Genetically modified microbes could herald a new industrial revolution - but the technology also poses new dangers.

Manuela Saragosa speaks to someone who used it to recreate the horsepox virus - a close cousin of smallpox - from scratch three years ago. Virologist David Evans explains why he did it, and what aspects of this rapidly evolving technology worry him most.

One of the companies on the cutting edge is Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks. It redesigns the DNA of bacteria and yeast in order to create everything from perfumes to fertilisers. Ginkgo's Patrick Boyle tells Manuela what they are doing to ensure that the microbes and DNA they create remain harmless.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Picture: Anonymous vial containing a clear liquid; Credit: MirageC/Getty Images)

After several countries banned alcohol as part of their lockdown measures, we ask if prohibition ever works?

Ed Butler reports from South Africa, where a recent ban on alcohol was welcomed by some healthcare professionals and those fighting violence in the country. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron and University of California criminologist Emily Owens discuss whether limits on alcohol are ever really effective.

(Photo: A man takes beers from a fridge inside a liquor shop in Soweto, Johannesburg, on June 1, 2020; Credit: Getty Images)

Journalist Peter Geoghegan describes the many ways in which private money is corrupting democratic politics, encouraging chaos and fuelling public cynicism.

In an extended interview with the BBC's Ed Butler, the Irish author and broadcaster explains a Brexit campaign advert that he happened to come across in a local newspaper while visiting the city of Sunderland in the north of England led him to investigate where the money funding the Leave campaign was coming from. It led him to explore how business and political interests - often from foreign countries - were able over decades to shift the political discourse in Western liberal democracies in their favour.

(Picture: US flag made out of one dollar bills; Credit: Matt Anderson Photography/Getty Images)

Many women feel they are ignored by the larger economy after they reach a certain age, and some of them aren't willing to accept that.

Tamasin Ford speaks to Bonnie Marcus, host of the Badass Women at Any Age podcast, who explains how women over 60 can deal with the double-whammy of sexism and ageism in business. Meanwhile, Tricia Cusden tells us about how she started up the cosmetics retailer Look Fabulous Forever - a business run by and for women in their older years. And Ruth Saunders, author of Female Entrepreneurs: The Secrets of Their Success, explains why the larger business community would be smart to think more about older women in the economy.

Producer: Frey Lindsay

(Picture: Older woman looking fabulous; Credit: Getty Images)

As evidence mounts that Chinese authorities are continuing to incarcerate Uighur Muslims in work camps in the North West of the country we discuss the steps foreign companies should be taking to ensure their businesses don’t benefit from enforced labour. We also have a report on what could be the most severe housing crisis in the recent history of the US. In yet another consequence of the coronavirus pandemic; tenants are struggling to keep up rental payments and risk eviction. As lessons resume across many parts of the world we hear how some countries are managing to teach children who can’t go back to the classroom - and don’t have access to computers or the internet.

Plus, as facemarks become compulsory in shared workplaces in France we hear from a top health expert who says mask wearing should be non-negotiable.

Business weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Clare Williamson.

(Image: T-shirts hanging on a garment rail, Image credit: Getty Images)

Many Africans are buying Chinese-made smartphones that steal their information. Investigations have shown that the cheap devices are pre-installed with a kind of malware that drains the data allowance and in some cases signs the user up to subscription services without their knowledge. Nathan Collier, from security firm Malwarebytes explains how it works. But David Li of Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab says he's not convinced Chinese manufacturers are to blame for the problem. Meanwhile, with data literacy a big problem in Africa, Kenneth Adu-Amanfoh, Executive Director of ACDRO in Ghana says better consumer education is needed.

(Picture: A woman on her phone in Nigeria. Picture credit: Getty Images)

Some universities fear they have become too financially dependent on fee-paying Chinese students - and thanks to Covid-19, many of them are staying away this year.

Salvatore Babones, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, says Australia is particularly vulnerable to this, while Vivienne Stern of Universities UK says it’s just one of a number of serious concerns for UK and US universities. We also hear from Chinese students already in the UK about whether they think it’s worth continuing.

(Picture: An empty classroom at an Italian University; Credit: Getty Images)

China is accused of detaining millions of people from the Uighur ethnic minority and forcing them to work in factories. Pressure is mounting on foreign businesses to ensure material they source from China does not benefit from that forced labour. Alison Killing, an architect and investigator has found that 268 detention facilities have been built in the Xinjiang province in North-West China in just the last few years. Supply chain expert Kate Larsen says companies are often more at risk of exposure to forced labour than they might realise. But Craig Allen of the US China Business Council says US protections already exist to keep companies away from Uighur labour. And Max Zenglein of the Mercator Institute for China Studies says there are substantial incentives for companies to look the other way.

Produced by Frey Lindsay

(Picture: An alleged Uighur detention facility. Picture credit: Getty Images.)

Catering and hospitality are among the sectors worst hit by the global coronavirus pandemic, with many governments banning in-house dining. Manuela Saragosa speaks to New York Chef Anna Klinger, who owns and manages Al Di La, a Trattoria in Brooklyn. Ka Yi Ong who runs Mini Star, a Singapore eatery that specialises in stinky tofu tells us about its new and very successful delivery service. Michelin-starred chef Kevin Meehan of Kali restaurant in Hollywood explains how a creative make-over for his parking lot is helping business tick over and Elizabeth Hotson visits Coupette, a high end cocktail bar in London where manager Andrei Marcu is delighted to be mixing champagne piña coladas for drink-in customers. Plus, we hear from Richard Vines, chief food critic at Bloomberg News in London. Producer: Elizabeth Hotson. (Picture description: A food vendor wearing a face mask at a hawker centre in Singapore by Roslan Rahman).

Why being bored might be good for us. Ed Butler speaks to Kate Greene, a science writer who experienced months of isolation as part of a project to test how astronauts might cope with the boredom of a long trip to Mars. John Eastwood from the Boredom Lab at York University in Toronto and Erin Westgate from the University of Florida discuss the impact boredom can have on our ability to work. Dr Sandi Mann, author of The Upside of Downtime argues that boredom can be the secret to creative thought.

(Photo: A woman bored at work, Credit: Getty Images)

Two ancient and archeologically priceless rock shelters in Western Australia were destroyed earlier this year by the mining company Rio Tinto. On this episode of Business Weekly we ask whether the punitive measures imposed on senior executives this week are tough enough. Could biotechnology transform the way we eat and the way we treat animals? We investigate the future of food and find out how a cat food made from mouse meat could be made without harming any mice. As workers in the UK are seemingly unwilling to return to city centre offices during the Coronavirus pandemic, we wonder what these spaces will look like in the years to come. And we look at the romance scammers who are conning lonely hearts on social media. Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

Does farming as we know it have a future? We hear from those who argue biotechnology is about to disrupt agriculture for good.

Shifting diets and food sources will put one million US farming jobs at risk, according to futurist Tony Seba of the think-tank Rethink X.

But cattle farmers are not about to give up their livelihoods so easily. We hear from British farmer Andrew Loftus and Danielle Beck of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in the US.

Manuela Saragosa also speaks to Henning Steinfeld at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Producers: Laurence Knight and Szu Ping Chan.

(Photo: a cow in a field. Credit: Getty Images)