Guest: Gero Miesenböck of Oxford University

Guests:

• Siwen Wang, Harvard University

• Dr Ruth Freeman, Research Ireland

• Dr Susan Kelleher, DCU

Guest: Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi, Professor of Developmental Systems Neuroscience at University College London

Guests:

• Kevin O'Sullivan of The Irish Times

• Catherine McGuinness, Science Communicator

• Professor Naomi Allen, Chief Scientist at UK Biobank and Professor in Epidemiology at the University of Oxford

Guest: Dr Simon Piggott, Clinical Research Fellow with the Diabetes Complications Research Centre at the Conway Institute, UCD

Guests:

• Science Communicator Eoin Murphy

• DCU's Shelley Brady

• Dr Tom Reader, Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecologist, University of Nottingham

Is maths just about numbers and equations? Not even close.

Today we’re exploring the hidden power of mathematical thinking with Junaid Mubeen, mathematician and author of Think Like a Mathematician.

From decoding conspiracy theories to escaping political echo chambers, calculus and dimensionality shape the way we see the world, even if we don’t realise it.

We recently got an email in from a listener to the show about a topic they thought we should cover, and we’d encourage you to get in touch too if there is something you’d like to learn more about – [email protected]. The email was from Dr John Regan, the Royal Society - SFI University Research Fellow in the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University.

He said: “One of the postdocs in my group recently published a paper on Primordial Black Holes left over from the Big Bang being possible ‘seeds’ for super massive black holes. The JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) has, over the last two-three years, been discovering way more and way more massive black holes than was expected.

In short, the results from the very early Universe being returned from JWST are both puzzling and electrifying. Primordial black holes may explain some of these results (as well as possibly being a candidate for dark matter)! I think this would be a very cool topic for Futureproof. I would be delighted to discuss these results and perhaps also provide some context to what JWST is seeing and why it is so exciting.”

Dr John joins us on the show.

Can life be programmed like software? Synthetic biology says yes. We’re entering an era where DNA is code and biology is becoming a programmable platform. You can now order synthetic DNA online and use AI to design brand-new proteins. Today, we’re diving into the frontlines of this biotech revolution — and joining us is microbiologist, geneticist, and futurist Andrew Hessel to explore what’s possible now and what’s coming next.

Also featured in Newsround are Dr Shelley Brady of DCU and Dr Shane Bergin of UCD.

Guest: Dr Christian Ginski, School of Natural Sciences at the University of Galway