Will 21st century technology avert or accelerate the Apocalypse? Humanity has always featured stories and fears about the end of the world. But never before have we possessed such power to influence the dangers, manage the risks or cause such existential disaster. Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson travel to NASA’s Los Angeles laboratory, and the site of the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl to understand the risks of disaster that face us in the next century. They discover how...

How the home will be disrupted and transformed by radical technological change. Our homes may experience more disruption than anywhere else because of the forces unleashed by technological change. The notions we have about home - a private, secure, stable place where you can shut out the world and just be yourself - are under threat from technology and economic change. From the internet of things and the Smart Home, to the complete rejection of any permanent fixed abode, FutureProofing...

Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness discover what impact technology will have on expanding - or contracting - opportunities for different sections of society in future. From a tough council estate in north London, to the labs at Harvard University developing tools to expand and augment human brain power, FutureProofing investigates how technology is set to alter the landscape of opportunity for millions in the 21st century. Algorithms could discriminate far more against different...

Reality itself is changing - how will we experience and understand reality in future? Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson discover different ways to experience reality as technology develops and great progress is made in our understanding of how the brain works. Visiting the designers who are creating powerful and immersive virtual worlds and characters in California, FutureProofing learns how far our everyday experience will be mediated by the virtual in the next few decades. And...

How does the global fashion industry worth more than a trillion dollars a year meet the disruption and upheaval that technological and social change now pose? Fashion carries not only the livelihoods of millions of workers, but has become a major cultural force which shapes and supports individual and community identity. Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness find out how this huge global business aims to meet the challenges posed by technological developments, environmental threats...

How can we protect and improve our mental health in future? FutureProofing explores how we might achieve healthier minds, and whether far greater understanding of the way our brains work will be enough to treat mental illness and enhance mental health in the 21st century. In Silicon Valley, presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson discover the cutting edge technology that aims to revolutionize diagnosis and treatment. They learn about the prospect of mind control and pervasive tracking...

FutureProofing presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson find out what might happen when we properly understand animals and how much our relationship with them will change in future. They meet elephants in California, learn about "talking" dolphins in Florida, and discover the technological possibilities that could completely transform what we think of and how we act towards animals in future. From the possibilities of enhancing animals with technology, to ending all farming and finding a...

FutureProofing presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson put their faith - and lack of faith - to the test in a journey from the Middle East to Silicon Valley, to find out how technology is disrupting the beliefs and practices of traditional faiths. They also discover how data and tech might provide the foundations for what influential thinkers like Yuval Noah Harari have dubbed a 'New Religion' for the 21st century and beyond. FutureProofing: Faith includes encounters with leading...

Will sin disappear in future, as technology and a better understanding of human behaviour allow us to stop people from sinning before they act? And if sin does disappear, what would the consequences be? FutureProofing presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson find out how technology is changing our understanding of morality, and how social changes may create the circumstances for radically different moral values in future. Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

Discover how small things will significantly shape the future. From sub-atomic particles to small data and small politics, the small will affect the future in a big way. Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness explore the world of the tiniest things, and learn about the power they hold to transform manufacturing, computers and the chances of artificial intelligence emerging in the next few decades. The programme explores how human society might be changed by the growing influence of...

How will we become wealthy in future? Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness journey to New York and the Arabian Gulf to discover how our understanding of wealth is changing. They explore new definitions of wealth, and find out how old money plans to hang on to its wealth in the face of challenges from technology and social tensions between generations. Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

Healthcare is being transformed by technology. Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson discover what the future really holds for how we look after our health. Visiting the Silicon Valley technologists and cutting-edge medical research facilities, Leo explores the ambitions they have to bring science-fiction style health aids and treatments to millions of people, and how they are working to try and put an end to all infectious diseases. Timandra experiences the latest in remote control...

What would it really be like to live on other planets, and what are the implications of humans colonising space? Living in space is becoming a real prospect, as plans develop for mass space travel and discoveries are made of environments that can support life on other worlds. Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson travel to NASA's main space habitation research facility in Virginia, USA, to find out how humans might actually colonise deep space. They also learn about the search for...

Does the accelerating pace of technology change the way we think about the future? It's said that science fiction writers now spend more time telling stories about today than about tomorrow, because the potential of existing technology to change our world is so rich that there is no need to imagine the future - it's already here. Does this mean the future is dead? Or that we are experiencing a profound shift in our understanding of what the future means to us, how it arrives, and what forces...

Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson investigate the future of sport in the digital age. How will physical activity and organised sport be viewed in the years to come? FutureProofing looks at how new technology could change not just what it means to be an athlete but also athletes' actual bodies, and asks what role sports will play in our culture in the decades ahead. Producer: Faizal Farook.

Art may not survive the 21st century as a separate, meaningful category - according to one of the UK's foremost art teachers. Both cultural change and massively increased accessibility to the tools with which to create will have a huge impact on the nature of art itself. Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson explore the impact that technological change will have on art, and speak to artists at the forefront of the digital revolution. Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness discover how new forms of city living could dominate the 21st century. How will our cities look and feel, and what will life be like in the transformed cities of the future? Current forecasts indicate that as many as 70% of the world's population will be living in cities by 2030, up from around 55% today. FutureProofing examines the big shifts in our societies that may follow from the rapid growth in urban living, and what the digital revolution...

Presenters Leo Johnson and Timandra Harkness discover how our society will change when machines do most of the work. What happens when automation becomes very widespread at work? Current economic forecasts from even cautious places like the Bank of England and the World Bank suggest that very large numbers of people will be affected when many jobs are automated in the next 50 years. FutureProofing examines the big shifts in our societies that may follow widespread adoption of machines in...

Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson investigate how intimacy will change in the 21st century. Can intimacy survive the erosion of privacy within our culture? FutureProofing reveals how new technology offers opportunities to support and develop close personal relationships, but also how it threatens to radically change what we understand as intimacy and how we manage it in future. Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

Technology threatens to transform warfare more than almost any other human activity. But what does the future of war look like in the 21st century? Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson hear from those helping to design and build new weapons systems, experts in military strategy and defence policy, and those like veteran war photographer Don McCullin who have experienced the full horror of war, to explore what might change when the technology revolution of today is applied to the...

Will technology enable us to communicate in all languages in future, or will we all be using just one? FutureProofing discovers the future of language and finds out how we may not need it all. Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson explore the growing influence that technology exerts on the evolution of language, and discover the new words we may be using, and the new ways we might be using them in the 21st century and beyond. Producer: Jonathan Brunert.

New research points to a future where we can artificially create and manipulate memory inside our own heads. What are the implications when we can control memory in this way, and why is it so important to our future? FutureProofing travels to California to meet the neuro-scientists creating the means for us to make and control memories inside the human brain, and to hear what the future holds when we can manipulate the process of forming and storing memories. Presenters Timandra Harkness...

If new energy sources offer cheap, plentiful power to everyone, how will the planet cope? FutureProofing examines a new method of power generation promising clean, limitless power for everyone. Can it work, what are the consequences, and is there a viable alternative? Fusion has long-promised cheap, clean and limitless power, but over half a century of effort this technology has still not delivered an operational power plant. Now hopes are high that a vast project in the south of France will...

Who will be on top in the world of future crime - the cops or the criminals? How will crime change and what can be done to prevent it in future? Presenters Timandra Harkness and Leo Johnson explore how crime and punishment will change in the 21st century. They discover how crime and technology combine to create a toxic mix of threats and vulnerabilities in the next few decades. As criminals swiftly adopt and adapt emerging technologies to enable them to stay one step ahead of anyone trying...