Podcasts by More or Less: Behind the Stats

More or Less: Behind the Stats

Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Does endurance sport harm your heart? from 2023-12-09T02:40

Exercise is good for you in all kinds of ways, there is no medicine like it to prevent a whole range of illnesses. But for some endurance athletes, exercise also comes with increased risk of a h...

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Will there be a billion climate refugees? from 2023-12-02T02:40

Former Vice President Al Gore has said that climate change is predicted to lead to a billion climate refugees. But where do these predictions come from and are they realistic? We investigate the...

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A boy meets girl meets stats story from 2023-11-25T06:00

Veronica Carlin is a data scientist who loves romantic comedies. But she had a hunch about those movies, that there aren’t many women like her, women in STEM - science, technology, engineering a...

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Are women in the UK the biggest binge drinkers in the world? from 2023-11-18T06:00

We check out suspect stats on boozing Brits and fishy figures on fishing fleets in the South China Sea.

With the help of Professor John Holmes from the University of Sheffield's School of ...

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Can maths prove the existence of aliens? from 2023-11-11T06:00

Are we alone in the universe – and if not, how many other civilisations might there be? Remarkable images and data sent back to Earth by the James Webb telescope have given a new impetus to a we...

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Do Indian women own 11% of the world’s gold? from 2023-11-04T05:50

The cultural importance of gold in India as a symbol of wealth, prosperity and safety is well known – but how much do Indians actually own? Reporter Perisha Kudhail looks at a widely circulated ...

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The Overlooked Mathematicians of History from 2023-10-28T01:40

Conventional histories of mathematics are dominated by well-known names like Pythagoras, Leibniz or Newton. But to concentrate solely on figures from Europe gives us only a patchwork understandi...

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What do windscreen splats tell us about insect decline? from 2023-10-21T05:00

Do you notice fewer insect splats on windscreens than you used to? There’s a study in the UK trying to measure this ‘windscreen phenomenon’, as it’s become known. We hear more about the study an...

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Greedy jobs and the gender pay gap from 2023-10-14T05:00

Harvard professor Claudia Goldin has become only the third woman to win the Nobel Economics Prize for her groundbreaking research on women’s employment and pay. Tim Harford discusses her work sh...

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Are half the words in English from French? from 2023-10-07T05:00

Are almost half the words in the English language of French origin? It’s a claim one of our loyal listeners found surprising. Tim Harford talks to Dr Beth Malory, lecturer in English Linguistics...

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Vaccine claims, Alzheimer's treatment and Tim's Parkrun times from 2023-10-04T08:30

John Campbell, a YouTuber whose posts get millions of views, has made claims about excess deaths and the Covid vaccine. We show why he's incorrect. Also will a much-vaunted new treatment for Alz...

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Is the UK really ahead in cutting carbon emissions? from 2023-09-30T05:00

The UK Prime Minister has announced several changes to key policies designed to help Britain reach net zero by 2050. In a major speech justifying what many see as a watering down of commitments,...

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NHS consultant pay, Net Zero claims and Scotland's ferry woes from 2023-09-27T08:30

NHS consultants in England are striking over a pay offer of 6%. We look at whether they are paid an average of £120,000 a year and examine how much their pay compared to inflation has fallen. Al...

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Which city has the longest canals? from 2023-09-23T05:00

After a listener emailed More or Less to ask whether world famous Venice or the slightly less famous English city of Birmingham has more canals, Daniel Gordon decided to investigate and widen th...

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Social housing, NHS workforce and Liz Truss debt claims from 2023-09-20T09:40

Long: Housing minister Rachel Maclean claimed the government has built a record number of social rent homes. Tim and the team investigate. Following Lucy Letby’s conviction, we look at how sente...

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How to approach the world through numbers from 2023-09-16T05:00

How can we navigate our lives in a more efficient and satisfactory way? It’s a question Professor David Sumpter is looking to answer in his new book, Four Ways of Thinking. He talks to Tim Harfo...

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Skin cancer, London rents and your great great great granddaughter from 2023-09-13T08:29

A BBC report quoted a study that said 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women in the UK will get skin cancer in their lifetime. Tim Harford and the team look into the detail. Also London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan ...

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Did 35,000 Americans die building the Panama Canal? from 2023-09-11T16:04

The construction of the Panama Canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America is considered one of the greatest engineering feats of all time. It also caused enormous huma...

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Covid deaths, North Sea gas and Chloe Kelly's World Cup penalty from 2023-09-06T08:30

Covid related deaths are rising in England and Wales - but what do the figures really tell us? Also the UK's GDP during the pandemic has been revised upwards. Tim Harford and team ask why and di...

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What percentage of our brain do we actually use? from 2023-09-02T05:00

On this week’s episode of More or Less we interrogate a widely circulated myth relating to how much of our brain power we can access and engage. Ever heard someone say, “You know we can only use...

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HS2 and electric cars, UK vs China emissions&massive maths errors from 2023-08-30T08:30

Can you really buy an electric car for everybody in the UK for the cost of HS2? That claim was recently made on Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme. Also we look at a viral claim that 1 in 73...

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How safe is the release of Fukushima nuclear plant water? from 2023-08-26T05:00

Water used to cool nuclear reactors at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is being released into the Pacific Ocean by Japanese authorities. The move has sparked protests and con...

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How many butterflies are there in the world? from 2023-08-19T05:00

Butterflies are a much-loved feature of summer in many parts of the world. But how many of them are there on Earth?

That’s the question a young listener to More or Less wanted an answer t...

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Why is it so hard to predict the outcome of competitions like the Premier League? from 2023-08-12T05:00

Football competitions are kicking off all around Europe in the coming days and weeks, including the world’s most watched division: The English Premier League. We might make our predictions on wh...

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Are the media exaggerating how hot it is in the Mediterranean? from 2023-08-05T05:00

Reports on heatwaves across the globe have dominated our newsfeeds over the last few weeks, with temperatures said to have soared over the 40C mark in many parts of Europe. But across social med...

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Data, extreme weather and climate change from 2023-07-29T05:00

Recent global headlines have been dominated by record temperatures across Europe, North America and parts of Asia. As extreme weather events have happened for decades, how are links to climate c...

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Ukraine war: A new way of calculating Russian deaths from 2023-07-22T05:00

Official information on the numbers of dead and injured in the Ukraine war has been in short supply. Little has come from either the Ukrainian or Russian sides, with estimates from western gover...

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Are more adult nappies sold in Japan than baby ones? from 2023-07-15T05:00

Japan has one of the highest rates of life expectancy and one of the lowest birth rates. But does that mean that a widely circulated claim – that more nappies aimed at adults are sold in Japan t...

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Does it take 10,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans? from 2023-07-08T05:00

Various claims have been made about how much water is used in the production of a pair of jeans, that cornerstone of casual clothing. With growing worries over the environmental impact of denim ...

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Immigration: A More or Less Special Programme from 2023-07-05T08:30

More than 1.2 million people came into the country to stay for more than 12 months in 2022. As only 560,000 left the country, this means net migration is at an all-time high. Both the Prime Mini...

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Will there be just 6 grandchildren for every 100 South Koreans? from 2023-07-01T05:00

An article on the UK’s Telegraph newspaper website claimed that there would be just 6 grandchildren for every 100 South Koreans today. We ask whether that figure is correct and look at why South...

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Halving inflation, Scottish tidal power and have 1 in 3 women had an abortion? from 2023-06-28T08:30

One of Rishi Sunak's five priorities for 2023 is to halve inflation. Given prices are still rising, we discuss whether it's going be possible. Also does Scotland have more tidal power capacity t...

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US National Debt: is $32 trillion a big number? from 2023-06-24T05:00

‘This episode was updated on 26th June to remove an error in how we quantified 32 trillion dollars’ The level of US government debt has just surpassed 32 trillion dollars. Negotiations over ...

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Mortgages, birth rates and does space contribute 18% to UK GDP? from 2023-06-21T08:30

Mortgage rates have risen to 6%. But are things as bad as when rates were much higher in the 1970s and 80s? We look at just how much pain today's rises mean. Also will there be just 6 grandchild...

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Is breastfeeding the key to exam success? from 2023-06-17T05:00

A new study by researchers at Oxford University has linked better exam results at school with being breastfed as a baby. But how much faith can we put in the findings? Tim Harford speaks to Emil...

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Electric vehicles, 600 million bottles and does oral sex cause cancer? from 2023-06-14T08:30

There's been a lot of coverage about the risks electric cars may pose to infrastructure like bridges and car parks. We look at how much heavier EVs are. Plus we look at a new study that suggests...

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Counting Hunger in India from 2023-06-10T05:00

How prevalent is hunger and malnutrition in India? With Indian data journalist Rukmini S, we interrogate recent claims that hunger has worsened dramatically in recent years, and explore how maln...

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Lib Dem ambulance claims, affordable rent and goat meat from 2023-06-07T08:30

The Liberal Democrats say 120 people a day in England died last year whilst waiting for an ambulance. We investigate whether the claim stands up to scrutiny. Also Rishi Sunak's pandemic-era sch...

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A short history of data from 2023-06-03T05:00

We live in a world where data is everywhere – informing if not governing our lives. But this wealth of data didn’t just turn up overnight. Tim Harford talks to academics Chris Wiggins and Matthe...

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Food prices, net migration and beef about beef from 2023-05-31T08:30

Does Britain really have the most affordable food in Europe? That's a recent claim of the President of the National Farmers' Union. We ask if it's true and look in detail at what is driving risi...

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Are young people more single than ever before? from 2023-05-28T18:00

What’s the definition of being single – and how easy is it to measure? There’s a perception that young people today are more single – in a relationship sense - than ever, and dating apps are to ...

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NHS waiting lists, Voter ID and measuring divorce from 2023-05-24T08:30

The government has trumpeted a big fall in those waiting over 18 months for hospital treatment in England. But total numbers on waiting lists have hit a new high. Also we look at how much impact...

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Detecting Bad Science with Data from 2023-05-20T05:00

For more than a decade there’ve been longstanding concerns about the credibility and reliability of science research. This “bad science” has often stemmed from poor data practice or worse. But s...

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Do 94% of marriages in Portugal really end in divorce? from 2023-05-13T05:00

Portugal has a divorce rate of 94% and India just 1%, according to a social media post about divorce in 33 countries that has gone viral. But how are these figures calculated and what do they re...

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Why is life expectancy falling in the USA? from 2023-05-06T05:00

The average life expectancy of Americans is shrinking at an alarming rate.

Between 2019 and 2021, a staggering 2.7 years has been shaved off, leaving the revised figure at 76.1 years - th...

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How much is the Coronation crown worth? from 2023-04-29T05:00

Consisting of 2 kilograms of gold and 444 gemstones, the iconic St Edward’s Crown will play a central role in the coronation of King Charles III, as it has for many of his predecessors. There ha...

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The Pentagon Leaks and Fox News from 2023-04-22T05:00

The leaking of US intelligence documents and the arrest of a 21 year old airman who authorities believe to be responsible has caused a media and diplomatic storm. We look at how the leaks were r...

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How accurate is baby's due date? from 2023-04-15T05:00

Paul Connolly is expecting his second child, and the due date is just under two weeks away. In hopes of easing his anxiety every time the phone rings , he is joined by Professor Asma Khalil, Pro...

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How to better understand and explain numbers from 2023-04-08T05:00

The covid-19 pandemic has brought the use of statistics into everyday life in a way never seen before. Tim Harford talks to Professor Oliver Johnson, author of Numbercrunch: A Mathematician’s To...

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A groundbreaking new proof for Pythagoras’ Theorem? from 2023-04-01T05:00

Pythagoras’ Theorem, explaining the relationship between the three sides of a right angled triangle, is one of the most famous in maths. It’s been studied and put to use for thousands of years. ...

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Covid vaccines and false claims about miscarriage from 2023-03-25T06:00

Misinformation around covid-19 and vaccines is rife and as the data available increases, so do often misleading and even wild claims. This week More or Less examines multiple viral claims that t...

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Silicon Valley Bank: a very modern bank run from 2023-03-18T06:00

After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sent jitters through the financial system, Duncan Weldon explains how it’s just the latest in the long history of bank runs.

He talks to financial...

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Do fungi kill three times as many people as malaria? from 2023-03-11T06:00

The smash hit TV show and video game ‘The Last of Us’ has spawned lots of curiosity about how worried we should be about the relatively unknown world of fungi. A figure in a recent BBC online ar...

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Does your jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold? from 2023-03-04T06:00

The Brink’s-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain’s biggest and most audacious heists. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to Lond...

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UK vs European energy prices, falling excess deaths and is 5 grams of cocaine a lot? from 2023-03-01T09:30

Does the UK really have by far the highest domestic energy bills in Europe? We debunk a viral social media claim suggesting just that. Also the number of excess deaths has been falling in the UK...

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Do 29,000 coffee pods really go to landfill every minute? from 2023-02-25T06:00

How environmentally destructive is our thirst for coffee? Tim and the team investigate a claim that 29,000 coffee pods end up in landfill globally every minute with the help of Dr Ying Jiang, a...

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Reoffending rates, Welsh taxes and the menopause from 2023-02-22T06:30

The Justice Secretary Dominic Raab says crime reoffending rates in England and Wales have fallen significantly since the Conservatives came to power. We ask whether he’s right and look more broa...

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Florence Nightingale and how she visualised data from 2023-02-18T06:00

Florence Nightingale became one of the icons of Victorian Britain for her work as a nurse during the Crimean War and the public health improvements she successfully campaigned for later on. Tim ...

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Nurses' pay, ambulance times and forgotten female economists from 2023-02-15T09:30

How much do nurses in the UK earn compared with those elsewhere in Europe? Tim Harford and the team investigate. Also we have an update on ambulance response times, which were the worst on recor...

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Spreadsheet disasters from 2023-02-11T06:00

The UK’s Office for National Statistics recently published some dramatically incorrect data - all because of a spreadsheet slip-up. But that’s just the most recent in a long list of times when s...

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The IMF and the UK economy, NHS staff shortages and British vs English from 2023-02-08T09:30

The International Monetary Fund says the UK will be the only major economy to shrink in size this year. We ask how much faith we should put in the IMF’s forecasts and look at some of the big eco...

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Hannah Fry on using shopping data to detect ovarian cancer from 2023-02-04T06:00

A new study led by Imperial College in London suggests that data from loyalty card spending in supermarkets and pharmacies could be used as a way of detecting ovarian cancer much earlier. Tim Ha...

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Brexit and trade, pensioner millionaires and Hannah Fry on loyalty cards and cancer from 2023-02-01T09:30

Has trade with the EU increased since Britain left the European Union? Tim Harford and the team look at a claim suggesting just that. There’s a row over the renaming of a street in North London ...

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Are wild mammals only 4% of the mammal population? from 2023-01-28T06:00

A widely respected and cited study says humans and livestock account for 96% of all mammals on Earth. We ask how the study was carried out and what hope there might be for the future. Plus we an...

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Coffee with the Chancellor, inflation measures, GP numbers and toilet paper from 2023-01-25T09:30

Jeremy Hunt has pledged in a new social media video to halve the UK’s high rate of inflation. Tim Harford and the team fact check the Chancellor’s claims. Also – CPI, CPIH, RPI – which measure o...

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Does toilet paper cause 15% of global deforestation? from 2023-01-21T05:50

A British company has claimed that the production and use of toilet paper is responsible for 15% of deforestation globally. We investigate the claim and ask what the true environmental cost of t...

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Ambulance response times, teacher pay and Irish pubs from 2023-01-18T09:30

How long are people really waiting when they call 999 for an ambulance? Tim Harford and the team examine in detail the sheer scale of delays in responding to emergency calls. We also ask why the...

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How we shook the world of very large numbers from 2023-01-14T07:00

How did an edition of More or Less from 2017 end up influencing the choice of official names for extremely large numbers? We tell the tale of how an interview between presenter Tim Harford and m...

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A&E delays and deaths, religious identity in N Ireland and naming the monster numbers from 2023-01-11T12:18

Tim Harford and the team return for a new series of the number crunching show. With the huge pressures facing the NHS we ask how many people may be dying because of treatment delays in A&E. ...

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Can China's data on covid deaths be trusted? from 2023-01-07T06:00

When the pandemic took hold, the Chinese government imposed a zero-Covid policy that aimed to contain the virus through mass-testing and strict lockdowns.

But early in December, amidst wi...

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Irish pubs - a global numbers game from 2022-12-31T06:00

It's possible that the question we focus on in this week's programme occurred to you as you were sipping on an Irish Coffee in Bubbles O'Leary's in Kampala, Uganda: Where can the most Irish pubs...

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Numbers of the Year 2022 from 2022-12-24T06:00

Tim Harford discusses the numbers that help explain some of the biggest stories of the year, including the war in Ukraine, soaring inflation and a breakthrough for women’s football, with the hel...

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Qatar World Cup: the pressure of penalties from 2022-12-17T06:00

The World Cup in Qatar is drawing to a close. Penalties and penalty shootouts have provided some of the biggest moments of the tournament. We analyse penalty data from the World Cup and ask what...

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Why are data so important in determining how we live? from 2022-12-10T06:00

Why are good data so important to policymakers – whether they know it or not – and what happens when good data is missing? Presenter Tim Harford speaks to Georgina Sturge, a statistician at the...

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The World Cup: how many migrant workers have died? from 2022-12-03T16:00

Qatar has been fiercely criticised over its treatment of migrant workers, many of whom have been employed to build stadiums and other infrastructure in preparation for the 2022 World Cup. We loo...

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When do food shortages become a famine? from 2022-11-26T06:00

Somalia is experiencing its worst drought for 40 years and there are warnings that millions of people need food assistance urgently. The UN body tasked with classifying levels of food security h...

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A $220 billion World Cup? from 2022-11-19T06:00

As the FIFA World Cup in Qatar gets underway, and the newly built stadia, lavish hotels and transport networks come to life, More or Less investigates just how much the Gulf nation has spent in ...

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Bonus Episode: Understand the Economy from 2022-11-14T16:16

Tim Harford brings you the first episode of his new podcast, Understand the Economy. If you’ve been missing his dulcet tones, here’s a chance for you to have a preview of Tim Harford’s latest po...

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Improving the numbers in the news from 2022-11-12T06:00

How can journalists improve their use of statistics in their reporting of the world around us? It’s a question US academics John Bailer and Rosemary Pennington tackle in their new book Statistic...

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Lula’s “zero deforestation” plan for the Amazon from 2022-11-05T06:00

Lula Da Silva has pledged “zero deforestation” in the Amazon as he prepares to become Brazil’s next president, in contrast to the policies of outgoing leader Jair Bolsonaro under whom the destru...

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Can China’s GDP data be trusted? from 2022-10-29T05:00

This week, China released its third quarter GDP figure. At 3.9%, its rate of economic growth is better than many analysts expected, but still significantly short of the 5.5% target the Chinese g...

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Do half of new books really sell fewer than twelve copies? from 2022-10-22T05:00

A US government lawyer recently caused a stir in the publishing world when he said during a high profile legal trial that half of all new trade titles – books aimed at a general audience - sell ...

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Ben Bernanke and the magic of banking from 2022-10-15T05:00

The former head of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke is named as one of three winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on how banking collapses were a major factor in ...

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Catching Chess Cheats with Data from 2022-10-08T05:00

A cheating scandal is currently rocking the world of chess, as World Champion Magnus Carlsen accuses the young American Hans Niemann of cheating. A bombshell new report has said that Niemann is ...

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Teens and antidepressants, stamp duty savings and earthquake probabilities from 2022-10-07T14:27

A survey from a mental health charity suggested that more than a third of British teenagers had been prescribed antidepressants. We debunk the figure. Also we investigate a tweet from the UK Tre...

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NASA’s asteroid collision: how many asteroids are really out there? from 2022-10-01T05:00

This week NASA slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid in the hope of diverting its course. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART mission will help scientists understand how easy it would b...

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Falling pound, the Queen’s funeral and is 0.5 on the Richter scale a big number? from 2022-09-28T08:30

The value of the pound against other currencies has been incredibly volatile ever since the Chancellor’s ‘mini-budget’. We ask how much we should worry and look at how much taxes will really fal...

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Ukraine’s progress in numbers from 2022-09-24T05:00

Ukraine has reportedly recaptured nearly 10,000 square kilometres of territory that had been occupied by Russia. We ask where the numbers come from and what they mean. Plus with Norway supplanti...

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Ukraine offensive, weak pound&how much do women really exercise from 2022-09-22T17:14

Ukraine has reportedly recaptured nearly 10,000 square kilometres of territory that had been occupied by Russia. We ask where the numbers come from, what they mean and why everyone is comparing ...

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How bad is fashion for the environment? from 2022-09-17T05:00

Is fashion really the second most polluting industry after oil and does it account for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions? Sustainable fashion journalist Alden Wicker does some fashion fact checki...

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Energy crisis plan, imperial measures survey, gardens v national parks from 2022-09-14T08:30

One of Liz Truss's first acts as Prime Minister was to announce a giant plan to protect domestic energy users from huge rises in wholesale gas and electricity costs, meaning a typical household ...

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Is a third of Pakistan really under water? from 2022-09-10T05:00

Pakistan is battling a huge natural disaster as a result of heavy monsoon rains. It’s been widely reported that a third of the country is under water. But can that really be the case? Featuring ...

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Pakistan flooding, UK power prices and Boris’s broadband claim from 2022-09-07T08:30

Devastating floods have wreaked havoc across Pakistan after the heaviest monsoon rains in at least a decade. But is a third of the country really under water, as has been claimed? Also why do el...

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Can we use maths to beat the robots? from 2022-09-03T05:00

Daily advances in the technology of artificial intelligence may leave humans playing catch-up – but in at least one area we can still retain an edge, mathematics. However it’ll require changes i...

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Energy prices, excess deaths and the race to count to 200 from 2022-08-31T08:30

With energy prices in the UK spiralling, Tim Harford asks whether there is an easy and realistic way for bills to be cut. Also the number of excess deaths in the UK is rising – we’ll hear how mu...

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Kenya’s Election Rounding Error from 2022-08-27T05:00

When the official figures were announced in Kenya’s presidential election, it looked like the total percentage share of the vote for each candidate came to more than 100%. As this should not be ...

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The numbers behind “natural” birth control from 2022-08-20T05:00

Videos on TikTok have been claiming that so-called “natural” birth control methods can be 99% effective. We examine what we really know, and how we know it.

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Is opinion polling broken? from 2022-08-13T05:00

The opinion polling industry’s reputation has taken a battering in recent years, as high profile slip-ups in the US presidential election exposed frailties. So should we write them off? Not acco...

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Debunking the Liverpool FC Conspiracy Theory from 2022-08-06T05:00

Ahead of the opening of the new season of the English Premier League, baseless rumours and dodgy statistics circulating online have implied that Liverpool FC use asthma medication to enhance the...

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How our world measures up from 2022-07-30T05:00

Why do we measure the world around us in the way we do? There is a rich history to be explored - from measuring the depth of the Nile in Ancient Egypt to the central role the French played in de...

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Does the World Athletics Championships have a false start problem? from 2022-07-23T05:00

US athlete Devon Allen has made global headlines this week after being disqualified from the 110m hurdles final at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene, Oregon. He was judged to have left ...

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Is Uganda about to become a middle income country? from 2022-07-16T05:00

In his State of the Nation address in early June 2022, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said that Uganda was on the cusp of becoming a middle income country. That’s been contradicted by World ...

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Sweden’s polarising pandemic response from 2022-04-30T05:00

When much of Europe went into lockdown at the start of pandemic, Sweden’s lighter touch strategy got lots of attention. Fans of the approach say it was a huge success that showed lockdowns were poi...

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Understanding India through Data from 2022-04-23T05:00

How do you go about understanding a country with a population as diverse as it is vast? Data journalist Rukmini S is the author of Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us A...

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Subitising and simplifying: how to better explain numbers from 2022-04-15T04:50

Have you ever looked at a numerical claim and thought ‘what on earth does that mean?’ Complex numbers are often badly communicated, making it difficult for the public to appreciate what they signif...

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Did tea-drinking cut deaths in the Industrial Revolution? from 2022-04-09T05:00

Could an explosion in tea-drinking explain a decline in deaths in England during the industrial revolution? Professor Francisca Antman, an economist at the University of Colorado Boulder believes i...

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Will the war in Ukraine cause a global wheat shortage? from 2022-04-02T05:00

As the Russian Invasion of Ukraine continues, the effects ripple around the rest of the world. One concern involves the wheat harvest. There have been claims that Ukraine and Russia supply 25% of t...

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Pizza and Nuclear War from 2022-03-20T15:00

The War in Ukraine has reminded the world how easily conflict might escalate into a Nuclear War. But according to Professor Barry Nalebuff of Yale University, good strategy and negotiating can help...

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Does the UK take in more refugees than other European countries? from 2022-03-13T15:00

As the war in Ukraine continues, Reuters has reported that some 2.3 million people have been displaced. So far many of those have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. The UN estimates that as ...

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Numbers in Ukraine and low seas in Chagos from 2022-03-06T15:00

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we take a look at some of the numbers coming out of the conflict and ask how to know which information you can trust during a war. We also investigate the pe...

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Troop and Casualty Numbers in Ukraine from 2022-03-02T09:30

How reliable are the figures coming out of the conflict in Ukraine? Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we consider claims about the numbers of troops involved, people killed, and planes downe...

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Did lockdowns save any lives? from 2022-02-27T15:00

Lockdown. A word we’ve all become overly familiar with over the past two years. Lockdowns were intended to protect people, especially societies most vulnerable, from the risks associated with contr...

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Vaccinating children, lockdowns, and ebikes from 2022-02-23T09:30

Jabs for five to 11-year-olds, lockdown effectiveness, and being green on two wheels. Governments across the UK have decided to offer Covid vaccinations to primary school-aged children. What was t...

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Hospitalisation rates for children with Covid from 2022-02-20T15:00

Covid vaccines will be offered to all children across the UK between the ages of 5 and 12 - some months after the same decision in countries such as Italy and Germany. It is a topic that has caused...

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Questioning claims about Covid and children from 2022-02-16T09:30

How likely are children to end up in hospital because of Covid? And how many have died? We scrutinise some scary stats that have been circulating on social and examine what excess deaths figures t...

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Testosterone and sport from 2022-02-13T15:00

In early December 2021 a member of Penn University Women’s Swim Team caused a stir. Lia Thomas not only won three events but she had the fastest time in elite college swimming in the country in two...

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The prime minister in statistical bother from 2022-02-09T09:30

Boris Johnson has been ticked off for misleading Parliament on jobs and on crime. He claimed that the number of people in employment has been rising - when it’s been falling. And he made a claim ...

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Can you fool your brain? from 2022-02-06T15:00

Have you given up on your New Year’s resolution yet? Every year many of us make the promise to become better, shinier, more accomplished versions of ourselves by the same time next year. It’s often...

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Does the UK have the fastest growing economy in the G7? from 2022-02-02T09:30

Conservative politicians have taken to the airwaves to tell us to forget the parties, and just look at the economic growth - but is the UK really growing faster than other leading economies? The O...

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Fertility rates: baby boom or bust? from 2022-01-30T15:00

Under lockdown, couples were destined to find themselves closer than ever before, but despite what you’d think – this didn’t result in a higher birth rate. In fact in developed countries across the...

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Should you follow the 5 second rule? And does inflation hit the poorest harder? from 2022-01-26T09:30

Food writer Jack Monroe sparked national debate this week when she tweeted about food price hikes on the cheapest goods in supermarkets - but does inflation really hit low income households hardest...

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Are female patients more likely to die if the surgeon is male? from 2022-01-23T15:00

In early January several newspapers ran article claiming that ‘women are 32% more likely to die after operation by male surgeon. If true, this is a terrifying figure but is all as it seems? We dig ...

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Are women 32% more likely to die after operation by a male surgeon? from 2022-01-19T09:25

Are women 32% more likely to die after operation by a male surgeon? Headlines asserting this were shared across social media recently - but the truth is a bit more complicated. We compare the pric...

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QAnon: Did 365,348 children go missing in the US in 2020? from 2022-01-16T15:00

In December, Republican politician Lauren Boebert tweeted the claim that ‘365,348 children went missing in 2020’. This is a shocking statistic but is it true and does it mean what we think it means...

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Omicron, pandemic birth rates and boosters from 2022-01-12T09:30

The pandemic seems to be entering a new phase as Omicron has taken hold. Is it milder? And how might we make decisions based on the latest data? Predictions that lockdowns might lead to a baby boo...

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How much plastic is in the Ocean and can Mr Beast make a difference? from 2022-01-09T07:00

In October of last year popular Youtubers Mark Rober and the enigmatically named Mr Beast pledged to remove 30 million pounds of plastic from the Ocean – if they could raise $30 million dollars. A ...

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Will the population of Nigeria be larger than Europe’s? from 2022-01-02T15:00

In recent years population growth has slowed rapidly. Experts believe that the global population will stabilise somewhere around 11 billion people. But just because global population is stabilising...

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Numbers of 2021 from 2021-12-26T15:00

A guide to the most concerning, striking and downright extraordinary numbers of 2021. Tim Harford asks three More or Less interviewees about their most significant and memorable figure over the pas...

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The psychological economics of gift giving from 2021-12-19T15:00

Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year – if you have something to sell that is. Every year we waste hundreds of dollars on gifts that aren’t appreciated, but how can you ensure that the gif...

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Does catching covid give you more immunity than being vaccinated? from 2021-12-12T15:00

Immunity to Covid-19. We've all been hoping to develop it ever since the virus emerged two years ago. Since then, a race to vaccinate the world has begun in earnest, with many countries rolling out...

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Does wearing a mask halve your chances of getting Covid-19? from 2021-12-05T23:59

Masks, you may not have worn them before 2020 but now we’re all at it. With the rise of the Omicron variant countries have scrambled to reintroduce public health policies, among them mask wearing. ...

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Simpson’s Paradox: How to make vaccinated death figures misleading from 2021-11-28T15:00

Vaccines are the best way to stop deaths and serious cases related to covid19, this is an irrefutable fact. However, recent ONS data seems to show that vaccinated people had a higher all cause deat...

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A TikTok tale from 2021-11-21T15:00

Nowadays if you are an academic and who needs some participants for a study you go online, but over the summer academic studies were inundated with participants who all happened to be teenage girls...

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The carbon cost of breakfast at COP26 from 2021-11-14T15:00

A French minister told people to eat fewer croissants at this year’s COP26 summit, after the menu said the carbon cost of the pastry was higher than that of a bacon roll, even if it was made withou...

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Same data, opposite results. Can we trust research? from 2021-11-07T15:00

When Professor Martin Schweinsberg found that he was consistently reaching different conclusions to his peers, even with the same data, he wondered if he was incompetent. So he set up an experiment...

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The art of counting from 2021-10-31T15:00

Who is counting, why are they counting, and what are they are counting? These three questions are important to ask when trying to understand numbers, according to Deborah Stone, author of Counting...

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The numbers behind Squid Game from 2021-10-24T14:00

Netflix has announced that South Korean survival drama Squid Game is its most popular series ever. We scrutinise the statistics behind the claim, and look at the odds of surviving one of the show’...

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The prize-winning economics of migration and the minimum wage from 2021-10-17T13:50

Do immigrants drive down wages, do minimum wage increases reduce job opportunities, and do people who did well in school earn more money? These are questions that the winners of the 2021 Nobel Memo...

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Bonus episode: the first ever More or Less from 2021-10-07T17:00

A chat with More or Less's founding producer and presenter plus the first episode in full.Tim talks to Michael Blastland and Sir Andrew Dilnot about how More or Less came into being (after several ...

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Twenty years of More or Less from 2021-10-06T08:25

A look back at our origins, plus the usual mix of numerical nous and statistical savvy. It’s two decades since More or Less first beamed arithmetic into the unsuspecting ears of Radio 4 listeners....

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The Gender Pay Gap from 2021-10-03T13:55

Tim Harford talks to Planet Money’s Stacey Vanek Smith about the gender pay gap in the US and the UK – and how Renaissance writer, Machiavelli might be an unlikely source of inspiration for women i...

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Is it easy being green? from 2021-09-29T08:25

Is our electricity extra expensive and our insulation inadequate? And a tale of tumbling trees. Internet infographics suggest we’re paying way more for our energy than countries in the EU. Are the...

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Covid trends, face mask use, and the universal credit cut from 2021-09-22T08:30

A coronavirus check-in, our daily mask use measured, and a minister's claim on the universal credit cut questioned. There was a time when the latest Covid statistics were headline news daily, but ...

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How many holes are there in a drinking straw? from 2021-09-19T14:00

Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg, professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws. (multi-coloured straws/Getty images)

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Death, Tax and Dishwashers from 2021-09-15T08:25

New data appears to show that double vaxxed people between 40 and 79 are getting Covid at higher rates than people who are unvaccinated, but that's not the case. It's all down to how Public Health ...

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Vaccine waning, hot dogs and Afghanistan from 2021-09-08T08:25

Should we be worried that the protection against Covid-19 provided by the vaccines is going down? Could it really be the case that eating a hot dog takes 36 minutes from your life? The Bank of Eng...

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The Bill for Afghanistan from 2021-09-04T05:00

American President Joe Biden has said the war in Afghanistan cost more than $2 trillion. Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic International Studies helps us unpick what’s incl...

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Covid, HGV driver shortages and protest costs from 2021-09-01T08:30

English Covid restrictions were lifted in July. Back then, some predicted that there could be as many as 6,000 hospital admissions a day by the following month. So, what happened?The Metropolitan P...

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Reason, numbers and Mr Spock from 2021-08-28T05:00

Writer Julia Galef talks to Tim Harford about the role of numbers in helping us think more rationally, and what Star Trek’s Mr Spock can teach us about making predictions. Julia is author of The Sc...

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The extraordinary life of Robert Moses from 2021-08-21T05:00

Dr Robert Moses, a pioneer in African-American civil rights and mathematics education has died at the age of 86. Charmaine Cozier looks at an extraordinary life, from the courthouses of 1960s Missi...

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How good were the performances at the Tokyo Olympics? from 2021-08-16T09:24

A year later than planned, The Tokyo Olympics, have now finished. Thousands of athletes have competed in events that few thought might go ahead and there’s been record success. This week we take ...

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Jab fears explained: a base rate fallacy from 2021-08-07T05:00

As some countries rapidly roll out vaccination programmes, there have been concerns that increases in infection rates amongst vaccinated groups mean vaccines are less effective than we hoped, espec...

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Breaking Climate Records from 2021-07-31T05:00

June saw a brutal heatwave shatter a number of all-time temperature records in Canada and the Northwest of the USA. But when can we attribute new records to man-made climate change, rather than nat...

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The Rise of Delta from 2021-07-24T05:00

The Delta Variant was first identified in India, fuelling a huge wave of cases and deaths. It is now spreading around the world, becoming the most dominant variant in many countries. This week we t...

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The Freedom Day Gamble from 2021-07-19T11:00

On the day the Government plans to drop the remaining Covid restirictions, Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to work out how long cases will continue to rise and whether we can be sure the ...

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Are there 40 million Nigerians on Twitter? from 2021-07-10T05:00

In recent months, Twitter has rarely been out of the headlines in Nigeria. After it deleted a tweet by the country’s president, the Nigerian government responded by banning it altogether. In the me...

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Is Ivermectin a Covid ‘wonder drug’? from 2021-07-03T05:00

To some on the internet, the cheap anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin is a potential wonder drug that could dramatically change the global fight against Covid-19. It has passionate proponents, from a s...

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Scotland cases, flood risk and taxing the poor from 2021-06-30T08:30

The UK’s Covid cases are still rising and Scotland is being hit particularly hard - so are we speeding up our vaccination programme in response? Will many of the UK’s coastal towns, not to mention...

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Maths and the Mayflower from 2021-06-26T05:00

This year sees the delayed 400th anniversary celebrations of the Mayflower voyage, an event seen as a crucial moment in the history of the United States. But how many people alive today can trace b...

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Delta cases, blue tits and that one-in-two cancer claim from 2021-06-23T08:30

The Delta variant is behind the big increase in the number of new Covid 19 cases in the UK since April. We take a look at what impact vaccines have had on infections, hospitalisations and deaths. ...

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The origins of Covid from 2021-06-19T05:00

To find out where a virus comes from, researchers compare it to other viruses to try to trace its origin. This leads to claims like SARS-CoV-2 is 91 or even 96% similar to other known viruses. But ...

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Covid deaths, outdoor swimming and care homes from 2021-06-16T08:30

The official number of deaths attributed to Covid 19 around the world in the whole of 2020 is 1.88 million. The global toll this year surpassed this figure on 11th of June. We look at how things ar...

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The doubling of life-expectancy from 2021-06-12T05:00

Steven Johnson, author of Extra Life, tells the fascinating history of life expectancy, and the extraordinary achievements of the last century, in which it has practically doubled. It’s a story th...

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Third wave fears, smart motorways and bra sizes from 2021-06-09T08:30

Covid cases are rising again in the UK – should we be worried about a third wave? Tim Harford speaks to David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of Risk at the University of Cambridge. How safe are s...

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Bolton vaccines, Yorkshire versus Scotland and the average gamer from 2021-06-02T08:30

Health Minister Matt Hancock recently told the House of Commons that: “The number of vaccinations happening in Bolton right now is phenomenal - tens of thousands every single day.” We explain why t...

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The Seaspiracy “virtually empty ocean” claim from 2021-05-29T05:00

Popular Netflix documentary Seaspiracy has sparked a lot of debate recently, including some controversy over some of the claims the documentary makes and the numbers behind them. One of the most st...

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Wales jab success, Eurovision and living with your parents from 2021-05-26T08:30

Wales has given one vaccination dose against Covid 19 to a larger proportion of their population than any other country except a couple of super tiny ones. They’ve given one vaccine dose to over 80...

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The medical trial that proved Trump wrong from 2021-05-22T05:00

The Recovery Trial, a nation-wide clinical study in the UK, helped identify treatments for Covid 19 in the early months of the pandemic. Tim Harford speaks to Professor Martin Landray of Oxford Un...

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Explaining maths without Numbers from 2021-05-15T04:59

Tim Harford interviews Milo Beckman - a young mathematician, still in his twenties, who has written a book called ‘Math without Numbers’. Milo explains why he wanted to strip out digits to make it ...

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Finding Mexico City’s real death toll from 2021-05-08T05:00

Mexico City’s official Covid 19 death toll did not seem to reflect the full extent of the crisis that hit the country in the spring of 2020 - this is according to Laurianne Despeghel and Mario Rome...

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Bayes: the clergyman whose maths changed the world from 2021-05-02T14:00

Bayes’ Rule has been used in AI, genetic studies, translating foreign languages and even cracking the Enigma Code in the Second World War. We find out about Thomas Bayes - the 18th century English ...

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Will 2021 have more Covid deaths than 2020? from 2021-04-24T05:00

In 2020 there were 1.8 million reported Covid deaths. So far this year, we’ve had 1.2 million. We’re currently seeing around 12,000 deaths a day across the world. But while some areas are seeing fa...

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How many swimming pools full of vaccine do we need? from 2021-04-17T05:00

If we brought together all the Covid 19 vaccine needed for the whole world, how much space would it fill up? An Olympic size swimming pool? We do some back of the envelope sums. Plus - we look at...

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Clot risks: The Pill versus the vaccine from 2021-04-10T05:00

The Astra Zeneca Covid 19 jab remains in the headlines because some regulators have concluded that it may raise the risk of a very rare type of blood clot, albeit to a risk that is still very low. ...

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Too fast for Minecraft? from 2021-04-04T14:00

The impressive speed records of a well-known gamer called Dream for the video game Minecraft have come under scrutiny. Many say that Dream has completed speed runs in such a fast time that it doesn...

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In praise of Covid Data from 2021-03-27T03:00

On this week’s programme we talk to Clare Griffiths from the UK’s coronavirus dashboard and Alexis Madrigal from the Atlantic Magazine’s Covid Tracking Project in the US.

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Deciding when to suspend a vaccine from 2021-03-20T03:00

Many countries recently decided to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine over fears it was increasing the risk of blood clots. The European Medicines Agency and the WHO called on c...

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The truth about obesity and Covid 19 from 2021-03-13T03:00

A widely reported study claims that 90% of Covid 19 deaths across the world happened in countries with high obesity rates. While an individual’s risk of death is increased by having a high Body Mas...

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Sainthood and Cup draws from 2021-03-06T03:00

Tim Harford explores the chances of becoming a saint, inspired by a throw away comment by the detective on the TV drama ‘Death in Paradise.’ Plus, a listener has a question about the recent Europ...

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Why are US Covid cases falling? from 2021-02-27T03:00

Cases of Covid 19 began to soar in the US in the autumn. By early January there were around 300,000 new cases a day. But since then the numbers have fallen steeply. What caused this dramatic drop? ...

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Covid 19 death count: which countries are faring worst? from 2021-02-20T03:00

Are different countries counting deaths from Covid 19 in the same way? Tim Harford finds out if we can trust international comparisons with the data available. We discover Peru currently has the ...

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Comparing death counts, Lock Down drinking and Long Covid from 2021-02-17T09:30

The UK was the first European country to surpass 100,000 deaths from Covid 19. The UK has one of the worst death rates. But can we trust the numbers? Many of our listeners have asked us to investig...

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How much Covid in the World? from 2021-02-13T02:30

If we brought all the virus particles of the Sars-CoV-2 virus from every human currently infected, how much would there be? This was a question posed by one of our listeners. We lined up two expert...

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Brexit exports, cladding and are 1 in 5 disabled? from 2021-02-10T09:30

Are exports to the EU from the UK down 68% since Brexit? This apocalyptic statistic is being widely reported, but does it really tell us what’s happening at Dover and Folkstone? Ministers are twee...

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Glasgow vs Rwanda from 2021-02-06T02:30

Tim explores a shocking claim that life expectancy in some parts of Glasgow is less than it is in Rwanda. But is that fair on Glasgow and for that matter is it fair on Rwanda? And a listener asks w...

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Teachers, Test&Trace and Butterflies from 2021-02-03T09:30

Prominent Labour politicians have claimed teachers are more likely to catch Covid-19, is that true? England’s Test and Trace programme has been widely criticised, has it raised its game in recent ...

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The Rapid Test Row from 2021-01-30T02:55

A ferocious row has broken out among scientists about new coronavirus tests. Lateral flow tests provide results within minutes and some scientists believe they are offer accurate enough results at ...

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Deaths at Home, Supermarket Infections and the Cobra Effect from 2021-01-27T09:30

Since the start of the pandemic there have been many warnings that people might die not just from the coronavirus itself, but also if they didn’t seek medical help out of fear that hospitals might ...

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Counting Covid’s impact on GDP from 2021-01-23T02:50

GDP figures for the period covering lockdown appear to show that the UK suffered a catastrophic decline, worse than almost any other country. But as Tim Harford finds out, things aren’t quite as ba...

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Will the vaccine bring back normal life? GDP and Fishing from 2021-01-20T09:30

The vaccine rollout continues: how long will it take before we see the benefits, and what benefits will we see? Figures suggest the UK’s economy performed worse than almost anywhere else in the wor...

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How effective is one dose of the vaccine? from 2021-01-14T10:51

A lot has changed since More or Less was last on air. We give you a statistical picture of the second wave: how bad is it, and is there hope? The new vaccine regime is to delay the booster shot of ...

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Ants and Algorithms from 2021-01-09T19:00

What can ants tells us about whether something deserves to be popular? This is a question tackled in David Sumpter’s book – ‘The Ten Equations that Rule the World: And How You Can Use Them Too.’ He...

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Numbers of the year: Part two from 2021-01-08T12:57

From the economic impact of Covid 19 to the number of people who have access to soap and water, we showcase figures that tell us something about 2020. Tim Harford asks a group of numbers-minded peo...

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Numbers of the year: Part one from 2021-01-08T12:43

Tim Harford asks a group of numbers-minded people to take a look back on the year and think of one statistic that really stands out for them. From the spread of Covid-19 to the number of songs adde...

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The economics of a Covid Christmas from 2020-12-19T18:50

Tim Harford asks economist Joel Waldfogel how Covid 19 could affect spending at Christmas this year. They discuss the usual bump in sales and gift giving. The author of ‘Scroogenomics’ usually argu...

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QAnon: Child runaways and trafficking numbers debunked from 2020-12-12T18:50

Tim Harford looks at false statistical claims online about missing and trafficked children in the US. These numbers have resurfaced online in part due to conspiracy theorists following QAnon. In th...

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Vaccines: how safe and who gets it? from 2020-12-05T19:00

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the use of a vaccine for Covid 19. But some people are worried that the decision was taken too quickly - can we really know it’s safe yet...

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Tracking Covid 19 from 2020-11-28T19:00

This year has shown us the importance of good robust data - as Covid-19 spread around the world it was vital to track where it was, how many people it was infecting and where it might go next. On M...

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Inviting Covid for Dinner from 2020-11-21T18:50

If you go to a gathering of 25 or more people, what are the chances one of you has coronavirus? Imagine that you’re planning to hold some sort of gathering or dinner at your home. Take your pick o...

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Vaccine numbers from 2020-11-14T16:50

A vaccine which has shown in a clinical trial to be 90% effective against Covid 19 has been widely welcomed. But what does it mean and how was it worked out? Although experts and politicians urge c...

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How deadly is Covid 19? from 2020-11-07T19:00

Tim Harford explores what we know about mortality rates in the current pandemic. We discuss the differences between the risks to different age groups, and why that has an effect on a country’s Covi...

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Asymptomatic Covid19 Cases from 2020-10-31T16:50

A headline in a British tabloid newspaper claimed that ‘Staggering 86% who tested Covid positive in lockdown had NONE of the official symptoms’ but what does this mean and is it true?

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US election: facts or fiction from 2020-10-24T15:50

Tim Harford hears about the sheer volume of false claims made during the campaign. President Trump is well known for making wild statements, but has his behaviour changed? And what about Joe Biden?...

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Auction Theory - Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson from 2020-10-17T18:00

Paul Milgrom and his former tutor Robert Wilson worked together for years developing ways to run complicated auctions for large resources. This month the two Stanford University professors were awa...

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A short history of probability from 2020-10-10T18:00

Tim Harford speaks to Jacob Goldstein about the unholy marriage of mathematicians, gamblers, and actuaries at the dawn of modern finance.

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Spreadsheet snafu, ‘Long Covid’ quantified, and the birth of probability from 2020-10-07T08:30

After nearly 16,000 cases disappeared off coronaviruses spreadsheets, we ask what went wrong. How common are lasting symptoms from Covid-19? If you survey people about the death toll from Covid, th...

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“Record” Covid cases, Trump on the death count, and ant pheromones from 2020-09-30T08:30

Case counts in perspective, a suspect stat from the US, and life lessons from insects.

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Covid curve queried, false positives, and the Queen’s head from 2020-09-23T08:30

A scary government graph this week showed what would happen if coronavirus cases doubled every seven days. But is that what’s happening? There’s much confusion about how many Covid test results are...

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The magical maths of pool testing from 2020-09-19T18:00

Tim Harford speaks to Israeli researcher, Tomer Hertz, about how the mathematical magic of pool testing could help countries to ramp up their Covid-19 testing capacity.

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Covid testing capacity, refugee numbers, and mascara from 2020-09-16T08:30

Amid reports of problems with coronavirus testing across the UK, we interrogate the numbers on laboratory capacity. Does the government’s Operation Moonshot plan for mass testing make statistical s...

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Covid cases rising, a guide to life’s risks, and racing jelly-fish from 2020-09-09T08:30

A jump in the number of UK Covid-19 cases reported by the government has led to fears coronavirus is now spreading quickly again. What do the numbers tell us about how worried we should be? Plus a ...

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Schools and coronavirus, test and trace, maths and reality from 2020-09-02T08:30

As children return to school in England and Wales, we hear about what we know and what we don’t when it comes to Covid-19 risks in school settings. What do the numbers tell us about how well test a...

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Covid plasma therapy from 2020-08-26T08:30

Donald Trump says allowing the emergency use of blood plasma therapy for coronavirus patients will save “countless lives” and is “proven to reduce mortality by 35%”. We look at the evidence. Amid t...

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A-level algorithms, poker and buses from 2020-08-19T08:30

We unpick the A-level algoshambles, discover why 1.3 million Covid tests disappeared from the government's statistics last week, and for reasons that may become clear, we examine the chance of bein...

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Belarus’ contested election from 2020-08-15T22:59

Autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko claims to have won a landslide in the country’s presidential elections. But how can we know what really happened? Tim Harford delves into the numbers behind...

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Hawaiian Pizza, obesity and a second wave? from 2020-08-12T08:30

Covid-19 cases are rising in the UK - is it a sign of a second wave of the virus? We’re picking apart the data and asking how concerned we should be both now and as autumn approaches. Scotland is u...

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Melting Antarctic ice from 2020-08-08T22:59

One More or Less listener has heard that if all the ice in Antarctica melted, global sea levels would rise by 70 metres. But it would take 361 billion tonnes of ice to raise the world's sea levels ...

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Covid in Africa from 2020-08-01T22:59

Do we have enough data to know what’s happening on the continent? We talk to Dr Justin Maeda from the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Ghanaian public health researcher Nana Kofi Quakyi about ...

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Data in the time of cholera from 2020-07-25T22:59

Tim Harford speaks to Steven Johnson about William Farr and the birth of epidemiology in the 1800s.

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Covid misconceptions and US deaths from 2020-07-18T22:59

Tim Harford talks to statistician Ola Rosling about his research into misconceptions about Covid-19. And an update on the epidemic in the US.

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Sweden’s lockdown lite from 2020-07-11T22:59

Unlike its Nordic neighbours, Sweden never imposed a lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus. Tim Harford speaks to statistician Ola Rosling to find out what the results have been. Presenter: T...

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Why Trump is wrong about the USA’s coronavirus case comeback from 2020-07-04T22:59

Are cases really rising in the US or are they just testing more? Tim digs into the data.

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Why did the UK have such a bad Covid-19 epidemic? from 2020-07-01T08:30

The UK has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus anywhere in the world. We’ve been tracking and analysing the numbers for the last 14 weeks, and in the last programme of this More or L...

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A new Covid-19 drug and a second wave from 2020-06-27T18:00

The steroid Dexamethasone has been hailed a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of Covid-19. But what does the data say? Plus, why haven’t mass protests led to a second wave?

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Child Poverty, School Inequality and a Second Wave from 2020-06-24T08:30

As lockdown eases, why hasn't there been a spike in infections? We get a first look at the evidence for the much-trumpeted Covid-19 treatment, Dexamethasone. Stephanie Flanders tells us what’s happ...

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Who Should be Quarantined? from 2020-06-20T11:00

Some countries are requiring new arrivals to self-isolate, a policy designed to stop infection spreading from areas of high prevalence to low prevalence. Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander find out whi...

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Quarantine, Test and Trace and BODMAS from 2020-06-17T08:30

The UK has introduced new rules requiring all people arriving in the country to self-isolate for 14 days. But given the severity of the UK’s outbreak can there be many places more infectious? Is it...

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Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European deaths from 2020-06-10T08:30

At the start of March the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that the UK’s coronavirus outbreak was four weeks behind the epidemic in Italy. This ability to watch other...

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Keep your distance from 2020-06-06T18:00

What difference does a metre make? The World Health Organisation recommends that people keep at least 1 metre apart from each other to stop the spread of Covid-19, but different countries have adop...

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False negatives, testing capacity and pheasants from 2020-06-03T08:30

As lockdowns begin to lift the government is relying on testing and contact tracing programmes to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 infections. But how accurate are the swab tests used to diagnose ...

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Obeying lockdown, flight arrivals and is this wave of the epidemic waning? from 2020-05-27T08:30

More than 35,000 people in the UK have now officially died from Covid-19, but what does the data show about whether this wave of the epidemic is waning? We ask who respects lockdown, who breaks it,...

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60 Harvests and statistically savvy parrots from 2020-05-23T18:00

A listener asks if there can really only be 60 harvests left in Earth's soil. Are we heading for an agricultural Armageddon? Plus we meet the parrots who are the first animals, outside humans and g...

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School re-opening, Germany’s Covid-19 success and statistically savvy parrots from 2020-05-20T08:31

Risk expert David Spiegelhalter discusses whether re-opening some schools could be dangerous for children or their teachers. We ask what’s behind Germany’s success in containing the number of death...

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Social Distancing and Government Borrowing from 2020-05-16T18:00

As lockdowns start to lift, many countries are relying on social distancing to continue to slow the spread of coronavirus. The UK says we should stay 2 metres apart, the World Health Organisation r...

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Vitamin D, explaining R and the 2 metre rule from 2020-05-13T08:30

R is one of the most important numbers of the pandemic. But what is it? And how is it estimated? We return to the topic of testing and ask again whether the governments numbers add up. As the gover...

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Covid-19 fatality rate from 2020-05-09T18:00

The question of just how dangerous Covid-19 really is, is absolutely crucial. If a large number of those who are infected go on to die, there could be dreadful consequences if we relaxed the lockdo...

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Testing truth, fatality rates, obesity risk and trampolines. from 2020-05-06T01:30

The Health Minister Matt Hancock promised the UK would carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of April. He claims he succeeded. Did he?The question of just how dangerous the new coron...

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Climate change and birdsong from 2020-05-02T18:00

With much of the world’s population staying indoors, there are fewer cars on the roads, planes in the skies and workplaces and factories open. Will this have an impact on climate change? Plus as ...

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Ethnic minority deaths, climate change and lockdown from 2020-04-29T08:30

We continue our mission to use numbers to make sense of the world - pandemic or no pandemic. Are doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately affected by Covid-19? Was the lockdown t...

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Comparing countries' coronavirus performance from 2020-04-25T18:00

Many articles in the media compare countries with one another - who’s faring better or worse in the fight against coronavirus? But is this helpful - or, in fact, fair? Tim Harford and Ruth Alexa...

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Bonus Podcast: Professor John Horton Conway from 2020-04-23T14:00

John Horton Conway died in April this year at the age of 82 from Covid-19 related complications. An influential figure in mathematics, Conway’s ideas inspired generations of students around the wor...

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Comparing countries, the risk to NHS staff, and birdsong from 2020-04-22T08:30

We compare Covid-19 rates around the world. Headlines say NHS staff are dying in large numbers, how bad is it? And is it just us, or have the birds started singing really loudly?

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Superforecasting the Coronavirus from 2020-04-18T18:00

Scientific models disagree wildly as to what the course of the coronavirus pandemic might be. With epidemiologists at odds, Tim Harford asks if professional predictors, the superforecasters, can of...

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Should you wear a face mask? from 2020-04-11T18:00

Do face masks stop you getting coronavirus? You might instinctively think that covering your mouth and nose with cloth must offer protection from Covid-19. And some health authorities around the wo...

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Coronavirus deaths, face masks and a potential baby boom from 2020-04-08T08:30

Is the coronavirus related death count misleading because of delays in reporting? Do face masks help prevent the spread of the virus? Was a London park experiencing Glastonbury levels of overcrowdi...

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Are more men dying from coronavirus? from 2020-04-04T18:00

Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander examine the statistics around the world to see if more men are dying as a result of Covid-19, and why different sexes would have different risks. Plus is it true that...

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Supermarket stockpiling, A-level results and Covid-19 gender disparity from 2020-03-31T08:30

This week, we examine criticisms of Imperial College’s epidemiologists. We ask how A-Level and GCSE grades will be allocated, given that the exams have vanished in a puff of social distancing. Adam...

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The Risk from 2020-03-28T19:00

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, puts the risks of Covid-19 into perspective. He found that the proportion of people who get infect...

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Coronavirus Special from 2020-03-25T15:44

We’ve dedicated this special episode to the numbers surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic. Statistical national treasure Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter put the risks of Covid-19 into perspective....

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Mitigation or Suppression: What’s best to tackle Coronavirus? from 2020-03-21T19:00

Last week, while schools and businesses across Europe closed in an attempt to halt the spread of Coronavirus the UK stood alone in a more relaxed approach to the pandemic; letting people choose whe...

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The mystery of Iran’s coronavirus numbers from 2020-03-14T17:00

Does Iran have a lot more covid-19 cases that its figures suggest?

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How much heat do you lose from your head? from 2020-03-09T13:07

Every winter its the same, someone will tell you to put a hat on to save your body from losing all of its heat. But how much heat do you actually lose from your head? We take you on a journey from ...

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Netflix vs the environment from 2020-02-29T19:00

Does watching 30 minutes of Netflix have the same carbon footprint as driving four miles?

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More or Less: Superforecasting, wood burning stoves and the real story of Hidden Figures from 2020-02-28T18:00

Dipping into the archive for stories on the art of prediction and wood burner pollution

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Artificial (not so) Intelligence from 2020-02-22T19:00

Artificial Intelligence – or AI for short – is often depicted in films in the shape of helpful droids, all-knowing computers or even malevolent ‘death bots’. In real life, we’re making leaps and bo...

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WS More or Less: Coronavirus - The Numbers from 2020-02-15T16:00

A lot has changed since our last episode covering the numbers behind the coronavirus - for a start it now has a name, Covid-19. This week news has broken that deaths are 20 per cent higher than tho...

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Coronavirus, jam, AI and tomatoes from 2020-02-14T17:14

Covid-19 stats, spreading jam far and wide, cooking with AI, and James Wong on vegetables

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WS More or Less: How fast are Alligators and Hippos? from 2020-02-08T17:00

We all know that you should never smile at a crocodile, but rumour has it that alligators are great perambulators – at least that’s what a booklet about Florida’s wildlife claimed. Tim Harford spea...

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Tracking terror suspects from 2020-02-07T17:00

Costing counter-terrorism, interrogating tomatoes, the UK's reading age, politics and GDP

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WS More or Less: Coronavirus from 2020-02-01T19:00

The WHO have declared a ‘Global Health Emergency’ as health officials are urgently trying to contain the spread of a new coronavirus in China and beyond; but not all the information you read is cor...

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Coronavirus, emotions and guns. from 2020-01-31T16:30

Fact checking claims about coronavirus and whether more guns equal fewer homicides.

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WS More or Less: Dozy Science from 2020-01-25T19:00

Anxiety around sleep is widespread. Many of us feel we don’t get enough. An army of experts has sprung up to help, and this week we test some of the claims from one of the most prominent among them...

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Netflix and Chill from 2020-01-24T17:00

The list of ways campaigners say we need to change our behaviour in response to climate change seems to grow every week. Now, streaming video is in the frame. We test the claim that watching 30 min...

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WS More or Less: Japan’s 99% Conviction Rate from 2020-01-18T19:00

The fugitive former Nissan boss, Carlos Ghosn, has raised questions about justice in Japan. The government in Tokyo has defended its system, where 99% of prosecutions lead to conviction. Prof Colin...

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Weighing the Cost of Brexit from 2020-01-17T18:08

Is it possible to calculate the cost of Brexit? Gemma Tetlow from the Institute for Government helps us weigh the arguments. How much does luck play into Liverpool FC's amazing season? And, crucia...

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WS More or Less: Bushfire mystery from 2020-01-11T19:00

Have a billion animals died in Australia’s fires? And which ones are likely to survive?

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Australian Animal Deaths, Carbon Emissions, Election Mystery from 2020-01-10T17:07

Tim Harford on animal deaths in Australia's fires, how many Labour voters went Conservative and are UK carbon emissions really down 40%. Plus: have we really entered a new decade?

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C-sections and sharks from 2020-01-04T19:00

How many women in China give birth in hospitals, and whether it was true that 50% of births there are delivered by caesarean section. Oh, and we also mention guts and bacteria… Sharks kill 12 huma...

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Presidential candidates and dementia from 2019-12-28T19:00

We talk about the age of some of the frontrunners in the Democrat nomination race and President Donald Trump and the health risks they face. Also, More or Less listeners were surprised by a claim ...

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The Simpsons and maths from 2019-12-20T17:37

We explore the maths secrets of The Simpsons on their 30th anniversary.

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Koalas from 2019-12-13T14:47

As bushfires rage in Australia, the plight of the koala made front-page news around the world. There were warnings that fires wiped out 80% of the marsupial's habitat and that koalas are facing ex...

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Election Special (2/2) from 2019-12-10T10:16

Labour's spending plans, Conservatives claims on homelessness, the SNP's education record

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Tree Planting Pledges from 2019-12-06T16:09

The UK General Election is fast approaching, top of the agenda are the political parties green ambitions and one particular initiative is garnering a lot of attention, tree planting. The Labour Par...

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Election Special 1/2 from 2019-12-03T11:24

50,000 nurses? 40 new hospitals? Big corporate tax rises? Childcare promises? Election pledges might sound good, but do they stand up to scrutiny? In the run up to the General Election on 12th Dece...

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Testing tomatoes from 2019-11-29T16:07

Have these saucy fruits become less healthy over time?

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The world’s busiest shipping lanes from 2019-11-23T19:00

A listener wrote in asking which is the busiest shipping lane in the world. Ruth Alexander tries to find out with sea traffic analyst and former captain, Amrit Singh and Jean Tournadre, a researche...

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Bolivia: Can statistics help detect electoral fraud? from 2019-11-15T17:36

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s longest-serving leader and first indigenous president, stepped down last week amid weeks of protests sparked by a dispute over a recent presidential election in the country. ...

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Reducing your risk of death from 2019-11-09T19:00

Two statistics about reducing your risk of an early death made headlines around the world recently. The first seems to be a great reason to add a four-legged friend to your life. It suggests that o...

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Unbelievable: The forgotten rape data from 2019-11-01T17:00

In the United States, some police jurisdictions didn’t send off DNA evidence from people who were raped for testing in a crime lab and for uploading into a national criminal database. Instead, the ...

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Edith Abbott and crime statistics from 2019-10-28T14:00

Social worker and economist Edith Abbott and her contribution to crime statistics.

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Esther Duflo and women in economics from 2019-10-18T15:02

Discussing Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer’s economics Nobel Prize.

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The Extra Episode: Minimum wage, drinking in Scotland and identical twins. from 2019-10-11T13:20

We explore the numbers behind the new minimum wage announcements, whether drinking is going up or down in Scotland, the truth about squeezing people onto the Isle of Wight and how long one identica...

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WS More or Less: Does San Francisco have more rough sleepers than Britain? from 2019-10-07T15:00

Are the shocking statistics true? and how do you count people who don't wish to be found?

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New hospitals promised, aid to Ukraine, and bacon sandwiches from 2019-10-04T16:00

Dissecting the government’s hospitals announcement and President Trump’s Ukraine claims.

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WS More or Less: Who fought in World War 1? from 2019-09-30T15:00

Were a third of those that fought for Britain in WW1 black or Asian?

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Austerity Deaths, C-Sections and being struck by lightning from 2019-09-27T17:00

Has Austerity caused 120 thousand deaths in the UK and does God hate men?

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WS More or Less: Peaty v. Bolt: Which is the greatest world record? from 2019-09-23T15:00

Using statistics to compare world records in athletics and swimming.

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Dementia, inflation and shark deaths from 2019-09-20T16:00

Health risks for Presidential hopefuls, falling inflation, shark deaths and salary claims

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WS More or Less: Cape Town murders from 2019-09-16T13:00

Are eight people a day murdered in Cape Town and is that number unusually high?

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Maternal deaths, taxi driver earnings and statistical pop music from 2019-09-13T16:07

Are black women five times more likely to die in childbirth? Plus making pop music.

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WS More or Less: Deforestation in Brazil from 2019-09-09T15:00

Has it increased significantly since President Bolsonaro took office in January?

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Climate deaths, austerity and pet food from 2019-09-06T15:30

Challenging the idea of six billion deaths due to climate change; plus what pets eat.

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WS More or Less: Amazon forest fires from 2019-09-02T13:00

Are they really 85 percent worse than last year?

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Amazon fires, state pension and American burgers from 2019-08-30T16:46

Are forest fires in Brazil the worst in recent times? What is the state pension worth?

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WS More or Less: Ethiopia’s 350m trees in a day from 2019-08-26T15:00

Were millions of trees planted in just one day in Ethiopia?

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Exam grades, Chernobyl and Ethiopian trees from 2019-08-23T17:11

Was your A Level grade correct? Plus were 350m trees planted in one day in Ethiopia?

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Mice and mind blowing maths from 2019-08-16T15:00

Re-inserting a caveat and discussing a really cool numbers trick.

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Immigrant Crime Rate in the US from 2019-08-09T15:00

Do immigrants commit more crime than native-born Americans in the United States?

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The spread of fact-checking in Africa from 2019-08-02T15:00

With misinformation so easy to spread, how can it be stopped or challenged?

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Pregnancy prohibitions – the evidence from 2019-07-26T17:00

Taking a statistical look at what expectant mothers should avoid.

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Missing women from drug trials from 2019-07-19T19:00

How medical testing on just men causes problems.

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Zimbabwe’s economy: Are sanctions to blame? from 2019-07-19T14:31

We look at politicians’ claims that sanctions are to blame for Zimbabwe’s difficulties.

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Two World Cups: Football and Cricket from 2019-07-05T15:04

On this week’s More or Less, Ruth Alexander looks at the numbers involved with the two world cups that are going on at the moment. Are more men than women watching the Women’s World Cup and how a...

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Is nuclear power actually safer than you think? from 2019-06-28T16:00

We questioned the death count of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in last week’s More or Less podcast. In the end, Professor Jim Smith of Portsmouth University came up with an estimate of 15,000 deat...

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Questioning the Chernobyl disaster death count from 2019-06-21T16:02

The recent TV miniseries ‘Chernobyl’ has stirred up debate online about the accuracy of its portrayal of the explosion at a nuclear power plant in the former Soviet state of Ukraine. We fact-check ...

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WS More or Less: Dealing with the Numbers of Cancer from 2019-06-14T16:00

How one woman used statistics to help cope with cancer.

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WS More or Less: The things we fail to see from 2019-06-10T13:00

The hidden influences that a make a big difference to the way the world works.

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Are married women flipping miserable? from 2019-06-07T16:59

Measuring happiness, university access in Scotland, plus will one in two get cancer?

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WS More or Less: Volcanoes versus humans from 2019-06-03T13:00

Does Mount Etna produce more carbon emissions than humans? We check the numbers.

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Hay Festival Special from 2019-05-31T16:21

What does it mean to say that the UK is the fifth largest economy in the world?

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WS More or Less: Florence Nightingale – recognising the nurse statistician from 2019-05-27T13:00

How collecting data about the dead led the famous nurse to promote better sanitation.

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Eurovision and fact-checking Naomi Wolf from 2019-05-24T16:00

The stats behind making a successful song, plus misunderstanding Victorian court records.

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Making music out of Money from 2019-05-20T13:00

Data visualisation is all the rage, but where does that leave the old-fashioned values of audio? Some data visualisation experts are starting to explore the benefits of turning pictures into sound....

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Heart deaths, Organised crime and Gender data gaps from 2019-05-17T16:44

Are deaths from heart disease on the rise? This week the British Heart Foundation had us all stopping mid-biscuit with the news that the number of under 75s dying from cardiovascular disease is go...

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Sex Every Seven Seconds from 2019-05-13T08:00

We revisit some classic topics from past years. We hear which statistics about sex you should trust, and which are less robust. Do men think about sex every seven seconds? Plus, did the arrival of ...

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Sex, coal, missing people and mice from 2019-05-10T17:14

Sex Recession This week it was reported that British people are having less sex than they used to. Similar statistics are cropping up elsewhere in the world too. But one US stat seemed particularly...

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Avengers - Should we reverse the snap? from 2019-05-06T13:00

*Spoiler-free for Avengers: Endgame* At the end of Avengers: Infinity War film the villain, Thanos, snapped his fingers in the magical infinity gauntlet and disintegrated half of all life across th...

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Nurses, flatmates and cats from 2019-05-03T16:19

Nurse suicide rates There were some worrying figures in the news this week about the number of nurses in England and Wales who died by suicide over the last seven years. We try to work out what th...

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Bernie Sanders and the cost of having a baby from 2019-04-29T13:00

Bernie Sanders, a Senator in the United States and one of the front-runners in the campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate, said on Twitter that it costs $12,000 to have a baby in his ...

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Hottest Easter, Insects, Scottish villages from 2019-04-26T17:28

Was it a surprise that Easter Monday was so hot? A heatwave struck the UK over Easter – and in fact Easter Monday was declared the hottest on record in the UK. But listeners asked - is it that sur...

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The economic impact of mega sporting events from 2019-04-19T23:05

The Olympic Games and the football World Cup, two of the biggest events in the world which are each hosted every four years, are big business. And it costs a lot of money to host them, and a lot of...

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Where is Scotland’s highest village? from 2019-04-15T13:00

A battle is brewing in the Southern Scottish uplands between two rival villages. How can statistics help determine which village should take the crown? Wanlockhead and Leadhills both lay claim to t...

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Rounding up the weed killer cancer conundrum from 2019-04-08T13:00

A recent scientific review claims the weed killer glyphosate raises the risk of developing the cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 41 percent. But deciding what causes cancer can be complicated and ther...

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Chess cheats and the GOAT from 2019-04-02T13:34

Who is the greatest chess player in history? And what does the answer have to do with a story of a chess cheating school from Texas? In this week’s More or Less, the BBC’s numbers programme, Davi...

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Is Mansa Musa the richest person of all time? from 2019-03-25T14:00

Mansa Musa, the 14th century Mali king, has nothing on Jeff Bezos - read one recent news report. Musa set off on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in the 1300s and it’s said he left with a caravan of 60...

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Day light saving time and heart attacks from 2019-03-18T14:00

Does the sudden loss of an hour of sleep raise the risk of having a heart attack?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
The gender gap in tech from 2019-03-09T10:00

Are women really less likely than men to be hired for jobs in tech just because of their sex? A study claims that sexism in the recruitment process is holding women back from entering the tech sect...

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Insectageddon from 2019-03-04T10:55

Insects live all around us and if a recent scientific review is anything to go by, then they are on the path to extinction. The analysis found that more than 40 percent of insect species are decrea...

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How To Make Your Art Work More Valuable from 2019-02-22T15:30

Die, sell on a sunny day, place your work a third of the way through the auction….There are some surprising factors that can affect the price of an art work. Here are six top tips on how to get the...

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WS More or Less: When maths mistakes really matter from 2019-02-18T14:00

Tim Harford talks to Matt Parker on how simple maths mistakes can cause big problems.

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Climate Change, Victorian Diseases, Alcohol from 2019-02-15T17:59

Tim Harford on climate change, Victorian diseases, maths mistakes and alcohol consumption

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WS More or Less: From the archives: Groundhogs and Kings from 2019-02-12T10:00

Who can better forecast the weather – meteorologists or a rodent? What percentage of the English public are related to King Edward the III, and is malnutrition really on the rise in the UK? Sit ba...

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Teen Suicide; Brexit Business Moves; Wood-Burner Pollution from 2019-02-08T22:44

Tim Harford finds untrue a recent report that there is a 'suicidal generation' of teens.

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WS More or Less: You have 15,000 likes! from 2019-02-04T14:00

A listener doubts her popularity on the dating app Tinder. We investigate the numbers.

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Holocaust Deniers; Venezuelan Hyperinflation; Tinder Likes from 2019-02-01T17:24

Tim Harford on Holocaust deniers; food prices in Venezuela, and dating app statistics

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WS More or Less: Is Suicide Seasonal? from 2019-01-26T10:00

Tim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide.

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Domestic Violence, Jobs, Easter Snowfall from 2019-01-25T17:22

Tim Harford on domestic violence, employment numbers, and the chance of a white Easter.

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WS More or Less: Close Encounters of a Planetary Kind from 2019-01-19T10:00

Which planet is closest to Earth?

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Intersex Numbers, Fact-Checking Facebook, Jack Bogle from 2019-01-18T17:30

Tim Harford asks whether 1.7% of people are intersex, and examines false claims about MPs

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WS More or Less: The Mathematics of Fever from 2019-01-12T06:00

We look at the numbers behind body temperature – what is normal?

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Sugar, Outdoors Play and Planets from 2019-01-11T17:00

Tim Harford on sugar, train fares, children's outdoors play and Earth's closest neighbour

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WS More or Less: Numbers of the Year Part 2 from 2019-01-04T12:29

Helena Merriman with numbers about water shortage, plastic recycling and American jobs.

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WS More or Less: Numbers of the Year Part 1 from 2018-12-29T14:00

The numbers that made 2018.

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WS More or Less: Mission Impossible - Quantifiying Santa from 2018-12-22T14:00

What to look out for on Christmas Eve.

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WS More or Less: Dam Lies and Statistics from 2018-12-17T12:30

Are mega-dams really sustainable?

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WS More or Less: Sex and Heart Attacks from 2018-11-30T20:00

Are women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?

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WS More or Less: Are 90% of War Fatalities Civilians? from 2018-11-23T20:00

Xavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians

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WS More or Less: When’s a Kilogram Not a Kilogram? from 2018-11-16T20:00

Updating the kilogram.

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WS More or Less: Do Assassinations Work? from 2018-11-09T20:00

How likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?

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WS More or Less: Vaccines - The importance of the herd and social media from 2018-10-28T20:00

What proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?

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WS More or Less: Foreign Aid: Who’s the most generous? from 2018-10-19T19:00

In foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?

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WS More or Less: Paul Romer and William Nordhaus’ Big Ideas from 2018-10-12T15:19

The economists tackling climate change and growth.

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Loneliness, School Funding, Same-Sex Divorce from 2018-10-09T12:20

New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are...

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WS More or Less: Why are Lesbians More Likely to Divorce than Gay Men? from 2018-10-07T19:05

New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are much higher among women than among men. The pattern is the same in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Everywhere where there are...

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WS More of Less: Surviving the Battle of Britain from 2018-10-01T09:00

Were Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?

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Surviving the Battle of Britain; the World Cup and Domestic Violence; Buckfast and Arrests in Scotland from 2018-09-28T16:00

Tim Harford on Spitfire pilots, and whether football triggers violence in the home.

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WS More or Less: Trump and the Puerto Rico Death Toll from 2018-09-24T09:00

How can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?

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How Many Schoolchildren are Carers? Shareholder Income, and Museum Visitors Vs Football Fans from 2018-09-21T16:45

Tim Harford on child carers, shareholder income, football vs museums and dangerous sports

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WS More or Less: DNA - Are You More Chimp or Neanderthal? from 2018-09-17T09:00

What is the difference between 96% similarity or sharing 20% of our DNA?

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Male suicide, school ratings, are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires? from 2018-09-14T17:10

Tim Harford with statistics on suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis. Plus goats

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WS More or Less: The Safest Car in the World? from 2018-09-10T09:00

A listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road?

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Heart Age Calculator; Danish Sperm Imports; Counting Goats from 2018-09-07T16:33

Tim Harford questions the usefulness of a popular heart age calculator.

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WS: More or Less - How well do you understand your world? from 2018-09-03T09:00

Tim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts

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African Trade Tariffs; Alcohol Safe Limits; President Trump's Popularity from 2018-08-31T16:21

Tim Harford fact checks EU trade deals with Africa, and whether one drink is one too many

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BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - Coffins Full of Car Keys from 2018-08-29T11:30

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this e...

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WS: More or Less - Automated fact-checking from 2018-08-27T09:00

Computer programmes are being developed to combat fake news.

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A no-frills life, automated fact-checking and Lord-of-the-Rings maths from 2018-08-24T16:02

What would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor?

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BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - How Condoms Can Cost a Week’s Wages from 2018-08-22T11:30

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this s...

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WS More or Less: Are Wildfires Really Burning More Land? from 2018-08-20T16:05

Are Wildfires in the United States and Southern Europe burning more land than before?

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BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - Bracelets for Bullets from 2018-08-15T11:30

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less you’ll get a brand new podcast, Economics with Subtitles. It’s your everyday guide to economics and why you should care. In this s...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Numbers Behind a Tweetstorm from 2018-08-10T15:00

How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world?

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BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - How Buying Cocaine Helps the Government from 2018-08-08T11:30

BONUS PODCAST: For the rest of August, in addition to More or Less, you’ll get four bonus editions of Economics with Subtitles. It’s a brand new podcast that will bring you an everyday guide to eco...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Carbs, Sugar and the Truth from 2018-08-03T16:00

Does a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar?

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Getting Creative with Statistics from 2018-07-27T16:17

How big are your testicles and what does that mean?

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Should we have smaller families to save the planet? from 2018-07-23T19:00

Having one fewer child could be the biggest thing you do to reduce your carbon footprint

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How to Cycle Really Fast from 2018-07-20T15:17

How much better are the pros than the rest of us and how effective is slipstreaming?

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Are there more stars than grains of beach sand? from 2018-07-06T16:03

The astronomer, Carl Sagan, famously said that there were more stars in our Universe than grains of sand on the Earth’s beaches. But was it actually true? More or Less tries to count the nearly unc...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Running at the World Cup from 2018-06-29T16:20

This week we take a look at some of the statistics which have caught our attention at the World Cup. There has been much debate in both the press and social media about the large distances which Ru...

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How many words do you need to speak a language? from 2018-06-22T15:03

Ein Bier bitte? Loyal listener David made a new year's resolution to learn German. Three years later, that's about as far as he's got. Keen to have something to aim for, he asked More or Less how m...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
FIFA World Cup Extravaganza from 2018-06-15T14:54

The World Cup starts this week and the More or Less team is marking the event by looking at the data behind all the World Cups since 1966 (our data shows that this was the best world cup because En...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: How Many Animals are Born Every Day? from 2018-06-10T23:01

From penguins to nematodes, is it possible to count how many animals are born around the world every day? That’s the question one 10-year-old listener wants answered, and so reporter Kate Lamble...

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Infant Mortality, How to Reduce Exam Revision With Maths, London’s Murder Rate from 2018-06-08T16:00

(0.24) Infant mortality is on the rise in England and Wales – but is this change down to social issues such as obesity and deprivation, as claimed, or the way doctors count very premature babies? ...

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Counting Rough Sleepers from 2018-06-04T08:04

How do you count the number of people sleeping rough? According to the latest official figures around 4700 people were sleeping in the streets in the autumn of 2017. And that got us thinking. These...

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The High Street, Home Births and Harry Potter Wizardry from 2018-06-01T17:25

Is WH Smith really the worst shop on the High Street? Harry Potter fans want to know how many wizards there are – we try to work it out.Is giving birth at home as safe as giving birth in hospital?...

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WS More or Less: Australia Calling from 2018-05-28T09:00

This week we tackle some of our listeners’ questions from Australia: do one in seven businessmen throw out their pants after wearing them once? This is a claim made by an expert talking about cloth...

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Forecasting rain, teabags and voter ID trials from 2018-05-25T16:44

(00.28) Reading the BBC weather app – we explain the numbers on the forecast (06:55) University of Oxford Admissions: how diverse is its intake?(11:37) Voter idea trial at the local elections – co...

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WS More or Less: James Comey - Basketball Superstar? from 2018-05-21T09:00

Former FBI Director James Comey is very, very tall – over two metres tall, or 6’8” - and many media outlets commented on his height during his recent run-in with President Trump. But to what ex...

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Poverty, Progress 8 and how green is grass? from 2018-05-18T16:20

(0.22) Are more children from working families in poverty? (6.50) Progress 8 – explaining the new school league tables for England(12.51) Can a garden product really make your grass 6 times greene...

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WS More or Less: Tulipmania mythology from 2018-05-14T09:00

The story goes that Amsterdam in the 1630’s was gripped by a mania for Tulip flowers. But then there was a crash in the market. People ended up bankrupt and threw themselves into canals. This story...

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Abortion, modern slavery, math versus maths from 2018-05-11T16:21

(00:26) The UK abortion statistics gaining attention in Ireland’s referendum debate (03:49) Superforecasting author Phillip Tetlock talks to Tim Harford (09:51) Modern Slavery figures in the UK (17...

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WS More or Less: Exposing the biases we have of the world from 2018-05-07T09:00

The great statistician, Hans Rosling, died in February last year. Throughout his life Hans used data to explain how the world was changing – and often improving – and he would challenge people to e...

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Cancer screening, the Windrush Generation, Audiograms from 2018-05-04T16:33

(0:32) Breast screening – the Numbers: 450,000 women have accidentally not been invited for breast cancer screening (07:26) Counting the Windrush Generation: What do we know about those who migh...

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WS More or Less: Puerto Rico - statistics versus politics from 2018-04-29T09:00

The government of Puerto Rico has developed a plan to strip the island’s statistical agency of its independent board as part of a money saving enterprise. But as the Caribbean island recovers from ...

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Straws, women on boards, plus animals born each day from 2018-04-27T16:22

Does the UK throw away 8.5 billion straws a year? (0’33’’) Women on FTSE 100 boards (4’35”) We explore whether the proportion of female directors has changed over time, and what it tells us abo...

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WS More or Less: How Should We Think About Spending? from 2018-04-20T16:12

Tim Harford talks to economist Dan Ariely about the psychology of money. They discuss how understanding the way we think about our finances can help us to spend more carefully and save more efficie...

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WS More More or Less: Are We Breathing Unsafe Air? from 2018-04-13T15:47

The World Health Organisation say that 95% of people who live in cities breathe unsafe air. But what do they mean by ‘unsafe’? And how do they calculate the levels or air pollution for every city i...

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WS More or Less: Why London’s Murder Rate is Being Compared to New York’s from 2018-04-08T19:30

London’s murder rate is on the rise – and for the first time ever it has just overtaken New York’s, according to a number of media outlets. But is it true? And is it appropriate for journalists to ...

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WS More or Less: How Deadly Was 1920s Melbourne? from 2018-03-29T14:10

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is one of Australia’s most popular television series and has been broadcast in 172 territories worldwide. Set in 1920’s Melbourne the series’ protagonist, Miss Phryne...

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Were ‘extra’ votes counted in Russia’s presidential election? from 2018-03-23T15:24

Last week Vladimir Putin won a second consecutive and fourth overall term as the Russian President. Official polling results from the election show he received over 76 percent of the vote, with a t...

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Factchecking Trump on Trade from 2018-03-16T16:14

Whenever Donald Trump talks about trade he brings up one statistic again and again, the US trade balance. This is the relationship between the goods and services the US imports from other countries...

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WS More or Less: Sir Roger Bannister from 2018-03-09T18:45

After Sir Roger Bannister ran a mile in under four minutes, did positive thinking propel dozens to do the same?

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WS More or Less: Women, the Oscars and the Bechdel Test from 2018-03-05T10:52

Are Hollywood films ignoring women? As this is the 90th year of the Academy Awards - we find out how many ‘Best Picture’ winners pass the Bechdel Test. This is a light-hearted way of challenging wh...

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WS More or Less: The Winter Olympics from 2018-02-25T20:00

What’s the most successful nation? (0’40”) We look at population, GDP per capita and ski areas of the countries with the most medals. How do you judge a country’s ‘best’ performance? (3.45”)What...

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WS More or Less: Debunking guide – on a postcard from 2018-02-18T12:00

How to question dubious statistics in just a few short steps.

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UN rape claims, Stalin and Mr Darcy from 2018-02-16T17:29

How many people have UN staff raped? – (0’40’’) It was reported in a number of the newspapers this week that UN staff are responsible for 60,000 rapes in a decade. The wealth of Mr Darcy – (5’1...

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WS More or Less: Has Russian Drinking Fallen by 80% in five years? from 2018-02-11T20:00

Alcohol consumption has fallen sharply according to Russia’s health ministry

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The Dow, Tampons, Parkrun part II from 2018-02-09T18:20

Why the biggest ever fall in the Dow wasn't, and how much do women spend on tampons?

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WS More or Less: Is China On Track to End Poverty by 2020? from 2018-02-05T08:00

A key pledge of the Chinese President Xi Jinping is that China will have eradicated poverty by 2020. It’s an extraordinary claim, but the country does have a good track record in improving the weal...

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Transgender Numbers, Parkrun and Snooker from 2018-02-02T19:41

How many transgender people are there in the UK?



The UK produces official statistics about all sorts of things – from economic indicators to demographic data. But it turns out th...

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Is the US Census Under Threat? from 2018-01-29T11:58

The survey question that could affect the accuracy of its results.



The United States are due to run their next nationwide census in 2020, but already critics are warning that und...

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A Girl's First Time, Shark's Stomachs, Prime numbers from 2018-01-26T19:45

First sexual experience - checking the facts

A short film for the Draw A Line campaign has made the claim that one in three girls first sexual experience is rape. This seems shockingly hig...

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WS More or Less: Real Lives Behind the Numbers from 2018-01-22T11:57

If you ask an economist to explain what is happening in a country’s economy. They rely on economic data points to describe what is happening – they might talk about the unemployment rate, average w...

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Gender Pay Gaps and How to Learn a Language from 2018-01-19T19:22

Gender Pay Gap

This week the Office for National Statistics has published analysis trying to find out why it is that on average women are paid less than men in specific industries and occu...

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WS More or Less: How Louis Bachelier Scooped Economists by Half a Century from 2018-01-15T13:31

A forgotten French mathematician is the focus of our programme. He anticipated both Einstein's theories and the application of maths to the stock market. Born in the 1870s, his work was unusual at ...

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Missed appointments, graduate pay, plus cocaine on bank notes from 2018-01-12T17:00

Did missed appointments cost the NHS £1 billion last year?

New figures published recently suggest that the financial cost to the NHS for missed appointments was £1 billion last year. But o...

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WS More or Less: Just how rare is a hole-in-one? from 2018-01-07T20:00

Why it isn’t as simple to work out as you think.

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More or Less: Statistics of the Year 2017 from 2017-12-31T20:00

Phones, lawn mowers and how Kim Kardashian helped the public understanding of risk.

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WS More or Less: Will Bitcoin use more electricity than the United States? from 2017-12-24T20:00

Measuring the energy used to keep the cryptocurrency secure.

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WS More or Less: Diet Coke Habit; 'Contained' Wildfires from 2017-12-18T11:03

Could the US President’s Diet Coke habit affect his health? and 'contained' wildfires

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WS More or Less: Does Eating Chocolate Make Your Brain Younger? from 2017-12-11T10:51

Headlines claim that eating chocolate can protect you from developing Alzheimer’s disease. The theory is that bioactives within chocolate called flavanols can help reduce the risk of heart attacks,...

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WS More or Less: Just how lucky are regular lottery winners? from 2017-12-04T12:00

Are some people just very lucky? The maths suggest that is unlikely.

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WS More or Less: How Rich was Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy? from 2017-11-26T20:00

What the Pride and Prejudice character would have earned in today’s money.

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How expensive is Italy's World Cup failure? from 2017-11-17T22:00

The Italians are calling it the apocalypse. Their team has failed to make it to the World Cup for the first time in 60 years. But it is about more than just national pride - there is a financial co...

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WS More or Less: Why Albums are Getting Longer from 2017-11-12T20:00

Chris Brown’s latest album is stuffed with so many songs it runs at a sprawling two hours and twenty minutes. It’s only the latest in a string of lengthy album releases that includes artists like D...

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WS More or Less: Do Nigerian lawmakers get $1.7m and do Yams cause twins? from 2017-11-05T19:55

Finding out if Nigerian politicians really get paid more than the American President.

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WS More or Less: Novelists in numbers from 2017-10-30T13:55

Counting the favourite words of well-known authors: Stephen King, Hemingway and others

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WS More or Less: Are US millennials more politically engaged online? from 2017-10-20T21:55

Did the 2016 US election galvanise young people to become more engaged in politics?

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How Richard Thaler changed Economics from 2017-10-13T15:12

The behavioural economist who has inspired governments around the world.

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WS More or Less: Kilobyte to Brontobyte from 2017-10-10T08:51

Naming the monster numbers - how the names of digital storage files evolved.

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WS More or Less: Big polluters - ships versus cars from 2017-10-02T12:55

Do the largest ships emit as much pollution as all the cars in the world?

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Uber; EU passports; counting domestic violence from 2017-09-29T17:28

Is Uber safe? The post Brexit dual nationality surge and measuring partner abuse.

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WS More or Less: Sperm - Are we going extinct? from 2017-09-25T12:55

How much of a problem is falling sperm count?

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Statistics abuse, tuition fees and beer in 1887 from 2017-09-22T17:10

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is accused of mis-using official statistics.

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WS More or Less: How to measure a Hurricane from 2017-09-15T21:55

What’s the best way to measure a hurricane?

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Are Natural Disasters on the Rise? from 2017-09-15T15:50

Has the number of natural disasters really quadrupled in the last forty years?

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WS More or Less: More Horses than Tanks? from 2017-09-11T12:55

Is the UK the only country with more horses than tanks in its army?

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Electric cars, school-ready and feedback from 2017-09-08T16:58

Will we need more power stations? Plus, are children in Manchester ready for school?

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One in 500 Year Storm from 2017-09-04T16:16

Experts are saying that Houston just suffered a one in 500 year storm but what does that mean?

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Grenfell Tower's Death Toll from 2017-09-01T16:53

The difficulties of finding the true number of people who died in the fire.

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Fantasy Football - How to win from 2017-08-28T12:55

Figuring out the best strategy as a wannabe team manager.

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A-levels, drowning and dress sizes from 2017-08-25T16:24

Are boys getting more top A Level grades than girls? Plus why are dress sizes so weird?

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The Trump Bump from 2017-08-20T13:30

During a recent press conference President Trump said: “I’ve created over a million jobs since I’m president. The country is booming. The stock market is setting records. We’ve got the highest empl...

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Are there 15,000 transgender people serving in the US military? from 2017-08-14T12:55

President Trump says transgender individuals cannot serve, but how many do already?

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Why is Kenya’s election so expensive? from 2017-08-07T12:55

On Tuesday Kenyans go to the polls to elect members of parliament and the next president. A report in Quartz Africa has estimated that the cost of putting on the election by the Government works ou...

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More boys than girls in Sweden? from 2017-07-31T12:55

Exploring if an influx of teenage boys claiming asylum skewed the population’s sex ratio

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Maryam Mirzakhani – A Genius of Maths from 2017-07-24T13:00

Celebrating the only woman to win the biggest prize in mathematics.

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Calling the shots at Wimbledon from 2017-07-17T08:47

Using statistics to prove or disprove the wisdom of tennis is the theme this week. In this digital age we are used to information at our fingertips. This week More or Less finds out how every rally...

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Is Steph Curry cheap and how random is random? from 2017-07-10T13:00

Are top basketball players underpaid?



The American basketballer Stephen Curry has just signed the biggest contract in NBA history. The new deal will pay him $200 million over 5 y...

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In Search of Woodall Primes from 2017-06-30T22:00

It’s the 100 year centenary of an obscure type of prime number – the Woodall Primes. To celebrate, stand-up mathematician Matt Parker is calling on listeners to search for a new one. Ordinary citiz...

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How rare are deadly tower block fires? from 2017-06-26T12:59

How statistics can help us understand the tragic fire at London’s Grenfell Tower.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Trumpton Extra from 2017-06-21T16:21

The Voice of 1960s British children’s TV series ‘Trumpton’, Brian Cant, died this week. The More or Less team has visited the town of Trumpton on a number of occasions so we have brought together a...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Post-Election Special from 2017-06-19T09:06

The results of the general election are in - but what do they mean? Did more young people vote than expected? Have we now got a more diverse parliament? How many extra votes would Jeremy Corbyn hav...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Are African football players more likely to die on the field? from 2017-06-12T13:05

Cheick Tiote, the much loved former Newcastle United player collapsed and died while training with Chinese side Beijing Enterprises earlier this month. His death and that of other black footballers...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
UK Election extra from 2017-06-07T16:54

This podcast is a compilation of interviews by the More or Less team with Eddie Mair from Radio 4’s PM programme. Each interview features a different claim or hotly discussed topic from the UK gene...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Samba, strings and the story of HIV from 2017-06-05T13:05

Trumpets are blasting in this week’s musical episode. But can medical statistics be transformed into a jazzy night out? That was the challenge which epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani set for composer...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Election Special: Tax, borders and climate from 2017-06-02T18:00

On this final programme of the series we try to give some context to some of the issues that are being discussed during the current election campaign.



Who pays tax?


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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Have 65% of future jobs not yet been invented? from 2017-05-28T22:36

Our entire education system is faulty, claim experts. They worry that schools don’t prepare kids for the world outside. But how could anyone prove what the future will be like?



W...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Spies, care homes, and ending sneak peeks from 2017-05-26T17:39

Can security services follow everyone known to them?



The attack on Manchester Arena took place exactly four years since the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. Back in 2013...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Uganda’s refugees from 2017-05-22T14:30

Has Uganda been accepting more refugees on a daily basis than some European countries manage in an entire year? That is the claim from the Norwegian Refugee Council – and it is a claim we put to th...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Tax, speed dating and sea ice from 2017-05-19T21:02

Exploring the Labour manifesto's tax plans for high earners.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Nurses' pay, Scottish seats, Penalty shootouts from 2017-05-13T12:35

What is happening to nurses pay?



Amid reports of nurses using food banks, Jeremy Hunt said he doesn’t recognise claims their wages are worth less now than in 2010. He says nurses...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Is my Baby a Giant? from 2017-05-12T23:00

All over the world mothers are given numbers as their baby grows. The numbers are from ‘growth charts’ showing how a baby is developing in comparison to others. Seven month old Baby Arlo has partic...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: An urban maze from 2017-05-08T11:00

Why some parts of town are hard to navigate.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Is Crime Rising? from 2017-05-05T17:16

It looks like homicides are on the rise - but better check the footnotes

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: The Maths of Dating from 2017-05-01T11:00

How to use mathematics to find your partner. And, how reliable are pregnancy due dates?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Fact-checking Boris Johnson from 2017-04-28T21:00

Giant bombs, a war hero and the foreign secretary's stats.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Living standards and Kate Bush maths from 2017-04-21T23:00

Are people's incomes falling? Plus singing Pi like Kate Bush

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: The death rate of white Americans – What’s going on? from 2017-04-21T22:05

Are middle-aged white Americans dying younger than other groups?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: The Ignorance Test from 2017-04-15T00:15

How much do you know about the world?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
Economics of Overbooking from 2017-04-14T18:30

Why airlines bet that not everybody will turn up for a flight.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Could North Korea Wipe out 90% of Americans? from 2017-04-10T11:20

A single nuclear weapon could destroy America’s entire electrical grid, claims a former head of the CIA. The explosion would send out an electromagnetic pulse – resulting in famine, societal collap...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Will one in four people develop a mental health problem? from 2017-04-01T00:04

The claim that “one in four” of us will suffer from a mental health problem is popular amongst campaigners, politicians and the media. But this leads you to a simple question – where is this figure...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More Or Less: Baby Boxes – are they really saving infant’s lives? from 2017-03-24T21:10

Ever since a BBC article highlighted the use of baby boxes in Finland they have become a bit of a phenomenon. They’re not new though Finland has been doing this for 75 years. The simple cardboard b...

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
More or Less: The concrete facts about Trump’s wall and China from 2017-03-17T21:00

Did China use more concrete in three years than the US in the 20th Century?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: The Attention Span of a Goldfish from 2017-03-10T20:55

Are our attention spans now shorter than a goldfish's?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: Why are Hollywood actresses paid less than men? from 2017-03-03T21:00

Top Hollywood actresses have complained that they are paid less than their male co-stars

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More or Less: Behind the Stats
WS More or Less: What happened last night in Sweden? from 2017-02-24T21:00

What happened last night in Sweden?

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