From brain implants to the future of vaccines, RTÉ is live with a feast of content to celebrate Science Week 2021.
RTÉ is marking Science Week 2021 with a wide range of science-themed content across TV, radio, and online, from Sunday 7th November until Sunday 14th November.
After a year in which global science and health news dominated our lives, this year's Science Week on RTÉ has something for everyone.
Future Island
Exactly one year ago, the first Covid 19 vaccines were approved. A year is a long time in science. What will the next year bring? Future Island returns to look ahead and give us a glimpse of all our futures.
Coming to your TV rooms live from Explorium in Dublin, hosts Liz Bonnin and Professor Luke O'Neill will seek to inform and entertain in all that is happening in the world of science.
Science communicator Phil Smyth will be on hand to create controlled mayhem as they tackle the theory with the practical while Brian Cox will chat about physics and the Cosmos, and to share the science of sporting success and safety.
The series will also feature Home School Hub presenter Emer O'Neill, comedian and lapsed engineer Colm O’Regan, meteorologist Gerald Fleming, marine scientist and author Finn van der Aar, Olympic bronze medalists - the women’s four rowing team made up of Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty – as well as rugby legend Donncha O’Callaghan.
The Ray Darcy Radio Show on RTÉ Radio One will again partner up with the show across the week.
Watch Future Island on RTÉ One from 7-8pm on November 9th, 10th and 11th.
Father of the Cyborgs
Limerick-born Dr. Phil Kennedy was once a famous neuroscientist. In the late 1990's he made global headlines for implanting several wire electrodes in the brain of a paralysed man and then teaching the locked-in patient to control a computer cursor with his mind.
The Washington Post compared him to Alexander Graham Bell in and became known as 'The Father of the Cyborgs'. In 2014, he made headlines by having tiny electrodes implanted inside his own brain in order to continue his research.
This TV-version of the documentary which wowed critics at the Tribeca Film Festival examines the ethics of self-experimentation and the unintended consequences of a future where technology and human brains combine.
Watch Father of the Cyborgs on RTÉ One, 10.15pm on November 11th.
10 Things to Know About
After a difficult year, which saw science and global health play a central role in our lives an even greater understanding and awareness of the interconnections between humans and our planet have never been more important.
Cue Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Kathriona Devereux and Jonathan McCrea who are back to reveal how Irish research is helping drive us towards a brighter, better world.
The team will meet the researchers investigating the effects of Covid-19 on our platelet's ability to clot, discuss the impact of Long Covid, and the work being carried out to further our understanding of the condition that affects thousands of people across Ireland.
Watch 10 Things to Know About on RTÉ One, 8.30pm, Monday 8th November.
Let's Find Out
The new season of Let's Find Out, the Science Foundation Ireland supported children’s TV series launches on RTEjr on Monday November 8th, during Science Week on RTÉ.
The show takes place on the spaceship Curiosity which is captained by a very curious alien called Zoom. Each episode sees Zoom find out something new about planet earth. Her crewmates Amy and Mark are scientists. Along with some curious children, they help Zoom with experiments and demos and end with a trip to a far-off place.
This season Zoom and Mark are joined by new crew member, scientist Amy Hassett.
Watch Let's Find Out on RTEjr, Monday 8th November.
Science to the Rescue
Few people need convincing that the world requires a whole lot of fixing right now. Beyond the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, there are monumental times ahead, from climate change to broader societal challenges.
It’s clear that our most likely saviour will be science. We’ve already witnessed vaccine innovation in a race against time, but parallel to this are the big, bold disruptive ideas being brought to life in our universities, hospitals, farms, and even back gardens.
In order to help catapult Irish innovation to the world stage, and effect change globally, Science Foundation Ireland launched the Future Innovator Prize which made €4m available across two challenges - AI for Societal Good and Zero Emissions - ensuring the competition offered Irish science the money to match its ambition.
Presented by Trevor Vaugh, Science To The Rescue is an hour-long documentary that gets up close and personal with some of the challenge teams as they tried to win the prize funds.
Further information, click here and here.
Watch Science to the Rescue on RTÉ One, 10.40pm on Wednesday 10th November.
#ScienceWeek
There will be lots more #ScienceWeek content to be found across RTÉ. We'll be getting our morning and on-line weather forecasts live from Future Island; RTÉ Player will have hours of great science content for you to enjoy, including features and documentaries; and RTÉ Learn will let people know all the fun online and interactive events on each day of the week.
In addition, RTÉ Brainstorm will publish a series of features, podcasts and videos on topics like DNA tests, the human genome, renewable energy, who controls the internet, what worms tell us about human disorders and much more.
Science Week on RTÉ is supported by Science Foundation Ireland. For more on Science Week on RTÉ visit www.rte.ie/scienceweek or by using #scienceweek on social media.
