Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea

How do we get someone to change their mind? Is it by arguing them into submission or is it by letting them explain the story about how they arrived at that point of view? What is the underlying brain chemistry of how opinions change? A new book titled ‘How Minds Change’ delves into these questions. The author, David McRaney, joins Jonathan to discuss.

Annie Jacobsen, author of 'The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency' joins Jonathan to discuss the history of the US Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. First broadcast July 9th 2016

For most of us, our image of what goes on in an operating theatre comes from television and movies; we think scalpels, scrubs, facemasks, and beeping heart monitors, etc. What we don’t envisage, is robots and augmented reality glasses but increasingly modern surgery is incorporating these and other cutting-edge technologies into their systems and procedures. So just what does the operating theatre of 2022 look like? Connor Green is Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh. He joins Jonathan to discuss.

If you’ve seen classic B Movies like 1954’s 'Them' or the criminally underappreciated classic, 'Starship Troopers', the words “Insect Warfare” probably conjure up some specific, likely silly imagery. But insects have featured in human conflicts in very real and often terrifying ways since the beginning of the historical record and likely, long before it. Jeffrey Lockwood is Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wyoming and the author of 'Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War'. He joins Jonathan to discuss, Catherine McGuinness, Zoologist and Educational Assistant at the National Museum of Ireland & Dr. Lara Dungan also joined Jonathan for Newsround.

We conventionally think of time as something simple and fundamental that flows uniformly, independently from everything else, from the past to the future, measured by clocks and watches. In the course of time, the events of the universe succeed each other in an orderly way: pasts, presents, futures. The past is fixed, the future open. . . . And yet all of this has turned out to be false. Carlo Rovelli is Director of the Quantum Gravity Group of the Centre de Physique Théorique (CPT) of the Aix-Marseille University and author of 'The Order of Time', he joined Jonathan to discuss. First aired 21/7/2018

We here at Futureproof don't need to tell you that biodiversity is in crisis. This is true in our seas as much as in our oceans, and despite that, only 2% of our waters are designated "Marine Protected" areas but a national campaign called 'Fair Seas' is trying to change that. Joining Jonathan to discuss is Regina Classen, Marine Policy and Research Officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust and co-author of the 'Fair Seas' report, 'Revitalising Our Seas'.

When it comes to maintaining that youthful luster, we have, over the years, concocted all manner of things - from cosmetics, dietary plans, and exercise regimes - to get the job done. But unless you’ve got the actual fountain of youth in your back garden or the holy grail sitting on your mantle you’re probably plum out of luck when it comes to reversing the aging process completely. That being said, researchers at the University of Rochester have uncovered more evidence that the key to longevity resides instead with a simple enzyme. Vera Gorbunova, Professor of Biology and Medicine & co-director of the Rochester Aging Research Center at the University of Rochester joins Jonathan to discuss. Dr.Ruth Freeman from the SFI & Shane Bergin, Physicist & Assistant Prof in Science Education at UCD also joined Jonathan for Newsround.

Whether AI is capable of reaching the point of sentience has long been debated; and with the news this week around Blake Lemoine - an engineer at Google who has claimed that the firm's LaMDA AI system has achieved just that - the conversation has been given a new lease of life. It begs the question - at what point do we call something sentient? And does it even matter, if a computer programme is actually sentient if it appears to be thoughtful, self-aware and reflective? To tease out these threads and discuss the story of LaMDA in general, Jonathan is joined by Dr. Anya Belz, Professor of Computer Science at DCU & The ADAPT Centre as well as Dr. Benjamin Cowan, Assistant Professor at UCD's School of Information & Communication Studies and Investigator at The ADAPT Centre.

Jonathan is joined by Jules Howard - Zoological Consultant & Correspondent and Author of Wonderdog: How the Science of Dogs Changed the Science of Life Shane Bergin and Catherine Mc Guinness join us for newsround

An injury to the spinal cord can be hugely traumatic and life-changing in nature. And while inroads have been made in terms of the development of treatments, there’s still a way to go. But what are the treatments currently in development and are outcomes getting any better than they were 20 years ago? Dr. Rory Murphy is a neurosurgeon in the Department of Neurosurgery at Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona - he joined Jonathan to discuss.