Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

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 species on this planet is diminishing every day, mostly due to human activity. In order to save what we have and even one day restore species back from the edge of extinction, we need to save as many samples of living animals as we can. Joining Jonathan to talk about cryo conservation and its importance in science is Dr Andrew Mooney who is with Dublin Zoo and the Department of Zoology at Trinity College Dublin.

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.