Claim OwnershipMore or Less: Behind the Stats
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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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1Netflix has a big new show named after and inspired by a classic problem in astrophysics, 'The Three Body Problem', where predicting the course and orbits of three or more celestial bodies proves near impossible.But how faithful is the Netflix show - and original novel - to the actual physics?
Dr Anna Lisa Varri from the University of Edinburgh explains what we can and can't say about the complex and beautiful motions of planets, stars and moons, and brings a dose of scientific facts to science fiction.Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Nathan Gower
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon
Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes per day? That’s the claim circulating on social media.We trace this stat back to its source and speak the scientist behind the original research on which it is based, Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad.Presenter / series producer: Tom Colls
Reporter: Perisha Kudhail
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist and More or Less hero, has died at the age of 90.
Tim Harford explains his ideas and influence. Presenter: Charlotte McDonald
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon
In an episode of More or Less from 2012, Daniel Kahneman – the Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist who has died at the age of 90 – explains the big ideas in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.
The area of ice covering the Arctic ocean has been in a state of long decline, as climate change takes effect. But recent fluctuations in the ice have been seized on by climate change sceptics, who say it tells a different story.We speak to polar climate scientist Professor Julienne Stroeve to better understand how to read the ice data.Presenter / producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
According to the head of the British military, the Russian government spends 40% of its budget on its war machine. But is it true?
With the help of Professor Bettina Renz from Nottingham University and Dr Richard Connolly from The Royal United Services Institute, Olga Smirnova investigates the figure.
Presenter: Tom Colls
Producer: Olga Smirnova
Production Co-ordinator Katie Morrison
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard VadonImage: Russian Military Perform Victory Day Parade Night Rehearsal in Moscow Credit: (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
For over 50 years it’s been widely reported that speaking before a group is people’s number one fear. But is it really true? With the help of Dr Karen Kangas Dwyer, a former Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Dr Christopher Bader, Professor of Sociology at Chapman University, Tim Harford tracks the source of the claim back to the 1970’s and explores whether it was true then, and whether it’s true today. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard VadonPicture Credit: vchal via Getty
As running races get longer, the gap between male and female competitors seems to close. Tim Harford and Lucy Proctor investigate the claim that when the race is 195 miles long, women overtake men to become the fastest runners.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Lucy Proctor
Producers: Nathan Gower and Debbie Richford
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon(Image:Male and female running together up a mountain trail. Credit: nattrass via Getty)
Is school funding at record levels as the education secretary claimed? Why did the ONS change how they measure excess deaths? Is there a shoplifting epidemic? Did 6.5bn creatures arrive in the UK by plane last year?Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower, Perisha Kudhail, Debbie Richford and Olga Smirnova
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound mix: Sarah Hockley
Editor: Richard Vadon
In the NBA, the US professional basketball league, the average player is a shade over 6ft 6 inches tall. So just how much does being very tall increase a man’s chances of becoming a professional player? Tim Harford talks to data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of Who Makes the NBA?: Data-Driven Answers to Basketball’s Biggest Questions.Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: David Crackles
Editor: Richard Vadon(Image: Charlotte Hornets v New York Knicks. Credit: Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
What does per capita GDP tell us about the UK economy? Did the government spend £94bn helping with rising energy prices? Was Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg right about the cost of the EU covid recovery scheme? How did Ben Goldacre persuade scientists to publish all their medical research?Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news.Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporters: Nathan Gower and Lucy Proctor
Producers: Debbie Richford, Perisha Kudhail, Olga Smirnova
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
Big medical datasets pose a serious problem. Thousands of patients’ health records are an enormous risk to personal privacy. But they also contain an enormous opportunity – they could show us how to provide better treatments or more effective health policies. A system called OpenSAFELY has been designed to solve this problem, with the help of a computer code “robot”. Professor Ben Goldacre, director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford, explains how it works.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Charlotte McDonald
What is the government’s fiscal rule on the national debt? Are international students stealing places from the UK’s young people? How much social housing is really being built? Do 90% of chip shops sell shark and chips?Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower and Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Sound mix: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Charlotte McDonald
In a surprising new trend, young men and women around the world are dividing by gender on their politics and ideologies. Whilst young women are becoming more liberal, young men are becoming more conservative. Tim Harford speaks to John Burn-Murdoch, Columnist and Chief Data Reporter at the Financial Times, about why this global phenomena may be occurring and Dr Heejung Chung, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, explains why the ideological divisions between young men and women in South Korea are some of the most extreme. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon (Picture: A couple with their back to each other busy with their mobile phones
Credit: Martin DM / Getty)
Do you really pay more in council tax on a semi in Hartlepool than a mansion in Westminster? How do the Office for National Statistics work out how much the UK population is going to grow by? How much do junior doctor strikes cost? Is home grown veg worse for climate change than veg grown on a farm?Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news.Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower, Debbie Richford and Perisha Kudhail
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
How was the calculator invented? How did it go from something the size of a table to something that could be carried in your pocket, the must-have gadget of the 1970’s and 80’s? Tim Harford unpicks the history of the calculator with Keith Houston, author of Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Richard Vadon
Was there really a 5% measles vaccination rate in Birmingham? Has Brexit already cost 6% of the UKs economy? For how long has crime been falling? And are contestants on the reality gameshow any good at finding traitors?Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news.Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower and Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Richard Vadon
We investigate Oxfam’s claim that “since 2020, the five richest men in the world have seen their fortunes more than double, while almost five billion people have seen their wealth fall”. With the help of Johan Norberg, Historian and Author of ideas and Felix Salmon, Financial Correspondent at Axios, we explore the figures behind the wealth of the richest and uncover what it really tells us about the world’s financial markets. And Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington DC, helps us unpick why, when looking at the world’s poorest people, measurements of wealth don’t always tell us what we really need to know. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Richard Vadon(image: Elon Musk at the Viva Tech fair in Paris June 2023. Credit: Nathan Laine/Getty Images)
Was Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wrong about the increase in the price of the weekly shop? What has the violence at sea done to the cost of shipping? Why did YouGov feel the need to correct an analysis of their polling? Are there 30 million GP appointments every month? And how does wind chill work?
Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news.Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporters: Charlotte McDonald and Nathan Gower
Producer: Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Rod Farquhar
We investigate how the vast possibilities in a game of chess compare to the vastness of the observable universe.Dr James Grime helps us understand the Shannon number – a famous figure on the chess side of the equation - and astronomer Professor Catherine Heymans takes on the entire observable universe. Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Debbie Richford and Nathan Gower
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Andy Fell
Editor: Richard Vadon
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University of Edinbugh is in Scotland,who knew!
repeat?
When numbers do not make any sense, why bother! Staying away may be the best strategy.Not all misjudgments can be remedied after all.
this seems like correlation rather than causation
Victoria's voice sets my ASMR off like crazy
I'm so glad that data is becoming a singular :-D I've always thought it silly as a plural, because words such as money are also plural in meaning but used as a singular grammatically. Thanks for the interesting piece on the debate :-)
Shocking lack of elocution from that Glasgow woman. Get her off.
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If the guttaral, ill-spoken Scotchwoman says it, it must be false. Dismiss her.
i with Tim showed similar scrutiny with the sweeping statements made by Spiegelhalter as with this poor lady from the teenage mental health issue where he really laboured a point that had very obviously been made...
That ill-spoken Scotchwoman is torture to listen to. Find one who sounds like Charlotte Green, please.
Doesn't it depend on whether the presenter knows which door has the prize or himself chooses randomly?
When this besom Astronomer Royal learns to pronounce her Ts, and to say ABOUT rather than Abou', I will begin to take seriously her pontifications concerning the infinite extent-- vel non-- of the universe.
Tim, "dang" is a made up word Americans use because they think it's obscene, or maybe (literally) diabolical to say "damn". I live in Australia and I find this word dang very annoying!
Your 'Cosmologist' has defined the nature of God, rather than the nature of the universe. Nul points for her as a scientist.
What does this female expert have against the letter T? She omits it consistently-- ra'e for raTe and so on. Sack her and bring in a lady who elocutes.
Grotesquely ill-spoken Scotchwoman expert. Send her to elocution lessons. It is wheaT, not whea'.
Katelyn has been pushing the vaccine agenda for a long time. A recent study from the Koch institute in Germany has revealed that the immunity of the vaxxed has been reduced by 87%. They are heading for AIDs.
"Who was not themselves"! LEARN ENGLISH.
Persons who say 'meecha-logical' ought never to be believed.