The Week Unwrapped: Elk arrests, bootleg gas and self-curing HIV
Will a dead moose bring down a Russian opposition leader? Who is smuggling refrigerants into the UK? And how did an Argentinian woman rid herself of HIV?
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters.
You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
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.
Russian dissent
The arrest of the leader of the Moscow branch of Russia’s Communist Party has prompted allegations that Vladimir Putin is attempting to stitch up a prominent political rival. Valery Rashkin faces the loss of his political career over allegations of illegal hunting, but his arrest comes to the backdrop of wider efforts to clamp down on dissent. The Kremlin has been busy labelling everyone from journalists to pollsters "foreign agents". So is Russia entering a new era of repression?
Gas smuggling
An undercover investigation has found that criminal gangs are smuggling hydrofluorocarbons – a group of highly potent greenhouse gases – into the UK and selling them out of car boots. While heavily regulated and therefore expensive in the UK, they can be cheaply produced in China. And while demand for these HFCs, which are used in fridges and air conditioners, is relatively niche, this is a problem that may become more mainstream as environmental bans are extended to petrol, diesel, gas boilers and other products in the coming decades.
HIV eradication
Aids researchers are poring over the case of an Argentinian woman, who has become only the second person known to have rid herself of the HIV virus without medical intervention. It is believed that she has an unusually adapted immune system, which was able to quarantine HIV cells and stop them replicating, before gradually destroying them. Scientists now looking into how they may be able to replicate the effect in other people’s immune system, perhaps paving the way for a cure.
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
-
Band Aid 40: time to change the tune?
In the Spotlight Band Aid's massively popular 1984 hit raised around £8m for famine relief in Ethiopia and the charity has generated over £140m in total
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Starmer vs the farmers: who will win?
Today's Big Question As farmers and rural groups descend on Westminster to protest at tax changes, parallels have been drawn with the miners' strike 40 years ago
By The Week UK Published
-
How secure are royal palaces?
The Explainer Royal family's safety is back in the spotlight after the latest security breach at Windsor
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Would North Korean weapons tilt the war Russia’s way?
Today's Big Question Putin wants to boost ‘depleted stocks’ but Pyongyang’s arms may be in poor condition
By Chas Newkey-Burden 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