10 Things to Know About

Since the first lockdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been spending more time outdoors, whether that be sea swimming because the local pool is closed or meeting friends for long walks in parks just to get out of the house!

Blood is a vitally important part of the body. It provides the oxygen our organs need to survive, carries platelets that clot when we cut ourselves, and prevents us from getting infections. But it is also immensely complex. In this episode, Jonathan and Kathriona 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.

With over 1,450km of rocky shoreline, Ireland's coast is surrounded by hundreds of species of seaweed. For centuries, this seaweed has been harvested by coastal communities and used by farmers for fertilising their fields, as a home remedy for bronchitis and chronic coughs, and is even said to be one of the two foods that St Colmcille survived on.

The effects of climate change can be seen around the world with increased intensity and frequency of storms causing flash floods, and extreme heat leading to terrifying wildfires.  These geological hazards can be deadly and have devastating effects on communities. Because Ireland isn't over a fault line and we don't suffer from wildfires, it's easy to think geohazards don't affect us, but our location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean makes us vulnerable to them.

Healthier houses are an important step to help mitigate climate change, with Irish homes responsible for one quarter of overall energy use and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. As well as reducing a home's emissions, modern ventilation and insulation systems are key to improving air quality in houses, benefiting the health of the buildings themselves and the health of the people who live and, now more frequently than ever, work in them.

From Sunday roast dinners to Friday night takeaways, food has long been a central feature of our lives. We don't just eat for our survival, we eat for pleasure, to celebrate weddings, deaths, birthdays, achievements. Yet we still don't fully understand how the digestive system works, how our bodies choose which compounds to absorb and how the microbiome in the gut interacts with the brain.