UNC-TV SCITECH | UNC-TV

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, see how hearing loss can become a risk factor for dementia. We take a look at the MURDOCK study, which tracks the health of North Carolinians for decades. See how the future of cancer treatment could be in precision strikes. Finally we chat with a futurist about visions for the tomorrow of technology.

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, predicting the future! See how researchers are learning to predict where dangerous lightning strikes will happen. We visit the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville to learn about the patterns of climate. See how research in Antarctica can teach us about North Carolina's ocean. Finally we get deep into the science of sea level rise.

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina: sea creatures! See how the longest-running shark survey in the nation is helping to track North Carolina's sharks. We visit a company using the natural design of shark skin to fight bacteria. See how belugas can indicate the health of the St. Lawrence River. Finally before offshore wind energy takes off, scientists check on the life that could be affected.

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, we investigate rip currents, a common and sometimes dangerous condition at the beach. See how virtual reality cam help veterans with PTSD learn to confront it in a safe environment. Learn the science of invisibility and meet the researchers making it happen. Finally, we dive into the science of badminton!

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, plants! See how gardens can provide more than flowers and vegetables, they can provide healing. We go to the front lines of the battle to save North Carolina's hemlock trees. How do you measure the health of an oak forest? Go nuts counting acorns! Finally we visit an ocean forest where many sea creatures start their lives.

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, we dive in to black sea bass and how where they spawn can be the key to preserving them. See how citizen scientists are helping to save possibly the largest organism on earth. We ask a scientist about how we could colonize our solar system. Finally, see how monkeys and an engineered virus could one day restore color to the colorblind.

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, bees! Why do we need them and what is being done to save them? Check out the small creature that singlehandedly manages insects in the Western part of the state. Who needs Disney? We have our own sensational singing mice. Finally, meet the educator who ties hip-hop to STEM education and see how relatable science is good classroom science.

This week, we investigate genetically modified crops. See how and why they're made and what different people think about them. We also dive into natural microbial options to protect our crops from pests. Finally we wrap up our three part series on learning STEM by playing outside!

This week on SciTech Now North Carolina, we're going for a new perspective. First, we double-dip on drones. See how Wake Forest University researchers are designing drones to map coal ash spills and how RTI researchers use them to track public health. See how coastal scientists are using every perspective available to them to map the NC coast. Finally we see more STEM education by playing outside.

This week on SciTech Now, we do a bit of traveling. We visit the NC Coast where each year you can see millions of birds during their migration. See how scientists track the NC state fish, the red drum, to learn about its habitat. We check in with the NC Science Festival about hands-on science. Finally, we get back outside with our Play Outside NC series.

This week we're going back in time. See the room at NC State where researchers can use virtual reality to travel into history. We investigate whether the tale of the Trojan Horse was the whole story. Decades before Roanoke, walk through a Spanish fort that was the earliest inland settlement in the New World. Finally we chat with Jonathan Frederick, the director of the NC Science Festival.

This week, animals! Go inside the largest lemur colony outside of Madagascar to see these feisty, furry primates up close. See how camera traps are keeping an eye on the wild things in our back yards. We dive deep off North Carolina's coast to meet the hungriest invasive species around. Finally we answer the question hours of YouTube can't: Why is that thing so cute!?

This week, we get tasty! Blueberries are not only tasty, but they are also a healthful superfood! See the brewers at Raleigh Brewing Company harness biochemistry to make beer. We crack open the story of a hypoallergenic peanut. And finally, watch as scientists chart out where to find the best oysters free of potentially dangerous microbes.

This week, we chat with ECU's Snake Doctor to learn about venom and antivenom. Look out for his slithering friends too! Bill Nye the Science Guy chats about his new book and a satellite that uses light to fly around the solar system. See how Raleigh scientists are developing the vaccines of the future. And finally, we see a day in the life of an ocularist, a designer of prosthetics for eyes.

This week, mysteries! We visit a spot in Chatham County where nothing grows. Is it the soil or something more sinister? We see how bones can tell the story of someone's life and death and we show the dark story told in the bones of a young girl from Jamestown. Finally, see how scientists can learn how early Native Americans lived in the most logical place: the floor of Lake Huron!

See the new device NASA is testing to chip pieces off an asteroid. The new tool for astronauts was not developed in NASA labs, but rather at High Point University right here in North Carolina. Scientists are interested in asteroids because they haven't changed much since the dawn of the solar system, and rocks the "Chip and Ship" can capture give scientists a picture of the solar system back then.

This week, we dive into the toilet and how providing toilets to parts of the developing world can solve health problems. We follow medicines flushed down the toilet all the way downstream to the sea. See what happens to the river and ocean life on the way. We look at potentially dangerous things swimming in the ocean — no they're not sharks! Finally watch an effort to preserve abalone snails!

This week, see how the plastic bottles you recycle can wind up back in your home. A person can tell you how soft and breathable clothes are, but when you need to light them on fire, it's best to get a robot. Watch the textile trials! We chat with Neil Degrasse Tyson about science and curiosity, and finally we'll show you a stunning, inside view of life-changing brain surgery.

This week we lose our train of thought......with the science of daydreaming. Big energy needs a big magnet. Watch San Diego scientists design a magnet for fusion power. We chat with scientists and government officials about the possibility of offshore wind energy in North Carolina, and watch as we go for a spin in an electric-pedal hybrid in Asheville.

This week, learn how paleontologists use satellite technology to find dinosaurs more easily. An astronautical engineer explains how humans and robots work together in space. Learn how social media and gaming technology are changing the hiring process. Finally, we profile two medical treatments that use sight and sound to heal hands and feet.

This week, we dive into the science of political polls and how selecting the correct few can reflect the opinions of many. We show you a new type of farming that requires little water, no fertilizer, no pesticides...and no soil. Finally we answer the ancient question, "How many licks to the center of a lollipop?"