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More or Less: Behind the Stats Episodes

  1.

    Ed Sheeran and the mathematics of musical coincidences

    Ed Sheeran thinks that musical coincidences will always happen鈥� but do the numbers agree?

  2. Economics of Overbooking

    Why airlines bet that not everybody will turn up for a flight.

  3. E-cigarettes: Can They Help People Quit?

    Do e-cigarettes harm your chances of quitting smoking? Tim Harford looks at the evidence.

  4. Drinks and drugs capital of the world? (WS)

    Do residents of the tiny micronesian island of Palau really smoke more cannabis, and...

  5. Donald Trump: 100 days fact-check

    Working out the reality behind President Trump鈥檚 claims on immigration, fentanyl and eggs

  6. Domestic Violence, Jobs, Easter Snowfall

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

  7. DOGE, apples and irregular migrants

    Fact-checking government efficiency claims in the US.

  8. Does your jewellery contain stolen Brink鈥檚-Mat gold?

    We ask what happened to the 3 tonnes of pure gold after the infamous robbery of 1983

  9. Does wearing a mask halve your chances of getting Covid-19?

    Is it true wearing a mask reduces Covid-19 incidence by 53%?

  10. Does toilet paper cause 15% of global deforestation?

    We investigate the impact of our use of toilet paper on the world鈥檚 forests.

  11. Does the World Athletics Championships have a false start problem?

    We examine the rules and tech of false starts after the disqualification of Devon Allen.

  12. Does the UK take in more refugees than other European countries?

    Fact checking Boris Johnson鈥檚 claim.

  13. Does the UK have the fastest growing economy in the G7?

    How fast is our economy growing? And what is happening with Omicron reinfections?

  14. Does the Russian government really spend 40% of its budget on the military?

    We investigate how much the Russian state is spending on the war in Ukraine.

  15. Does the average American have fewer than three friends?

    Plus, skilled migrants, preventing Alzheimer鈥檚 and Robert Prevost on God and probability

  16. Does it take 10,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans?

    The numbers behind water use and denim production.

  17. Does it take 10,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans?

    The numbers behind water use and denim production

  18. Does endurance sport harm your heart?

    We investigate the connection between high levels of exercise and arrhythmia

  19. Does catching covid give you more immunity than being vaccinated?

    Infection vs injection: Could prior infection provide 27 times more protection?

  20. Does Breastfeeding Increase IQ?

    A major 30-year study claims to show breastfed babies become more intelligent, higher...

  21. Does a single AI query use a bottle of water?

    We investigate how much water and power are used by artificial intelligence.

  22. Does a language die every two weeks?

    Languages are disappearing. We investigate claims of how often this happens.

  23. Do we see 10,000 adverts per day?

    We investigate the claim that each of us sees thousands of adverts every single day

  24. Do we have enough clothes for the next six generations?

    We delve into the stats on the scale of the fashion industry

  25. Do we eat a credit card's worth of microplastic each week?

    We look at whether humans really ingest five grams of microplastic on a weekly basis

  26. Do US crime statistics miss out the most violent cities?

    Plus: MP capital gains claims and grizzly bear berry habits

  27. Do one in five young Americans think the holocaust is a myth?

    How problems with opt-in polling can lead to controversial headlines

  28. Do Indian women own 11% of the world鈥檚 gold?

    The cultural importance of gold is well known 鈥� but how much do Indians actually own?

  29. Do half of new books really sell fewer than twelve copies?

    We look into a claim that 50% of new books in the US sell just a handful of copies.

  30. Do fungi kill three times as many people as malaria?

    We investigate the claim that fungal infections are a much bigger killer than malaria.

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