Business Unusual

The best disruptors are focused on customers, not products, they use technology rather than fear it, they create new opportunities often where regulations don't exist and they are backed by those with deep pockets and an appetite for risk. Colin Cullis presents stories of Business Unusual - those people and companies driving the next industrial revolution. The associated articles and videos are available here

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Episodes

The future for mRNA vaccines

Let me tell you about the long and incredible series of developments that allowed a vaccine to be made available so quickly to deal with Covid-19. DNA is a library of everything your body might need to reproduce, build and look after you. It is a recipe book of sorts. RNA is a copy of a piece of it, a single recipe to make very important substances - proteins. For dealing with diabetes we need to add the protein insulin to allow us to function. If we could give you RNA we could create it for a s...

Jul 28, 2021•14 min

Private space - not the final frontier, just the next one

Star Trek made the line that space was the final frontier famous. It is true. Everything humanity has ever done is contained on a tiny speck floating in space. Carl Sagan called it the pale blue dot based on the image from the Voyager 1 spacecraft that was taken in 1990 when the craft had traveled about 6 billion kilometers from Earth, the picture of the galaxy included Earth which was no more than a speck on the image. Less than an hour later Voyager would shut down its camera never to take ano...

Jul 21, 2021•12 min

The most successful YouTuber for the last four years is only 10 years old

When Business Unusual first covered the story in 2018, unboxing videos were on the rise as creators and brands recognised the power of having their products demonstrated as videos to assist those thinking of buying their products to get a better sense of what they would be getting and tap into the excitement of opening something new. In the three years since, his parents have switched to working on the channel full time. They have signed up for multiple merchandise deals with major retails chain...

Jul 14, 2021•12 min

China's expansion may come at a cost, will the world be willing to pay?

The Chinese Communist Party celebrated their 100 year anniversary on 1 July, as a political party they have ruled the country continuously for 72 years, longer than the USSR which broke up and every other nation with the exception of North Korea. In that time it has endured terrible hardships of poverty and little economic opportunity, a good chunk of it by its own doing. But it has risen to become the second largest economy and if measured by how many people were lifted out of poverty the most ...

Jul 07, 2021•11 min

The POPI Act and how it will make you a little safer online from 1 July 2021

Not everything will be ready, and many businesses will still have a lot to do to make sure they comply, but it is a big win for consumers and even a positive for businesses that can more easily do business with other countries that have also introduced similar laws. Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

Jun 30, 2021•11 min

What happened to the 4 day week?

It looks like only some will get to enjoy it. Even if you enjoy your work, there are few who don’t appreciate the time away from work to enjoy the fruits of your labour with family and friends. This is what weekends are for, it is as timeless as the commandment to rest on the Sabbath, so a hat tip to the faithful for getting us our first day off. The second day required a few thousand more years. Farmers worked during the day, the “early to bed early to rise” wisdom comes from the farm, no holid...

Jun 23, 2021•13 min

Business Unusual : Young people and the future of work

Guest: Zanele Njapha | Unlearning Expert & Innovation Facilitator at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 16, 2021•10 min

Losing your smell is a common part of getting Covid-19, but smell might also help us fight it

Dogs, bees and AI may help us find more infections faster than current testing. There is good reason to believe that a sensor that can work almost instantly, cost very little, does not need lab conditions and can be used repeatedly may be right under our noses. We can smell and recognise over 10 000 unique smells, not that you have made a list. Yet we take it for granted even as it quickly and effectively allows us to find or avoid so many issues. An even more effective solution can be found in ...

Jun 09, 2021•12 min

Go big or go home - skyscrapers post Covid

The boom in construction is unprecedented. Humans have built so much that the mass of our built environment probably weighs more than all the living things on the planet . From Forests to livestock and even us, the buildings we have created are now more massive. Life on Earth has been building for billions of years, humans far less so, in a book by David Farrier about how cities will fossilise he notes that just 300 years ago just one location on Earth was home to more than a million people. Edo...

Jun 02, 2021•8 min

Apple v Epic is about games, control and the Metaverse

But what is the Metaverse? Audio Credit: New York Times Deal Book Image Credit: Richard Horvath on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

May 26, 2021•13 min

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