Futureproof With Jonathan Mccrea

You might think becoming eternally young isn’t possible but scientists from Cornell University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Cancer Research UK, are actively exploring how to reverse the ageing process. Dr. Meng Wang, Clinician Scientist in Haematology at Cornell University joins Jonathan to discuss.

In the depths of the ground in Finland, high-level radioactive nuclear waste will be buried in the world’s first such permanent storage facility of this kind. So, what does this process look like and will other countries in Europe soon be following suit? Joining Jonathan is journalist Erika Benke who has been writing about this for the BBC.

Have you ever wondered about what goes into making a spacesuit? Amy Ross has been with NASA for 30 years, and is a spacesuit engineer specialising in pressure garments. She joins Jonathan to discuss her work. This week’s Newsround with Dr Lara Dungan and Dr Ruth Freeman features a vaccine showing promise against the virus linked to multiple sclerosis; a massive sun 'umbrella' could be tethered to an asteroid to shield Earth from the sun and fight global warming; walking fewer than 10,000 daily steps still reduces the risk of death; and babies' and adults' love for Van Gogh shows a connection between early sensory preferences and later aesthetic judgments.

The science behind suncream is really surprising, as explored by writer Grace Browne in her recent piece in Wired. She joins Jonathan to shed light on something most people haven't thought of.

Black holes - cosmic enigmas with immense gravitational forces - have long perplexed scientists. At Nottingham University's Black Hole Laboratory, Prof. Silke Weinfurtner pioneers an unconventional method using a hi-tech bathtub and superfluid helium as analogues to explore black hole behaviours. How might these analogues provide us with new insights into the mysteries of black holes and the fundamental laws of physics? Prof. Weinfurtner joins Jonathan to discuss her innovative research.

The way we sleep has dramatically changed in recent years. Our alarm clock used to be the only piece of tech we associated with sleep, but we now have apps that track our sleep, evaluate its quality, and how much more or less we may need on a day-to-day basis. But how do all of these advances in sleep-orientated actually technology affect us? Katie Coveney is a senior lecturer in Sociology at Loughborough University in the UK & a medical sociologist with expertise in social and ethical aspects of medicine and health care. Catherine has just co-authored 'Technosleep: Frontiers, Fictions, Futures', a book that examines the relationship between sleep and technology. She joins Jonathan to discuss.

Did you know your gut might be able to tell you about the strength of your relationships? A recent study from Arizona State University shows that the strength of a couple’s emotional connection is correlated with the diversity of their individual microbiome. Joining Jonathan to discuss their findings is Rosy Krajmalnik-Brown, Director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes and a Professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment at Arizona State University & Shelby Langer, Associate Professor at the ASU’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation and a member of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Also joining Jonathan for this week's Newsround is Dr. Shane Bergin, Assistant Professor in Science Education at University College & Dr. Ruth Freeman from Science Foundation Ireland.

Dr. Kit Yates, senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath, joins Jonathan to teach him ‘How To Expect The Unexpected: The Science of Making Predictions and the Art of Knowing When Not To’.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, deepfakes are becoming easier and cheaper to produce and as a result, scientists are testing the potential benefits and risks of incorporating them into your movie-going experience. Joining Jonathan to discuss is Dr Gillian Murphy, a lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at the School of Applied Psychology in University College Cork, who supervises projects on memory distortion, fake news, deepfake technology, critical thinking, conspiracy theories, and the ethics of deception in research.

Weapons of the Future We can see it in our newsfeeds every single day, as war rages on the eastern frontiers of Europe - so too are the changing dynamics evident in the way war is conducted in the 21st century. But as tactics and strategies continue to evolve, so too do the technologies that underpin the armed forces of nations the world over. So, when it comes to the weapons of the future, what can we expect exactly? Jonathan is joined by military technology journalist, Kelsey D. Atherton. The Fibonacci Sequence They’re found so commonly in the natural world, such a precise mathematical pattern. From pine cones to ferns unfolding, hurricanes, many other natural phenomenon. Essentially it’s still an ongoing question about why they are so common. Jonathan talks to someone who is trying to get to the bottom of this natural phenomenon, Dr Sandy Hetherington, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh. Cryo Conservation It’s a sad truth that the number of s

Jonathan is joined by Jon Blundy, Royal Society Research Professor, Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford who proposes we utilise volcanic power to help metal extraction.

You might think of MDMA as more of a recreational drug but actually it is being clinically trialled in a therapeutic setting as a potential treatment for PTSD among a number of health conditions. To break it down, Jonathan is joined by Rachel Nuwer, science journalist & author of 'I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World'.

According to the World Economic Forum, 99% of the world’s population experiences air pollution levels exceeding WHO guidelines. But recent studies have shown that air pollution doesn’t just impact our lungs, but can also lead to heart attacks and strokes. Joining Jonathan to discuss is Annette Peters, Chair of Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine at LMU Munich, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, and Visiting professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston.

The biology underpinning a rare genetic mutation that allows its carrier to live virtually pain-free, heal more rapidly, and experience reduced anxiety and fear, has been uncovered by new research from University College London. Dr. Andrei Okorokov, Associate Professor at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at UCL joins Jonathan to discuss.

As our energy consumption continues to grow, we will need to find more and more ways to actually create the electricity we need. But soon you might be able to generate clean energy from thin air and that’s just one of the potential uses of a new device created by Dr. Jun Yao, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his team at the University of Massachusetts. He joins Jonathan to discuss.

According to new research, the drug dimethyl fumarate has been shown to block blood clotting during infection, which could make a sizable impact on people who are suffering from a number of different conditions, one of which being the life-threatening disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). Joining Jonathan to discuss this development is one of those behind the research, Professor Luke O’Neill from the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute. Also joining Jonathan for this week's installment of Newsround is Dr. Jessamyn Fairfield, physicist at the University of Galway & Dr. Oran Kennedy, from the Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine and the Tissue Engineering Research Group at RCSI.

Have we just been made futile as a reproductive species? This week researchers in the University of Cambridge and in the US announced their creation of synthetic human embryos that won’t need eggs or sperm. To explore how they did this and its practical implications, Dr David Walsh, chairman of First IVF joins Jonathan to discuss.

Generally speaking, Ireland is a pretty safe place. For example, when it comes to natural phenomena, insects, or animals, very few things can do you serious harm. We have no snakes, bears, wolves, or venomous species, and our spiders are 99.9% benign. And it's also the case that seismic activity is very rare here and even if it is detected, it pales in comparison to our nearest neighbour, the UK. Why? Chris Bean who leads the Geophysics Section at DIAS joins Jonathan to discuss.

Recently hundreds of leading technology experts, journalists, and policymakers from across the world released a statement saying that: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war”. But as we are just now beginning to grapple with this brave new world of generative artificial intelligence it can still be difficult to know what the future might actually hold for us, what role AI will have in our lives, and where the danger really lies. Patricia Scanlon, Ireland’s AI ambassador, and founder of Dublin-based speech recognition tech company SoapBox Labs joins Jonathan to discuss.

When you look up into the night sky and you see the incredible array of stars and planets that are visible to us here on Earth, it is impossible not to feel something. Wonder. Amazement. Insignificance. Inspiration - maybe all of these things and more. Either way, it’s truly humbling to see just how small we really are. But soon you might have a very different experience - one where there is nothing to gaze up at at all - and that future might be nearer than we think. Prof. Peter Gallagher, Head of Astrophysics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies joins Jonathan to discuss the impact of light pollution on our night sky. Dr. Shane Bergin from UCD & science communicator, Catherine McGuinness also join us for this week's installment of Newsround.