TechKnow 106: Bee colony collapse, tracking jaguars & high-tech wine

September 29, 2013 8:00PM ET

Bee colony collapse, jungle experiments tracking jaguars and high-tech winemaking

Topics:
Science
Technology
Environment
Al Jazeera America

Join our expert contributors Phil Torres, Kyle Hill and Crystal Dilworth as they explore high-tech methods to artificially inseminate honey bees, which are dying in record numbers. Plus we follow Phil to the jungles of the Amazon, where he experiments with scents to lure jaguars on camera, and Crystal goes to Napa Valley to test high-tech methods for making amazing wine.

More on bees, jaguars, and high-tech wine

Smoot Hill

The Hudson Biological Reserve at Smoot Hill is an 800-acre farm owned and operated by Washington State University as a working outdoor laboratory for departments like botany, ecology, entomology, and more. At Smoot Hill, WSU researchers cryogenically freeze the sperm of honey bees from around the world in order to catalogue samples and breed honeybees with specific genetics in the hopes of fighting off colony collapse.

Shafer Vineyards

Shafer Vineyards got its start in California's Napa Valley in 1978 and in 2004, became the first winery in the United States to transition to 100 percent solar power. They also utilize weather stations to track temperature and humidity conditions in the vineyard, optical sorters to select the best grapes, and an air purification system in the wine cellers to keep impurities away from the wine as it ferments. 

Find Al Jazeera America on your TV