The Week Unwrapped: Russia vs Bali, AI upgraded and a plague of seaweed
Do Russian tourists in Bali deserve their reputation? What will Chat GPT do next? And why is sargassum causing a stink in Florida?
Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days. With Suchandrika Chakrabarti, Rory Reid and Sorcha Bradley.
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.
Russians in Bali
The growing number of Russian tourists on the Indonesian island of Bali has led to growing tensions with the local population. The island’s government has called for Indonesia to cancel it visa-on-arrival policy, claiming that Russians with tourist visas are working illegally – and accusing them of being disrespectful to the Balinese population. But are Russians being unfairly singled out?
ChatGPT gets an upgrade
The AI-powered chat bot ChatGPT was hailed as a breakthrough, for good and ill, when it was introduced to the public last year. Now it’s getting an upgrade, which is intended to make it more powerful – and more nuanced. Should we welcome the news, or fear it? To those people who were worried about the current bot’s ability to propagate misinformation, a subtler version represents an even greater threat.
Seaweed runs riot
The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, a vast seaweed bloom of such immense scale that it can be observed from space, is currently heading towards Florida, where it is predicted to make landfall during the peak summer season. Although harmless in the open ocean, the sargassum seaweed becomes a problem when sizable portions wash up on the shoreline and start to decompose, releasing toxic fumes that damage beaches, disrupt local ecosystems, and drive away tourism. What is behind this year’s seaweed super-bloom and what can be done to protect beaches against it?
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
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US
-
Are bonds worth investing in?
the explainer They can diversify your portfolio and tend to be a safer investment than stocks
By Becca Stanek, The Week US
-
Elon has his 'Legion.' How will Republicans encourage other Americans to have babies?
Today's Big Question The pronatalist movement finds itself in power
By Joel Mathis, The Week US
-
The Week Unwrapped: Can we really 'de-extinct' prehistoric animals?
Podcast Plus, will womb transplants transform fertility? And why are prices falling in the art market?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Who is the world's first millennial saint?
Podcast Plus, what has Meta done to anger writers? And why would studios block the release of their own movies?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is Trump sending detainees to El Salvador?
Podcast Plus should councils reverse their bans on playing in streets? And can a Peruvian farmer defeat an energy giant?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Can Canadian consumers take on Trump?
Podcast Plus does Nepal want its king back? And could eating fish make you kinder?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why do young people love ASMR?
Podcast Plus can US football stamp out homophobia? And why is Scottish Gaelic getting a TV boost?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: What do forever chemicals mean for firefighters?
Podcast Plus can we avoid another heating bill hike? And will a new test tell us how quickly our organs are ageing?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why are sinkholes becoming more common?
Podcast Plus, will Saudi investment help create the "Netflix of sport"? And why has New Zealand's new tourism campaign met with a savage reception?
By The Week UK
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why Trump is getting rid of the penny
Podcast Plus, what does the Chagos Islands deal mean for the island's inhabitants? And do personality tests discriminate against neurodivergent job applicants?
By The Week UK