talk to us on twitter at ajmcome pass or on facebook. see us next time. tonight in our debate, are u.s. elections a threat to american democracy. later in the panel, did the supreme court ruling open the door to legal acing ... given university students too much power. i'm imran garda, this is third rail. we can participate in the

political process and votes be counted. that is the true genius of america. there are politics broken. mar. >> when you have money and campaigns, you nullify the process. >> redistricting annexation, voter idea laws. >> disproportionally impact african-american and latinos. >> the entire thing really is a sham. there's always going to be money and elections. the the message you pay for... >> if you want to fix minorities voting, they are voting. >> america is not voting, replaceable. if you compare it to the rest of the world, it's a good system. >> we have the host of the young turks. and john, national review columnist and co-author of who is counting, how froudsters and

risk. >> thank you for joining us. is it whole thing a sham? >> absolutely. a study of 1800 policy positions public opinion is irrelevant. what they find in an interesting correlation is special interest opinion, a direct correlation, donor opinion. money controls everything, until you get money out of politics, and that did used to exist. we can't fix the system, and so the whole 2016 election is about who is going to sell out better to the corporate and rich interests. will it be hillary clinton, or will it be jed bush. >> why do we waste our time. >> fi first of all we don't hava

democracy. i would be frightened to death if we govern by opinion polls. given how long they've been wrong in the past.

i'm on the side of free and fair elections. >> wait a minute. that's what an election is, who do you agree with, mitt romney or president obama. that's an opinion poll. >> let me repeat what you said. you complained that the side that carries opinion polls is not the side that wins, i'm saying we lose elections to the side, we do not govern by public opinion polls, nor should we, are you taking it back. >> no, this is very important. do you believe the public opinion polls should be the basis of deciding what should be decided now. >> i believe the will of the american people is what we are supposed to do. you believe that elite's should rule. >> no, you are putting words in my mouth. >> i believe... position. >> i think that more than the elites, i'm glad we have 120 million americans believe the system is important enough.

>> i'm you want a system with donors eliminate options except those they are in favour of. ones that deal with tens of millions. >> we have a due op olly that it cluts other forces and acts -- includes other forces. election laws are designed that way. don't put words in my mouth that i believe in elites. i'm a supporter of democracy. it's something that is uphold. it's the purest form of democracy, and i'm a supporter of that. >> i want to ask you about money. we have with unanimity, americans thing the campaign system needs an overhaul. the biggest groups saw little return on investment in 2012. for example, american crossroads or crossroads g.p.s. the top spin, with a success

rate of 6.6% in the election. 93% of money spent went to attacking candidates who won anywhere. does that give you hope in the fact that no matter much money is spent, people will vote for who they want to vote for. >> that is misleading. >> in congressional elections people with the most money win 95% of the time. >> they are incumbents. they are more important. >> no, it's 95% of the time a person with more money ends. politics. >> i'm happy to fight incumbency. >> we can gree on that. the money raised is not a function. >> no, it is a function of how much they can please their donors. it's all about pleasing donors. >> when it comes to the big presidential elections, the

crossroads of the world, and the koch brothers. >> and the national education. >> you never mention those. >> you do now. >> i propose an amendment limiting everybody from spending money in politics. multinational corporations and the unions. >> requiring constitutional amendment. do you agree it requires it. >> i gree, and i want it, need it, we demand it in order to regain democracy. the reason it doesn't matter on the presidential level is there's so much free media. president obama doesn't need 100 billion to get a message out. he has free media more than he can handle. they are wasting money on the presidential race. when you talk about senate or congressional ration, they make all the difference. they dominate the air waves. if a candidate is horrific, no one finds out about it. >> in order to try to tackle unlimited contributions and

secret money, do you have to change the constitution? >> well, my opponent agreed we do. the answer is yes, we do. that's what the supreme court said. the bottom line is, though, if you actually want to tackle this and improve our political system, it's a fools errand to change the politician, we require 38 states to agree to a change. i can give you 13 that would constoleation... >> it will not be changed. >> let's talk about something realistic that can be done. >> what is realistic. >> at the moment you have elected officials beholden to donors, you grasp my back, i'll comfortable. >> we have can have direct democracy, where the vote ors, all of them -- voters, all of them, regardless of money, can sign a petition. half the states don't have that,

we bring it to the national level. you also, i think, can dramatically lower the ballot laws so independent and third party candidates have access. laws. >> you belief there's voter . >> i can tell you in 2008, when there was a close senate race in minnesota. it was proven 1200 voted, and the margin of victory was 317 votes. voter fraud happens in both parties. we have electronic voting machines that we don't spend enough money on, there's mistakes and glitches. people have to wait this line. we have to spend more on election, and the government short changes us, i believe, by not spending the money on atm machines, where you trust the results rather than elections, where you are not sure.

fraud. >> almost all this is to get you to do nothing. the system is broken, and the powers that be love the broken system, that we don't have a democracy. let me ask - when he says we can't get a constitutional amendment. anyone that doesn't want you to do anything says. we have an amendment to get women the right to vote. that was impossible. this is much easier. >> at the time the amendment was stratified 20 votes agreed. it was not controversial. >> 96% of americans agree money is influencing and corrupting politics. we have an easier chance of >> good afternoon, we interrupt our regular programs to bring you this briefing from president obama who has been talking to his advisors about isil. let's listen to the president. >> it's another chance for us on

behalf of the american people to express our gratitude for their extraordinary service around the world every single day. that includes the work that brings me here today. our mission to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group isil. there's a cause, a coalition that's united countries across the globe. some 60 nations, including arab partners. our comprehensive strategy is harnessing all elements of american power across our government. military, intelligent, diplomatic, economic, development and perhaps most importantly, the power of are our values. last month, i ordered additional actions in support of our strategy. i just met with my national security team as part of our regular effort to assess our efforts, what's working and what we can do better. secretary carter, chairman dempsey. i want to thank you and your team for welcoming us and your

leadership, including general austin, who's leading the military campaign. i want to summarize where we stand. i want to start by repeating that i've' since the beginning. this will not be quick. this is a long term campaign. isil is opportunistic and it is nimble. in many placess in syria and iraq, including urban areas, it's dug in among innocent civilian populations. it will take time to root them out. doing so must be the job of local forces on the ground with training and air support from our coalition. as with any military effort, there will be periods of progress, but there will be setbacks as we've seen with isil gains in ramadi in iraq and central and southern syria. it's important for us to recognizes the progress we've made. the coalition has mitt isil with

5,000 airstrikes. we've taken out thousands of fighting positions, tanks, vehicles, bomb factories and training camps. we've eliminate thousands of fighters, including senior isil commanders. over the past year, we've seen that when we have an effective partner on the ground, isil can be pushed back. in iraq, isil lost at the mosul dam. isil lost at mount sinjar. isil's lost repeatedly across kirkuk province. isil lost at tikrit. altogether, isil has lost more of a quarter of the populated areas it had seized. in syria, it lost kobane, in syria, talab. >> b. denying a supply route to raqqa, it's base of operations in syria. these are reminders that isil's

strategic weaknesses are real. isil is surrounded by countries and communities committed to its destruction. it has no air force. our coalition owns the skies. isil's backed by no nation. it release on fear, sometimes executing its own disillusioned fighters. it's unrestrained brutality often alienate those under its rule, creating more enemies. recent losses in syria and iraq prove isil can and will be defeated. we are intensifying our efforts against isil bases in syria, continuing to target oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations. we're going after the isil leadership and infrastructure in syria, the heart of isil that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world. partnering with other countries, sharing more information, strengthening laws and border security allows us to work to stem the flow of foreign

fighters to syria, as well as iraq, and to stem obviously the flow of those fighters back into our own countries. this continues to be a challenge and working together, all nations are going to need to do more but we are starting to see some progress. we are going to continue to crack down on isil's illicit finance around the world. if congress really wants to help in this effort, they can confirm mr. adam zubin, our nominee for pressurery inner secretary to lead this effort. this is a vital position to our counter terrorism efforts. nobody suggestion he is not qualified, he's highly qualified. unfortunately, his nomination's been languishing up on the hill and we need to send it to confirm him as soon as possible. meanwhile, we continue to ramp up our training and support of local forces that are fighting isil on the ground. as i've said before, this aspect of our strategy was moving too slowly, but the foul of ramadi

galvanized the iraqi government. we're speeding up training of isil forces, including volunteers from sunni tribes in anbar province. more sunni volunteers are coming forward. some are already being trained and they can be a new force against isil. we continue to accelerate the delivery of critical equipment, including anti tank weapons to iraqi security forces, including the peshmerga fighters. i've made it clear that we will do more to train and equip the moderate opposition in syria. now all this side, our strategy recognizes that no amount of military force will end the terror that is isil, unless it's matched by a broad herb effort, political and economic, that addresses the underlying conditions that have allowed isil to gain traction. they have filled a void and we have to make sure that as we push them out, that void is filled. as iraq cities and towns are lib

rated from isil, we're working with iraq and the united nations to rebuild the security, services and governance that they need, and we continue to support the efforts which prime minister abadi to forge an inclusive and effective government that united states all the people of iraq, shia, sunni, kurds and all the minorities and communities. in sir, the only way the war will end is an inclusive political transition to a new government without bashar al assad, a government that serves all syrians. i discussed this with our gulf cooperation partners at camp david and during my recent call with president putin. i made it clear the united states will continue to work for such a transition. a glimmer of glued news is i think an increasing recognition on the part of all the players in the region, that given the extraordinary threat that isil

poses, it is important for us to work together as opposed to cross purposes to make sure that an inclusive syrian government exists. while the focus of our discussion was on iraq and syria, ideology poses a great threat beyond the region. we've seep deadly attacks in tunisia, kuwait and egypt's sinai peninsula. we see growing isil presence in libya and attempts to establish foot holds across north africa, the middle east, the caucus us and southeast asia. we've seen talks in ottawa, sidney, front and copenhagen. i've called on the international community to unit against this scourge of violent extremism. in this fight, the united states leads. when necessary to prevent attacks against our nation, we'll take direct action against terrorists. we'll continue to also partner

with nations from afghanistan and nigeria to build up their security forces. we're going to work day and night with allied partners to disrupt partners and for attacks and to smother isil cells which may be trying to develop in other parts of the world. this includes remaining vigilant in protecting against attacks here in the homeland. now i think it's important for us to recognize the threat of violent extremism is not restricted to any one community. here in the united states with that we've seen all kinds of homegrown terrorism and tragically recent history reminds us how a single individual with actions to dangerous weapons can inflict harm upon americans. our efforts to counter violent extremism must note target one community because of their background, including patriotic muslims that are partners in keeping our country safe.

that said, we also have to annual that isil has been effective to reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around the world, including here in the beyond, and they are targeting muslim communities around the world. numerous individuals have been arrested across the country for plotting attacks or attempting to join isil in syria and iraq. two men inspired by isil opened fire in garland texas and because of success in improving home land security, it's hard tore carry out 9/11 scale attacks like 9/11 here at home, but the threat of lone wolves or small cells of terrorists is complex. it's harder to detect amounted harder to prevent. it's one of the most difficult challenges that we face and preventing these kind of attacks on american soil is going to require sustained effort. i want to repeat the good news is that because of extraordinary

efforts from law enforcement as well as our military intelligence, we are doing a better job at preventing any large scale attacks on the homeland. on the other hand, the small individual lope wolf tax or small cells become hashedder to detect and more sophisticated using new technologies. that means we're dog to have to pick up our game to prevent these attacks. it's also true why ultimate i in order to defeat terrorist groups like isil and al-qaeda is going to require us to discredit their ideology, the twisted thinking that draws vulnerable people into their ranges. as i've said before and i know our military leaders agree, this countering extremism i guess not simply a military effort. it ologies are not defeated with guns, they're tee feed by better ideas, a more attractive and compel vision. the united states will do our

part by working with partners to counter isil said hateful propaganda especially on line. we'll reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be with war in islam. we are fighting terrorists distorting muslim and who's victims are mainly muslim. we are going toness on partnering with muslim community as they seek the dignity they deserve. wore going to expect those communities to step up in terms of pushing back as hard as they can in conjunction with other people of good will against these hateful ideologies in order to discredit them mosh effectively particularly when it comes to what we're teaching young people. this battle or matters and minds is going to be a generational struggle. it's not going to be lost or won by the united states alone. it will be decided in the countries and communities that isil targets.

it's going to be up to scab scrl lars and citizens to reject the sectarianism that fuels the conflicts upon which terrorists are currently thriving. it will be up to government to say always the political and economic grievances that terrorists exploit. nations that empower citizens to decide their own destiny, that upholds human rights for all its people, creates opportunities for their young people can be powerful antidotes to extremist ideologies, those are the countries that will find a true past ner in the united states. in closing, let me note we celebrated 239 years of american independence. across more than two current wees, we faced bigger, much more

fore biddable things than this, communism, terrible natural disasters, 9/11, and every time, every generation, our nation has risen to the moment. we don't simply endure, we emerge stronger than before and that will be the case here. our mission to destroy isil and to keep our country safe will be difficult. it will take time. there will be setbacks as well as bog, but as president command are in chief i wants to to our men and women in uniform serving in this operation, pilots, crews on the ground, our personnel, not only on the ground but at as he, you are intelligence teams and diplomatic teams, i want to thank you.

will ultimately prevail. thank you very much, everybody and thank you to the team up here with me. they're doing aboutstanding job. >> he's going to take a question. >> every service man listening today is wondering are you going to veto the defense bills that are going to pay me? what is your latest thinking on that, because we heard secondhand through statements of policy that your advisors would threaten a veto, what's your take, we are? >> our men and women are going to get paid and if you'll note that i've not been president for six and a half years and we've had wrangling with congress at the past. >> ok, we'll deal with this, this question and this answer a little later in our newscast. i want to get to our senior white house correspondent, mike viqueira, let's talk about what we heard from the president here. again, the goal is to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. the president was clear it's going to take a lock time. in essence, there wasn't an

announcement of any revision of strategy, any new shifts in policy and strategy, but an update on where things stand. is that how you heard snit. >> that's pocketly how i heard it. it was interesting in that respect. here we have president obama making a rare trip across the potomac into arlington, visiting the pentagon to get a firsthand briefing from an array of military brass and security officials in the pentagon. i think the president i don't wants to he was com about her, but certainly a sober minden assessment of where things are. he finished up where he began, warning everyone that we are in this for the long haul, the united states military, intelligence apparatus, as well as citizens within the united states. he start off by saying this wasn't going to be quick and concluded by calling it a generational struggle for hearts and minds in the middle east. certainly if you look at the big

picture, there are certain reasons to be pessimistic. up heard the president emphasize the positive, victories at kobane, mount sinjar, the mosul dam, didn't mention the situation in ramadi, which was lost by rackee forces. the back and forth battle in syria where isil forces she in pitch battles not only in syria, but in kirkuk, as well, in northern iraq. the training situation, the president putting fort his plan to train the vetted opposition, hardly off the ground at this point, only a handful being trained. he mentioned the difficulty of getting iraqi troops to come and be trained. >> appreciate it. more from you later in our 7:00 p.m. newscast. let's get to jami macintyre. mike, if you would, stay with me for a second.

i think you're right, that the president seemed to be suggesting we need our coalition partners, we need the hearts and mind campaign. if you think this is does the united states is going to be able to defeat, you need to think again that we're going to need all stake holders to come to the table in order to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. did you hear it that way, as well? >> yes, tony, a couple of hours ago, the questioning was about the situation now around raqqa which is the capital within syria of isil, north of where the i.p.g. has taken small ground only to have them threatened again by isil. carter was asked about that. he says this is in fitting with our policies, the united states really stepping up the aerial

bombardment over raqqa, one official counts, 18 strikes and taking out of bridges, of fighting units of isil. it fits into the strategy in that they are relying on forces on the ground, not of course u.s. troops, boots on the ground, is part and parcel of their effort which has gone nowhere to train the syrian opposition and stops and starts, the fitful start to the president's ambition to retain iraqi forces. here you have the kurdish forces coming out of northern iraq and kurdistan and elsewhere in the region, we see the penalty walk away after taking that question on the defense operation act before the congress. but you see, that is part and parcel of the president's strategy. >> we keep hearing that there's a tremendous prop ghana network,

on line recruiting from isil is strong. china is trying to hack everything in sight. do you get any answers whether ice i will is taking down the sites they use to compute. >> obviously they have not, this is an ongoing problem and the message still a massive flow of young europeans and even some americans he. >> appreciate it. more from you later. in our 7:00 p.m. newscast. we'll see you back here at 7:00 p.m. for more news here on al jazeera america.

"techknow". yoament yosemite national park. low hello and welcome. 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 the wildfire burning in yosemite national park is astounding. larger than the city of chicago at a cost of more than $100 million. the fire that is destroying hundreds of square miles of sensitive ecosystem habitat, for assistance in controlling this inferno, firefighters are turning to the u.s. military for help. called into service and flying high above the flames and smoke of yosemite is the m 1 drone.

following tours in iraq and afghanistan, the predator's eye in the sky, remotely piloted aircraft starts its mission east of los angeles. on first thought it's just a completely unusual piece of technology. it looks like a strange alien bug. it's extremely ea aerodynamic from almost a different planet. >> it is an mq 1 drone aircraft. 55 feet long, bigger than your average general aviation ition plane. >> i see one camera here and one here. >> and this is multiple cameras and he can control it and move it. >> and what are the specs on the

cameras, are they intended for different uses? >> a daytime, nighttime, infrared camera, detect body heat and temperature. >> is this sensor the most expensive piece of equipment on the aircraft? >> the ball is approximately half the cost of the aircraft. >> this is the aircraft that's launching today? >> this is launching. our crew is doing their pr preflight checks and making sure the craft is ready to take off. >> and where are they going? >> they are going up to the eye area and check the fire as it's burning. >> and how long can it stay up? >> with a full fuel load it can stay up over 20 hours. >> where are we headed now? >> this is where the pilots and the sensor operator sit when they control the aircraft. >> this is the cockpit

essentially. >> correct. >> the pilot sits on the left and the navigator on the right. >> they are flying the aircraft right now. >> exactly. >> the sensor ball is what the operator is operating. >> that'that's correct. >> it's heading off to yosemite and there will be a hand-off to march air force base. for about three weeks, jeremy has been embedded with the 160th reconnaissance unit. >> tell me about the magnitude of this fire up at yosemite. >> the accessibility of this fire is what makes it extremely complicated and why it's grown to the size it has. with the accessibility on the -- with the inaccessibility of this

fire, there it is, the information is so rapid, so accurate, so immediate, that it's kind of hard to believe that i ever walked these things in the past. we are able to watch realtime information, i can see where the fire is, what the fire is doing, advantageous areas to get firefighters to, maybe catch it in certain areas that you wouldn't see with the naked eye. >> and that potentially lifesaving information is being put to use here. >> a really big operation here. >> at the california rim fire's incident command center near yosemite national park. >> this is the air national guard mobile emergency center that we've rolled out here to hope facilitate communication in support of the rim fire incident. so this is all of where the magic happens. >> it can throw embers up to a mile ahead of it. so you need to scan a wide scan and then any heat issues that we find. >> one of the big advantages

that the mq 1 brought for us was a way to geolocate the fire. to put geographic coordinates against something and immediately transmit those to us where we can transmit those to a map and make them readily available, invaluable. >> what we're looking at is the video feed from the mq 1. the smoke is masking the fire so it's hard to determine where the fire really is. here he's blended in the infrared, so we can clearly see where the fire line actually is. >> and captain, how do you feel about how this went? >> i think it was a huge success. i've seen some violent things but i'm not sure i've ever seen anything more violent than how strong this fire was, how much it was crowning, how much it was moving and how difficult it was for folks to contain. and i

believe 100% that we made a huge difference. >> what has access to this technology brought to the firefighting effort? >> i'd have to give you the primaries, is the life safety, the ability to keep an eye on fire. with regard to firefighting, i think we are scratching the surface as far as its potential. >> what i love is that it actually works. you know, this was kind of a test run but it really helped those people on the ground. >> it goes beyond firefighting for sure. search and rescue, there are all kinds of cool applications. >> how forthcoming were they with their information? >> they were completely open, super-helpful, very excited and seemed to jump at the opportunity to shed this technology in a the different light. >> we're going from one type of

hot spot to a completely different type of hot spot. crystal, tell me about this. >> my assignment was to identify the hot spots of criminal knowledge identification. and i got to ride along with two different police departments to see how that works. >> that sounds very cool. we'll check that out when we come back. we want to hear what you think. join the conversation by joining

>> welcome back, guys. crystal, you were about to take

us on the most awesomely nerdy police ride along ever. >> it was awesomely nerdy. go along with police officers and the computer was influencing where we went and when we got there we saw some pretty interesting stuff so let's take a look. >> roll call, santa cruz police department, the calm before the storm. >> it's coming around. take a look. >> our crime stats are scho showing the efforts you are making and overall we are down 12% on all crimes. >> lock load and hit the road. they are armed with an entirety new type of law enforcement weapon. the ability to predict where crime is going to occur. we've rolled out with them to see how it works. is. >> so downstairs here this is where we house the operations

division of the police department. >> deputy chief steve clark is a 20 year veteran of the santa cruz police department. he knows the place inside and out. he also knows where it needs to go in the future. a knowledge that led him to an innovative predictive police software called predsel. >> we were focusing on burglaries, automobile burglaries and stolen cars. this showed us where these were likely to occur. at that point we figured out we had something here. >> it sounded like a tom cruise movie. >> it really doesn't know anything about the demographics of individuals who live in that area. what the economic statuses of these individuals are or anything about the person. it's all

area-specific. >> today predpul is more than a toy to tinker with by the scpd. it is a tool in their arsenal. >> this is a live map of where we think predictive zones are. the orange dots is where he woo have auto thefts. you'll see locations where we've had auto theft, but there isn't anything around them. the algorithm weighs those and lets us know if this is a significant thing to be concerned about for this are shift. >> i have an academic science background. data is king. when you think of police work you think of guys going with their gut and using instinct to motivto -- motivate where they d be going. what have you learned from predpull?

>> we are telling where you the best locations are to be on any given time of the day. and police what you see. >> police what you see. and as it turns out when you know what to look for and more importantly where to look for it, you can see a lot.. >> there's a hot spot in this neighborhood, which looks like seabright and murray. >> let's look at seabright and murray, i've got people sitting in this car, in this neighborhood. why on earth would anybody sit in a car in a neighborhood? now watch their reaction to me. >> what's going on guys? how are you? >> good, how about you? >> we're good man, just cruising enthuse the neighborhood. do you guys live here? >> we're working at the boardwalk. >> what do you do there man? what do you supervise? >> rides. >> rides. >> you at any time look like you stopping. all right.

>> you have a good day. >> you too. >> there you go and i can't describe it to you but there was something about the way they reacted to me. >> and now they're leaving. >> and now we have an open car door here but i've got an open gate on this house as well. so we're going to get out and we're going to take a look at thi at this. police department. is this your car with the door open? >> we just came home. >> thank you. >> you bet, we're patrolling your neighborhood. i'm sure you have heard about the predictive policing model. your house is in the middle of one of the zones. >> assault down 9%, burglaries down 11% and robberies down 27%. meanwhile auto theft recovery was up 22% and arrests were up 56 percent. >> we're seeing how santa cruz

is using this for police work and it's administrator spreading to other cities in the country. for the past three months the seattle pd has been incorporating the new software into its patrols. >> i think any police agency is based on culture, you know we're tied to our past. and this is sort of a paradigm shift in how officers have done policing. before it was random patrol and go find something, right? so you're successful if you write that ticket, if you make an arrest. but in this, if you're out there and your presence alone dissuades a criminal from committing a crime, you're successful. >> for all the agencies using predpul it's about using creation with instinct and ringing up results. >> it's amazing what you'll see as you drive through a neighborhood the things that pop out to you, the anomalies. he's got his pants about three

quarters of the way down and he's walk through this business district. we're going to go stop and talk with him actually. what's going on man? what are we doing? how much did you have to drink? >> i don't drink that all. >> what's your medication of choice? >> marijuana. >> you looked like you used something a little bit more. you know what, arms behind your back. >> officers it's true. >> a little episodic here. >> we're here in the hot spot and then your instincts kicked in and you saw he was exhibiting suspicious behavior. we sat down stopped and talk with him and that's when you really start to get clues. >> he is really sort of the type of person that we need to be contacting and working the predictive policing system. that's intuition and instinct and good old gut feeling, that's here. >> it is easy to see why

predpull is good with santa cruz, we did ge come up with something else. >> here's my two daughters. hey guys, what are you doing? they're going to totally give me grief about it. >> that was super-cool. so how did you feel doing that? >> the really cool thing i thought about the use of the predictive policing model is not that it just helps us predict about crimes but it also gets the officers in the areas where they're needed. making connection with people in the neighborhood or shopkeepers in those high crime areas and that's really helping them do more than just make arrests. >> amazing. like computers are connecting the police to the community. cool, to see kind of similar to marita's story, where l this technology is making us safer.

same thing. lindsay, yours is a little bit different. >> mine is totally different. when i was told i was doing a story about two young guys experimenting with mushrooms, i had a different idea of what

>> hey guys welcome back to "techknow". i'm here with crystal, lindsay

and marita and they're telling me about their experiments this week. lindsay, tell me about your mushrooms. >> you won't believe this but we're talking about packaging goods. >> yeah, you know every cubic inch ever this soil here is teeming with millions of inches of mycilliul. there are fungi growing everywhere. a. >> a walk through the woods is pure pleasure but with two geniuses like gavin and evan, you are sure to stumble on something scientifically complex. >> you see this growing into the lock.

>> and somehow it involves a mushroom. >> we're here at design. this is a truly revolutionary biomaterials company. we're taking farm waste and mixing it with mushrooms and throwing away plastic foam used in packaging. >> why is this so important? what's the problem with styrofoam? >> there's about $10 billion to $20 billion of styrene products used, it's not that it's bad but it's fundamentally incompatible with the earth's biosphere. >> almost every big product we buy comes packaged in this material. but here's the problem with it. these are made from unsustainable petrochemicals.

it can take a billion years for this to biodegenerate and leave the earth. >> we use mushrooms as a resin and grow them in a mold for shapes like auto parts. if i were to look into that tree structure or along the forest floor what you'll find is a vast network of these uni organisms. >> do you grow mushrooms? >> we never grow mushrooms, the original concept of use be mushroom roots, and combination

of agricultural waste, didn't come into fruition for several months when i got together with gavin. >> we're about to show you how it works in seconds. the waste is cleaned then the mycelium gets added. then it goes through a trommel, a machine that grinds the waste. >> this reminds me of willy wonka and the chocolate factory. >> the mycelium does what the mycelium does, grow. all you have to do is stunt the growth of the mycelium so it can be sold to corporations like dell computer

and other fortune 500 companies. >> i can take this package material and actually bury it in my yard and within a couple of months it will biodegrade and add nu nutrients to the soil. >> they are now developing home insulation. >> welcome to the tiny house. >> so what is the tiny house? >> so our tiny house is both these walls are filled entirely with mushroom insulation. that provides the insulation and the structure of the walls. >> and what was really impressive about these mushroom building materials were their resistance to fire. >> don't try this at home, kids. >> we're going to leave that there and it will keep burning for a while. as you can see, it is not the safest thing to have in your house. and we can keep an open flame on

this for a few minutes before i.t. becomes any danger. >> that's amazing. >> but the mycelium itself has structural integrity. but overall you're going to have house. >> do you guys people like you're having an impact on humanity? >> we see this looking forward centuries not just days. we want to make sure this environment is available for our grandchildren and you're grandchildren' chirp and that we're taking best use of the natural resources that are provided us today. >> i absolutely love that story. there are two guys changing the world using fungi. >> they are. both of them and everybody who works at ecovative really feels like fungi and mycelium in particular, can completely change the way we package and

use other materials too. >> i was looking at the home insulation and wondering about that application. the problem is, it's biodegradable. stuff eats it. i'm not sure i want things eating my home. >> that's true and that's something they are still working with, trying to adapt to the materials. you know it's designs inspired by sanitary which i thir is totally -- think is totally totally cool. >> amazing. so interesting to hear about forrest fires , field work and packaging. >> go yind the -- behind the scenes at aljazeera.com/"techknow". from all of us here at "techknow", happy new year. we look forward to bringing you more innovative stories that

come our way in 2014. >> these people have decided that today they will be arrested. >> i know that i'm being surveilled. >> people are not getting the care that they need. >> this is a crime against humanity. >> hands up... >> don't shoot. >> hands up... >> don't shoot. >> what do we want? >> justice. >> when do we want it? >> now. >> explosions going on... we're not quite sure - >> is that an i.e.d.? >> "faultlines". al jazeera america's award-winning investigative series. monday, 10:00 eastern. on al jazeera america.

this is al jazeera. this is al jazeera. >> hello there i'm felicity barr and this is newshour a little from london. coming up a new finance minister for greece. but all will remain the same, the banks will remain closed for at least two days. a bomb kills more than 40 people in nigeria, boko haram are suspected. the iraqi artillery steps up its