Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

Every time you get behind the wheel of the car you will have to deal with countless driving decisions that get you safely from A to B, and it could be argued that those decisions amount to what are essentially life-or-death considerations.

But self-driving cars might soon have to make those kinds of judgements and settling on a universal moral code for the AI that drives them could be a problem. 

Jean-François Bonnefon, Research Director at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and author of ‘The Car That Knew Too Much’ joined Jonathan to discuss.

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In your news feed or the newspapers or on television, there is probably a recent story on the explosion of some kind of improvised explosive device (IED).

For us here in Ireland, those occurrences are nowadays quite rare. However, there are many countries where explosives are a regular occurrence and every day there are men and women who put themselves in harms way in order to deactivate these devices. These are the bomb disposal experts who make a living from switching off devices designed to maim and kill.

Many people will have the movie 'The Hurt Locker' in mind when thinking of Bomb Disposal Experts but it is a position that carries many risks and doesn't necessarily match with portrayals depicted in Hollywood movies.

In this exclusive and rare interview Jonathan speaks to a bomb disposal expert from the Irish Defence Forces, where for operational reasons the identity of the bomb expert are kept anonymous.

On Futureproof today, Jonathan speaks with a bomb disposal expert on what skills are required to diffuse a bomb.

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Futureproof Extra: Fighting Infectious Diseases

Life As We Made It with Beth Shapiro

Understanding words across cultural and linguistic boundaries

The Importance of the Necrobiome

Pleasure from pain might be something we initially associate with sex but it is actually a part of all of our lives.

We see it the world over, not just in BDSM halls but in religious fasters, ultra marathoners, and hot chili addicts who revel in the burning sensation it provides.

But is this desire in all of us, or is it consigned to a select few? 

And why is it there at all?

Leigh Cowart, science journalist and author of ‘Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose’ joined Jonathan to discuss.

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In 1869 a one-armed self-taught geologist led an expedition party down Green River in Wyoming. While staring up at the great walls of the Grand Canyon John Wesley-Powell noticed that the rock formations were less in-depth than expected.

By measuring the depth of the rock formations Powell noticed something startling - there was more than a billion-year gap in the geological record.

This was coined ‘The Great Unconformity’’ and now geologists are racing to track down this apparent gap in time.

To discuss, Jonathan is joined by Rebecca Flowers, Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Everything we know to be true in the world - and indeed outside of it - can be attributed to our willingness to reach out into the unknown and ask the most important questions.

From the edges of the universe to the core of the Earth itself, our unerring curiosity can lead us to the most incredible, unlikely, and sometimes, well, unpleasant areas.

Enter Andreas Hejnol - Evolutionary Biologist and research leader at the University of Bergen in Norway, as he discusses the evolution of the anus, where it comes from, and why it is the way it is.

First aired 14/04/2018

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To many of us, the idea that there could be tribes existing in the world that have had no contact with the outside world seems impossible, but interestingly, there are over 100 uncontacted tribes that we are currently aware of.

But logging, drug trafficking, and commercial agriculture are chipping away at territories inhabited by these tribes, and not only that, there is a darker side to old meets new, with examples of massacres of tribes for corporate gain. 

Sarah Shenker, Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at Survival International and head of the Uncontacted Tribes campaign joined Jonathan to discuss.

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