The Week Unwrapped: Health data, green banking and flawed maps
How will we deal with knowing so much more about our health? Should central banks seek to fight climate change? And is Google Maps leading us astray?
Arion McNicoll and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
Health data omniscience
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A “revolution” in human biology means we may all soon have access to unprecedented levels of information about the state of our health - including our personal risk of any number of illnesses. But while this new era of personalised medicine brings the power to take action before disease takes hold, are we ready to make these potentially life-saving decisions?
Green central banking
The Bank of Japan has recently unveiled a plan to give cheap funding to projects that are considered to be environmentally beneficial. It’s the latest example of a trend towards governments giving central banks responsibility for what would once have been considered political decisions, including job creation as well as broader economic stimulus.
Digital maps
Scottish mountain rescue teams have warned hillwalkers attempting to climb Ben Nevis that they shouldn’t rely on Google Maps to guide them to the top. They say they were increasingly worried that people were using their smartphones to follow what appeared to be a footpath that “goes through very steep, rocky, and pathless terrain where even in good visibility it would be challenging to find a safe line”. Is this another sign that we’re too willing to trust our digital devices?
You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Kelly Cates to present Match of the Day
Speed Read Sky Sports presenter to take over from Gary Lineker at start of next season
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Eclipses 'on demand' mark a new era in solar physics
Under the radar The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission gives scientists the ability to study one of the solar system's most compelling phenomena
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku hard: December 16, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Korean succession, terror by algorithm and German disquiet
podcast Could a 10-year-old girl rule North Korea? Will an Isis victim upend web law? And why is Germany upset with its Oscars contender?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Chinese chips, the Pope in Africa and podcasting
podcast Is China losing the microchip war? What is the Vatican doing in South Sudan? And has the podcast tide turned?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Sex and health, the Earth’s core and another new year
podcast Is the NHS failing British women? What’s going on at the centre of our planet? And what’s in a date?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Antisocial Saudis, hormone therapy and retro tech
podcast Why is Saudi Arabia investing in – and banning – social networks? Will new research make life easier for trans women? And is the future of technology dumb?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: AI in court, Germans in Taiwan and ghostwriters
podcast Could artificial intelligence replace lawyers? What does Taiwan want from Germany? And are ghostwriters becoming less ghostly?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Year Unwrapped: White refugees, Aegean islands and celebrity gossip
podcast Was 2022 the year of the white refugees? What’s really going on in the Aegean sea? And why are we so obsessed with showbiz scandals?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Tracking apps, BTS and stay-at-home girlfriends
podcast Does China’s U-turn mark the end of Covid-tracking apps? Has South Korean pop passed its peak? And are we really seeing the rise of the stay-at-home girlfriend?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Africa alert, ticket touts and the words of the year
podcast Is South Africa at risk of terrorist attacks? Why are ticket touts in such high demand? And are we really in a ‘permacrisis’?
By The Week Staff Published