captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc ev >> woodruff: gooing. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the governor of puerto rico resigns amid massive protests on the island then, two members of congress assess the impact of former special counsel robert mueller's testimony. and, as the global bee population declines, researchers develop new technologies to support agriculture and avoid foodrises. >> our food will get way more expensive, so not only is it a huge public health con there's huge economic ramifications. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible bthe corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the people of puerto rico celebrated today after embattled governor ricardo rossello announced he is resigning at the end of next week. crowds turned out to mark the occasion after days of protests demanding that rossello step down. >> ( translated ): his resignation was expected there was too much pressure. the whole country is against hii t now he is one of the most hated people in the whole world.

he had to resign. he had to leave.oo >>uff: we'll have a detailed look at all of this, after the news summary. in the day's other news, the white house accused a federal coort of judicial "tyranny," blocking new asylum rules. s the polift denied asylum to migrants at the southern border who pass through another untry first. the judge in san francisco put the policy on hold, g a final court decision. at superceded a ruling b another judge who let the policy stand. the white house had praisethat ruling. the u.s. house of representatives today passed a nao-year budget agreement and sent it on to the . the white house and speaker nancy pelosi worked out the deal, with increases for defense and domestic programs, and a suspension of the debt limit. supporters on both sides said it shows they can put aside politics for the national interest. >> this is an example,ke mr. sp of how we can

restore the faith of the american people in their government. avoid a shutdown, act responsibly, reach agreement, create consensus, showing them we can be responsible stewards of the economy. >> this deal keeps our economy on solid ground because the united states will avoid defaulting on our financial obligations. think of that. with this agreement, we continue to invest in rebuilding our nation's defense and protecting strategic interests arou the world. >> woodruff: a number ofve conservaepublicans opposed the agreement as fiscally irresponsible. the house oversight committeeub authorized newenas today aimed at the president's daughter ivanka trump, r husband jared kushner and other white house officials. they had refused to hand over communications sent by private email and messaging. democrats say using such accounts for official business violates federal law. the president has repeatedly attacked hillary clinton for

using a ivate email server as secretary of state. in britain, ney minted prime minister boris johnson urged the european union to negotiate a new brexit deal. he arrived in the house of commons to heckling by opposition lawmakers, and he warned again that britain will leave the e.u. on october 31, with or without a deal. meanwhile, record-breaking heat baked britain and the rest of europe for a second day. k was 105 in belgium, the hottest since recoping began in 1833. northern germany had a record 108 degrees. so did paris, where people flocked to fountains and pools to cool down. aringespite the temperatures, tourists largely seemed to take it in stride. >> we've had such a good time. the parisians have been so accommodating, we've been getting water wherever we go, we got to play in the fountain. this was amazing.ly we're reaving a good time. >> we have bottles of water with us and we've put sunscreen onl

e time. and we try to stay in the shadef >> woo the heat came from an air mass that drifted north from the sahara desert and got trapped by other weather systems over europe. temperatures are expected to begieasing by tomorrow. thousands of people protested today in pakistan, against prime minister imran khan, just days after he met with president ump. the opposition rallies came on the first anniversary of khan's election. they charged that his government has ruined the country's economy. they also accused khan of letting mr. trump dictat policy, at their white house meeting. some 115 people are feared drowned off the coast of libya after eir crowded wooden boat capsized. more than 130 others were rescued. it happened near al khoms, east of tripoli. the victims were mainly from african and arab countries. united nations refugee officials say more than 600 migrants hav died this year, trying to sail

from africa to europe. back in this country, 16 u.s. marines were arrested today at camp pendleton, california for crimes including smuggling migrants across the border with mexico. none of the marines are involved in enforcing border security, but their base is just 55 miles away. sothose arrested also face drug charges. and, on wall street, stocks slipped, on disappoi corporate earnings reports. the dow jones industrial average lost 129 points to close below 27,141. the nasdaq fell nearly 83 points, and the s&p 500 was down almost 16. still to come on the newshour: puerto rico's governor resigns following scandal and massive protests. "aft mueller." two members of congress evaluate the impactf robert mueller's testimony. attorney general barr reinstates the federal death penalty.

and much more. >> woodruff: there's a great deal of excitement in puerto rico this evening, even a sense that a revolution has been mounted against the island's government and governor ricardo rossello. while the celebrations are underway, as john yang tells us, there are enormous challenges ahead. >> yang: there was jubilation in the streets of san juan today, for the thousands of protesters who had demanded the resignatiop rto rico governor ricardo rossello. last night, outside his official residence in old san juan, demonstrators huddled around their phones, awaiting rossello's announcement. >> ( translated ): despite having a mandate from the d ople who elec democratically, today i feel that continuing in this position presents d

insurmountabficulties. having heard the complaints, un've taken the following decision: i anno to you today that i will be resigning as governor, effective friday, august 2nd. >> yang: the reaction was immediate. >> ( translated ): we wanted ricky to lve not just because of the obscenities and insults we've seen on chat messages, but also because of the corruption we've put up with for decades. within this ruckus, erto rico has demanded some respect. >> yang: rossello's final crisis was sparked nearly tks ago with corruption charges against six members of his administration. then came a leak of offensive chat messages between rossello and his aides that denigrated women, lgbtq people, political opponents and even hurricane survivors. and amid grong protests, puerto rican lawmakers said they would begin impeachment proceedings if rossello refused to resign.e andal resulted in more than a dozen resignations, including the island's secretary of state, who was poised to

succeed rossello. now, justice secretary wanda vázquez is in line for the office. but some puerto ricans say shewa not aggressive enough in pursuing an investigation into the leaked chat messages. for many residents, the frustration reflects years ofec omic recession, austerity measures imposed by the eafinancial control board d by congress, and anger over corruption and a sluggish government response to 2017's hurricane maria. the succession process, already complicad by cabinet vacancies, is far from settled. analysts say someone other than judice secretary vazquez co end up as governor. new yorkimes correspondent frances robles has been covering the unfolding drama in san juan-- which is where she is tonight-- and joins us by skype. frances robles, thanks for being with us. pe saw the scenes of the jubilation of the ople on the streets of san juan today. as you were out there talking to them, what does this moment mean to them?

>> this is a critical juncture, john. for e thing, it's a victory. there is no other way to describe it. they see this as a popular upriding in which the people of puerto rico won. but it's also a kemy moent, because if they use this opportunity to put kind of a same-old character of the same-old party politics in the position of governor, then it's going to be a huge setback for them. the people are very, ver of that. >> yang: talk about that. because as we mentioned, the justice secretary is in line because of the cabinet vacancy, the secretary of state, but there is -- does she command a lot of support? >> oh, not atll. you already see the was #rickiereuninco, telling the governor to rsign. and there were plenty of hashtags sying juan that renuncio.

they don't want her. she used to be the only budswoman for the wom's affairs office and the feminist groups didn't like her. so she is a really coplicated candidate for that position, and i don't even think she wants . >> yang: the succession is dictated by the constitution. is there aay w that vazquez could not be the successor under the constitution? >> i think there is a really good chance that vazquez is not go be the successor. her statement last night was really telling. she said something like, "i wil assume this responsibility if necessare " you know, y there was "if necessary." so the trick really is going tot t the governor has this vacancy in his cabinet, these etary of state position. he is still governor until next friday, and he is within his rights until ne friday to fill that position. so if he fills that position and if that peson is confirmed by the senate and the house of puerto rico, then that personis going to become governor of puerto rico, not the secretary

of justice. >> yang: so much of the frustration expressed in these protests against rossello came from deep-seated problems, the economy, the debt crisis. how much is going to be solved by rossello leaving, and how much is going to be sort of hard slogging ahead? >> a lot of it is endemic, but a lot of it isn't endemic. a lot of the discontent here has very specifically to do with what this administration did, how it handled hurricane recovery, how it handled the deaths, the corruption of members of its administration. so while the endemic issues are not going to go away, if they have a new administration that seems much more responsive to sue people, i think that person could have more ccess. there's no question it's a big challenge. it's going to be a really tough challenge. >> yang: will they, the tion that's been describ in the system seems pretty

deep-seated. is this newim re the new governor really going to be more responsive to the people? >> that's a really good question. that's what... that's t question everyone is waiting for an answer on. if they hire, and they are basically hiring a governor, because they're nming a person they know is about to going governor, a party hack, the people are not going to have it. they will be initing for all of those people to get back on the ain tomorrow, because they now have had that taste of victory, and they now know, hold on a second, our say does matter here. so that is the question.th ca find a person who is int just about the same old party machinery gicontracts to their cronies and embezzling money? that's the history of puerto rico that people are trying to change. >> yang: could this sense of ctory, this sense of empowerment lead to a greater push for more sovereignty on

part of puerto rico? >> i don't know, because, you know, you have to remember that re on of the people that we the street were people that want statehood. so the beauty of this movement was that it was people of all of the different parties, the people who want more sovereignty, the people who want full sovereignty, and the people who want to join the union. it wasn't about that. that was the first time in puerto rican politics that anis e, a problem, a crisis did not boil down to party lineshe . and so that was kind of what was really special about it. >> yang: frances roes of the any timesfrom san juan, thanks so much. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: one day after erformer special counsel r mueller testified on capitol hill, the fallout continues over what it means for presidentp,

tror republicans who support him, and for democratsim who wanteld accountable. a short time ago, i spoke with represen of new york, chairman of the house democratic caucus, and began by asking abouicism that the hearing didn't produce anything new. >> robert mueller established three important things that spring forth from his report. one, russia attacked oury democr sweeping and eystematic fashion for the sol purpose of trying to help donald trump and artificially place hin at 1600 pensylvania avenue. two, that the trump campaign welcomed russian interference and assistance the highest level, which is quite an extraordinary finding. and three, when a cna investigation was launched into trying to figure out what happened with respect to russia's attack on ourhe democracy, is substantial evidence that exists that

demonstrates that the president himself engaged in obstruction of justice. o woodruff: but as you kw, the special counselr, mr. muelepeated that he found no evidence to move conspiracy, which is what is required to move ahead with any sort of legal cas and he chose not to reach a decision on the question of obstruction. so the question is: have the republicans now frankly gained the upper hand in l of this? >> not at all. this is not an issuer fo democrats or republicans. this should be an issue about what's right for th american people. because we cannot tolerate a circumstance where a hosti foreign power interferes in our elections, impedes the integrity ef the democratic process in order to uphold own self-interest, not the well being of the american pe and that's exactly what happened in 2016 in terms of russia's

attack on our democracy. what was established by robert mueller, aea he was very cl on this, was that even if he did not find criacminal consp with respect to coordination between rus asian spid operatives at vladimir putin's direction and dorald trump members of the trump campaign, that the president of the uni, d stat he a democrat or be he a dpmocrat or reublican, should be held to a higher standard of decency and respect for rar dem. ueat was quite an extraordinary statement by bobller, incause he's been so limited sharing his views otherwise. >> woodruff: there is no more evidence according to your leadership to proceed with apen hment inquiry. we don't see any movement by the justice depa. so what are democrats left with? are you not further away today from impeachment than you were

before? >> well, from my standpoint, thistas never about whethe proceed with impeachment or not to proceed with impeachment.o we have tolow the facts, apply the law, and be guided by e united states constitution consistent with our responsibility as meof the house of representatives, which is a separate and co-equal branch of government. we don't work for donald trump.o we worthe american people. and the constitution is very clear. we have a an article 1 constitu serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. we have oversight responsibilities. we need the make sure we undertake them. we suldn't overreach we shouldn't over politicize. we shouldn't overinvestigateo but we need follow the truth and elucidate that to the american people, gmided siply, judy, by this principle: no single individual in america is above the law, not even the president of the united states of america. >> woodruff: but te question remains: where do you go from here we know democrats are issuing a

subpoena for the president's former legal counsel, don mcgahn. there is interest in otherd people aroe president. so far none of those individuals have been willing to provide more information some where do the democrats go from here? what's next?t >> importestion. all of those individuals are part of a massive executive branch cover-up that is taking place and tisat uite extraordinary, unlike anything we've seen since riarnixon. there is a dispute right now between the congress in terms of our rightful oversight ability to secure witnesses andnd information,he executive branch is stonewalling day after rty after day. we expect the cwill continue to rule in our favor and that we will be able to get towi point whertnesses like don mcgahn or hope hicks or cory lewandowski and oers, reince priebus can par in oversight hearings to share information with the american people about what actually took

place over the last two years in coection with the mueller investigation and the troubling findings. earry nadler has also been cl that we're going to have hearings dealing with three issues -- obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and the culture of corruption. this was the beginning of that process, not the middle and certainly not the end. >> woodruff: but aren't you up against the election clock, congressman, in that we are i the throes, the beginning throes of the 2020 presidential election?ma you have pries coming up early next year. how do you get this done in this climate in this season? >> well, i think we'll reevaluate where we are in september. over next six weeks, we'll have an opportunity to go back home, spend time with our constituents, get a sense of their homes, their dreams, theio aspiration as it relates to the issues we want to focus on and how we can hold this administration accountable from hearings or oversight

investigations or an impeachment inquiry. when we ronvene in september, i'm certain that the house democratic caucus will have a group conversion, sharing our perspectives, based on what we've heard from our constituents about theay forward in the fall. >> woodruff: congressman hakeem jeffries, chair othe house democratic congress, thank you very >> woodruff: for a republican perspective, we turn to the ranking member of the house judiciary committee, representative doug collins of georgia. he joins us now from capitol hill. congressman collins, thank you very much for joining us. as you just heard from congressman jeffries, it is a case that the former speci m counsel, mrller, didn't struction, but democrats say the evidence is there. they are continuing to pursue shat. >> well, it w pretty amazing. my wriend hakeem jeffrie worked on a lot of pieces of legislation together. i wish he would go back the legislating, but that's not been the case. one of the most striking rebuffs

to the obtruction arguments was to mr. jeffreys when he laid out an on instructionrgument and mr. mueller said, "i don't agree with youanalysis." what i think we saw with . jeffries, he's having to lead a conference who is lost because they have spent all of their time foed on these investigations that have gone nowhere. lery focused on the mu report. they showed us nothing we didn't learn three months ago. i hope there is a reevaluation. my hope is what he said inbe septis they come back wanting to legislate. we had another hearing about problems at the border. in seven months, they have never ought a piece of legislation to actually fix the underlying problems that president obama or president trump pointed out on the border. that's democratic party's problem. they're rudderless. >> woodruff: we did hear congressman jeffreys tell us that they want to pursue other issues, but meantime they are saying no person is above the law in this country, and heta ed about a massive executive branch cover-up that's under way.

>> again, it's amazing. you tell yourself a story so long that you havto try and make everyone else believe it. and i hear this. they say this massive cover-up. we have had hearing after hearing after hearing, and some of the mosl farciarings i've seen on the judiciary committee since i've been there with john dean and others. we even had a hearing in whichth e of their own witnesses said their subpoena to bill barr was il how much more do we have to go through this? i would love to work with my democratic colleagues to solve immigration and to work on intellectual property. this week has been terrible for them and their narrative. they have been deceiving the american people for now seven months. two years if you count trng to protect the mueller investigation. we need a landing pattern. i'm hoping august will give him that chance to find somethingck to, come o capitol hill and work for the american people. >> woodruff: well, another point that we heardfr mr. js and other democrats make is that what mr. mueller did say yesterday is that he alarmed about what the russians did in interfering with the s elections in 2016. how they continue to be intent

on interfering ins, and how in his words there was cooperation at the highest levels of the trump campaign with this. >> mr. nadler or mr. jeffreys are not concerned about that. you want to know how i kno about that? they love to say it, but they have never put a bill inr committee to actually address russian or any forei interference in our elections. if they are serious, they would actuly put bills up that we could neg sthait that we could actually have markups. if you want to know if they're serious, look at what they do, not what they say. they're just simply trying to spin a very bad week for them plsm mueller has said that since the report came out. where is their solution? they don't have on that's what they want to talk about. >> woodruff: well, they pointm out that drats in the house have passed a number of bills aimed at election secity, but the republicans have stopped them at every turn. a majority of republicans in the house and in the senate. they're sang there is an effort by the majority leader and others to block any action on election security. >> if they claim the bill they

passed, h r-1, is an election security bill, that's the biggest joke perpetrated because that's simply an incumbent protection ac. it was pubinancing of elections. it was trying to federalize thate elections. did not do anyg to take the foreign influence out. you want to look at an act tht would do that? look at the deter act that ewith put forward. look at the things we have to deter foreign influence instead of making the election something that is federalized so they believe they would have a vantage in future elections. don't let them tell you that they passed something. that is not true. they know it's not true. >> woodruff: well, let me turn you to another thng we heard from mr. mueller yesterday. that was when he was asked abut president trump praising wikileaks, which is said by the intelligence community to be a serious concern to a, rican securie president has said on a number of occasions he ves wikileaks, loves to read

wikileaks. how do you as a prom member member of the united states congress and how do you explai that? >> i don't explain that. we're in an election cycle. people want to report the issues of the mueller intiesti. how do we move forward? i think what was very clear, my three points were collusion and conspiracy were actually finally t to rest by mr. mueller. they are one in the same and i'm tired of democrats saying ere is solution in plain sight. when they say that, they are riing to the amen public. number the work any time they talk about tissues. mr. mueller said i don't agree with your legal theo on obstruction. so we come to the third thing that actually from those reports that were actually there, and that was, when we -- how we got we this investigation, how it started, and hogot to the part of where we had a corrupt cabal at the f.b. and th department of justice that began this whole thing. when mr. mueller said it's noty in purview, well, mr. mueller, the report named the steele dos it named some of these people,

but undoubtedly he didn't realize that or didn't remember it. i think those are the things you have to look at. >> woodruff: as you know, he vointed out those are a subjects of ongoing inestigation and review at the justice department. but finally, are you saying, congressman, collins, that you found mr. mueller not credible? >> i fuled mr. mueller told the truth. i think what the democrats are taying is they didn't like wha he said. i found him credible in the sense that he took a massive ganization over two years, multiple millions of dollars, many, many witnesses, many foreign intelligence sources, and he did hi best yesterday to make sure he presented the report as he presented it back what the democrats don't like is the story didn't change. i could have told them that while back. we wanted anything new, it came in march. read the report.t they just didke what it said. >> woodruff: congressman doug collins, who is a ranking republican on the house judiciary committee. thank you. >> thank you, judy. take care.

stay with us. cong up on the newshour: the buzz about new technology to deal with the dwindling population of bees.ty how one n the netherlands became a playground for architects. and scientist prosanta chakrabarty gives his brief bute spectacular n life on earth. but first, attorney general william barr announced today the federal government will resume enforcing the death penalty.a as awaz reports, the u.s. bureau of prisons has not executed anyone since 2003. >> nawaz: the department o justice said today, those executions can continue because the department is done reviewing issues that had been raised about lethal-injection drugs. the "washington post's" devlinba ett is here to break down this policy shift. welcome to the news hour, devlin. >> hi. thanks for having me. >> nawaz: so let's talking about the timint first. what that prompted this rule change? >> well, the trump

administration hasacá supportive of the death penalty. seff session, the previ attorney general, talked about how he wanted more death cases brought. they were alwayseaded here. and i think frankly what they have come up with is they think they have comep with a chemical formula really around the bigest logistical hurdle to executing people, which has been is legal bate and frankly policy and political debate over what drugs to use and where to get those dr nugs. az: when you say they have come up with a chemical formula, what's the answer they're oposing here? >> for many years the way people were executed in this coury was three-drug cocktail. opponents for a long time kept building pressure on not jus the states that applied those drugs, but the companies that provided those drugs to the states. and that began the choke off the supply for some places for those drugs. what the federal government ow says is it's going to use a single drug that he says it has the ability to obtain and doesn't have a resource prothbl,

an're going to use that drug alone. they think they have essentially tilved the logl and frankly the legal and policy hurdle that that cree.ated bef >> nawaz: so with this new rule, how many people are actually affected by itig now and potentially in the future? >> the federal death row is in indiana. there are about 60 people onth death row. the federal death penalty is much different than the d state-by-staath penalty, however, the federal death penalty hasn't been applied in 16 yearsand when it i applied, it's applied infrequently. so what they have done tod is they've said, the following five people now have execution dates. those execution dates are in december and january. d realistically, there sho a lot of litigation and a lot of arguments to the court trying to delay those dates. >> nawaz: those five people have all exhausted their legal appeals. they are all five men, all convicted of heinous crimes, right? >> absolutely. >> one killed family of three including a young girl. another molested and beat tos death o-year-old daughter,

but you mention the difference between the federal and state executions. we have not had a federal execution since 2003. state exutions have cotinued, but what's the trend? >> the trend is fewer and fewero exec. so take 20 years ago. 20 years ago there were just about 100 executions by various states around the year. this last ye there were 25. so you have seen a significant shrinking. there are 21 states that have taken the death penalty off their law books. another group of states have the death penalty on thaw books but aren't executing many people. the biggest ample of that uld be california, where there is something on the order of 700 people odeath row, and they have not executed anyone in ove ten years. >> nawaz: it's worth noting lict decline mirrors pub opinion, right? >> it does. the height of public support for the death penalty, not surprisingly, came in the early 0s when the crime rate was much higher. as the crime rate has gone down, this has become a less popular criminal justice solution.

>> nawaz: just to punch homend that trtake a will be at these numbers right here from the pew research center. this shows public support for the death penalty bk in 1996. 78% of americans favored it h. ths dropped down to 54%. still the majority of american, but a significant decline. >> naz: there is an interesting political split where it now stands. now most republicans fthe death penalty. most democrats don't. when this policy change was announced th morning, most o the democrats running for president immediately criticized it and spid they oposed the death penalty. and ten, 20 years ago, de were much more split on the question of the death penalty. they're more cohesive now in their opposition to it. >> nawaz: we're already starting to see some of the political opposition bubble up ofrom democratic membe congress. but when it comes to public opinion, when it comes to legal challenges, what do we expect to happen now? the rule changes out there, is there going to be a legal chalnge to this, as well? >> yes, there are constant legal challenges teo extions, both

sort of as a policy and in the specific cases. we will see more of those, the aclu has said it plans to challenge this. certainly the lawyers for the five people who have been givenx ution dates. i have no doubt they will challenge this. so we'll see a lot more activity on this front, but remember, you know, death penalty cases are always being brought up through the courts. the supreme court faces these types of decisions at lest on individual cases all the time. >> nawaz: is it fair to sa it's going to have a big impact, or we don't know what's going to happen yet? >> i think we don't know. the federal government's action might push some of the states into getting more active on the death pealty, because clearly the administration has a policy goal here. and other ss have had the same policy goal, and they have sort of lost those figh. it will be interesting to see if any states actually follow the federal government'mple here. >> nawaz: we'll be tracking it and so will you. devlin barrett of the "washington post," thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me.

>> woodruff: humans rely heavily on pollinator bees to sustain food production globally, but for decades these insects have seen significant population decline. the problem is not new, but now there are groups working on innovative ways to tackle the issue of dying bees. william brangham reportsor our "breakthroughs" series on the leading edge of science and technology. >> get zen about it and don'tt. freak ou >> brangham: kristy bulen's ness is bees. this small business ownerhi manages 150 s in and around minneapolis. she produces honey, she teaches beekeeping, and she even invented this pedal-poweredr. honey extrac >> i fell in love with the

honeybee. th're just incredible. they're a woman-run organization. we have more of these cells which is not a good sign. >> brangham: but here in nnesota-- and around the world-- there's a problem: bees eke dying off. last year alone pers in the u.s. reported a 40% dr off among their bees. >> bees are struggling these days, and as a beeeper i see it through the eyes of a honeybee and it being really difficult to keethem healthy and thriving. >> here's some honey. >> brangham: across the river at the university of minnesota's bee lab, dr. marla spivak, who's studied bees for over thirtyye s, says this decline boils down to three things. >> the parasites, and the poor nutrition. humans love to meddle and love to grow different things. and like these plants re and these plants not here.

and so all of that affects what's available to bees to pport their nutrition. >> brangham: spivak, who received a 2010 macarthur fellowship for her work with bees, says the die off started with the dramatic rise in the use of pesticides after world r two. >> the greatest potentiality for ddt lies in dispersal om planes. >> brangham: and it's a problemu that con to worsen today. ecst this month, the environmental pron agency approved a pesticide that's toxic to bees. >> there's something going on with the other queen, that they don't like her. >> braham: kristy allen worries that the declining bee population is going to hurt more than just her busiss. globally, three out of every four crops rely on bees for pollination. >> our food wi get way more expensive. the people who have money are going to be the ones that have access to things like reodly ruits and vegetables that keep us healthy.

so not only is it a huge public health concern, there's huge economic ramifications. re brangham: the central valley of california is wore than half the produce in america is grown. every spring, close to 80% of the commercial bees in the country are put onto semi-truckt and cahousands of miles out here. the hives are then placed at the edge of fields to help pollinate the flowering crops. it takes about two hives per acre. when bees move from flower to flower searching for nectar, pollenollects on their back legs. and as they travel, that pollen gets spread around, fertilizing the flowers. b but wis in decline as demand for them rising, some see a business opportunity.y a complled dropcopter is trying to create a technological fix for farmers who can't get enough bees. ad-founder matt koball says his business partnertarted looking into drones for food

delivery, but then they had another idea. >> i'm out in the findd with a frief mine who grows almonds and we're talking about bees and pollination. one thing led to anothe went down and visited the engineers that are making his device, and we switched it ove to make it so it carries pollen. >> brangham: their mcal, flying pollinator, still in its infancy, is simple in ncept. pollen is poured into a container attached to the bottom of the drone. >> three, two, one. >> brangham: the drone is pre- programmed to follow an exact pathway above an orchard, shooting out the pollen in an even, regular spray as it flies. >> it'll just come, slide to the left and head backwards up the hill. >> brangham: they demonstrated their drone for us over these fig trees, which don't actually need pollination. but this year, the company did real pollination on almond, apple, cherry and pear orchards in california and new york. chief marketing officer mikeys

winch they're not here to replace bees. >> we feel it's a supplement to the bees. we can help provide a solution p that doesnvide further stress to the bee colonies that enhances the foduction capabilities for which they're responsible. t i believe last year they were anywhere from $2$225 a hive. >> brang pm: per hive? hive. >> brangham: almond farmer kevin hebrew was one of dropcopter's first clients. >> it's unorm. i and whike about it is it's hard to judge your bee activity. and with a drone you have a lot more opportunity. >> three, two, one, go. >> brangham: dr. farrell helbling is part of a team at harvard university's wyss institute designing miniature autonomous flying vehicle. they call theirs the robo-bee. >> down at this scale we kind of take inspiration from insects and trying to get this flapping motion that you can see. >> brangham: it's anmazing amount of engineering with something at that scale.

>> it's incredible. and you know, everything we do here, we have to come up with how we're going to build it, how we're going to manufacture it, how we're going to, you know, laser cut all of our materials. >> brangham: the goal is to create a small flying robot that mimics what a bee or a fly does. helbling says if they can get the technology right, they could be used for anything from search and rescue, to medicine, air eality monitoring, and ma even pollination. >> you can make many of them for not that much money. the material cost of these isy, actually very low. you can outfit these vehicles with different sensors oren diffcapabilities. and so you can have a swarm of them interacting with the environment.m: >> brangf course, the idea of autonomous flying robots is .e stuff of science ficti >> we think one of your a.d.i.'s may be involved in an unexplained death. >> sorry? a death? >> uh huh. >> brangha in the netflix series "black mirror," tiny robot bees are corrupted for a

more sinister use. >> brangham: where are you doing that work? is that over there with the killer bees in that room? >> no. no no no no. there's no killer bees here. we promise. i think it'll be many years before you get to see one of >> brangham: so this is?>> oney and wax. >> brangham: back in minnesota, dr. spivak is pretty skepticalic of a technol fix for pollination. she says we need to focus more on protecting the real, live bees that are still >> it's been a hundred million years of evolution to evolve all of these diverse bee species. and so creating one robot bee is going to miss out on all the other species that they could be pollinating. i would much prefer that we take that technology and use it to deliver pesticides in minute

quantities when needed and only where needed. a >> brangha for beekeepers like kristy allen, there's also no replacement for the real thing. >> i hear about, you know, different technologies. i understand there are benefits, but at what cost. i'not a total luddite, and don't think we should just scrap all technology, but a drone versus a bee? there's-- it's a no-brainer decision for me. >> brangham: for the pbs newshour, i'm willm brangham. >> woodruff: and now to a city in the netherlands, where experimentation in architecture has become a way of life. jeffrey brown visited rotterdam amid some colder weather earlier this year, as part of "canvas," our ongoing coverage of arts and culture.

>> brown: arriving at rotterdam's central train station, you experience at once one of the things this dutch city is best known for-- its architecture.li quirkyly, in your face. most cities have a signature style. elebrates a kind of mash-up. its "style" is many styleser pping and evolving over time.hi >>is the mess that is rotterdam, and rotterdammers are proud of it, including myself. >> brown: renowned dutch architect reinier de graaf was born in rotterdam, and has worked here for decades. >> you have a tower there. i think that's late '90s, early zeros. erthere's this green thing that is the 1980s. >> brown: and then there's the building we were standing in, that de graaf had designed, the timmerhuis. the building starts to recs with roof terraces the moment it peeps over the attics of neighboring buildings, so thede style is very and

individual. >> brown: it merged a 1950s office building with a new steel and glass structure that houses city offices, shops and apartments. long known as a great and gritty industrial port city, rotterdam today has a made a reputation as one of the world's leading laboratories for architecture and design, a place where you can find buildings and structures of all kinds. one reason? its particular history. >> flights of unopposed nazi bombers flew low over the center of rotterdam and methodically bombed it into a heap of rubble. >> brown: what was once a traditional european city was destroyed by the germans early in world war ii, flattening the city center, forever changing s landscape. >> one of the interesting thing in rotterdam is the construction took place without any sent mentality toward was what was

gone and the empss that was left in the wake of the bombing was used to make a new beginning. > >> brown: that new beginning became an ongoing experiment as architectural styles changed, as welas a source of pride and identity for the city. among muchlse, there are 1970s-era cube houses designed by piet blom, anhis 1980s pencil building right xt door. the asymmetrical erasmus bridge, known as "the swan," opened in 1996. and the enormous, six-year-old "de rotterdam" building-- stacks of cubes that look different from every direction-- by powerhouse architect rem koolhaas and his rotterdam-based design firm, o.m.a., where reiner de graaf is a partner. >> you feel a tremendous amount of freedom. i'm hesitant to verbalize even an answer to the question of what's the style or character of rotterdam, because i tnce that is defined, then there will be pressure to conform to it.

and then the very freedom that's the essence of the city will be gone. >> brown: you can see it in another of the city's newestgs iconic build the market hall, designed by architect winy maas. rseshoe-shaped, with huge glass windows onto the city on e bos, its curved walls containing offices and apartments. a giant mural floats above a lively indoor food market. >> you have a kind of nice intimate atmosphere e of market is say, for peopl so you want when you sit on the g rrace and you can look up and ah, this one is go dinner. that one is going to a bathroom, that one is going to take bath. so i think that makes it also more intimate as such. >> brown: it's interesng because it's intimate, but also in a very large public space. >> yeah, exactly rht, exactly. but i think our cities need that, to have like spaces where you don't feel so distant to each other and you can see each other more close.

i think that encourages safety, actuallyand encourages more collectiveness. >> brown: a short ride away is a very different kind of experint in creative and sustainable ways of living-- a new small neighborhood built on a former field hockey arena. >> there were some rules in, kind of, the way you had to design your house, how big it can be, where you position it. >> brown: otherwise it would be crazy. >> yeah, exactly. >> brown: architect stefan prins lives here with his partner, diana, and their young daughter, in a home he designed. o n floor plan, large windows positioned to provideal maximum lighyear. the home runs entirely on electric and solar power, no gas. his neighbors, too, were all invited to come up with their own designs, making for a mix of styles, like rotterdam itself, but all with sustainy in

mind. >> all these houses-- i mean, they look sustainable because of theaterials. so it's not only about energy reduction. it's of course also out the materials you choose to work with, right? and i think even, even ithe big projects in rotterdam, you see, you'll see this change in being more conscious about h your design is now, with sustainability as a very integrated part of the design. >> brown: and then there's this: an even less likely mix of sustainability and design. a farm, in the waters ofer rom's famous harbor. >> it's not a farm as we ever have seen a farm. >> brown: no, it doesn't look like anything i've seen.mi >> browne van wingerden is one of the designers of the world's first floang dairy farm-- a way to bring farming back to the city, and to design for a future that may include more flooding. >> we think that the agriculture

sector is not so sexy anymore, and we want to make it sexier again, and we yont to attract g people. food is such an important thing, and it should be populbe a farmer. re brown: you're saying the design makes it exy? >> yes, because it's so strange. it's a future design and it's an open design, and it'also important for us because we think it's important that everybody n see what's going on-- where your food comes from, and how do we process the milk, and how we process the manure. so that's why. it's iconic. it's open, it's transparent. >> brown: we were therbefore the cows arrived, but they're onboard now, and milk is being delivered to local supermarkets. the short delivery distance, plus the solar panels, reduces daergy use. you've seen rottchange quite a bit. >> yeah. >> brown: where does something like this fit into the changes

that you've seen? >> rotterdam, it has a vibe of doing things, making things happen, and it never strange enough. >> brown: even a floating farm. >> even a floating farm. yes, indeed. >> brown: all part of a cityscape that's ever-changing, and redefining urban living. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in rotterdam, e netherlands. ht >> woodruff: ton "brief but spectacular" features ichthyologist prosanta ischakrabarty, who studiesto help explain the evolution of t.human beings and the pla he's a professor and curator of fish at the museum of natura science and department of biological science at louisiana state university.

>> every once in a while, you go to someplace new whereo one has been before, and you see something that is so d kferent that yw it's new right away. it's like, "what is this thing? this is so new, i can't believe it, i'm going to go home now and describe this thing before anyone else finds out about it. >> i grew up loving animals and nature despite growing up in queens, new york. and i went as a kid to the bronx zoo and the american museum of natural history and looked up at dinosaurs and blue whales and i never looked down. i just wanted to study biology. in the bigger schemetrying to understand who's related to i om on this planet. one of the things love to study are freshwater fishes.

one cave fish is in australia,e and the other in madagascar, which is actually a thing i discovered. that their last connection migether wasn't through sw across the pacific ocean which, where they would not be able to survive instead they wst together when those continents where together almost 100 miion years ago. the tools that we have available to us are everything from the d.n.a. of thorganism, to the bodies of the organisms. we can study entire genomes now, and so we caunderstand things at levels that weren't possible in the past. the things that i've learned about geological history is just how interconnected this planet is. i've learned, you know, going to the persiagulf, which is only about 20,000 years old, that this area can tell me about why it rains so much in the himalayas during monsoon season. or why the connection between north and south america, which is only three million years d, has led to climate change that's changed the dimensions of this planet and the currents,

metimes what i'm doing is putting together a puzzle, but i don't have that little box that tells me what the puzzleill be. and so each little piece is a different species on the planett and thr problem is many of those species that i need to fill in the puzzle have gone extinct. my name is prosanta chakrabarty and this is my "brief spectacular" take on life on earth. >> woodruff: you can find more episodes of our "brief but spectacular" series on ourit we www.pbs.org/newshour/briefsh on the nr's website right now, a viralalocial media nge involving a photo editing app has raised fresh questions about dataity. read why experts are saying the ncerns are not overblown that and more is at www.pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for night. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening wh mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thk you and see you soon.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language learning app that a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more. babbel's ten to 15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by

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