Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode twelve: The Future Of Paying For Things.

It’s time to do the weekly food shop. You sit down on the couch, strap a VR headset on, and browse the aisles of your local supermarket.

Or maybe you feel like getting out of the house, so you head to the supermarket IRL, load up on dinner supplies, and walk out. No need to queue at the checkout - the scanners can tell exactly which items you have in the trolley, and your payment implant means you can pay with the wave of a hand.

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears about the future of buying things: from VR and AR shopping, to biometric payments by eyeball, to the not-so-distant future of a digital Euro.

Bought in? Join us as we look ahead to the future of paying for things.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music and Mastering: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Bruce Burke, founder of #PAY Symposium & Exposition

Reuben Godfrey, co-founder of the Blockchain Association of Ireland

Audio of Philip Lane, copyright European Union 2019 - European Parliament. [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20190226-0900-COMMITTEE-ECON]

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode eleven: The Future Of Being A Great Pet Owner

One in three Irish households own a dog, and one in four own a cat, according to Statista. But we don't just "own" our animals. Many of us see our pets as friends or loved ones. And the more we consider our pets to be humans, the more invested we become in their wellbeing.

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears from a bioacoustic researcher developing an algorithm that can decode dogs' barks, so humans can understand what their pet is trying to tell them.

Plus, a celebrity pet invasion: Tracy speaks to a UK pet agent who represents Instagram-famous cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, and more - including one Wexford chihuahua with over 50,000 followers.

Curious? Join us as we look ahead to the future of being a great pet owner.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Ann Vine, friend of narrator

Paula Stewart, Urban Paws UK

Tamas Faragó, bioacoustics researcher

John Pender, senior lecturer at Sligo IT

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode ten: The Future Of Dating

Around 57 million people have Tinder on their smartphones, and the app registers over one billion “swipes” per day, according to the BBC. But are dating apps the only way forward, or is the future a little more varied than that?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears about the growing popularity of virtual dating assistants, who’ll take over your online dating profiles and flirt with potential matches on your behalf (for a fee).

Plus, she speaks to the team at Guerilla Science who run multi-sensory dating evenings, allowing people to get to know their dates by scent or sound alone.

Curious? Join us as we look ahead to the future of dating.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Producer: Paula Lyne

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin, journalist

Jen Wong, director, Guerilla Science UK

Willie Daly, matchmaker

Source for Tinder figures: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42988025

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode nine: The Future Of Doing Your Makeup

Instead of having to re-do your face for a night out, what if your makeup could re-do itself, thanks to colour-changing particles?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough hears from the people whose job it is to predict upcoming beauty trends for some of the world’s big brands. Plus, she meets the team behind HiMirror, a voice-activated mirror enabled with skin analysis tech. And she goes to the trenches, speaking to millennials as they prep their hair and makeup for a night on the town

Join us as we look ahead to the future of beauty.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Michael Nolte, Creative Director of Beautystreams

Cin-Yee Ho, Marketing and Business Development Manager Europe, HiMirror

Skincare and makeup fans: Clara, Helen and Rebecca

Audio clips from HiMirror used with full permission

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode seven: The Future Of Cleaning Your House

The average adult spends 3.5 years of their life doing household chores, but could you soon be living in a home that does the cleaning (and cooking) for you?

This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough meets Mark Oleynik, the man behind the world’s first robotic kitchen, speaks to Prof John Barrett of CIT’s Nimbus Research Centre about what’s coming in smart home tech, and visits a new Dublin hotel with its own robot butlers.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of cleaning your house.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Conan Wynne of Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Mark Oleynik, CEO Moley Robotics

Professor John Barrett, Nimbus Research Centre, CIT

Brook Cameron, construction manager at Aloft Dublin

Audio clips from Moley Robotics used with full permission

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode seven: The Future Of Getting A Good Night’s Sleep.

Finding your dreams a little boring of late? Just add in some better music, brighter colours or more interesting scenery. And when you wake up, you can always rewind and check out the best bits.

As well as helping us figure out how soundly we’re sleeping, technology can be used to enhance our sleep in many ways - from ‘hacking’ our central nervous system so we can liven up our dreams to recording everything we dream about to be replayed later.

And if you’re having trouble drifting off in the first place, a cuddly sleep robot might help lower your heart rate and get you into shut-eye mode. This month on Future Stories, Tracy Tough meets one of the founders of Somnox, and speaks to leading futurist Ian Pearson.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your night’s sleep.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Mick Donoghue and Luke Denigan

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Julian Jagtenberg, co-founder of Somnox

Ian Pearson, Futurizon

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode six: The Future Of Your Dinner

Would you swap pizza night for a meal pill? Or order a test-tube burger as your next takeaway?

Lab-grown meat, or synthetic meat, is getting closer to mainstream thanks to companies like Mosa Meat, who make “beef burgers” from cow cells. Or if you’d rather leave recognisable food behind entirely, you can try Huel, a powdered drink that you can sub in for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your dinner.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Tracy Tough

Editor: Tracy Tough

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Additional Music: Conan Wynne, Ambisonics Ireland

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Aisling Rogerson, co-founder of The Fumbally

James Collier, co-founder and head of nutrition at Huel

Koert van Mensvoort, director of the Next Nature Network

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode five: The Future Of Keeping Fit.

What lies ahead in the world of fitness and exercise, and could it soon be possible to stay in shape without breaking a sweat?

It’s now possible to use DNA testing to pinpoint whether you should focus on sprints or long-distance runs, more bench presses or fewer lunges. And in the US, scientists at the Salk Institute say they are in the process of developing an “exercise pill” that could simulate some of the key benefits of exercise.

So your workouts could soon be more precise, more efficient - but could they also be replaced entirely by a handful of pills?

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your workout.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Paula Lyne

Producer: Ciara O’Connor Walsh

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Katie Harvey, West Wood Gym Aston Quay

Sebastian Corpe, DNAFit

Dr Giles Warrington, PESS, University of Limerick

Podcast image: Unsplash

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode four: The Future Of Your Summer Holiday.

Fancy posting your next batch of holiday selfies from 250 miles above Earth? Space tourism might sound like a far-fetched idea to some, but for Texas-based company Axiom Space, it's fast becoming a reality.

We hear from Axiom’s CEO Michael Suffredini about the company’s plans to send space tourists into orbit by 2022 - with a price tag of €47m for a ten-day stint.

And if you’re sick of airport queues and long-haul flights, how does a one-hour door-to-door trip from Dublin to Paris sound? With hyperloop, supersonic travel could be a part of our everyday lives sooner than you might think.

We meet Team ÉirLoop, a group of Irish students leading the hyperloop charge with their entry into the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Student Competition in California.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your summer holiday.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Paula Lyne

Producer: Ciara O’Connor Walsh

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space

Stuart Donnelly, Team ÉirLoop

Akhil Voorakkara, Team ÉirLoop

Podcast image: Axiom Space

Each month on Future Stories, we bring you a little closer to the future of everyday life.

Episode three: The Future Of Your Friday Night TV.

Could a VR headset soon become a normal part of your family night in front of the telly, or your weekend cinema date? Virtual reality is an industry that’s set to be worth 38 billion euro worldwide by 2025, a clear sign that the world of entertainment is changing fast.

This month, we don a headset to check out Ireland’s first virtual reality film, Aurora, created by Pink Kong Studios in Dublin.

Plus, we chat to Colum Slevin from his offices at Oculus VR in San Francisco, where his team are charting a brand new path for virtual reality, less about isolated games and more about socialising and stories.

And VR might be new to Ireland, but we’re embracing it fast. We visit Future Shock VR arcade in Dublin, where groups of friends, colleagues and even couples come to hang out together - and shoot a few zombies while they’re at it.

Join us as we look ahead to the future of your Friday night TV.

Brought to you by TheJournal.ie in partnership with Volkswagen.

Narrator: Paula Lyne

Producer: Brian from Headstuff

Theme Music: Glenn Malone

Graphic Design: Orla Finn

Contributors (in order):

Niamh Herrity, Pink Kong Studios

Aoife Doyle, Pink Kong Studios

Colum Slevin, Head Of Experiences with Oculus VR

Conor Gannon, Future Shock

Aurora theme and sound effects used with permission of Pink Kong Studios.