Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

Melissa Hogenboom, science journalist, editor of BBC Reel, and author of ‘The Motherhood Complex: The Story of Our Changing Selves’ joined Jonathan to discuss the incredible physical, emotional, and neurological changes that occur, not only when a mother becomes a woman, but when a person becomes a parent.

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Shortcuts can help us in so many ways in the real world, but also when it comes to tackling complex theoretical and scientific problems.

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Society to discuss his new book 'Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut’.

Nathan Myhrvold, co-founder, and CEO of Intellectual Ventures and the former chief technology officer of Microsoft also joined Jonathan to chat about the astounding array of applications for different 'Metamaterials' from preventing tsunamis, to invisibility technology.

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In this increasingly digitized world, it’s all about making things faster and more efficient.

And this is no more exemplified than in the field of computers.

Well, things could be getting a lot faster, as an international team has discovered a new molecule that could give computers an extra boost.

Professor Damien Thompson,  Professor from the Department of Physics in the School of Natural Sciences, University of Limerick joined Jonathan to discuss.

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Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries impact the lives of thousands of people every year with rehabilitation lasting anything between a few days to a number of months - or even years.

And despite the growing awareness of the damage mTBIs can have on a person’s life - new and effective therapies are still being developed.

But could a new spin on brain training make the difference?

Dr. Henry Mahncke CEO of Posit Science & Brain HQ joined Jonathan to discuss.

Dr. Ruth Freeman & Dr. Shane Bergin also joined us to discuss the top science news for Newsround.

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Brian Christian - Visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and author of The Alignment Problem: How Can Machines Learn Human Values?

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On this week's Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea -  he asks if other planets have volcanoes that are violent as those on Earth? To answer this he is joined by Natalie Starkey - Author of Fire and Ice: The Volcanoes of the Solar System

Also on the show, Jonathan is joined by Dr Share Bergin and Dr Susan Kelleher of UCD to look at the science news stories of the week.

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Now, when you lay your heads down to sleep at night, you might do so with the lingering hope that you’ll have sweet, and pleasant dreams. But so often dreams are bizarre and non-sensical,  but why do we do it?

What is it that causes us to hallucinate while unconscious?

Is it some sort of biological inheritance that serves no function or are we being trained by our minds to expect anomaly and change?

Erik Hoel is a neuroscientist, neuro-philosopher and author of the novel ‘The Revelations’. He joined Jonathan to discuss Dreams and how they are more than simply images that accost us when we go to sleep. He argues that dreams serve a much more important purpose than they have previously been credited with, not so much random images and scenarios but something else entirely.

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Photo by Merlin lightpainting from Pexels

With no gravity or atmosphere to speak of, and temperatures lurching from 127C to minus 173C - the Moon is a dangerous place.

That being said, certain death, if exposed to its environment, isn’t stopping us from trying to get back up there - far from it.

But there is one tiny thing that might put a spanner in the works if we do ever manage to land on the Moon’s surface again...and it isn’t the lack of oxygen or the solar radiation.

Dr Philip Metzger, Planetary Scientist at the Florida Space Institute from the University of Central Florida joined Jonathan to discuss.

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Over the course of the last 20 years, and over many missions, we have inched ever closer to the day of getting humans to Mars.

But of the many issues that lie ahead in that pursuit, one is perhaps unexpected - humans and all the things that go with them are heavy.

And that's a serious problem.

Dr. Philip Metzger, Planetary Scientist at the Florida Space Institute from the University of Central Florida joined Jonathan to discuss.

Dr. Ruth Freeman and Dr. Shane Bergin also joined Jonathan to run through this week's top science news stories.

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BEING YOU: WHERE DOES CONSCIOUSNESS COME FROM - That is what Jonathan McCrea asked Anil Seth Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Editor-in-Chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness and author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness

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