Series 5 of 10 Things now in Production!
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Kathriona Devereux and Jonathan McCrea return to highlight some of the most exciting and topical Irish scientific research currently underway.
This year we’ll be looking at Offshore Wind which is destined to become the next big thing in our strive towards a cleaner, greener future. With floating ocean platforms and cheaper technologies, we investigate why it’s time for Ireland to go big and tap into the huge ocean energy resource on our very doorstep! And we’re delighted to have secured exclusive access to film a visit to the WindFloat Atlantic site off the coast of Porto, the largest turbine ever to be installed on a floating platform and a major milestone in the renewable energy sector!
We’ll also be discussing global health topics such as the current Obesity epidemic. 61% of adults in Ireland are currently overweight or obese and almost a third of Irish children are now overweight. The links between obesity and diseases such as cancer and diabetes are well known, but we meet the researchers who are increasingly interested in the important role of our immune system – and our Natural Killer cells! – in maintaining a healthy body weight.
Vaccinations are known to save millions of lives every year – yet there is an increasingly worrying trend around the world to mistrust them and refuse vaccination. We’ll be discussing the history of vaccines and some of the reasons leading to vaccine hesitancy, and with the HPV vaccine programme being expanded to everyone from September 2019, we’ll find out why a virus most associated with causing Cervical cancer is also connected to an increasing number of HPV-Driven Head and Neck Cancers. We’ll also look at the latest research in vaccine development for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV, people receiving chemotherapy for cancer, or undergoing organ transplantation.
They’re in everything from your phone to your shower, and from your toothpaste to cream to soothe your baby’s bum! Metals that are extracted from the ground underpin every aspect of lives and Ireland is internationally renowned as a resource of metals and minerals. We dig into the geology of what’s here and why, and find out about the technology and techniques used to locate and safely extract them from the ground.
And with the World Health Organisation describing Air Pollution as the world’s single biggest environmental health risk, the right to fresh air is something none of us can take for granted. With poor air quality killing more than 1500 people in Ireland every year we meet the scientists who are looking to tackle the issue head on and ask just what are the dangers in a gulp of air?
“10 Things to Know About…” will air on RTÉ One in November-December 2019, and is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, Geological Survey Ireland, Higher Education Authority, Irish Research Council, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and RTÉ.