It’s something we rarely think about but there’s a whole complex science and neurology that goes into allowing humans to swallow. We’re joined by Julie Regan from Trinity who will be explaining the difference between your upper oesophageal sphincter and your pharynx!

We also speak to the scientist who may have cracked the mystery of why birds fly in a V-Formation. Turns out it has something to do with energy. These days’ lots of aeronautical companies are trying to figure out why birds fly like this in a bid to save themselves lots of money.

We also learn something about a strange pursuit called ‘Natural Computing’ which aims to construct computational problem-solving methods which draw inspiration from the natural world. Many natural processes, including physical, chemical, and biological processes, exhibit some problem-solving behaviour. So for example the social behaviour of ants allows them to efficiently forage for food even in the absence of a central command mechanism. The rules followed by ants can be used in computer algorithms to create reliable, self-organising networks for telecommunications.

All this and more on Futureproof on Saturday at 10am