Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea
452 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsJonathan responds to your texts and tweets, is joined in studio for all the latest science stories for Newsround and speaks to one of our two guests featured on the show.
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Episodes
Nuclear Fusion
July 04, 2020 12:59 - 47 minutes - 2.79 KBHumankind has long gazed up into the sky, marveled at the sun and dreamed to wield its colossal power. Now, it might sound ridiculous but we have actually known how to do it for some time. But it is only now that we may be in a position to act and harness the incredible potential of nuclear fusion, thus embarking on an age of clean, sustainable, and safe energy production. So, how does it work? Ian Chapman is Chief Executive Officer at the UK Atomic Energy Authority
Futureproof Extra: The Science of Explosions
June 20, 2020 15:28 - 17 minutes - 1.02 KBFor many of us, thankfully, the only experience we ever have of explosions is at a fireworks display. We don’t give it a second thought. They make a noise, they look nice. It’s simple. Except that it’s anything but simple when you look that bit closer. Explosives is a complicated field in more ways than one and the research that comes from the scientists involved could have impacts on everything from geopolitics, to space exploration, to Antarctic research. Jacqueline Akhavan is a Professo...
How Your Emotions Can Change The Shape of Your Heart
June 20, 2020 15:06 - 40 minutes - 2.38 KBWe’ve all probably experienced a broken heart at some point in our lives whether that’s to do with the break-up of a relationship or the loss of a loved one. But the link between emotional pain and the one we feel in our hearts is really just a metaphor - just an expression of that grief. Or is it? Jonathan is joined by Dr Sandeep Jauhar - Cardiologist and author of ‘Heart: A History’ to talk about how the heart can change its shape as a result of the emotional pain we feel which can lead to ...
Futureproof Special: I Think Therefore (I Think) I Am
June 14, 2020 20:16 - 43 minutes - 2.58 KBFor the week's Futureproof Podcast we cast our attention back to a very special episode in which Jonathan seeks to better understand some of the bigger questions when it comes to what drives human behaviour, our relationship with time and consciousness, how we construct the world around us, and the very nature of truth itself. Donald Hoffman, cognitive scientist and author of 'Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See' joins Jonathan to discuss the idea that, evolutionarily speaking, it ...
Futureproof Gold: Is There Any Scientific Basis for Race?
June 12, 2020 13:07 - 15 minutes - 949 BytesJonathan Mc Crea is white. Serena Williams is black. For better or worse we humans seem to have this compulsion to categorize ourselves in these terms. But what, if any, merit do these categories of race have? Gavin Evans is the author of Skin Deep: Journeys in the Divisive Science of Race. First Aired: 05/09/2019
Saving The World With Seaweed
June 06, 2020 13:39 - 47 minutes - 2.76 KBDo you remember Climate Change? Well, it hasn’t gone away you know. I know you're probably thinking we have enough problems to worry about at the moment but our next guest is proposing a solution. Seaweed! How is seaweed relevant? Tim Flannery is co-founder of the Australian Climate Council.
Futureproof Extra: Covid Dreams
June 06, 2020 13:39 - 16 minutes - 982 BytesYou’re probably sick of the term “the new normal” - we know we are. Of course, when the first global pandemic in human history hits, you expect things to change. But one thing you may not have expected was for your dreams to change and yet that is what many people have reported. So what’s going on? Deirdre Barrett is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of 'The Committee of Sleep' and 'Pandemic Dreams', she joins Jonathan to d...
Futureproof Special - Fasterproof
May 30, 2020 15:32 - 41 minutes - 2.41 KBIn the time between putting our head down to rest at night to when we wake up in the morning, how far do we travel in space without us knowing it? If the boiling point of water is 100°C, then how is it that the clothes we put out on the line dry at all? And, if I can see a flea, can a flea see a bacteria? There might be more profound questions to ask in the name of science, but the simplest questions can often uncover the most fascinating answers about the world around us. In this special epi...
Futureproof Extra: How We Hear
May 24, 2020 10:37 - 18 minutes - 1.07 KBWhat’s happening when you listen to this podcast? Jonathan has exhaled air and by moving parts of his mouth and throat, changed the sounds that the air makes as it exits his lungs and flows out into the atmosphere around him. Forgetting the microphone, the radio and whatever other middlemen that are involved in between for a moment, you are then receiving and interpreting this sound that he has made. How? James Hudspeth is a Biophysicist and Neuroscientist in The Laboratory of Sensory Neuro...
Does A Butterfly Remember Being A Caterpillar?
May 23, 2020 17:07 - 51 minutes - 3 KBWe’ve a very special episode coming up next week in which we’ll be answering your sometimes ingenious, more often than not bizarre, questions. We’ve had a huge response to this and the fact of the matter is that we just couldn’t fit all of the questions into next week’s show. One of the questions we couldn’t fit in was actually one of our favourites. There was just too much in it to only spend a few minutes at it so we’ve decided to do a full feature interview on it this week. And so Professo...
The Search For Planet 9
May 16, 2020 13:41 - 37 minutes - 2.22 KBRemember when you were in school and you learned that there were 9 planets in the solar system? Then there was all that unpleasantness with Pluto in 2006. Well good news! Thanks in part to our next guest you can essentially forget that that ever happened. Sort of... Mike Brown is Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and one of the scientists at the forefront of the search for Planet 9.
Futureproof Extra: Vaccinating Vampire Bats
May 16, 2020 13:01 - 16 minutes - 963 BytesScientists say that it’s most likely that Covid-19 originated in Bats. If that is the case, you can add it to a list which features the likes of SARS in China 2003, Rabies in Peru in 2006 and Ebola in West Africa in 2013. So what is it about Bats that results in them transmitting so many deadly viruses to humans and what can we do about it? Dr. Daniel Streicker is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine in the University of Glasgow, he jo...
Mass Extinctions
May 10, 2020 11:30 - 17 minutes - 1 KBWe’re all probably loosely familiar with the idea that the dinosaurs were the victims of a mass extinction event You’re probably less familiar with the idea that that was the fifth of five such events over the course of the planet’s history Now that we ourselves are becoming a geological force, what can these past extinctions tell us about the future survival of life on this planet? Lauren Sallan is a Paleobiologist and Martin Meyerson Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at the U...
Futureproof Extra: De Novo Genes
May 10, 2020 10:51 - 14 minutes - 851 BytesAbout 550 million years ago natural selection gave us animals, 200 million years ago we had mammals and a mere 300,000 or so years ago you got us, homo sapiens. The evolutionary process is a slow one driven by very slight incremental alterations over unimaginably large swathes of time. Except perhaps when it comes to De Novo genes. So, what are De Novo genes and just how important are they? Aoife McLysaght - Professor in the School of Genetics and Microbiology in Trinity College Dublin and o...
A Whistle-stop Tour Through The History of Life on Earth
May 09, 2020 14:24 - 1 hour - 3.57 KBWe think of the history of life on this planet as basically being, microbes, fish, dinosaurs and then us. But this does a huge disservice to the extraordinary diversity of life that has called the Earth home and indeed to the work of those who study it. So we’re going to take a bit of a guided tour through life, minus the dinosaurs because they always hog the limelight anyway. Lauren Sallan is a Paleobiologist and Martin Meyerson Assistant Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Univers...
Futureproof Gold: Why Noise Is Bad For You
May 03, 2020 11:13 - 17 minutes - 1.02 KBWhether you’re walking down the street, at the office or even going on your holidays modern life can be noisy, REALLY NOISY! It’s annoying. But might it a lot worse than just an irritation? Mathias Basner - Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Futureproof Extra: Eosinophilic Oesophagitis
May 02, 2020 16:09 - 11 minutes - 717 BytesAt the moment it seems like almost the whole science community is focussed on Covid 19. And while it’s obvious to us all that this is an important endeavour, there are still other diseases out there that also require research. So, what is it like to plough a lonely furrow and commit to researching one of the more obscure diseases that afflicts human beings? Dr Joanne Masterson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at NUI Maynooth and Member of the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute fo...
The Quietest Place in the World
May 02, 2020 15:23 - 50 minutes - 2.93 KBAround this time last year we talked about the detrimental effects of noise in our lives with Mathias Basner. But if noise can have physiological effects that go way beyond our auditory system what can silence do? Real silence. Steve Orfield is President of Orfield Laboratories where the quietest place on Earth can be found
Futureproof Extra: Growing Your Own Robot
April 26, 2020 10:52 - 20 minutes - 1.18 KBAI can do so many things better than we can. When it comes to calculating something or sifting through lots of data at breakneck speeds there is just no competition between us and the robots. And yet they are pretty useless at so many of the simple things we take for granted that even a toddler could do. But perhaps that’s because we haven’t taken the time to teach them like we do our infants? Mark Lee is Emeritus Professor of Intelligent Systems in the Department of Computer Science at Abery...
The Science of Emotion
April 25, 2020 13:52 - 47 minutes - 2.78 KBEmotions are tricky things to get a handle on and much of our greatest literature, music and film is devoted to trying to understand human feelings. So can science succeed were many of our great artists and philosophers have failed? Lauren Riters is Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin
Futureproof Extra: Trusting Statistics
April 19, 2020 14:57 - 20 minutes - 1.2 KBDid you know that 90% of statistics are fraudulent? No? Well that's good because that’s not true. As Benjamin Disraeli famously said “"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Except that he didn’t actually. That’s not true either. What we're getting at is in this world of fake news, just what can we trust and how do we navigate through the sheer volume of numbers we read day in day out? Paul Goodwin is Emeritus Professor at the University of Bath and Author of 'Som...
Futureproof Gold: Interstellar Intergenerational Mission
April 19, 2020 10:52 - 14 minutes - 892 BytesUnless you’re Donald Trump, you’ve probably noticed that we haven’t been taking the greatest care of our planet over the last few centuries. And our search for life elsewhere has shown us that we’re not exactly blessed with an abundance of similar worlds in our immediate neighbourhood. So what if things got so bad that we had to move beyond our solar system? How feasible is an interstellar mission and what considerations would we have to take on board to ensure the viability of a second human...
The Science of Smell
April 18, 2020 13:39 - 44 minutes - 2.61 KBOf the five traditionally accepted senses smell is definitely the overlooked underappreciated hipsters choice. I mean who would pick their sense of smell to keep over any of the other four? Yet it can be so evocative and so surprising in it’s impact on us. If you’ve ever had a smell bring you back to a specific time or feeling you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. So how does smell work exactly? Luca Turin is a Biophysicist, Group Leader in Quantum Neurobiology at the Fleming Institute...
Futureproof Extra: Sounds of the Coral Reef
April 13, 2020 17:05 - 21 minutes - 1.28 KBHere on Futureproof, we have been longstanding supporters of 'FameLab' - the world's leading science communication competition that spans over 30 countries - putting scientists on stage to talk about a particular idea or area of study. With just their wits and a couple of props, the top newest voices in science, technology, engineering and maths from across Ireland will give 3 minute talks on always fascinating, sometimes bizarre science concepts - the final of which will be taking place tomo...
How To Travel To The Stars
April 12, 2020 11:00 - 51 minutes - 3.03 KBA few weeks back we chatted to Chris Wanjek about human spacefaring and he briefly talked about hollowing out an asteroid to use as an interstellar spacecraft. This got us thinking about the idea of interstellar travel so we decided to find ourselves a scientist who was working on that precise thing. Our regular listeners will probably be unsurprised to hear that there is not just one scientist engaged in this research but numerous organisations Andreas Hein is the Executive Director of one ...
ASMR
April 05, 2020 12:55 - 36 minutes - 2.15 KBEvery day Youtube sees around 500 new ASMR videos uploaded and the top five ASMR channels have nearly two billion views So just what is ASMR? Dr. Giulia Poerio is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Exeter and one of the co-authors on a paper examining the physiological effects of ASMR
Futureproof Extra: Animal Culture
April 05, 2020 11:47 - 22 minutes - 1.32 KBIn recent times we have made discoveries of Neanderthal art that have helped to completely overturn our perceptions of our closest relative from lumbering oaf to thoughtful cousin. We value culture and therefore we consider it an indication of a higher intelligence like our own. So, is it just us and those like us who exhibit evidence of cultural practice or do we also need to revise our assessment of some of the animals that share the planet with us today? Carl Safina is Professor for Nature...
Futureproof Gold: The Schmidt Pain Index
April 04, 2020 12:45 - 23 minutes - 1.36 KBThere are things in life that we instinctively know to avoid. Be it pain or bugs or indeed bugs that can cause pain, we can all agree that evasion is the way forward. That is of course unless you’re Justin Schmidt. As an entomologist, he has devoted his life, not only to the study of insects but more specifically to the study of the pain that those insects can inflict. The result of this rather odd pursuit is that he has been stung about a thousand times by about 150 species, allowing him to...
Futureproof Extra: Some Assembly Required
March 29, 2020 17:55 - 14 minutes - 878 BytesWe’re all too aware at this moment in time that viruses basically have no redeeming features. I mean, we’ve even come to think of some bacteria as good but can anyone remember one good thing they’ve ever heard about a virus? No? Well the answer is somewhat in the question because you have a virus to thank for your ability to remember anything in the first place. Neil Shubin, evolutionary biologist and author of Some Assembly Required, joins Jonathan to explore how the incredible diversity ...
Spacefarers
March 29, 2020 11:03 - 39 minutes - 2.29 KBIt may surprise some of you to know that Jonathan is not really a fan of Sci Fi. Even the granddaddy of them all; Star Trek, doesn’t make a lot of sense to him. He would say that humans just aren’t ever going to want to live in other parts of the galaxy. It's just too inhospitable. Today's guest doesn't agree though. Christopher Wanjek is the Author of Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle The Moon, Mars, and Beyond
Insect Physiology
March 22, 2020 11:10 - 37 minutes - 2.17 KBA few weeks back we were talking to Edith Widder and she happened to mention in passing that insects breathe through the side of their bodies. It was around about this time that myself and producer Aidan Mc Kelvey realised that we know next to nothing about insect physiology. So today we’ve decided to change that and who better to have as a teacher than “The King of Sting”. He is otherwise known as Justin Schmidt, Entomologist in the Department of Entomology at the University of Arizona
Futureproof Extra: The Alchemy of Us
March 21, 2020 13:05 - 15 minutes - 928 BytesIn lockstep through history, you will find great social change alongside material science. The discoveries of the magical properties of glass, copper, quartz and steel ushered in the modern world but there are many men and women in this story who are often left out of the science and history books. Ainissa Ramirez, scientist and author of ‘The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another’ attempts to right this wrong - she joins Jonathan to discuss.
Futureproof Extra: Life On Titan?
March 14, 2020 15:29 - 14 minutes - 856 BytesWe keep finding life on Earth in more and more surprising and hostile environments but it remains the case that no matter where it emerges life seems to require at least three things; certain essential chemicals, an energy source and a liquid. In the case of life on Earth that liquid is water but could another liquid work as well? What about Methane? Well it just so happens that there are methane lakes on Titan. So could Saturn’s largest Moon harbour life, but not as we know it Jim? Dr Nick ...
The Science of Ostracism & Covid-19 Science Newsround
March 14, 2020 15:17 - 59 minutes - 3.47 KBWe humans are social animals. Social interactions are essential to maintaining a sense of belonging and allow us to engage more fully with our feelings and emotions. So, when we get sidelined, or cut out of the group, it can hurt. It can hurt a lot. But being ostracised is more than that and it can have a terrible psychological and emotional effect on us, so why do we do it to others and what function does it serve? Dr. Kip Williams, Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences from Pu...
Xenobots
March 07, 2020 14:20 - 51 minutes - 3 KBI’m alive. Your dog is alive. The ginormous spider keeping you from going into your own bathroom is alive. But although you may find yourself shouting obscenities at them, your smart phone, your laptop and your local automated supermarket checkout are certainly not alive. It seems self evident that there is a divide between machine and lifeform but for how long will that differentiation remain obvious to us? Sam Kriegman is a PhD student in Evolutionary Robotics at the University of Vermont a...
Futureproof Extra: The World According to Physics
March 07, 2020 13:29 - 20 minutes - 1.22 KBIn this episode of Futureproof Extra, Jim Al-Khalili, Distinguished Chair, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey joined Jonathan to discuss his new book 'The World According to Physics'. Together they chat about some of the most fascinating, baffling, and counter-intuitive ideas this endlessly valuable branch of science has to offer us as they both look to open the door to an area of the natural world that continues to amaze and confou...
Futureproof Presents: Doublethink
March 01, 2020 11:19 - 1 hour - 5.48 KBDoublethink is a new Irish podcast from our very own producer Aidan McKelvey and Ken Walsh. They’ll be asking the questions you had the good judgement not to bother with. Each episode will cover a big, impossible to answer question as the two lads struggle to arrive at something that looks like an answer. They’ll be asking experts and random members of the public to tackle the big philosophical questions. In this first episode they look at the question of immortality and its consequences, ...
Into The Abyss
February 29, 2020 14:25 - 42 minutes - 2.47 KBThe wonders of the human mind are perhaps most evident in what it does when you are not thinking. When you want to move your arm it just moves. You remember the things you experience. And when you look at the incredibly complex world in which you live it intuitively makes sense to you. But what happens if even one of these innate faculties fails? Anthony David is Director of University College London’s Institute of Mental Health and author of Into The Abyss: A Neuropsychiatrist’s Notes on Tro...
Futureproof Extra: Left-Handedness
February 29, 2020 12:43 - 15 minutes - 952 BytesMost of us are right handed. It’s something we all take for granted but the odd thing is that this tendency towards right handedness is not the norm. We are the outlier and none of our closest relatives have so few southpaws. Why? And when did this change occur? Dr. Natalie Uomini, a Senior Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History joined Jonathan to discuss.
Searching for Shipwrecks and Dark Matter
February 22, 2020 15:12 - 53 minutes - 3.12 KBSunken treasure is the stuff of so many great stories from your childhood You might envisage Intrepid explorers, nasty pirates or adventurous archaeologists diving deep to search for priceless bounties from long lost galleons. Well now you can add particle physicists to that list. So why is science scouring ancient shipwrecks? Alan Duffy is Professor in Astrophysics at Swinburne University of Technology
Futureproof Extra: Space Archaeology
February 22, 2020 13:02 - 15 minutes - 904 BytesImagine for a moment that it’s 1 Billion years in the future. A small vessel carrying a few intrepid explorers has arrived in a distant star system where they believe the fourth planet may harbour life. On closer inspection this small bluey green world is uninhabited but curiously there is evidence in orbit and on the planet’s satellite that suggests this was not always the case. What can these artifacts tell our interstellar archaeologist friends? Dr Alice Gorman is the author of ‘Dr Space J...
The Rules of Contagion
February 15, 2020 13:38 - 43 minutes - 2.52 KBWith over 50,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths recorded to date, the spread of the coronavirus is understandably a story that is dominating the headlines worldwide. Governments, medical professionals and even military personnel have been deployed to limit the impact of this epidemic. But all of their work is itself reliant on the efforts of mathematicians. But how? Adam Kucharski is Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and author of The Rules of Contagio...
Futureproof Extra: Spider Ballooning
February 14, 2020 17:12 - 13 minutes - 796 BytesThe second voyage of the HMS Beagle is famous for the many observations of it’s young naturalist, Charles Darwin. You may have heard of him. What you may not have heard about is his account of the phenomenon of spider ballooning on a calm day in October 1832. After the ship was inundated with spiders about 100km off the coast of Argentina the young biologist observed one spider “elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite unac...
Futureproof Extra: The Plastic Waste Solution
February 08, 2020 15:19 - 21 minutes - 1.28 KBOur relationship with plastic has never been more problematic. First created in order to address environmental issues, plastic has now developed into one of the biggest environmental issues we currently face as a species. The extent of the pollution of plastic has yet to be fully determined but with micro plastics being found in the air that we breathe, the food we eat, to it being found in the deepest depths of the Marianas Trench, real change is needed. Dr Mark Miodownik, Professor of Mater...
Solar Orbiter
February 08, 2020 14:04 - 34 minutes - 2.04 KBWhen we think of the sun we tend to think of one uniform mass of heat with no discernible features to speak of. The fact is that the surface of the sun is changing constantly as the hot plasma within rises to the surface, cools and sinks in a process called convection, bubbling like water in a boiling pot. But it may not all be like this, in fact we know comparatively little about the poles of the sun and it is with the launch of the Solar Orbiter that we may soon remedy that. A joint Nasa an...
Bioluminescence
February 01, 2020 13:56 - 37 minutes - 2.19 KBThe open ocean can be a forbidding place. Not only in its vastness or raw power but for the animals and organisms it hosts as well. It really is survival of the fittest or if the case may be, the brightest. It is thought that on average up to 76% of the animals in our oceans create their own light - a process called bioluminescence. But why? Dr. Edith Widder is Co-Founder, CEO, and Senior Scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA)
Futureproof Extra: Trust
February 01, 2020 13:35 - 15 minutes - 952 BytesDo you trust people readily and quickly? How do you decide when to trust someone and when not to? In the age of Fake News and post-truth, the common consensus is that human gullibility is playing an increasing role in how we live our lives and the decisions we collectively make. But how much should we believe and what is the extent of our trust? Hugo Mercier is Research Scientist at Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris) and Author of Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who ...
Why is Whale Song Getting Quieter?
January 25, 2020 13:58 - 37 minutes - 2.17 KBLanguage may be uniquely human but communication certainly isn’t and our attempts to decipher just what is being said by our animal cousins often brings up more questions than it does answers. One particularly mysterious finding is that all Whales everywhere seem to have made the collective decision to stop shouting and start whispering. Why? Dr. Emmanuelle Leroy is a Researcher in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales
Futureproof Extra: Science of Menopause
January 25, 2020 12:44 - 14 minutes - 850 BytesWe live in a society which has never been more open. We talk about our sex lives, reproduction, our mental health and everything in between - very little is taboo. But there are some things that we still don’t like to talk about though. Menopause for instance. Not only do we not talk enough about it, but the way in which we do discuss it may not give us the full picture. Susan P. Mattern is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of History at the University of Georgia and author o...
Futureproof Gold: The Bystander Effect
January 24, 2020 10:46 - 13 minutes - 820 BytesSay you came across someone who was lying motionless in the street would you stop and find out what happened or if they were injured in some way? Most people might like to think, and indeed say, that they would go over to help, but it turns out that if you are in a crowd or on a busy street the chances of you stopping are greatly reduced. So, why might the presence of strangers affect the way we behave? Jonathan was joined by Dr Mark Levine, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of...