. >> marita davison is an environmental biologist. tonight, a trip to the heartland. >> oh, there's a baby! >> cara santa maria is a neuroscientist. i'm phill torrez. i'm an entomologist. >> the epic drought of 2015 takes a hidden toll. from above these trees may look green and healthy, they are not. >> here we see somthing that's dramatically different. >> now the technology that can see what we can't. >> that's our team... >> i'm a prarie barber. >> ... now let's do some science. hey guys welcome to techknow. i'm phil torres joined by cara santa maria and marita davison. and today we are going to talk two environmental stories and to start off the great american prairie. to me it's one of those iconic images of what the u.s. used to be. unfortunately, now it's almost entirely just a part of our history. >> yeah, there's been a lot of over development of farming, and the suburban explosion that's really taken a toll on a lot of prairie ecosystems. illinois has been extremely hard hit. it's changing but there's been a big change in th

techknow's marita davison has spent a week here in new orleans - now marita, you've been piecing together what went wrong from a science and engineering perspective. >> and phil you said it, this community was devastated when hurricane katrina hit, now in the 10 years since, scientists have made significant improvements to the system, these are coming together to form multiple lines of defense that reduce the risks from another katrina-like storm. let's take a look. >> this area has been vulnerable to storms like katrina since 1200 years ago. >> katrina was really a wake up call to the corp of engineers. >> what katrina did is... it brought the eye to what's happening when you destroy things...if we don't repair things that protect us, in 80 years the city of new orleans will be under water. >> a decade later, hurricane katrina is still considered one of this country's most deadly storms. in august 2005, katrina claimed more than eighteen hundred lives along the gulf coast--leaving 80 percent of new orleans under water. when katrina hit new orleans she was only a category 3 storm. but in

>> marita davison is an environmental biologist. >> they're gonna be around the corner. they went through there really quick but we got 'em. >> she's off the coast of california where drones are taking some incredible images of migrating whales. >> as this technology becomes available to more people, we're gonna see more researchers using it. >> i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. that's our team, now let's do some science. >> hey guys welcome to techknow i'm phil torres, joined by marita davison and dr. crystal dilworth. now bigger and potentially more dangerous, that's the best way to describe what's happening the smoking alternative known as e-cigarettes, or vaping. >> it's an industry that seems to really be exploding i mean you're seeing it everywhere. and a part of me wonders if this might be because of some misinformation about vaping, that's my sense. >> and our dr. crystal dilworth, you have your phd in nicotine studies so we've asked you to keep a tab on this. there's a lot academic research that's being done on the safety of use of these devices, but it can'

crystal dilworth and marita davison. fraking.s don -- fracking.doesn't come without controversy, potentially doesn't come without cost. >> yes, fracking is hugely controversial. humannics. >> s that range the gamut from environmental to health. and texas has been kind of at the center point of a lot of this issue. whether they're economic, environmental, political, texas is in the mix. >> when we think of texas we think big oil, not earthquakes like we're thinking of california. but they're experiencing seismic activity. >> so we got to see how one small town in texas is dealing with this big national issue. let's check it out. >> we were sitting in the living room one night watching tv and there was a tremendous explosion, it sounded like, and then the whole house shook. >> and the next day there was another one and then just kept coming. and that's whenever we realized we definitely have a problem. we should not be having earthquakes in texas. country. this is reno, texas. population 3200 and just 13 square miles long. if anypl

i'm here with marita and rachelle.hi, nasa seekers mission, this is a gc-8, loaded with millions of dollars of equipment measuring the air as we're flying through the gulf. it was a pretty incredible experience. let's take a look. ists 7:30 in the morning and -- it's 7:30 in the morning. and hangar 9 is buzzing with excitement. >> any last questions about what we're going to be doing today? save jet. >> from a distance our plane looks like any other. but close up you can see it's anything but. i'm minutes away from boarding this plain with nasa experimentalists. it is a nasa gc-8, trying to measure the pollution and the atmosphere. it's a three pronged attack. the signs of the tc 8, after the u 2 spy plane. the er 2 application is a sight to see. everything about it has the feeling of a flight to space. the men who fly the plane undergo special training and wear a pressurized flight soot. several weather probes collect the information and beam it back to earth. >> seated, door closed. >> the men and women are learning

marita davison is a biologist specializing in evolution. tonight, fracking. >> i looked out my front door

marita davison is a biologist specializing in evolution., fracking. >> i looked out my front door

but they are disappearing, "techknow"'s marita davison reports. >> you are looking at a 3500 acre experimentin an effort called restoration ecology. this is the nachusa grasslands preserve, 90 miles west of chicago, where the nature conservancy is rolling back time. to a grass land that was almost eextinct. >> we are in a grass land state, where nearly nonof it is less. we have less than 1/100 of 1% that is still intact. what was once this vast landscape across much of illinois has been eliminated and turned into the corn belt. >> but illinois is not alone. since the late 1800s prairie lands across the united states have been steadily irk. >> i've heard grasslands as the unheralded siblings of the green pelt. trapping it in their deep roots. >> and phil torres joins us from illinois. the prairie grasslands are as important to the earth as rain forests. talk about the roll they play. >> yeah, i mean they absolutely are. and one of the most important roles is what you saw, in their roots. carbon dioxide is one of the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas. they store it in the roots down in the

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