Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

Joining Jonathan on Futureproof this week was Dr Matthew Campbell - Associate Professor in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology . Dr Campbell has pioneered research on what actually triggers Epileptic seizures in the body. Epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations and s...

Joining Jonathan on Futureprooof this week was Kory Kiepert - Engineer & Partner at The Gravity Group. Kory is a rollercoaster engineer who designs rollercoasters. Kory in fact, got married on a rollercoaster. So what does Kory actually do as a rollercoaster engineer? He will do some of the structural engineering and the mechanical engineering for the ride. Usually an amusement park will come...

Evolution has a funny way of equipping creatures that are small in size with attributes that make them deadly to deal with - the poison frog, blue-ringed octopus, or some species of jellyfish for instance. But is this also true of scorpions? Is it really a case of "the bigger the better"? Well, that is exactly the question that Dr. Kevin Healy, Lecturer of Zoology at NUI Galway wanted to answer. H...

Since the first draft of a human genome sequence was completed in 2000, genomics research has led to huge strides in the understanding of our biology, but it wasn't complete. Well, in 2019, an international team of scientists set out to rectify that - earlier this month unveiling the first-ever gap-free sequence of a human genome. So how did they do it and what does this mean for the likes of gene...

We can learn a lot about the animals of the past by studying the fossils we find in the ground but there’s something else that pre-historic creatures leave behind too - their burrows. To discuss what we can learn from these ‘paleoburrows’, Jonathan was joined by Renata Netto, professor at the Geology Graduate Program, Unisinos University in Brazil. Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan...

Earlier this month the Dunedin Study into health and behaviour marked its 50th birthday. In 1972, a researcher in the city set out to track the development of more than 1,000 newborn babies up to the age of three. Little did Phil Silva realise that over the next 50 years, his research would morph into one of the world’s most important longitudinal studies - the subsequent work yielding more than 1...

Gravity is everywhere. We and every other thing in the cosmos experience its force at all times no matter how small, no matter how oblivious you might be to its presence - it's there. But for something that causes the falling of a leaf in autumn as well as the collision of supermassive black holes in interstellar space - there’s a whole lot we don’t know about it too. Claudia de Rham, Professor of...

We have a funny relationship with alcohol. Many of us enjoy how it can make us more outgoing or ready to laugh but for others, it can be a source of significant, long-term problems. So could a synthetic alcohol - which provides the relaxing and socially lubricating qualities of alcohol without the hangovers - be a solution? Professor David Nutt, Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology...

Futureproof Extra: The Joy of Science with Jim Al-Khalili

Designing a Vaccine for Covid-19

For millenia the people’s and states of western Europe were at war with each other. They fought the 9 years war, the 100 years war, the Napoleonic wars, two world wars, and way too many others to mention. These people hated each other. It was a cauldron of “us versus them” But today with the rise of the EU and an extended period of peace in the region many of “them” have become “us”. So what cause...

For many people, the single greatest human achievement of the 20th century happened on July 20th, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, and a large proportion of those people probably hope for a similar spectacle on Mars in the coming decades. But aside from it being cool, is there actually any reason to send humans to these far-flung places? Britain's Astronomer Royal, Mart...

One of the things we here at Futureproof talk a lot about is the genome, the complete IKEA instructions to building you that exists in nearly every one of your living cells. As research and genetic technologies improve, the potential for medicine and society is huge, but there are also potential dangers too. It’s why the 'Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science & Industry' (IPPOSI) i...

When you think of motorsport, your mind might think of the speed, the danger, or the excitement. But it might surprise you to find that it is the motorsport industry, and its various R&D Departments, that have contributed to a wide range of applications - from climate change solutions to help in the fight against Covid. Dr. Kit Chapman, an award-winning science journalist and author of ‘Racing...

Futureproof Extra: The Expectation Effect

Can Animals Detect Natural Disasters?

Futureproof Extra: Measuring Intelligence

NeoMimix: The New Sperm Selection Technology

The Winchcombe Lockdown Meteorite

How to Solve a Crime with Science with Dr. Angela Gallop

Futureproof Extra: Hybrid Humans

Unraveling the Mysteries of our Ancient Dead

What Sleep Can Teach Us About Epilepsy?

Can Geoengineering Help in the Fight Against Climate Change?

Now, while we may not be aware of it, each and every one of us is a slave to an unseen and unknowable master. It rules the sun and the earth, roving the cosmos with indifference - presiding over the birth and death of stars and galaxies and every living thing. It is Time. And, consequently, we have a long-standing obsession with measuring it. But just how far back does that obsession go? Chad Orze...