phil torres. i'm phil torres. 'm an entomologist. that's hour team, nout let's do some science. >>> hey, guys, welcome to "techknow", joined by dr ross shimabuku, and lindsay moran. microscopic things have been making news. viruses. take ebola - it caught america offguard. in some places we overreacted and in other places we doesn't do enough. >> there's a lot of scare around ebola, because we don't know much about it, compared to measles. which is also a hot topic. >> when we think of diseases we tend to think of containment. how do we contain them. i had an opportunity to meet a small group of scientists who are seeking out the pathogens in order to understand it. it might surprise people that metropolis. that's good reason for that. let's have a look. >> reporter: we are all vulnerable to the tiny viruses. >> microscopic agents causing big diseases. >> reporter: these infectious agents know now boundaries and in today's hyper connective world, they can move fast. like others, like small pox are eradicated. others spring back to li

i'm phil torres. i'm an entomologist. >> wow! that was something else, i mean it was a real rush for me. >> that's our team. now let's do some science. [ ♪ ] >>> hey guys - welcome to "techknow", i'm phil torres joined by lindsay moran, dr. crystal dilworth and dr. shini somara. it's a debate that somehow is still raging on - is the climate changing, is man to blame and is there anything we can do to stop the disaster. most agree the answers is yes. that's most scientists, not all of them. shini, crystal, lindsay, you each had a piece of the story. >> at the c.i.a. i was trained to analyse complex and sometimes contradictory data. climate change fits into that model as well. washington d.c. - politics are part of the equation. no matter what the science is, there's going to be contentious debate. >> i had a different experience. i was dealing with the scientists and citizens who are not debating if climate change is happening, but they are living it now. >> i think it's interesting that both sides of the debate claim to be on the

hey guys, i'm phil torres, joined by dr. 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

. >> 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't really keep up with a growing industry. >> i enjoy the taste of it and not get the harmful effects of what smoking does. >> call them vapers, or foggers or competitive cloud chasers... all are welcome at crystal vapor, one of thousands of vape shops across the country. since techknow first repor

i'm phil torres. "mdma", "molly", "x", call it what you want, this drug is offering some intriguing and even surprising potential in both the military institutional perspective and medical scientific. and that's why i'm joined by "techknow's" ex-cia operative, lindsay moran, and cara santa maria who can explain it from a neuroscience perspective. now, i've seen "molly" as a club drug but as a therapeutic drug? >> the military once used this as what they imagined could be a truth serum and now there's evidence that suggests that it could help ptsd sufferers. >> yeah and you know, scientists have long been intrigued by the sort of empathic benefits of mdma but now for the first time, there's an fda backed study so that they can see if these results are scientifically quantifiable. >> this serene treatment room nestled in the woods of south carolina... couldn't be further than the pulsing lights and booming music at this electronic music festival. at festivals and nightclubs the illegal drug "molly" or "

. >> our own phil torres takes us inside his own battle with a peanut allergy. >> we want to hear what you think about these stories. join the conversation by following us on twitter and at aljazeera.com/techknow. >> i love food, but deciding where to eat can be a challenge. >> hello gentlemen, how are you today? >> very good, thank you. >> most of the time, the first thing i have to do is ask-- does this contain peanuts? but not here because the chef has a peanut allergy. >> so anything i order will be flagged, taken care of back there. >> absolutely. >> gentlemen, how is everything? >> it is amazing. >> brad miller is owner and executive chef at santa monica's ox & son restaurant. >> so you as a chef, you take allergies pretty seriously. >> yeah, i have an all nut allergy, i'm allergic to all nuts. >> you know i've got to say for me there's been times i've been at a restaurant when i've asked the server if there's peanuts in there. sometimes they don't quite give off the confidence that they know in the kitchen it's being taken care of. >> absolutely it's one of those things where an

. >> hey guys welcome back to techknow i'm phil torres joined by dr.rystal dilworth and martia davison. now marita you're from seattle, you must have a little bit of oyster pride, pretty amazing up there. >> oh my gosh, one of the things i love about seattle is i have access to oysters and i love oysters, but they have been really hard hit by climate change and you guys know, on techknow we followed the sad story of ocean acidification and the impact it has on the oyster farming business which is a big deal in washington state and elsewhere. >> the problem is really simple chemistry, acid from carbon dioxide in the water is just making it really hard for young oysters to form their shells. >> there could be some hope for them, there are ways for reducing the acidity of the water. we hooked up with some marine biologists in northern california, oysters are awesome and science is making some progress, let's take a look. >> this is tomales bay, california. a little slice of heaven about ninety minutes north of san francisco. this is where you come for the

. >> 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

that's where "techknow"'s phil torres picks up the story. >> looking out the cockpit it looked green,> what do you see. >> we see that the forest varies from what we would consider pretty average in the yellows and blues, down to areas that look severely drought stricken in red. >> next we looked at an area where the drought stress was more acute. >> this what it looks like when you fly over. looks like your typical southern-cal forest. this is what it looks like in detail. those trees are doing okay, but everything else is showing severe drought stress. >> now that we have the view from above, we decided to head out for a boots on the ground perspective. >> i'm standing in the middle of the forest, and can you can tell, there is plenty of evidence of the impact of a multi-year drought. >> one of the biggest problems, a bug that attacks water-stressed pine trees. >> now we're talking. oh, there's a bunch. >> tom is a entomologist with the forrest service. >> bar beatles kill more trees than any other active disease in northern america. and you see this patch work of dead trees. >> thi