Building a brain - On this week's Futureproof podcast with Jonathan McCrea, he talks to Dr Katrin Amunts - Chair of the Science and Infrastructure Board of the Human Brain Project & Professor of Brain Research at Dusseldorf University - about her research into building a digital model of the brain.

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin and Dr Lara Dungan to look at the science news stories of the week.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

The refractory period refers to the length of time it takes for a male to be able to ejaculate after just ejaculating and is a trait that is shared by many creatures across the animal kingdom.

But why do males experience this and what causes it?

Jonathan was joined by Susana Lima, Principal investigator at the Champalimaud Research Center for the Unknown to discuss.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

  

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

Entering Other People's Dreams - On this week's Futureproof podcast with Jonathan McCrea, he talks to Karen Konkoly - Graduate Student Researcher in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University - about her experiment to enter the dreams of volunteers. 

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin and Dr Lara Dungan to look at the science news stories of the week.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

As the ice sheets at the earth’s poles continue to recede, life on this planet as we know it hangs in the balance.

Of course that ice is only there as a result of an Ice Age - a vast and inhospitable period of time in our deep and distant past

But what exactly are ice ages and why do they occur?

Benjamin Laabs, Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at North Dakota State joined Jonathan to discuss.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

  

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

COULD JUST TWO PEOPLE REPOPULATE THE EARTH? - On this week's Futureproof podcast with Jonathan McCrea, he posed this question to Philip Stephens - Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University.

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin of UCD and Dr. Susan Kelleher - Assistant Professor in the School of Chemistry in UCD to look at the the top stories from the science world this week. 

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

Evolution is one of, if not the key ingredient to life on this planet surviving.

Our ability to adapt and change make us, and the animals and plants we share this planet with, so successful.

But we don’t all evolve at the same rate and some of us don’t seem to evolve very much at all.

So, how is it that the likes of crocodiles are so successful? 

Max Stockdale, Teaching Associate in the School of Geographical Sciences at Bristol University joined Jonathan to disuss.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

  

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING A BEGINNER - On this week's Futureproof podcast with Jonathan McCrea, he talks to Tom Vanderbilt - Author of 'Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning' about the joy of learning something new as an adult. 

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin and Dr Lara Dungan to look at the science news stories of the week.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

In 2012 the Voyager 1 probe became the first man-made object to enter interstellar space, traveling "further than anyone, or anything, in history".

This is an astonishing feat and one that took 35 years to achieve.

But if we are ever to get to go beyond the reaches of the heliosphere again we can’t really wait that long again.

So, how might we get there?

Jason Benkoski, a Materials Scientist specializing in Planetary research at John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory joined Jonathan to discuss.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

  

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

On this week's Futureproof podcast,  Jonathan McCrea talks to Dr Lucy Hawkes - Senior Lecturer in Physiological Ecology at the University of Exeter - about the wonders of migration in the animal kingdom. 

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin and Dr Susan Kelleher to look at the science news stories of the week.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

Can people hibernate? On this week's Futureproof podcast with Jonathan McCrea, he talks to Professor Kelly Drew - Director of the Center for Transformative Research in Metabolism at the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks on the possibilities of people hibernating for medical and space travel purposes. 

Also on the show Jonathan was joined by Professor Shane Bergin and Dr Lara Dungan to look at the science news stories of the week.

Listen and subscribe to Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

  

Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.

   

You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.