They’re tiny, silent, and often go unnoticed – but their bite can change your life. Ticks are on the rise in Ireland, and with them, a disease that’s both underreported and often misunderstood: lyme disease. Joining us is Dr Eoin Healy, retired research associate at UCC’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

The Earth’s core was thought to be a sealed vault 3,000 kilometers beneath our feet, isolated from the layers above. But now, new evidence is shaking that assumption to its core. Is the earth’s core leaking? Professor Matthias Willbold from the Department of Geochemistry and Isotope Geology at the University of Göttingen in Germany joins Jonathan to discuss.

Also featured, Newsround with Dr Tara Shine from Change by Degrees and Dr Jessamyn Fairfield from the University of Galway.

Guest: Laurence Hurst, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at the University of Bath and the author of ‘The Evolution of Imperfection’

Guests:

• Professor David Webb, Professorial Research Fellow at Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies at Aston University in the UK

• Dr Shelley Brady of DCU

• Dr Shane Bergin of UCD

Are we alone in the universe? Could there be other civilisations out there that we could possibly contact?

In 1961, Astrophysicist Frank Drake tried to formulate an equation that could answer these questions.

Today, we have finally reached a technological level that allows us to search for signs of life and technology on planets in distant star systems.

So, “Is There Anybody Out There?”

We’ll be asking that question on this very special episode of Futureproof...

Guests:

• Sean Jordan - Associate Professor in Biogeochemistry and Astrobiology at Dublin City University @SeanFJ

• Professor Johanna Vos - Astrophysicist specialising in exoplanet atmospheres in Trinity College Dublin @TCD_physics

• Professor Lisa Kalteneger - Professor of Astronomy at Cornell and current Director of the Carl Sagan Institute @KalteneggerLisa

Guest: Dr Clare Cousins, Reader in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of St Andrews

Guests:

• Susan Kelleher of DCU

• Laura Hayes of DIAS

• Tim Friede

Guest: Prof Cliona O’Farrelly, Chair in Comparative Immunology at TCD