>> and i'm phil torres, i'm an entomologist. i visit a shrimp farm in the middle of indiana... yes, indiana... that could revolutionize the industry. >> wow, this is like a little laboratory here. >> yes it is. >> and a shrimp farm. >> cara santa maria is a neuroscientist. >> imagine that you are one of the first to take a trip to mars. this is the definition of pioneering. >> that's what makes it exciting. >> that's our team, now let's do some science. >> hey! i got some! >> hey guys and welcome to techknow i'm phil torres joined by doctor shini somara and cara santa maria. now guys i'm not going to lie, one of my favorite things is shrimp sizzling away on a hot grill. but i also have a fair amount of hesitation when it comes to actually knowing where that shrimp comes from. >> yeah and you may not realize it but shrimp raised overseas can have high levels of antibiotics and other additives that don't always pass american safety standards. >> and america imports a lot of shrimp over a billion pounds worth. so we asked the food and drug administration, the agency responsible fo

crystal dilworth and phil torres. now this next story has something i think we all love about science... >> bugs! >> well the story is about discovery, it's about getting people interested in and excited about science and for phil it's about bugs. >> absolutely, but it's also a reminder that there is discovery in science all around us, you just have to take the time to look. >> it's not your typical entomologist field route but a car, congestion and a trunk full of dead bugs are essential tools of the trade for lisa gonzolez. it's los angeles, california. hidden in between the freeways, beaches and palm trees is a unique community project. >> very very carefully unscrew this bottom bottle here. that's a weeks worth of insects right there. a lot of the bigger insects are already known, and there's just this whole hidden world under our feet that we just never recognize because these things are so tiny we just dismiss it, so it's really just this incredible eye opener once you realize just how many insects are out there

. >> 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 "

i am phil torres. we meet someone knew, they will often make immediate decisions about who you are based upon your general appearance and what your face looks like and what you are wearing but, also, on the sounds of a your voice? >> it's true. there are tennessee of millions who can't speak or have limited speech. two and a half million of them are right here in the sglurns. >> of those two and a half million, 40% use some kind of text to speech to communicate but they all sound pretty much alike. >> at the young's home, this point. that's because 16-year-old sara young was about to get a gift like no other. her very own voice. >> she has been known as savvy sarah, happy and joyful. >> sarah was born with cerebral palsy leaving her unable speak but had he she and her mom have plenty to say. >> hello, everyone. my name is sarah. i am 16. >> sarah talks mostly through a text to speech app on her computer . >> i am see it. >> the computerized voice is heather. it's standard equipment. >> why was the heat

. >> 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

. >> 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

. >> 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. >> al jazeera america, proud of telling historic and personal stories of the lgtb community. >> how did stonewall transform the gay rights movement? >> it gave us courage to go on. >> the gay community in particular was being portrayed incredibly negatively. >> a lot of people's lives have been put on hold. >> we're prepared for the fight that we know we're facing. >> twenty-one people were killed, nearly all of them transgender women of color. >> we have a reason to wake up and live just like everybody else. >> it's easy to demonize something that you don't know. >> they forget that you're human and everyone deserves some respect. >> one woman, one man! >> marriage is a civil right! >> if they redefine marriage, what is it to be? >> they are pushing social change on some people who are still very resistant. >> i'm willing to face my consequences as you all will face your con

that's where phil torres picks up the story. >> you did the flight, these are the results. >> looking can the cockpit, it looked green. here we see something dramatically different. >> what do you see? >> we see that the forest varies from what we would consider pretty average conditions in the yell lows and the blues up there down to areas that look severely drought stricken in red. >> next we looked at an area where the drought stress was more acute. >> this is from los padres national forest, this is what it looks like in chemical detail. those tree he is are doing ok, but everything else is showing severe drought stress and that's shown here in red. >> now that we have the draw assume above, we decided to head out for a boots on the ground perspective. >> i'm standing here in the middle of los padres national forest. there's plenty of evidence of the impact of a multi-year drought. >> one of the biggest problems here are water stressed pine trees. >> now we're talking. oh, there's a bunch. >> tom coleman is an entomologist with the forest service. >> this is a lot of dead trees ri