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UNC Charlotte researchers apply motion analysis to study how the body responds after injuries, surgeries, and rehab programs.

We may not think of it as much when gas is cheap, but eventually there are many economic and environmental reasons to transition away from fossil fuels. See the biofuels reactor that RTI International researchers are using to create gasoline-like hydrocarbon fuels from plant material and the challenges of creating biofuels.

Diamond is a collection of interconnected carbon atoms whose strong chemical bonds make the brilliant, super-hard crystals we know. Watch NC State University researchers create brighter, harder, magnetic diamonds with a few quick blasts of a powerful laser. See how by rearranging the chemical bonds in a diamond, they can quickly and cheaply make the new and improved Q-carbon.

The United Nations estimates that 1.4 billion people worldwide don't have electric light. See how a Charlotte company's easy-to-use solar power system is lighting many homes and clinics in the developing world.

Viruses like influenza, Ebola and Zika can spread widely around the world through shipping, travel and other ways we humans move things from one place to another. DNA sequencing can provide a roadmap that a virus has followed to get where it is today. Watch as researchers use DNA sequencing to create a powerful tool to track the spread of the Zika virus around the world.

Davidson College professors study how invasive pythons are devastating the Everglades and could come as far North as Washington, DC. See how the voracious appetites of these huge snakes could spell trouble for animals throughout the Southeast.

To our ears, the sound of being underwater is all the same muffled tone, but to East Carolina University scientists, the noise carries all sorts of information about the ocean. Watch as researchers use their acoustic wave glider named "Blackbeard" to study underwater noise, acoustically tagged fish and environmental conditions in the ocean.

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.