The Week Unwrapped podcast: Polio, virtual armies and corporate nomads

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

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A polio breakthrough

Africa has been declared free of "wild polio" in a historic milestone for scientists fighting the disease, leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan as the last two strongholds standing in the way of global eradication. How did they do it? And with vaccine-derived polio still popping up across the continent, could taking our foot off the pedal cause a resurgence of the disease?

Virtual soldiers

The Ministry of Defence is working with a company called Improbable to build a “single synthetic environment” - in other words, a complete digital replica of the country based on live data from the national grid, mobile phone networks, food supply companies and many other sources. The theory is that it will give the government a more realistic and comprehensive way to plan their response to natural disasters, cyber attacks and pandemics.

Corporate nomads

With offices around the world sending staff home, some intrepid workers have begun to wonder if there is a better alternative to working from the living room. Digital nomads, people without fixed abode who travel the world working remotely, are on the rise. So does it truly afford non-stop freedom or is it really too good to be true?

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