More or Less: Behind the Stats
960 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 740 ratingsTim 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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Episodes
Teen Suicide; Brexit Business Moves; Wood-Burner Pollution
February 08, 2019 22:44 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBTim Harford finds untrue a recent report that there is a 'suicidal generation' of teens.
WS More or Less: You have 15,000 likes!
February 04, 2019 14:00 - 9 minutes - 8.41 MBA listener doubts her popularity on the dating app Tinder. We investigate the numbers.
Holocaust Deniers; Venezuelan Hyperinflation; Tinder Likes
February 01, 2019 17:24 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBTim Harford on Holocaust deniers; food prices in Venezuela, and dating app statistics
WS More or Less: Is Suicide Seasonal?
January 26, 2019 10:00 - 9 minutes - 8.41 MBTim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide.
Domestic Violence, Jobs, Easter Snowfall
January 25, 2019 17:22 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBTim Harford on domestic violence, employment numbers, and the chance of a white Easter.
WS More or Less: Close Encounters of a Planetary Kind
January 19, 2019 10:00 - 9 minutes - 8.59 MBWhich planet is closest to Earth?
Intersex Numbers, Fact-Checking Facebook, Jack Bogle
January 18, 2019 17:30 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBTim Harford asks whether 1.7% of people are intersex, and examines false claims about MPs
WS More or Less: The Mathematics of Fever
January 12, 2019 06:00 - 10 minutes - 9.99 MBWe look at the numbers behind body temperature – what is normal?
Sugar, Outdoors Play and Planets
January 11, 2019 17:00 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBTim Harford on sugar, train fares, children's outdoors play and Earth's closest neighbour
WS More or Less: Numbers of the Year Part 2
January 04, 2019 12:29 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHelena Merriman with numbers about water shortage, plastic recycling and American jobs.
WS More or Less: Numbers of the Year Part 1
December 29, 2018 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBThe numbers that made 2018.
WS More or Less: Mission Impossible - Quantifiying Santa
December 22, 2018 14:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBWhat to look out for on Christmas Eve.
WS More or Less: Dam Lies and Statistics
December 17, 2018 12:30 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBAre mega-dams really sustainable?
WS More or Less: Sex and Heart Attacks
November 30, 2018 20:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBAre women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?
WS More or Less: Are 90% of War Fatalities Civilians?
November 23, 2018 20:00 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBXavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians
WS More or Less: When’s a Kilogram Not a Kilogram?
November 16, 2018 20:00 - 9 minutes - 8.3 MBUpdating the kilogram.
WS More or Less: Do Assassinations Work?
November 09, 2018 20:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHow likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?
WS More or Less: Vaccines - The importance of the herd and social media
October 28, 2018 20:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBWhat proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?
WS More or Less: Foreign Aid: Who’s the most generous?
October 19, 2018 19:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBIn foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?
WS More or Less: Paul Romer and William Nordhaus’ Big Ideas
October 12, 2018 15:19 - 9 minutes - 8.3 MBThe economists tackling climate change and growth.
Loneliness, School Funding, Same-Sex Divorce
October 09, 2018 12:20 - 9 minutes - 8.85 MBNew 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 statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of Dirty Money, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Producer: R...
WS More or Less: Why are Lesbians More Likely to Divorce than Gay Men?
October 07, 2018 19:05 - 9 minutes - 8.53 MBNew 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 statistics on same-sex divorce it is the same sex doing the bulk of the divorcing. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at Canada’s Vancouver School of Economics and author of “Dirty Money”, a book which applies economic ideas to the study of sex and love. Produce...
Loneliness; School Funding; Same-Sex Divorce.
October 05, 2018 16:32 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MBThis week BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind programme announced the results of The Loneliness Experiment. It was a large survey conducted by the programme in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection. The largest survey into the issue of loneliness to date, said All in the Mind, while the accompanying BBC press release reported that “The survey results indicate that 16-24 year olds experience loneliness more often and more intensely than any other age group. 40% of respondents aged 16-24 report...
WS More of Less: Surviving the Battle of Britain
October 01, 2018 09:00 - 9 minutes - 8.33 MBWere Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?
Surviving the Battle of Britain; the World Cup and Domestic Violence; Buckfast and Arrests in Scotland
September 28, 2018 16:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBTim Harford on Spitfire pilots, and whether football triggers violence in the home.
WS More or Less: Trump and the Puerto Rico Death Toll
September 24, 2018 09:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHow can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?
How Many Schoolchildren are Carers? Shareholder Income, and Museum Visitors Vs Football Fans
September 21, 2018 16:45 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBTim Harford on child carers, shareholder income, football vs museums and dangerous sports
WS More or Less: DNA - Are You More Chimp or Neanderthal?
September 17, 2018 09:00 - 9 minutes - 8.41 MBWhat is the difference between 96% similarity or sharing 20% of our DNA?
Male suicide, school ratings, are female tennis players treated unfairly by umpires?
September 14, 2018 17:10 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBTim Harford with statistics on suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis. Plus goats
WS More or Less: The Safest Car in the World?
September 10, 2018 09:00 - 9 minutes - 8.36 MBA listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road?
Heart Age Calculator; Danish Sperm Imports; Counting Goats
September 07, 2018 16:33 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBTim Harford questions the usefulness of a popular heart age calculator.
WS: More or Less - How well do you understand your world?
September 03, 2018 09:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBTim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts
African Trade Tariffs; Alcohol Safe Limits; President Trump's Popularity
August 31, 2018 16:21 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBTim Harford fact checks EU trade deals with Africa, and whether one drink is one too many
BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - Coffins Full of Car Keys
August 29, 2018 11:30 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBBONUS 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 edition, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of interest rates. Why did they lead to coffins full of car getting sent to the US Federal Reserve? What factors affect what you have to pay on your loans? And what do your film choices say about why you decide to borrow? Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane ...
WS: More or Less - Automated fact-checking
August 27, 2018 09:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBComputer programmes are being developed to combat fake news.
A no-frills life, automated fact-checking and Lord-of-the-Rings maths
August 24, 2018 16:02 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBWhat would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor?
BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - How Condoms Can Cost a Week’s Wages
August 22, 2018 11:30 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MBBONUS 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 show, Ayeisha and Steve make sense of inflation. They’ll explain how hyperinflation is affecting how Venezuelans have sex, why you can’t afford a ticket to see your favourite band in concert anymore and why a sale on sofas isn’t always a good thing. Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters...
WS More or Less: Are Wildfires Really Burning More Land?
August 20, 2018 16:05 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBAre Wildfires in the United States and Southern Europe burning more land than before?
BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - Bracelets for Bullets
August 15, 2018 11:30 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBBONUS 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 show, Ayeisha and Steve explore government debt. Why did an anonymous mother send her bracelet to the government to be turned into a bullet? How are you lending the government money without even realising? And when should you be worried about how much debt the government is in? Producers: Simon May...
Numbers Behind a Tweetstorm
August 10, 2018 15:00 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHow do you get a hashtag to trend around the world?
BONUS PODCAST: Economics with Subtitles - How Buying Cocaine Helps the Government
August 08, 2018 11:30 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBBONUS 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 economics and why you should care. In this edition, Ayeisha and Steve look at how we quantify economic success. Should dodgy drug deals be included? What is Steve’s contribution to GDP? And should we ban people who pinch too many of your crisps? Producers: Simon Maybin & Phoebe Keane Presenters: Ayei...
Carbs, Sugar and the Truth
August 03, 2018 16:00 - 8 minutes - 8.22 MBDoes a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar?
Getting Creative with Statistics
July 27, 2018 16:17 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHow big are your testicles and what does that mean?
Should we have smaller families to save the planet?
July 23, 2018 19:00 - 10 minutes - 9.49 MBHaving one fewer child could be the biggest thing you do to reduce your carbon footprint
How to Cycle Really Fast
July 20, 2018 15:17 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBHow much better are the pros than the rest of us and how effective is slipstreaming?
Are there more stars than grains of beach sand?
July 06, 2018 16:03 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBThe 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 uncountable. Content warning: This episode includes gigantically large numbers. (Photo: The barred spiral galaxy M83. Credit: Nasa).
Running at the World Cup
June 29, 2018 16:20 - 10 minutes - 9.38 MBThis 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 Russian football players have run in their first two games. We look at how they compare to other teams and what it might signify. Also –is it just bad luck that Germany has crashed out of the competition? Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Producer: Richard Vadon (Picture: Artem Dzyuba of Russia celebr...
How many words do you need to speak a language?
June 22, 2018 15:03 - 8 minutes - 8.21 MBEin 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 many words you really need to know in order to speak a language. Reporter Beth Sagar-Fenton finds out with help from Professor Stuart Webb, and puts Tim through his paces to find out how big his own English vocabulary is. (Image: The World surrounded by Flags. Credit: Shutterstock) Presenter: Tim Ha...
FIFA World Cup Extravaganza
June 15, 2018 14:54 - 8 minutes - 8.22 MBThe 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 England won). We’ll answer all football fans most burning questions; which World Cups have seen the most shots, fouls, dribbles and most importantly goals? Do the statistics back up the reputations of famous players like Pele, Cruyff, Maradona and Paul Gascoigne? And which of them actually committe...
WS More or Less: How Many Animals are Born Every Day?
June 10, 2018 23:01 - 15 minutes - 13.8 MBFrom 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 sets off for the zoo to find out. Along the way, she discovers that very, very small animals are much more important than very, very big animals when it comes to the sums. (09.05) Artificial Intelligence or A.I. has been hailed as the answer to an easier life – but will it really make the world a ...