Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

This is a special episode on 'Face Blindness' & 'Super Recognition' featuring Fiona Newell, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the Trinity Institute of Neurosciences, and Meike Ramon, Cognitive Neuroscientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Fribourg.

Together they explore 'Prosopagnosia' aka "Face Blindness", a neurological disorder characterised by the inability to recognize faces.

First aired on May 25th, 2021

When we’re happy, our bodies become flooded with dopamine and serotonin, two types of neurotransmitters in the brain; our hearts might even beat faster and maybe, we even muster a smile.

But does it work the other way? Can contorting our faces into a smile give us that chemical hit that actually makes us feel good?

Nicholas A. Coles from the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University joins Jonathan to discuss.

Roughly 10% of murders in New York are motivated by revenge. But what exactly is revenge and why are some people consumed by it?

Jonathan McCrea speaks with psychology PhD student Katie McGaughey from Queen's University Belfast, who is conducting research on revenge and its impact on crime victims.

Joining Jonathan for Newsround is physicist Dr Shane Bergin and science communicator Catherine McGuinness.

How far away are we from actually inhabiting the Moon?

Professor Mahesh Anand, Open University Professor in Planetary Science and Exploration, has been among those testing lunar rocks to see if we can both extract and produce water up there.

He joins Jonathan to discuss this as well as the primary challenges currently preventing us from making the lunar surface our home.

It’s estimated that 1 in 8 to 1 in 5 people have depression, but it’s mostly those at the moderate to the severe end who turn to antidepressants.

This week, we wanted to delve into how exactly antidepressants work and the scientific impact they have on the alchemy of the brain.

Joining Jonathan to discuss this is Dr. Christelle Langley, Cognitive Neuroscientist at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Oran Kennedy from the Dept of Anatomy & Regenerative Medicine and the Tissue Engineering Research Group at RCSI & Dr. Susan Kelleher from DCU also joins Jonathan for Newsround.

When it comes to contraception it seems women have the lion's share of options. This is perhaps down to the fact that society has decided that they, not men, must bear most of the burden of preventing pregnancy.

But men’s birth control options — and, therefore, responsibilities — could soon be expanding. So how far away are we from seeing the likes of a non-hormonal male contraceptive pill in our pharmacies and why is it taking so long to develop?

Dr. Gunda Georg, is Regents Professor & Director of the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota - she joins Jonathan to discuss.

It takes a special kind of person to be keen to conduct an autopsy and this week's guest is taking that interest to a whole new level this month as she performs a live demonstration for an audience at the Northern Ireland Science Festival - albeit on an actor playing a dead body.

Joining Jonathan to discuss the scientific process of what exactly is involved in a postmortem is Dr. Louisa Miller, specialist registrar in histopathology.

Note: Louisa’s event at the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast on 16th February is sold out but some tickets remain for the event at The Playhouse, Derry / Londonderry on Friday 17th February.

At this stage, we are all pretty familiar with the circular way in which nature works.

If we think of the hydrologic cycle for instance we know there are four main parts Evaporation, Convection, Precipitation and Collection, etc.

But there are still, even to this day, aspects of the earth's cycles that we are only beginning to understand and, in some cases, finding out they exist at all.

My next guest is one researcher who is looking at the phenomena known as Turbidity currents and the complex relationship they have with our deep oceans.

Peter Talling is a Professor in Submarine Geohazards in the Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Geography at the University of Durham - he joins to discuss.

When we’re happy, our bodies become flooded with dopamine and serotonin, two types of neurotransmitters in the brain; our hearts might even beat faster and maybe, we even muster a smile.

But does it work the other way? Can contorting our faces into a smile give us that chemical hit that actually makes us feel good?

Nicholas A. Coles from the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University joins

For years we have wondered what the purpose of sleep really is, and while huge strides have been made regarding our understanding of the function of sleep, much more remains to be uncovered.

Joining Jonathan to chat through some of the theories we have on why we sleep and have dreams is Robert Stickgold, Professor of Psychiatry at the Center for Sleep and Cognition, Harvard Medical School.