. >> hey guys this episode gets personal, i'm here with doctor crystal dilworth and marita davison, and my epi pen. and i have it for a very important reason which is i'm allergic to peanuts and some other nuts too, but if i get too close to peanuts, one of you would have to grab this, take off the lid, and jab me in the thigh. >> i'm lucky, i don't have any allergies, but phil i know this is something you have to really organize your life around. i mean even here at this coffee shop you have to ask if anything here is cooked with peanuts or peanut oil before you can order off the menu. >> kind of a pain when it comes to ordering in places like this. >> but you know what's surprising and i would say really alarming is that the number of people like you, phil, with food allergies has skyrocketed in the last few decades, and we went to find out why we're seeing a rise in food allergies and if we might find a cure. >> it was terrifying. his face basically swelled up like twice the normal size. >> when you've held your daughter in your arms almost dying because of something as basic as milk

crystal dilworth and marita davison, and today we're talking el nino and this is something we've seen here on the west coast in the us, but it definitely extends far beyond that and marita you've actually experienced it. >> i've experienced a few el nino events when i was growing up in bolivia so it certainly has global impacts but what it is is an interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere that happens in the tropical pacific ocean. >> for some this interaction seems like this mysterious force, but this is techknow so of course we want to know what an el nino is, the weird things it's doing, and how researchers are studying it. >> severe fires and drought leading to food shortages in 11 south pacific countries. mega flooding in central america forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. and sea life found hundreds of miles from their natural habitats. all this due to a powerful weather system known as el nino. this year's el nino is already breaking records for the wettest start in the pacific northwest, flooding homes and causing treacherous landslides. >> they come in all size

>> 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. and, it sounds surreal to say but it's possible that within our lifetimes, all the coral reefs will be gone. >> scientists are saying that without some drastic changes, 100% of our coral reefs are facing degradation by 2050 which is only 30 years away. >> it could be an ecological disaster. >> and the problem is they are being attacked on all fronts, right now they're going through this coral bleaching event where all the corals are basically starving. >> yeah, and this bleaching event is affecting, right now, 40% of coral reefs worldwide, hawaii has been particularly hard hit, i got to go there to check it out and see if there's anything we can do to save the coral reefs. >> keno'ahe bay on the eastern side of oahu, hawaii. famous for clear blue seas and coral, rich in color and marine life. but now there's trouble in these waters. the coral is dying. in fact, reefs around the world are in trouble. we're here to find out why. >> some reefs have recovered much more quickly than others

. >> welcome to techknow im phil torres joined by marita davison and dr. shini somara. guys there are outlaws out there working in the shadows committing horrible acts against defenseless yet majestic animals. we're talking about the ivory poachers who have decimated the populations in africa. >> it's really alarming because ivory goes for about a thousand dollars a pound, that's more valuable than illegal drugs. >> and you know what that means is that the damage has been devestating over a hundred thousand elephants have been killed in just the last three years and the question is what can we do about it? we found a team of scientists who are using some unexpected weapons- dna and radiocarbon dating- let's check it out. >> april 18th, 2015. thai customs intercepts 4 tons of ivory smuggled in bean sacks from the democratic republic of congo. it is the largest seizure in this country's history. the ivory, on the way to laos, seized in bangkok after a tip. the seizure makes headlines >> thai customs displayed over 3 tons of confiscated african ivory worth 6 million dollar