Show Me the Science with Luke O'Neill – Details, episodes & analysis

This week on Show Me The Science, Professor Luke O'Neill takes a look at the science of the gut microbiome, how the health of your gut is important for your health overall and new findings on bacteria and cancers.

This week on Show Me The Science, Professor Luke O'Neill takes a look at the science of saunas.

How does taking a sauna benefit your health and mood, and exactly how much time should you spend in a sauna?

With St Patrick’s Day just around the corner, Professor Luke O’Neill takes a closer look at the man behind the legend—and the science behind the stories. Drawing on Patrick’s own Confessio, Luke explores how the saint lived a long life, likely thanks to a mix of lifestyle and genetics. 

Could there have been two Patricks, Patricius and Palladius? Luke unpacks this theory and shares its surprising connection to the early days of Ireland’s Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 

He also tackles the myth of Patrick banishing snakes, explaining how the last Ice Age shaped Ireland’s landscape and wildlife. And he examines the shamrock, used by Patrick to illustrate the Holy Trinity, and its medicinal properties, from easing menopausal symptoms and asthma to treating wounds and fevers. 

It’s history, myth, and biology all rolled into one festive podcast.

You know if things had worked out differently 800,000 years ago you wouldn't be here to listen to this podcast? There wouldn't even BE podcasts which is even more shocking to comprehend. In this week's episode Luke discusses how fossil records have recently revealed that there was a big disappearance of hominids which has led them to conclude that we may not have happened!

There is no doubting that A.I is here to stay and it is here to revolutionise pretty much every aspect of our lives. There has been many concerns as to what that future will look like but in this week's episode Luke tries to allay at least some of those fears by identifying 4 major benefits of A.I.

Utilizing our own immune systems to fight cancer has always been an interesting idea to scientists, and now there's serious progress being made in this filed that could see us developing personalized treatments for the disease.

Radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgeries are all useful treatments but a vaccine against the tumor could be much more effective without being as intrusive.

Luke explains how they might make these vaccines and gives the latest update on the clinical trials going on.

Between 1980 and 2009, the rate of twinning in the US increased by 76%, and this trend is seen across the world. Twins can be either fraternal where two eggs are fertilized at the same time, or identical where one fertilized egg splits in two. Both of these offer huge opportunities for scientists to learn about genetic traits and environmental impacts on development.

Luke explains what we've learned from twin studies and why they're so useful.

The Covid-19 pandemic may still be fresh in all our memories, but scientists are already looking ahead to the next big pandemic to allow us to prepare and get ahead of it.

A flu virus seems to be the most likely cause and in particular there is concern around the H5N1 strand which has now jumped from birds to cattle, and even a few dairy farmers. Human to human transmission is the next big warning sign which is being closely monitored.

Luke explains what we learned during the last pandemic to prevent the spread of another virus and another global lockdown.

We all have our favourite songs - The ones that remind us of childhood memories, give us a boost of energy or the ones we play to make us cry. But where did music come from and what makes us connect so strongly to it?

Luke answers these questions as well as explaining what makes some people so talented musically, and others more tone deaf.

How can we increase our life expectancy? Do we have any control over it or is it all to do with our genetic makeup? A new study into microscopic worms has revealed how their genes allow them to enter a 'dauer' state of almost hibernation during times of limited food and in doing so expand their lifespan from 2 weeks to over 2 months. Luke explains how this works and how this finding could be useful for humans.