote and gave the confident to the any president, but also remarks in terms of bringing the country together, presenting himself as a unifying figure. and opening dialogue, but studiously avoiding actually the muslim brotherhood which no matter how turn it has large grass root level support. so i think the interest of el sisi is sort of to rally the population, but how he can pull that off with a sort of avoiding, addressing this very sensitive difficult issue of the recent clamp down, whether there will be any letting off of pressure remains to be seen actual. >> i. >> what happens to the grassroots support? clearly the muslim brotherhood is out loud but we have see other groups

reemerge with another name. >> that will be a problem, of course, because the organization has not just for herly disbanded but declared a terrorist organization, by that does not mean support evaporates. the main challenge for the muslim brotherhood is that its top leadership is in prison, convict today very lengthen terms in prison and is probably held without communication with the lower echelon says of the organization. it's a massive broad spectrum organization, what we'll see probably in years to come say sort of regrouping and repositioning of pragmatists, dogma tests and maybe french movements on both the liberal and maybe the more radical side. it will be a very interesting development to watch. >> good to get your thoughts, shanks coach no coming in. >> al jazerra continues to demand the release of their reporters. they are accused of aiding the banned group the muslim

brotherhood. al jazerra denies the charges and is asking for their immediate release, and a fourth al jazerra journal i feel, is being held in a cairo prison without charge for more than nine months now, he has also requested a medical report to document his poor health. news out of syria, polling stations are saying open open seven hours longer base of the high turn out. syria's main opposition is dismissing the vote as a sham. about shabashar al-assad is widy expected to retain power. >> reporter: these scenes are what the government wants the world to see. syrians showing support by casting their vote for a new president. but the credibility of this election has been questioned. there were international election observers on the ground, but they are from countries like russia and north

korea, alis of the government. and the poll was old held in gentleman regime-controlled regions, the opposition believes many people there were not given a choice. >> at work, their national i.d. was taken last week, all of them. and they said this week there are no vacation as loud. not evening sick leave. you have throwing it and if you need get your i.d. back, you need to go to be -- to vote for the president. in fact, they are being coerced. >> reporter: there are three candidates in this lex, but many say the winner is already known. president bashar al-assad is expect today stay in office for another seven years. the opposition says his competitors were handpicked by the regime to give the election legitimacy. many of the syrians who live in rebel-controlled territories are not takingal election seriously. as you can see, they continue to arrive in turkey to escape the war at home. millions of syrians live in

exile. and they don't think the election will end the conflict, nor will it restore security. this is what election day was like for the people of here. this suburb south of damascus is contested territory. and just like many areas not under the control of the state, there were no ballot boxes. opposition activists are calling in a blood election. in some rebel-controlled neighborhoods syrians used garbage bins as balance you can boxes, official are defiant. >> today syria is returning to peace and security. starting to rebuild the country and conclude comprehensive reconciliation. today the political solution to the syrian crisis shall begin. >> reporter: the government may think the war is coming to an end, but for the armed opposition, the election won't change anything. al jazerra. joining me now is a middle east analyst. i think is based here in the

u.k. let's pick up on the last point our reporter made. what difference will this election make to ordinary civilians in syria? >> well, absolutely nothing, because assad was there before and he will continue later. this election looks like a sham from here, but from duh nas cussdamascus ithink it's westert looks more like a sham. and assad is in a way using these elections to rub it in. to say to the west, you have declared me finished three years ago, and here i am, i am as strong as ever, and i am here to stay. >> why did so many people vote for him? were they fearful of what might happen to them if they voted against him, are were they fearful of the alternative? did they fear that assad was the only man that could offer stability in syria? >> we don't know how many people voted yet, but that's what they

have been doing for the last 50 or so years. this is a society that's regimented, everybody is observing everyone, and they know that if they don't vote, they will be accountable for not voting. so there is the element of fear which has always given assad or his father 99% or 97.6% in previous elections. >> any policy changes likely? or are reabout to see exactly the same policies continued? >> policies by who? >> by the government? we are assuming, of course, that is al jazerra sawed, you know a. will he carry on exactly the same way as you said internationally he's proved that he still has the power and is able to cement that power. so will he carry on or will we see even more violence on behalf of the syrian forces? >> well, internationally he hasn't proved that he has the power. he's claiming to have the power.

he's lost a lot of power in the country, but he's maintaining the narrative, he's maintained the same narrative for the last three years that there is no revolt in syria, that this is a war against terror, that it's a conspiracy, and that he's here -- he's fighting that. and his policy hasn't even stopped during the elections themselves. he was still bombing area areas. so the policy is still the same. and his backers have maintained the same policy, russia and iran, who are still arming him or even stepped up the arming of the regime when geneva peace process was ongoing whereas the west has stopped all aid to the opposition because the geneva

peace process is going. >> so tended up being one sided is what you are saying? >> well, the balance the balance sheet of support is heavily tilted towards the assad regime. thanks for your opinion. nato has confirmed it's planning to bolster it's military presence in part of eastern europe, the baltics and the black sea. president obama announced that they will boost their presence in europe. it's a response to russia' annexation of the crimea region and the ongoing tension in the countriecountry's east. >> what we witnessed in ukraine is a wake-up call and based on that, political leaders in particular in europe, should review their defense spending. and al jazerra's diplomatic editor james bays is in brussels

where there have been meetings. >> reporter: nato is put be pressure pressure russia with these measures, in the air extra nato fighter aircraft at sea, already there are two nato fleets, one in the eastern med mediterranean and one in the baltic sea we may see nato ships now in the black sea too and on the ground a series of recent exercises by nato in the baltic countries, we are being told there will be now continual exercises and temporary deployments in eastern europe, close to the border with russia to keep that up pressure russia. having said all of that, it's worth remembering that none of these nato allies actually want to go to war with russia. they are going up to a certain point to put pressure on russia to show their displeasure over russia's policy in ukraine and over russia's annexation of crimea, with you don't want to go beyond a certain point, don't what to provoke russia and don't want a war with russia. all right, still ahead on the program we'll report on the

battles to control a rise of hard drugs in argentina. it's not just about selling drugs, argentina has now also become a producer of narcotics. for both domestic and overseas consumption. and massive flooding is on what is thought to be a grizzly legacy of war. we'll have a report from bosnia.

♪ ♪ hello again. reminder of the news here on al jazerra. egypt former army chief abdul al

sisi has won the election with 97% of the vote. they are celebrated in cairo. polling booth booths in syria wl stay open an extra five hours to giving them more chance to vote. a iassad is widely expected to . nato has announced more air and sea patrols from the bat tick sea for the black sea. the move puts further pressure on russia over tension with his ukraine. and there has been further fighting in eastern ukraine with dozens of people seeking refuge in makeshift underground shelters, eight ukrainian border guards were injured in the latest violence, there are calls for the borders to be strain thenned. from there david chater sent this report. >> reporter: the russians have condemned the deadly attack on this regional headquarters in luhansk. is tame came at the height of the fighting around the

ukrainian border post in the city. a jet fighter attacked the building with rockets. this footage shows how the quiet tree-lined square was transformed by a deadly cloud of shrapnel. the authorities in kiev claim it was caused by a missile. fired by the separatist fighters themselves, but the evidence on the ground contradicts that version. on the street, outside the headquarters, you can see where some of the salvo of rockets landed. five people were killed in the attack. and many more injured. the crowds at the scene were angry and wanted their voices to be heard. >> translator: ukraine should stop this war. there should be round table negotiations, stop destroying the russian-speaking citizens of ukraine, we'll never forget this. >> reporter: the local council has opened up all air raid shelters in the city which houses more than 400,000 people. instructions are being handed out to the population, them what to do with the air raid sirens go off.

>> it's an american tactic of oppression they have also used it in the middle east. >> reporter: moscow has committed ukrainian of war crimes, more and more civilians are getting caught in the conflict. ukrainian attacks on the separatist fighters are getting closer and closer to heavily-populated areas. the russian-sponsored idea of creating corridors to allow family to his flee could be the only why to stop a terrifying toll of casualties. david chater, al jazerra, luhansk. spain's will hand over the rule to his son in june. father and son haven't appeared since the a abdication. spain's monarchy is controversial. on monday 10s of thousands protested against the king. here is a report. >> reporter: his first appearance since the abdication, king juan carlos looked frail and u unstable.

his son and successor for instance felipe always by his side. the king may have lost his popularity in recent years, but for many people here, he bill always be remembered as a man who made democracy popular and united spain. >> catalonia, very different people, but all of us have a common king. and the king represents spain. >> reporter: with the grandeur and history of ceremonies like this seem out of the step with the reality of life under austerity. millions of spaniards can't find work and 10s of thousands of people came to the streets on monday calling for a referendum. >> translator: i think it would be better if the whole family abdicated. and allow us to be governed by politician that his we elect. >> reporter: but the spanish government is ignoring the critics. approving a draft law for the

succession, the law now needs to be passed by parliament. many people here think this was a political decision. it's far easier to pass succession law with a populist conservative party in government. er tharather than a socialist o. whatever reason they need to prove to the people of that spain really needs a monarchy. one of spain's most famous royal correspondence says this will be a difficult transition. >> translator: the challenge of the prince is to convince the spanish people that he can play a useful role. he needs to be tested. the situation is complicated as it was for his father. >> reporter: this is the beginning of a short farewell to the king. prince felipe has been groomed since birth for this job, but he will reign over a very different, more critical spain. al jazerra, spain. record flooding in the

balkans has uncovered human remains believed to belong to people that went missing during the war in the 1990s, found by teams fixing power lines damaged by the rains the discover is a raising hopes of family member who his have been waiting more than 20 years for news of their lovered ones. a report from bosnia and hertz ga vena. >> reporter: it was at this bridge that 16 men were shot by serb military in 1992. four of the victims were found in previous years, but they think this is also the site where the remaining 12 are buried. they were syrians from a nearby village. >> translator: so far we have found two complete body with his their hands tied behind their backs and laid face down in a shallow grave. >> reporter: families of those missing are hoping for a closure and what remains of the loved ones to be found the hope of them being found a life faded a

long time ago. he is one of those waiting to hear any news about his father who was executed by serb vinnie paramilitaries in 1992. ever since he has been searching for the remains of his father. >> translator: we hope the remains of my father will finally been found it's been more than 22 years and we still don't know where they are. i would like to find him and give him a proper burial. >> reporter: last week's record flooding in this region uncovered a number of human rains in the northern town. forensic experts have begun digging in the area to see they are connected to the regional war which took place in early 1990 this is just the first step since it will take a while to establish the circumstances of their death. it is a step in the right direction necessary for any reconciliation for this country still shaken by the war past.

finding those missing is important for all those who lost family members. he is a serbian veteran whose only son was killed during the war. he has dedicated his life for finding those missing. but he fears politics may be getting in the way. >> translator: findings like this are helping reconciliation, everybody, bosnians, croats, and serbs should address this from a human perspective. the only way for recognize sill indication is to stop getting politics in the way. >> reporter: the cleanup still in progress, just as with the consequences of regional war it will take a lot of time to heal. al jazerra, in bosnia herzegovina. israel's prime minister says he's deeply trucked by the united states decision to maintain relations with the new palestinian unity government. on monday the government was sworn in for the first time since hamas ousted fat a from garza seven years ago. the leader of a powerful pakistani political party has

been arrestered in london. he leads the mqm was taken in to police custody on suspicion of money launder, the arrest sparked fears of a violent backlash in the capital in pakistan where the party is based. >> reporter: for more than 20 years he has ran one of the most powerful political parties in his home in north london. now british police are investigating whether he was also involved in laundering money from there were i controls the movement party or mq march. despite living more than 6,000-kilometer as way. the mqm represents muslims who my greated from india too ar to pakistan. the party is accused of being behind the politically-motivated violence in a city home to more than 18 million people. reaction to his arrest was almost immediate there. panics shop keepers closed their businesses and many others rushes home snarl traffic over

fears of a violent backlash from mqm supporters. the party leaders have called for calm. >> the message on our side is very loud and clear, please remain calm. remain peace of the. this is the message: this is his ideologist. >> reporter: he has lived in exile in the u.k. since 1992 and is a british citizen, in recent weeks he has been requesting a pakistani passport from officials at the high commission in london. he will likely be interviewed by investigators, under british police regulations, they will then consult with the u.k.'s crown prosecution service about whether it will pursue former charges. whether that happens or not, it's now clear that the man who was widely seen as being able to operate above legal scrutiny, no longer can. al jazerra, islambad.

nigerian demonstrators have bon to court to overturn a ban on protests about the country's kidnapped girls, it's almost two months since boko haram snatched almost 200 girls from a remote village. accusations of a slow government response are at the heart of the court case,. >> reporter: those who have been organizing protests over the government's failure to rescue more than 200 girls kidnapped by boko haram in mid-april have shown up at the high courts until the capital to try to get a restraining order against the police who have issued honored to stop them gathering and protesting. the police basically say they are banning any protests over the missing girls in the capital, for security reasons. police claim to have intelligence and information that what they called dangerous elements are planning to detonate explosives at these meetings and gatherings, aimed aat embarrassing the government. the protesters tell us it's untrue.

the decision by the police to try to stop them gathering is politically motivated and designed to try and distract the public from the government's failure to rescue the girls. today what they are hoping to do is to first of all exercise what they say is their constitutional right to gather and protest. and they want that endorsed by the court and also an injunction against the police trying to stop them from gathering. what they hope in is in the secretary couple of days they can resume their previous tests and continue to put pressure on the nigerian government to find and rescue the girls. from the fast 15 years drug violence has been on the rise in argentina. it's now one of the biggest consumers of illegal narcotics in latin america. the city was a scene of a notorious drug-related triple murder two years ago. from there a report on how the police are no longer trust today deal with the du drug gang.

>> reporter: a national guards man reports to the location i've yes kently destroyed target. it's a bunker. the name given to scores of bunkers built by traffickers who sale cocaine and marijuana through these small slits, here the national guard has been sent tike over from the corrupt police. a desperate city where the murder rate is now four times the national average. something that is more than just a statistic t to the pastor. >> translator: the drug traffickers rushed in and without saying a word machine gunned my sounds and his two friends. i found him here by this bench. he died in my arms on the way to the hospital. >> reporter: this simple tribute to the victims reminds residents every day of just how far drug trafficking has advanceed in argentina. we are told that these endless narrow passage ways were built specifically by drug traffickers

in neighborhoods like this one, to allow them to escape with more ease. but it's not just about selling drugs, argentina has now also become a producer of narcotics, for both domestic and overseas consumption. in the last 15 years, argentina has gone from being mainly a narcotics transit country to one that consumption and produces drugs in league with mexican and columbian cartels. >> translator: it's part of a process where the respect for law has almost disappeared and where the government's unwillingness to confront it has created the ideal conditions for drug trafficking and consortiums to install themselves in argentine 56789 in rosario, so deep is local police come police that i on this day the national guard raided 10 police stations, including this one in charge of anti-narcotics. residents tell us the arrival of the national guard has helped reduce the violence. but not the trafficking.

which they insist continues unabated. as soon as the patrol car leaves. al jazerra, rosario. ♪ ♪ intersection of hardware and humanity and we're doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out our team of hard core nerds. kyle hill is an engineer. tonight, sharks, long feared for their ferocity, how they can protect us. the secret in in their skin. rachelle oldmixon is a neuroscience. turning a weed into a cycling marvel. i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist exploring spiders

in the rain forests of peru. secrets of civilizations past, long hidden from view, suddenly available from outer space. that's our team. now let's do some science. ♪ >> hi guys, i'm phil torres, welcome to a very are interes interesting show of "techknow." i'm here to meet sarah parcak, buried picture midst in egypt is to start 380 miles from earth. contracts about our-- secretes

about our history . helping learn about it. let's dig in. to help unearth secrets of the ancient past, we look down into the space and into the future. dr. sarah parcak is is a pioneering archaeologist. using satellite imaging, she was the first to map egypt's city of tanis. she then used the same technology to discover over 300 settlements. there are many people out there that may see you guys out there digging around in the dirt and wonder why. >> i think if we look back, there is so much we can learn from people in the past about who we are today. but the reality is, we haven't changed. we're the same people that built the picture midst.

and -- pyramids, when i look at one story, there's an inscription in the western desert and a guy is writing on the face of a cliff, man, i can't believe how much i had to drink. my boss is going to be so angry. i don't understand how i'm going to make it to work tomorrow. this is three thousand years ago! nothing has changed. >> well, the world has become incredibly complex with technology as the change. dr. parcak is using technology. >> focused in terms of our excavations and our survey. today as in all scientific fields, archaeology is facing a number of challenges regarding funding as well as access to sites on the ground. we absolutely need new scientific approaches to allow

us to know exactly where to go and what to deg. otherwise we're wasting money. we turned to the officials at dlilg dig. >> what is -- digital dig. our eyesight our ears we all do remote sensing. what we're talking about here is a camera in this case in space, taking pictures of objects without touching them. >> based in boulder, colorado, ball aerospace, is constructing the world view 3 for digital globe. the production core is an incredibly secure location to which we were given rare access.

the world view 3 satellite scheduled for summer, 2014, flying 380 miles above the earth, its enhanced image centers can see through dust, fog, smoke and haze. and can even see below the earth's surface. helping archaeologists like dr. sarah parcak, locate buried ancient advertise. >> we have five satellites that can take pictures of the entire globe. what we have on these satellites are what we call red, green, blue, what we see with our naked eye, and also infrared. we have added more bands in what we call short band infrared. about forestry, agriculture, geology. there is a lot more we can do with new bands on world view 3, we can't do with our constellation today. >> basically new bands of light

you are able to detect? >> visible light, this short band infrared gives us powerful information. >> world view 3 is going to be a game changer. it will allow archaeologists to see into the middle red. currently invisible signatures from geological samples that are in the ground or buried in the ground. >> we have provided data and information. our theory is, there are so many brilliant people out there, let's leverage their knowledge. dr. parcak created something we would never have been thinking of. we would never look for space archaeology. we're talking about the current planet how it is changing. we are actually talking about what happened 4,000 years ago. a pleasant surprise. >> not surprising is the alarming looting at these sites

which is now being detected at these space. >> following the arab spring, many of the guards at these sites simply went away. and so a number of individuals have gone after archaeological sites and what we have been able to do with the satellite data is we have mapped thousands of these looting pits. we call the field cultural racket eering. they trade these things for guns. so this is helping to support international insurgency situations. >> working with dr. parcak, oning egypt. >> in the right, on the left is taken at the end of 2012,

beginning of 2013, and you can see all these hundreds of little black holes, those are looting pits. >> they will have told me in egypt that since the revolution, we found this kind of looting has increased. it's very huge, for our heritage. i felt so bad because some people are not knowing what they are doing. the just blowing our heritage away. that's not good. because once you destroy it, you will not get it again. and you will destroy your history. >> the ultimate goal is to set up training programs so that we can train the really bright enthusiastic young egyptian men and women to use this new technology because ultimately it is the egyptian people who are responsible for protecting their heritage. >> does

dr. parcak ever get referred to as space indiana jones? >> she does but she says, indiana jones has got nothing on me. she is enabling these folks the way indiana jones never did. >> there are plenty of other uses for it too. >> people are using them in agriculture, to monitor humane crises, you can see how many refugees are arriving at sites, you can take the thermal imagesd monitor what's happening ought around the world. coming up next, kyle you're going to show us how nature can teach us some lessons. >> i'm taking a look at how mother nature is informing our technology. >> we want to hear what you think about these stories. join the conversation by

>> ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hey guys welcome back to "techknow." kyle, what do you have for us? >> now mother nature has had the benefit of trial and error engineering for 50 billion years. just the last 50 years we started to are follow her lead. here companies are mimicking her by biomimicry. let's take a look.

in 1903 when orville and wilbur wright invetted the first flying machine to transport man, they looked to birds, pigeons, for example, velcro created by george de mastral was mimicked by the looks at the end of bird bakes. biomimicry or copying mother nature's solution he from everything to symptomming bacteria to mixing water, could be just the thing to lead us out of the industrial revolution and into another one. thanks to one of the most feared oceanic species on the planet, reduced up to 40%. they spend their lives underwater and yet sharks remain algae, bacteria and barnacle-free.

on close examination, dr. tony brennan discovered that's due to the denticles, tiny, sharp, teeth-like shapes found all over the shark's skin, he was determined to duplicate them. >> when you try to draw a shark's skin it's very difficult to do on a flat piece of paper. so i modified them. when i modified it, i came up with the sharklet pattern. first i did on that algae all over the navy ship, it stopped it 80%. nothing had ever stopped that bug other than toxins. it is not a toxin. it is a physical structure. forms a film barrier, it was patented by sharklet technologies. it's invisible to the naked eye. but in sharklet's lab, they run numerous experiments. >> experiments with staph a where we exposed our surface

with sharklet and without sharklet. what you can see on the surface is, the side that doesn't have sharklet on there. >> what does it have to be, 90% reduction in bacterial reduction on this one plate? >> 99% reduction and that's typical of what we see on surfaces that are treated with our sharklet technology. >> shacialghts science believe their film can be applied to just about any surface. they have partnered with a fortune 500 company. to manufacture chair arms covered with sharklet. but for two million patients who get hospital acquired infections each year by covering hospital tubing from tracheal tubes to catheters, even block the growth of the most antibiotic resistant material. -- bacteria. >> our technology doesn't really care whether it's the strongest ones or weakest ones.

it doesn't give them the ability to attach. if they don't attach they don't grow and hopefully they don't make people thick. >> while sharks hold the key to making people healthy, bees are more efficient. >> they automatically help balance out the power of the building. the bee, with the brain, talk about a little computer, snifs out the trail, i know what happens to me, should be good for the hive. >> it's called a swarm theory, coming up with an algorithm. a device no bigger than a cell phone can be attached to large air conditioning units, tracking and adjusting usage. >> every other conditioner is

effectively, cooling the building properly but smooth out how the building is using power. >> so far, they are cutting energy consumption by up to 25% during peak hours, the busiest times. that can account for up to 60% of a client's total energy cost. >> this building is a theater in new mexico. what we do is put each of our controllers inside the aish -- air conditioners. notice how much lower it is on baseline. >> they didn't even realize, and they were saving money on energy. >> bingo. >> in the form of a vortex or funnel. >> that whirlpool shape is the same shape of a hurricane and tornado. we see it everywhere. so every living thing on earth has incorporated the shape of these whirl pools.

so every part of every living thing is built in accordance with this geometry. what we did is we analyzinged what that regime -- analyzed what that is. >> packs technologies outside of oakland, california manufactures a small six-inch device that can amix 10,000 gallons of water, that is essential to keep bacteria from forming. >> and the reason is a ring vortex is visually frictionless. you get this enormous benefit. if we reduce the amount of energy that municipalities have to use to mix that water, we are able to reduce the chemical content by 85%. >> currently 800 municipalities

is using the pax mixer. its shape is inspired by the sea shell. >> did it surprise you when you came up with this idea that nature could be so efficient that it could be more clever than anything that we've thought up in all of our brilliance? >> it's completely inevitable biomimicry. this is the time when the world changed from the industrial revolution approach to the biomimicry approach. >> it really seems like what they're topping is the end results of years of resolution. what about coching the process of evolution? >> there is a process that evolves over time. as the earth itself evolves. we are kind of coming the end product but if we wanted to make a skyscraper really like nature

did, we wouldn't copy the end result. we would follow these trial and error processes over the a long period of time. you can look to mother nature to solve these problems and it's a great place to start. >> great kyle. rachelle, coming up next, you go for a ride. >> it may be that bamboo can be a al jazeera america. we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. >> we pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police

deployed across the capital. >> we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. >> and follow it no matter where it leads - a

♪ ♪ >> hey guys welcome back to "techknow." i'm phil torres here with kyle and rachelle. rachelle tell me what can i do with bamboo to get around town? >> turns out you can build a bike. we were using bamboo for well over a century. but down in greensboro, alabama, you can build a bike with an innovative new design. why don't we check it out? deep in the heart of

rowe, alabama, the once thriving town of greensboro is struggling. a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. the catfish capital is struggling to keep its head above water. >> what happened when you came here? >> about 75% of the shops shut down. >> there was one thing they had plenty of. >> we have a lot of bamboo. you have to have something you're making out of it. >> pandor became somewhat of a one woman stimulus plan for governor'sboro, running the hero foundation, she tapped into the town's most unwanted resource to do it. bamboo bicycles aren't exactly a new idea. they have been around since the first one was introduced back in

1894. and now they are gaining popularity in small bike shops like this one. but none of them are like the bikes you finder here at hero bike shop. that's thanks to an industrial designer who took the time to get his hands dirty and develop a new innovative design. woods. >> it is. >> university of kansas professor lance rake knew he could set the local nuisance into a groundbreaking set of wheels. >> why do we choose this one? >> we want something that is big enough, big diameter, green, maybe three years old, seems like the strongest so this is perfect. but it cuts pretty easily. bamboo is just a grass. so -- ah! >> it's some grass. >> it's tough enough, tougher

than my saw right now. >> can i try? >> you might have better luck than i am. there you go. >> it ate the saw! all right, timber! >> got it? >> yes. >> so where are we headed next with the bamboo? >> it's only about three blocks. >> and this is how the supply chain moves at hero bikes. >> all right, turning left. >> for three weeks professor rake and a group of students tinkered with prototype bamboo frames finally coming up with a match up hybrid called the semester. >> which part makes this completely innovative? >> i think the most innovative part is actually being able to make a composite with having carbon fiber with the bamboo. >> so walk me through what we have here. >> we take our bamboo and split it. and the outside, we plane flat.

and angles on the sides, each one of these slats has a bevel on the side. now, to get the carbon fiber in it, we're using a carbon fiber sleeve. and this is just a piece of bicycle inner tube that's inside. we can put all this together with epoxy resin. the epoxy will hold all of this stuff together. if we insulate the inner tube, now, it's going to expand the carbon fiber to blow out the bamboo and make a very, very strong tube. it's a very you know low-tech way to get at a very high-tech solution. simplicity. >> thank you. the next thing we have to pay attention to the thicknesses. >> did you have to consider the skill level of the people you were working with? >> yes, in a couple of different ways. i realize i'm going to probably need people to build these bikes that are not bike-builders.

and we are trying to make jobs that are not a factory so much as a studio. background? >> other than riding bikes and tinkering, no. >> if you hadn't found this job, what were your prospects like? >> it was kind of rough. this has given me a opportunity to make a good living. >> another hero employment project. >> i was on a project, i have a job now can pay my bills and take care of my kids. >> so it sounds like it really changed your life. >> it worked out for the best. >> you can't have a bike without a ride. >> thank you. >> yes, awesome! i can't believe how smooth this bike is! this is really cool! so with what did you think? >> well, if you are not carefully i'm going to-- careful

i'm going to steal i.t. when you're not looking. the semester bike runs about $850. and every 50 orders means one more job for someone in greensboro. >> what we'd like to do is use what is here to create a better future. >> how does being involved in this make you feel? >> that part of being able to come back here and see this shop making these bikes, how rewarding is that? >> so i actually have to take on this old veneer. this is a little bit of the bamboo that they would turn into the bike. >> from that into this and from that into a bicycle. i really just love this story. because it's so well wrapped. they have this problem of invasive specious and this amazing solution that not only gets rid of the invasive specious but provides a solution

and makes a nice ride around town. >> and it's right in the downtown. >> are they sticking to bikes or others as well? >> they are doing skateboards as well. i'm glad they started with bikes because i really skateboards. >> thank you for sharing, next week on "techknow." >> follow our expert contributors on twitter, facebook, google plus and more.

>> this is joe berlinger calling, i'm the director of that documentary about the manning case and i know you had told my team not to call anymore-i just wanted to introduce myself, just to tell you a little bit about what we're hoping to do. can i just say one thing-which is, we're not here to talk about the guilt or innocence of mr.