New York Magazine/Vogue journalist Jon Gluck was living the dream at 38 - married, loving his first New York apartment and enjoying his baby daughter. 

But, after a minor, innocuous slip on a patch of ice, he was devastated to be diagnosed with a rare, incurable blood cancer and given just 18 months to 3 years to live. 

22 years on and counting, Jon has written a searingly honest account of his survival. 'An Exercise in Uncertainty – A Memoir of Illness and Hope’ documents how he’s beaten the odds and, more broadly, offers some gems on how to cope with uncertainly of any kind. 

At 5.44am on May 15th, 17-year-old Emma Schwerin from Montana reached the summit of Mount Everest with her dad, Sam, and earned not one, but three world records! 

She’s the youngest American female ever to summit Everest, as well as Mount Vinson in Antarctica, and the youngest woman in the world to conquer the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent. 

Emma – who describes herself as ‘a fierce 4ft 11’ – says climbing the notoriously dangerous Icefall on Everest, she repeated the quote 'if it wasn't scary, it wouldn't be big enough' to conquer her fear. Her aim is to inspire other young girls and women to dream big and show that anything is possible with grit, hard work and determination.

Cian Adams and his brother Jordan have a gene mutation which means they will almost certainly develop devastating symptoms of a rare form of frontotemporal dementia in their 40s. The same gene robbed them of their mum, Geraldine, when she was just 52, as well as their aunt, nana and other relatives.

Known as the FTD Brothers, Cian and Jordan take on epic running challenges – including a 903-mile run from John o’ Groats to Land’s End in 2024 - to raise £1 million for Alzheimer’s Research UK of which they’re ambassadors. 

Helen talks to 24-year-old Cian about the family turmoil of seeing his mum suffering when he was a young boy and how he copes with the knowledge of what the future likely holds for him. He’s joined on the podcast by his girlfriend, Helen Jolly, who’s studying for a PhD in Dementia at Oxford University and gives an insight into the science behind this cruel disease. 

Cian & Jordan’s mum, Geraldine.

There’s a small square of the Arctic – 3 metres by 3 metres - behind the UK Research Station in Svalbard, which Encounter Edu Founder & former teacher Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop calls his own.

Huddled in sub-zero temperatures on the ice, he’s spent hours there, broadcasting to more than 150,000 children from 57 countries, sharing the magical northernmost region of the Earth with them, bringing scientists’ work to life and inspiring young minds to understand our planet.

Encounter Edu produces live lessons for schools on some of our most pressing global issues - climate change, ocean health, the refugee crisis, Ai, and unites students living with conflict with classrooms around the world. The Encounter Edu team has reached more than 24 million youngsters in 91 countries. 

UK Arctic Research Station, Svalbard

When 18-year-old Arsenal & England star Myles Lewis-Skelly showed serious potential on the pitch as a young lad, his mum Marcia experienced how confusing and lonely the world of youth football can be, and realised she needed expert knowledge for their journey ahead. 

So, she studied for a Masters in Football Business and took agency exams, before setting up No1Fan.club – the UK’s first platform to help parents navigate the intricacies of the football industry, from grassroots and academy to Premier League. Marcia and her team run workshops, one-on-one sessions and talks.

Myles made history in March, becoming the youngest player to score on his England debut, and has had a ground-breaking season at Arsenal. He’s very proud of No1Fan.club and wants other children to experience the support and guidance he feels grateful to have. 

David Lowe was outed on TikTok as the composer of some of TV's most iconic music when his 'how I created the BBC News themes' post to mark the 25th anniversary went viral! 

He's the man behind the opening music for programmes like The One Show, Panorama, Grand Designs and BBC Countryfile, as well as top TV ads. And he arranged a special version of Chariots of Fire by Vangelis for the 2012 Olympic medal ceremony when Andy Murray took gold in the tennis. 

David shows Helen how he builds the tracks, loved by millions of viewers. He's composed our new music for The Convex Conversation with guitarist James Nisbet, who plays for artists like Kylie Minogue & Belinda Carlisle, and West End trumpet player Jim Lynch on flugelhorn live in the studio. 

Nikki Scott shares the story behind founding Scotty’s Little Soldiers after her husband, 26-yr-old Corp Lee Scott of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was killed on active duty in Afghanistan. 

As Nikki navigated her devastating loss with their 5-yr-old son & baby, she realised there was little help for children and young people grieving the death of a military parent. 

Scotty’s supports hundreds of young people & is proud to have Prince Harry as their very hands-on Global Ambassador.

Sahar Hashemi OBE reveals how her love of skinny lattes in '90s New York led to her giving up her career as a lawyer and starting Coffee Republic with her brother, Bobby.

Sahar talks openly about the highs and lows of growing the business from the kitchen table to a £30 million empire with 110 American-style coffee bars, as well as the pain of leaving. 

As well as mentoring executives in how to retain a start-up culture in large companies, Sahar champions more than 2,000 female founders in a movement she created - Buy Women Built - leaning on her own mantra ‘leap and the net will appear’ to form it.

Mud on the seabed and the diverse, weird and wonderful invertebrates who live in it are having their climate moment, according to Marine Biologist Dr Ceri Lewis.

Based at the University of Exeter – Ceri is part of the five-year Convex Seascape Survey researching how a healthy ocean can help fight climate change. She’s passionate about worms – from microscopic to 3 metres long - and how they influence carbon stores on the seabed. 

Ceri also talks about her latest scientific trip to the Galapagos where she’s studying the effects of the exponential growth in microplastics on our marine life. 

Wendy Fulcher shares the story of losing her husband and soulmate John when he was just 52 to an aggressive stage 4 glioblastoma and how it led to her setting up a powerful, research charity. 

John was under the care of TV star Davina McCall’s consultant neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill who we featured in our last episode. 

Kevin and Wendy set up the Brain Tumour Research Campaign together more than 20 years ago after Kevin expressed frustration at the field being woefully underfunded. 

BTRC supports Kevin’s ground-breaking research, lobbies Government, is run entirely by volunteers and has raised more than 4 and half million pounds so far to help find a cure. 

Wendy with consultant neurosurgeon Kevin O'Neill, chair of BTRC