How an important climate model was too pessimistic about the future
Published on Saturday, 13th December 2025.
Do US teens have 50% lower sperm and testosterone counts than 65 year old men?
Published on Saturday, 6th December 2025.
Richard Thaler on two of his most famous observations in behavioural economics
Published on Saturday, 29th November 2025.
Can data tell us if a stock market crash is coming?
Published on Saturday, 22nd November 2025.
Bernie Sanders says vast riches have moved to the wealthiest in the US. Is he right?
Published on Saturday, 15th November 2025.
Investigating if 50% of people in China really have diabetes
Published on Saturday, 8th November 2025.
Looking at the math's behind the myth
Published on Friday, 31st October 2025.
Corinne Low explains the economics of women, men and housework
Published on Saturday, 25th October 2025.
Tim Harford explains the ideas behind the winners of the economics Nobel Prize.
Published on Saturday, 18th October 2025.
Farm tax, ADHD benefits, Movember claim and Tim’s marathon
Published on Wednesday, 15th October 2025.
Donald Trump says three quarters of Swiss prisoners are not Swiss. Is he right?
Published on Saturday, 11th October 2025.
UK benefits, Zack Polanski’s billionaire claim and Gen Z job interviews
Published on Wednesday, 8th October 2025.
Exploring global polling data that suggests people in more countries are "thriving"
Published on Saturday, 4th October 2025.
Trump’s peace deals, Labour’s GDP claim and university league tables
Published on Wednesday, 1st October 2025.
Why does it matter that US government datasets are being deleted and discontinued?
Published on Saturday, 27th September 2025.
Migrant returns, ageing mistakes, beef prices and AI MP speeches.
Published on Wednesday, 24th September 2025.
Following the murder of Charlie Kirk, what is the data on political violence in the US?
Published on Saturday, 20th September 2025.
Out-of-work benefits, French pensioners, surprising salmon and the truth about senses.
Published on Wednesday, 17th September 2025.
Is Nvidia boss Jensen Huang right about a looming labour shortfall?
Published on Saturday, 13th September 2025.
National debt, Afghan crime, menopause retirement and literal snail pace.
Published on Thursday, 11th September 2025.
Investigating if 100 million sharks are killed by fishing nets every year.
Published on Saturday, 6th September 2025.
We look at claims that fully autonomous cars are 5 or ten times safer
Published on Saturday, 30th August 2025.
We investigate if air conditioning is set too cold for women.
Published on Saturday, 23rd August 2025.
Did the Mediterranean experience a 1-in-216,000,000,000-year sea temperature anomaly?
Published on Saturday, 16th August 2025.
The US president fired Erika McEntarfer over job numbers. What’s the potential fallout?
Published on Saturday, 9th August 2025.
Looking at the data behind abortion in a post Dobbs America.
Published on Wednesday, 6th August 2025.
We investigate how much water and power are used by artificial intelligence
A Unicef event said one in six children are living though war. What does that really mean?
Published on Saturday, 19th July 2025.
How a successful football club doesn’t always require a winning team
Published on Saturday, 12th July 2025.
Plus, the UK’s expensive electricity, church counts and babies in the City of London
Published on Wednesday, 9th July 2025.
Economist and author Duncan Weldon on his new book Blood and Treasure
Published on Saturday, 5th July 2025.
Plus: PIP claims, immigrant returns and spotting golf balls on the moon.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025.
Making sense of the numbers around the Russian dead and wounded.
Published on Saturday, 28th June 2025.
Plus, nuclear enrichment numbers, Curtice on Curtis and Viking economics
Published on Wednesday, 25th June 2025.
Professor Alex Edmans on his book, May Contain Lies
Published on Saturday, 21st June 2025.
Plus, asylum seeker hotel bill, Scottish water use and 1950s childcare claim
Published on Wednesday, 18th June 2025.
Investigating if 100,000 satellites could be orbiting earth in five years’ time
Published on Saturday, 14th June 2025.
Plus, the Sycamore Gap tree, pensioner-worker ratios and yoga v fishers
Published on Wednesday, 11th June 2025.
Investigating if the global population is really 2 billion higher than previously thought
Published on Saturday, 7th June 2025.
Plus, skilled migrants, preventing Alzheimer’s and Robert Prevost on God and probability
Published on Wednesday, 4th June 2025.
Why has the rate of autism risen so dramatically in the last 30 years?
Published on Saturday, 31st May 2025.
How one graph shows the conservative side of the United Nations’ population estimates
Published on Saturday, 24th May 2025.
We investigate the claim that bots make up 50% of internet traffic
Published on Saturday, 17th May 2025.
How retiring Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett made his money and made a point
Published on Saturday, 10th May 2025.
The first episode of a new BBC series investigating the steep rise in autism diagnoses.
Published on Monday, 5th May 2025.
Working out the reality behind President Trump’s claims on immigration, fentanyl and eggs
Published on Saturday, 3rd May 2025.
Dispelling an incel myth that featured in the Netflix drama Adolescence
Published on Tuesday, 29th April 2025.
Professor Adam Kucharski on his new book, Proof: The Uncertain Science of Certainty
Published on Saturday, 19th April 2025.
The Price of Life author Jenny Kleeman on the cost of making and taking a life
Published on Saturday, 12th April 2025.
Plus, counting bobbies, freezing tax and electrocuting redheads
Published on Wednesday, 9th April 2025.
Explaining the maths and economics of the US ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs
Published on Friday, 4th April 2025.
Plus, what has Canada done to Donald Trump? Is Rachel Reeves chasing the model?
Published on Wednesday, 2nd April 2025.
Does the US subsidise Canada $200 billion a year and why does Trump call them nasty?
Published on Saturday, 29th March 2025.
Plus did trillions disappear from UK pensions? Why does the UK have a lot of old housing?
Published on Wednesday, 26th March 2025.
Why the likelihood of planetary impact changed as asteroid 2024 YR4 approached.
Published on Saturday, 22nd March 2025.
Plus, UK vs Russia on free speech and the collapse of the Labour Force Survey
Published on Wednesday, 19th March 2025.
Five years on, Tim Harford looks at the data on the effect of lockdown
Published on Monday, 17th March 2025.
We investigate maps that suggest extremely low average IQs in developing countries
Published on Saturday, 15th March 2025.
Fact-checking government efficiency claims in the US.
Published on Wednesday, 12th March 2025.
Trump wants access to Ukraine’s Rare Earth deposits.
Published on Saturday, 8th March 2025.
The numbers behind Ukraine’s rare earth worth and the UK’s defence spending ambitions
Published on Wednesday, 5th March 2025.
Donald Trump says the US has given Ukraine more aid than Europe - what does the data say?
Published on Saturday, 1st March 2025.
Is this ‘the biggest fraud in the whole of history’?
Published on Saturday, 22nd February 2025.
Are Hamas bombing Israel with condoms sent by the US?
Published on Saturday, 15th February 2025.
How baby mortality statistics gave a misleading impression about racism in healthcare
Published on Saturday, 8th February 2025.
We investigate what a big claim about the speed of a quantum chip really means
Published on Saturday, 1st February 2025.
We investigate if the US president’s crypto is really worth tens of billions of dollars.
Published on Saturday, 25th January 2025.
We investigate if people with red hair have a hidden pain-blocking superpower
Published on Saturday, 18th January 2025.
We investigate a refugee claim that is often being taken out of context.
Published on Saturday, 11th January 2025.
Our listeners favourite numbers of 2024.
Published on Saturday, 4th January 2025.
We ask experts about their favourite stats from 2024.
Published on Saturday, 28th December 2024.
Fact checking the fascist regime.
Published on Saturday, 21st December 2024.
How many Americans live ‘paycheck to paycheck’?
Published on Saturday, 14th December 2024.
We investigate if 10 percent of the Greek population died during the second world war
Published on Saturday, 7th December 2024.
We look at whether DOGE can successfully balance the US budget.
Published on Saturday, 30th November 2024.
We investigate a huge estimate for how much governments pay to support coal, gas and oil
Published on Saturday, 23rd November 2024.
We investigate a viral graph that suggests turnout was drastically lower than in 2020
Published on Saturday, 16th November 2024.
We delve into the stats on the scale of the fashion industry
Published on Saturday, 9th November 2024.
From loss aversion to game theory, how sports provide evidence for economic theories
Published on Saturday, 2nd November 2024.
Plus, winter fuel deaths, prison sentence maths and leaves on railway tracks.
Published on Wednesday, 30th October 2024.
Donald Trump says Venezuela is becoming safer than the US. Is he right?
Published on Saturday, 26th October 2024.
Plus: MP capital gains claims and grizzly bear berry habits
Published on Wednesday, 23rd October 2024.
Why Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
Published on Saturday, 19th October 2024.
Plus: the taxes of 60 very rich people, water bill spreadsheets, and is 0 a small number?
Published on Wednesday, 16th October 2024.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter on his new book, The Art of Uncertainty
Published on Saturday, 12th October 2024.
Plus, childhood obesity, birds hitting windows and Sir David Spiegelhalter’s origin story.
Published on Wednesday, 9th October 2024.
A lot of corn is eaten in the United States, but is it really 2.5kg per person per day?
Published on Saturday, 5th October 2024.
Plus, GPs working less, the UK working less, and Wetherspoons wanting to pay less tax.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd October 2024.
Alex Bellos sets Tim Harford logical conundrums designed to deceive
Published on Saturday, 28th September 2024.
Plus, ONS transgender stats, early-onset cancer, and puzzles you’re meant to get wrong
Published on Wednesday, 25th September 2024.
Counting religions across the globe – is the world getting more religious or less?
Published on Saturday, 21st September 2024.
Plus, asylum seeker costs, private school bets and Baumol's cost disease
Published on Wednesday, 18th September 2024.
Poker player and polling analyst Nate Silver on his new book
Published on Saturday, 14th September 2024.
Plus, Migrants vs Pensioners and Ed Miliband’s energy auction claim
Published on Wednesday, 11th September 2024.
We look at Donald Trump’s claim that tariffs are a tax on other countries
Published on Saturday, 7th September 2024.
Plus special educational needs in Wales and Ghanian nurses in the UK
Published on Wednesday, 4th September 2024.
We investigate the collapse in the Caribbean island’s population
Published on Saturday, 31st August 2024.
We look at whether humans really ingest five grams of microplastic on a weekly basis
Published on Saturday, 24th August 2024.
We investigate claims mark-ups are larger than ever
Published on Saturday, 17th August 2024.
Jordan Peterson says Earth has greened by 20% in 20 years. Is he right?
Published on Saturday, 10th August 2024.
Languages are disappearing. We investigate claims of how often this happens.
Published on Saturday, 3rd August 2024.
We unpick the idea that women outnumber men by 14 to 1 as casualties of natural disasters
Published on Saturday, 27th July 2024.
Exploring the link between bumpy flights and climate change
Published on Saturday, 20th July 2024.
How Federer became the best in the world winning just over half the points he played
Published on Saturday, 13th July 2024.
Tim Harford interviews Matt Parker on his latest book ‘Love Triangle’
Published on Saturday, 6th July 2024.
Exit polls, election claims, and a 54% chance of winning a point in tennis
Published on Wednesday, 3rd July 2024.
We investigate changes to the way the US gathers their maternal mortality statistics
Published on Saturday, 29th June 2024.
What did Liz Truss do to mortgage rates? Do erections use a litre of blood?
Published on Wednesday, 26th June 2024.
We investigate the money made by an international cybercrime operation
Published on Saturday, 22nd June 2024.
We check some of the numbers that are flying about in the election campaign
Published on Wednesday, 19th June 2024.
Author Rob Eastaway on the numbers in Shakespeare’s writing
Published on Saturday, 15th June 2024.
We look at bad graphs, oil rig extrapolations and pupil populations
Published on Wednesday, 12th June 2024.
Investigating how many deaths are caused by mistakes by doctors and nurses
Published on Saturday, 8th June 2024.
Fact-checking the leaders' debate, tax evasion savings and the weight of ants
Published on Wednesday, 5th June 2024.
Changing India in numbers: what type of country will the next administration lead?
Published on Saturday, 1st June 2024.
Is the UK economy growing faster than Germany, France and the US?
Published on Wednesday, 29th May 2024.
Investigating research which suggested time restricted eating increased the risk of death.
Published on Saturday, 25th May 2024.
Will it take 685 years to clear the NHS waiting list? Are 10% of MPs under investigation?
Published on Wednesday, 22nd May 2024.
Investigating the relationship between matrimony and melancholy.
Published on Saturday, 18th May 2024.
What research says about the connection between reading and success in later life.
Published on Saturday, 11th May 2024.
How problems with opt-in polling can lead to controversial headlines
Published on Saturday, 4th May 2024.
What falling inflation means for Milei’s austerity plan and economic “shock” measures
Published on Friday, 26th April 2024.
Investigating claims that the Cass Review ignored valuable evidence
Published on Saturday, 20th April 2024.
Is the physics in Netflix's new show accurate?
Published on Saturday, 13th April 2024.
The connection between being alone and an early death
Published on Saturday, 6th April 2024.
Tim Harford on the great social scientist, who has died at the age of 90
Published on Saturday, 30th March 2024.
In an episode of More or Less from 2012, Daniel Kahneman explains his big ideas.
Published on Thursday, 28th March 2024.
Arctic ice has been in long decline. Do recent fluctuations change the story?
Published on Monday, 25th March 2024.
We investigate how much the Russian state is spending on the war in Ukraine.
Published on Saturday, 16th March 2024.
Tim Harford investigates the claim that public speaking is people’s number one fear.
Published on Saturday, 9th March 2024.
Is it really true that in extremely long races, women run faster than men?
Published on Saturday, 2nd March 2024.
Is school funding at record levels? Did 6.5bn creatures come to the UK by plane last year?
Published on Wednesday, 28th February 2024.
How much does a man’s height affect his chances of becoming an NBA basketball player?
Published on Saturday, 24th February 2024.
What does per capita GDP tell us? How much did the EU spend on covid recovery?
Published on Wednesday, 21st February 2024.
Ben Goldacre on OpenSAFELY, protecting patient privacy while analysing health data
Published on Saturday, 17th February 2024.
What is the government’s rule on debt? Do 90% of chip shops sell shark and chips?
Published on Wednesday, 14th February 2024.
Tim Harford investigates the growing political divergence between young men and women.
Published on Saturday, 10th February 2024.
Council tax comparisons, migration calculations and the carbon footprint of home-grown veg
Published on Wednesday, 7th February 2024.
Tim Harford explores the history of calculators from clockwork to the Kashio brothers
Published on Saturday, 3rd February 2024.
Is measles spreading? How much is Brexit costing? How good are they at traitor guessing?
Published on Wednesday, 31st January 2024.
We investigate how Oxfam use wealth stats to illustrate global inequality
Published on Saturday, 27th January 2024.
We investigate the cost of a weekly shop and explore the workings of wind chill
Published on Wednesday, 24th January 2024.
We investigate how the vast possibilities in chess compare to the vastness of the universe
Published on Saturday, 20th January 2024.
How long will we live? Who pays inheritance tax? How did the NHS perform this winter?
Published on Wednesday, 17th January 2024.
We investigate the claim that each of us sees thousands of adverts every single day
Published on Saturday, 13th January 2024.
We investigate claims about gun crime, the UK tax burden, and the number of missing cats
Published on Wednesday, 10th January 2024.
We investigate whether one criminal group could have a turnover of billions of dollars
Published on Saturday, 6th January 2024.
Hand-picked stats that tell you something interesting about the world
Published on Saturday, 30th December 2023.
We investigate a nutritional conundrum – can chocolate ever be better for you than salad?
Published on Saturday, 23rd December 2023.
How the Chinese state make inconvenient statistics disappear
Published on Saturday, 16th December 2023.
We investigate the connection between high levels of exercise and arrhythmia
Published on Saturday, 9th December 2023.
We investigate if floods, droughts and storms will cause mass international migration
Published on Saturday, 2nd December 2023.
A data scientist takes on rom com films to see how women in STEM are represented.
Published on Saturday, 25th November 2023.
Checking out stats on boozing Brits and fishing fleets in the South China Sea
Published on Saturday, 18th November 2023.
We look a famous equation which tries to explain whether life exists in outer space
Published on Saturday, 11th November 2023.
The cultural importance of gold is well known – but how much do Indians actually own?
Published on Saturday, 4th November 2023.
Exploring the global history of mathematics
Published on Saturday, 28th October 2023.
We ask whether the ‘windscreen phenomenon’ suggests falling numbers of insects
Published on Saturday, 21st October 2023.
Tim Harford discusses the work of Nobel Economics prize winner Claudia Goldin
Published on Saturday, 14th October 2023.
We ask whether almost half the words in the English language are of French origin.
Published on Saturday, 7th October 2023.
We debunk claims about excess deaths and the covid vaccine made by YouTuber John Campbell
Published on Wednesday, 4th October 2023.
As the UK changes course in its path to net zero, how does it compare with other nations?
Published on Saturday, 30th September 2023.
Are consultants in England really paid an average of £120,000 a year?
Published on Wednesday, 27th September 2023.
We dive into the world of waterways after a listener asked who has the longest canals.
Published on Saturday, 23rd September 2023.
Have the Tories really built a record number of social rent homes since 2010?
Published on Wednesday, 20th September 2023.
Professor David Sumpter talks to Tim Harford about his new book
Published on Saturday, 16th September 2023.
Is it true that 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women in the UK will get skin cancer?
Published on Wednesday, 13th September 2023.
We fact check a claim made by Donald Trump about the world famous canal
Published on Monday, 11th September 2023.
Covid related deaths are rising in England and Wales - we investigate the figures
Published on Wednesday, 6th September 2023.
Do we have access to some or all of our brain-power?
Published on Saturday, 2nd September 2023.
Can you really buy an electric car for everybody in the UK for the cost of HS2?
Published on Wednesday, 30th August 2023.
We ask whether there are any risks posed by the release into the Pacific Ocean.
Published on Saturday, 26th August 2023.
The world’s butterfly population doesn’t seem to be online – so what is it?
Published on Saturday, 19th August 2023.
What variables do we look at when we try to predict the outcome of a sports competition?
Published on Saturday, 12th August 2023.
A look at how accurately media report on the weather – especially recent heatwaves.
Published on Saturday, 5th August 2023.
The role data plays in climate attribution - and why we don’t always have it
Published on Saturday, 29th July 2023.
How Russian journalists are using probate records to estimate fatalities
Published on Saturday, 22nd July 2023.
We examine a claim related to the perception of Japan as an ageing society.
Published on Saturday, 15th July 2023.
The numbers behind water use and denim production.
Published on Saturday, 8th July 2023.
Who is coming to the UK - and how do we count them?
Published on Wednesday, 5th July 2023.
We look at the numbers around South Korea’s birth rate and the reasons why it’s so low.
Published on Saturday, 1st July 2023.
Will Rishi Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation happen?
Published on Wednesday, 28th June 2023.
How concerned should we be about how much the US government borrows?
Published on Saturday, 24th June 2023.
Who will be most affected by mortgage rate increases?
Published on Wednesday, 21st June 2023.
We look at a new UK study that links being breastfed as a baby with academic achievement.
Published on Saturday, 17th June 2023.
Is the weight of electric vehicles a risk to infrastructure?
Published on Wednesday, 14th June 2023.
Is it true that hunger has worsened in India?
Published on Saturday, 10th June 2023.
Did 120 people a day in England die last year whilst waiting for an ambulance?
Published on Wednesday, 7th June 2023.
How the evolution of data over centuries has shaped today’s world
Published on Saturday, 3rd June 2023.
Does Britain really have the most affordable food in Europe?
Published on Wednesday, 31st May 2023.
How to define and measure being single – and are dating apps to blame?
Published on Sunday, 28th May 2023.
Why a fall in those waiting longest for treatment in England isn't telling the whole story
Published on Wednesday, 24th May 2023.
Uncovering fraud, malpractice and incompetence in science
Published on Saturday, 20th May 2023.
We examine a social media post that claims to outline rates of divorce across the world.
Published on Saturday, 13th May 2023.
We ask why average life expectancy in America is falling so quickly.
Published on Saturday, 6th May 2023.
King Charles will be anointed with St Edward’s Crown – but what’s its true value?
Published on Saturday, 29th April 2023.
Why did Tucker Carlson say far more Ukrainian troops than Russian are dying in the war?
Published on Saturday, 22nd April 2023.
This week we investigate how a baby's due date is calculated
Published on Saturday, 15th April 2023.
Professor Oliver Johnson discusses the use of statistics in the pandemic and in life.
Published on Saturday, 8th April 2023.
Two high school students say they’ve discovered a new trigonometric proof for the theorem
Published on Saturday, 1st April 2023.
We debunk viral claims that incorrectly link covid-19 vaccines with a risk of miscarriage
Published on Saturday, 25th March 2023.
How do bank runs happen?
Published on Saturday, 18th March 2023.
We investigate the claim that fungal infections are a much bigger killer than malaria.
Published on Saturday, 11th March 2023.
We ask what happened to the 3 tonnes of pure gold after the infamous robbery of 1983
Published on Saturday, 4th March 2023.
We debunk a claim that the UK has by far the highest energy prices in Europe
Published on Wednesday, 1st March 2023.
We explore the environmental consequences of our thirst for coffee
Published on Saturday, 25th February 2023.
Tim Harford and team fact check a government claim about falling reoffending rates
Published on Wednesday, 22nd February 2023.
Tim Harford discusses the power of the nurse statistician’s groundbreaking diagrams
Published on Saturday, 18th February 2023.
We look at how much nurses in the UK are paid compared with those in Europe.
Published on Wednesday, 15th February 2023.
The long and costly history of spreadsheet mistakes
Published on Saturday, 11th February 2023.
How much should we trust the IMF’s forecasts for the UK?
Published on Wednesday, 8th February 2023.
The mathematician discusses a study that suggests loyalty card data could signal cancer.
Published on Saturday, 4th February 2023.
We examine a claim that the UK’s trade with the EU has increased since Brexit
Published on Wednesday, 1st February 2023.
Are wild mammals only 4% of the mammal population?
Published on Saturday, 28th January 2023.
We fact check Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to halve inflation
Published on Wednesday, 25th January 2023.
We investigate the impact of our use of toilet paper on the world’s forests.
Published on Saturday, 21st January 2023.
How long are people really waiting when they call 999 for an ambulance?
Published on Wednesday, 18th January 2023.
How an edition of More or Less influenced the naming of enormous numbers
Published on Saturday, 14th January 2023.
How many people may be dying because of treatment delays in the NHS?
Published on Wednesday, 11th January 2023.
Is China under-reporting data on Covid related deaths?
Published on Saturday, 7th January 2023.
Are there more Irish pubs in Ireland than in all other countries combined?
Published on Saturday, 31st December 2022.
Tim Harford and guests on the numbers that help tell the big stories of the year.
Published on Saturday, 24th December 2022.
We analyse World Cup penalty data to ask what boosts the chance of scoring from the spot
Published on Saturday, 17th December 2022.
How good policies depend on the availability of reliable statistics
Published on Saturday, 10th December 2022.
Examining the wildly varying estimates of deaths in the run-up to the tournament in Qatar
Published on Saturday, 3rd December 2022.
With Somalia in crisis, we ask how data is used to officially declare a famine
Published on Saturday, 26th November 2022.
Has hosting the FIFA football World Cup really cost Qatar $220bn?
Published on Saturday, 19th November 2022.
Tim Harford brings you the first episode of his new podcast and explains inflation
Published on Monday, 14th November 2022.
Tim Harford discusses the role statistics should play in the reporting of the news
Published on Saturday, 12th November 2022.
How much of the rainforest has been lost? And can Brazil’s new president save it?
Published on Saturday, 5th November 2022.
Are China’s most recent figures for economic growth wrong?
Published on Saturday, 29th October 2022.
We look into a claim that 50% of new books in the US sell just a handful of copies.
Published on Saturday, 22nd October 2022.
Tim Harford explains the work of this year’s Nobel Economics Prize winners
Published on Saturday, 15th October 2022.
A cheating scandal is rocking the world of chess - and data is at its heart
Published on Saturday, 8th October 2022.
We debunk a claim that a third of British teenagers have been prescribed antidepressants
Published on Friday, 7th October 2022.
As NASA rams an asteroid to try and alter its course, how many are yet to be discovered?
Published on Saturday, 1st October 2022.
How worried should we be about the steep falls in the pound?
Published on Wednesday, 28th September 2022.
We ask how much progress Ukraine has really made in recapturing territory from Russia.
Published on Saturday, 24th September 2022.
We ask how much progress Ukraine has really made in recapturing territory from Russia
Published on Thursday, 22nd September 2022.
Does fashion really account for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions?
Published on Saturday, 17th September 2022.
How much will the UK government’s plan to limit energy price rises end up costing?
Published on Wednesday, 14th September 2022.
We investigate a widely reported claim as Pakistan deals with devastating flooding
Published on Saturday, 10th September 2022.
The scale of the disaster is huge, but is a third of Pakistan really under water?
Published on Wednesday, 7th September 2022.
Why improving how we teach and think about maths could help us keep an edge over machines
Published on Saturday, 3rd September 2022.
Is there an easy way to cut soaring energy bills?
Published on Wednesday, 31st August 2022.
Official figures didn’t add up - but due to rounding, not fraud.
Published on Saturday, 27th August 2022.
We examine online claims about the effectiveness of “natural” birth control methods
Published on Saturday, 20th August 2022.
Following some high profile slip-ups in recent US elections, is opinion polling broken?
Published on Saturday, 13th August 2022.
We debunk spurious rumours that Liverpool FC use asthma medication to enhance performance
Published on Saturday, 6th August 2022.
From ancient tally bones to a jar of peanut butter, a look at the history of measurement
Published on Saturday, 30th July 2022.
We examine the rules and tech of false starts after the disqualification of Devon Allen.
Published on Saturday, 23rd July 2022.
We assess President Museveni’s claim that Uganda is nearing a higher economic status.
Published on Saturday, 16th July 2022.
The numbers behind water use and denim production
Published on Saturday, 9th July 2022.
In the wake of the historic overturning of Roe vs Wade, we look at the statistics.
Published on Saturday, 2nd July 2022.
How accurately are official figures picking up the new covid wave?
Published on Wednesday, 29th June 2022.
Ed Sheeran thinks that musical coincidences will always happen… but do the numbers agree?
Published on Saturday, 25th June 2022.
Do rail workers really earn £13,000 a year more than nurses?
Published on Wednesday, 22nd June 2022.
Looking at sex and statistics in Japan and America.
Published on Saturday, 18th June 2022.
Are damages for maternity mistakes now more than wages for maternity nurses and doctors?
Published on Wednesday, 15th June 2022.
The maths professor on the choices she and others have faced after a cancer diagnosis
Published on Saturday, 11th June 2022.
The UK has a low unemployment rate but lots of people not working – how come?
Published on Wednesday, 8th June 2022.
We look into a claim that the age of girls’ puberty is falling rapidly
Published on Saturday, 4th June 2022.
We debunk a claim the government is spending £38,000 per household on the Jubilee
Published on Wednesday, 1st June 2022.
The world’s most famous psychologist on how 'noise' impacts our decision making
Published on Saturday, 28th May 2022.
Did Germany really fare worse than the UK in the pandemic?
Published on Wednesday, 25th May 2022.
Looking at numbers on green house gas emissions and stress
Published on Saturday, 21st May 2022.
We look at the World Health Organisation’s latest estimates of the pandemic’s death toll
Published on Saturday, 14th May 2022.
Tim Harford asks how we measure the health of our oceans
Published on Saturday, 7th May 2022.
Has Sweden’s pandemic response been a triumph or a disaster…or something in-between?
Published on Saturday, 30th April 2022.
What can data tell us about a country of 1.4 billion people?
Published on Saturday, 23rd April 2022.
How can we clearly explain complex numbers to the public without losing their meaning?
Published on Friday, 15th April 2022.
How tea became an accidental lifesaver in 18th Century England.
Published on Saturday, 9th April 2022.
How much of the worlds wheat comes from Ukraine and Russia
Published on Saturday, 2nd April 2022.
How good negotiation can help us split pizzas fairly and also avoid Nuclear War
Published on Sunday, 20th March 2022.
Fact checking Boris Johnson’s claim.
Published on Sunday, 13th March 2022.
Troop and casualty numbers in Ukraine
Published on Sunday, 6th March 2022.
How reliable are the figures coming out of the conflict in Ukraine?
Published on Wednesday, 2nd March 2022.
Did lockdowns actually save any lives?
Published on Sunday, 27th February 2022.
Jabs for five to 11-year-olds, lockdown effectiveness, and being green on two wheels
Published on Wednesday, 23rd February 2022.
Do 1 in 100 children who catch Covid end up hospitalised?
Published on Sunday, 20th February 2022.
How likely are children to end up in hospital because of Covid? And how many have died?
Published on Wednesday, 16th February 2022.
Trans women’s participation in elite sport
Published on Sunday, 13th February 2022.
Boris Johnson has been ticked off for misleading Parliament on jobs and on crime.
Published on Wednesday, 9th February 2022.
Looking at the power of expectations
Published on Sunday, 6th February 2022.
How fast is our economy growing? And what is happening with Omicron reinfections?
Published on Wednesday, 2nd February 2022.
Fertility rates around the world
Published on Sunday, 30th January 2022.
Does inflation hit poor households harder and how many people have died of Covid?
Published on Wednesday, 26th January 2022.
Should women be worried about having a male surgeon?
Published on Sunday, 23rd January 2022.
Surgery death risks, Test and Trace costs in the UK and Germany, and podcast plans
Published on Wednesday, 19th January 2022.
Fact checking a QAnon claim
Published on Sunday, 16th January 2022.
An Omicron update, pandemic birth rates and the booster drive.
Published on Wednesday, 12th January 2022.
Looking at Mark Rober and Mr Beast’s plastics pledge.
Published on Sunday, 9th January 2022.
Will Nigeria’s population really reach 600million?
Published on Sunday, 2nd January 2022.
The most significant numbers of the year
Published on Sunday, 26th December 2021.
How to buy gifts people actually want.
Published on Sunday, 19th December 2021.
Infection vs injection: Could prior infection provide 27 times more protection?
Published on Sunday, 12th December 2021.
Is it true wearing a mask reduces Covid-19 incidence by 53%?
Published on Sunday, 5th December 2021.
A tricky statistical phenomenon at play.
Published on Sunday, 28th November 2021.
How a well-meaning TikTok disrupted 4,600 studies
Published on Sunday, 21st November 2021.
Can a vegan croissant really be worse for the environment than a bacon roll?
Published on Sunday, 14th November 2021.
Why the same data can produce different conclusions.
Published on Sunday, 7th November 2021.
Tim Harford talks to author Deborah Stone about her book which explores counting.
Published on Sunday, 31st October 2021.
Could you survive a round in Squid Game, and how many have watched it?
Published on Sunday, 24th October 2021.
A look at the work of this year’s winners of the most prestigious prize in economics.
Published on Sunday, 17th October 2021.
A chat with More or Less's founding producer and presenter plus the first episode in full
Published on Thursday, 7th October 2021.
A look back at our origins, plus the usual mix of numerical nous and statistical savvy.
Published on Wednesday, 6th October 2021.
Can Machiavelli help women get a better deal in the workplace?
Published on Sunday, 3rd October 2021.
Expensive electricity, inadequate insulation, and a tale of tumbling trees.
Published on Wednesday, 29th September 2021.
A coronavirus check-in, our daily mask use measured, and the universal credit cut.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021.
Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws.
Published on Sunday, 19th September 2021.
Why is estimating the number of unvaccinated people so tricky? And how deadly is 2021?
Published on Wednesday, 15th September 2021.
How worried should we be about antibodies? Plus food that shortens life.
Published on Wednesday, 8th September 2021.
Did the war in Afghanistan cost the US $2 trillion?
Published on Saturday, 4th September 2021.
Has Brexit caused a fall in lorry drivers? Plus policing Extinction Rebellion
Published on Wednesday, 1st September 2021.
What role do numbers play in helping us think more rationally?
Published on Saturday, 28th August 2021.
The life of mathematics educator and civil rights organiser, Dr Robert Moses
Published on Saturday, 21st August 2021.
What can the data tell us about the quality of the Covid hit games?
Published on Monday, 16th August 2021.
Why increasing Covid infections amongst the vaccinated isn’t necessarily bad news
Published on Saturday, 7th August 2021.
The odds and probability behind record-breaking temperatures
Published on Saturday, 31st July 2021.
Where’s this new Variant spreading and what can be done to stop it?
Published on Saturday, 24th July 2021.
Tim Harford and the team try to work out how long Covid cases will continue to rise.
Published on Monday, 19th July 2021.
Recent reports have claimed that Nigeria has 40 million Twitter users – but is this true?
Published on Saturday, 10th July 2021.
What do we know about the efficacy of Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19?
Published on Saturday, 3rd July 2021.
Covid 19 cases are on the rise in Scotland, plus will your town be under water by 2030?
Published on Wednesday, 30th June 2021.
Are there really 35 million descendants of the Mayflower alive today?
Published on Saturday, 26th June 2021.
Should we worry about the Delta variant? Plus how much do blue tits eat?
Published on Wednesday, 23rd June 2021.
How similar are the Covid strains?
Published on Saturday, 19th June 2021.
The global death toll has reached a grim milestone. Plus the UK’s low ranking waters.
Published on Wednesday, 16th June 2021.
The story of how data helped extend our lives
Published on Saturday, 12th June 2021.
Should we worry about Covid cases rising? Plus are smart motorways safe?
Published on Wednesday, 9th June 2021.
Were tens of thousands of people getting their jab in Bolton every single day?
Published on Wednesday, 2nd June 2021.
Why it’s unlikely our oceans will be virtually empty by 2048.
Published on Saturday, 29th May 2021.
How to vaccinate a country quickly, plus the UK’s singing contest woes.
Published on Wednesday, 26th May 2021.
The Recovery Trial identified drugs that did and did not help save lives.
Published on Saturday, 22nd May 2021.
Tim Harford speaks to mathematician Milo Beckman about the beauty of maths.
Published on Saturday, 15th May 2021.
How two amateur data detectives revealed the pandemic’s impact.
Published on Saturday, 8th May 2021.
How an obscure theory came into fashion.
Published on Sunday, 2nd May 2021.
We ask if this year’s global death toll will surpass 1.8 million.
Published on Saturday, 24th April 2021.
Adding together the doses for everyone on the planet.
Published on Saturday, 17th April 2021.
AstraZeneca’s clot controversy turns attention on the contraceptive pill.
Published on Saturday, 10th April 2021.
Gamers raise suspicions over speed run times - are they right?
Published on Sunday, 4th April 2021.
How we came to expect dashboards full of statistics.
Published on Saturday, 27th March 2021.
Weighing up the risk of unproven side effects with stopping Covid 19.
Published on Saturday, 20th March 2021.
Are countries with higher obesity rates suffering from more deaths?
Published on Saturday, 13th March 2021.
Your chances of becoming a saint, plus football odds.
Published on Saturday, 6th March 2021.
From herd immunity to the weather, Tim Harford explores the theories.
Published on Saturday, 27th February 2021.
Tim Harford finds out if we can trust international comparisons with the available data.
Published on Saturday, 20th February 2021.
Is the UK’s Covid 19 death count among the worst in the world? Plus are we drinking more?
Published on Wednesday, 17th February 2021.
Counting all the virus particles in every human on the planet.
Published on Saturday, 13th February 2021.
Are exports to the EU down since Brexit? Plus removing flammable building cladding.
Published on Wednesday, 10th February 2021.
Could life expectancy in some parts of Glasgow be worse than in Rwanda?
Published on Saturday, 6th February 2021.
Are teachers more at risk from Covid-19?
Published on Wednesday, 3rd February 2021.
The huge row among scientists about rapid coronavirus tests.
Published on Saturday, 30th January 2021.
Where are people catching Covid-19?
Published on Wednesday, 27th January 2021.
Does GDP tell us whose economies have suffered most during Covid?
Published on Saturday, 23rd January 2021.
If we vaccinate the top four priority groups by February, how much will things change?
Published on Wednesday, 20th January 2021.
Is the first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine 52% or 90% effective?
Published on Thursday, 14th January 2021.
David Sumpter describes the algorithms ruling the world
Published on Saturday, 9th January 2021.
Tim Harford showcases statistics from 2020
Published on Friday, 8th January 2021.
What to consider when buying presents this year
Published on Saturday, 19th December 2020.
Tackling statistics spread by conspiracy theorists.
Published on Saturday, 12th December 2020.
Is it too soon to approve a vaccine for use? Plus choosing who goes first.
Published on Saturday, 5th December 2020.
Which countries are doing well at keeping track of the virus? And which are not?
Published on Saturday, 28th November 2020.
If you go to a gathering of 25 people, what are the chances one of you has coronavirus?
Published on Saturday, 21st November 2020.
How much protection will a new Covid 19 vaccine give?
Published on Saturday, 14th November 2020.
Why there isn’t one single death rate.
Published on Saturday, 7th November 2020.
How many Covid19 cases are truly asymptomatic?
Published on Saturday, 31st October 2020.
Tim Harford hears about the sheer volume of false claims made in the campaign.
Published on Saturday, 24th October 2020.
This year’s Nobel memorial prize winners for economics and their work on auction theory.
Published on Saturday, 17th October 2020.
Gamblers, millionaires and annuities
Published on Saturday, 10th October 2020.
Missing coronavirus case data, long-term symptoms, and a big mathematical moment.
Published on Wednesday, 7th October 2020.
Case counts in perspective, a suspect stat from the US, and life lessons from insects.
Published on Wednesday, 30th September 2020.
How fast are coronavirus cases doubling? Plus testing confusion and a royal face-off.
Published on Wednesday, 23rd September 2020.
Could pool testing hold the key to ramping up Covid-19 testing?
Published on Saturday, 19th September 2020.
Confusing claims on lab capacity, the UK’s record on asylum, and the volume of eyelashes.
Published on Wednesday, 16th September 2020.
How worrying is the UK’s jump in cases? Plus balancing risks and the speed of jelly-fish.
Published on Wednesday, 9th September 2020.
Evidence on Covid-19 risks in schools, data on contact tracing, and a philosophical query.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd September 2020.
Claims about a Covid-19 treatment, breast cancer screening, and 18th century sex workers.
Published on Wednesday, 26th August 2020.
We unpick the A-level algoshambles and discover what poker teaches us about statistics.
Published on Wednesday, 19th August 2020.
Tim Harford looks at the numbers behind the widely questioned election result
Published on Saturday, 15th August 2020.
Covid-19 cases are rising in the UK - is it a sign of a second wave of the virus?
Published on Wednesday, 12th August 2020.
If all the ice in Antarctica melted, would global sea levels rise by 70 metres?
Published on Saturday, 8th August 2020.
Do we have enough data to know what’s happening on the continent?
Published on Saturday, 1st August 2020.
A journey back to the birth of epidemiology
Published on Saturday, 25th July 2020.
How many of us believe the myths about coronavirus?
Published on Saturday, 18th July 2020.
Sweden stayed open during the pandemic – how well did it work?
Published on Saturday, 11th July 2020.
Are cases really rising in the US or are they just testing more? Tim digs into the data.
Published on Saturday, 4th July 2020.
Was it bad decision-making, bad advice, or bad luck?
Published on Wednesday, 1st July 2020.
Tim Harford looks into why protests haven’t led to a spike in Covid-19 cases
Published on Saturday, 27th June 2020.
As lockdown eases, why hasn't there been a spike in infections?
Published on Wednesday, 24th June 2020.
Tim Harford finds out which countries have the highest rate of Covid-19 infection.
Published on Saturday, 20th June 2020.
Is it true that Covid-19 mostly kills people who would die soon anyway?
Published on Wednesday, 17th June 2020.
Are more people are dying of Covid-19 in the UK than all the EU countries put together?
Published on Wednesday, 10th June 2020.
Tim Harford examines how can we avoid infection spreading, while getting on with life.
Published on Saturday, 6th June 2020.
How accurate are the swab tests used to diagnose Covid-19?
Published on Wednesday, 3rd June 2020.
What does the data show about whether this wave of the epidemic is waning in the UK?
Published on Wednesday, 27th May 2020.
Can there really only be 60 harvests left in Earth's soil?
Published on Saturday, 23rd May 2020.
Will re-opening some schools put children or their teachers at risk?
Published on Wednesday, 20th May 2020.
Where do the different social distancing measurements come from?
Published on Saturday, 16th May 2020.
Is Vitamin D an under-appreciated weapon in the fight against Covid-19?
Published on Wednesday, 13th May 2020.
Why don't we know how dangerous Covid -19 really is?
Published on Saturday, 9th May 2020.
Did the UK really carry out 100,000 coronavirus tests in one day?
Published on Wednesday, 6th May 2020.
With factories closed and flights grounded, what impact will this have on climate change?
Published on Saturday, 2nd May 2020.
Are doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately affected by Covid-19?
Published on Wednesday, 29th April 2020.
Is it helpful to ask which countries are faring better in tackling the coronavirus?
Published on Saturday, 25th April 2020.
Mathematician John Conway died in April as a result of Covid-19.
Published on Thursday, 23rd April 2020.
We compare Covid-19 rates around the world. When is the UK going to be past the worst?
Published on Wednesday, 22nd April 2020.
Can professional predictors help us understand the course of the coronavirus pandemic?
Published on Saturday, 18th April 2020.
Tim Harford looks at the debate over making your own Covid-19 protection.
Published on Saturday, 11th April 2020.
Is the coronavirus death count misleading because of delays in reporting?
Published on Wednesday, 8th April 2020.
Tim Harford and Ruth Alexander examine the statistics around the world.
Published on Saturday, 4th April 2020.
Is the coronavirus pandemic having a different impact on men and women?
Published on Tuesday, 31st March 2020.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter puts the risks of Covid-19 into perspective.
Published on Saturday, 28th March 2020.
The risks of Covid-19 for different age groups and what restrictions mean for the economy
Published on Wednesday, 25th March 2020.
How statistical modelling can help us respond to the Coronavirus pandemic
Published on Saturday, 21st March 2020.
Does Iran have a lot more covid-19 cases that its figures suggest?
Published on Saturday, 14th March 2020.
Is it true that 40% of your body's heat loss comes from your head?
Published on Monday, 9th March 2020.
Does watching 30 minutes of Netflix have the same carbon footprint as driving four miles?
Published on Saturday, 29th February 2020.
Dipping into the archive for stories on the art of prediction and wood burner pollution
Published on Friday, 28th February 2020.
Is the problem with AI its lack of intelligence?
Published on Saturday, 22nd February 2020.
An update on Covid-19 statistics, with Tim Harford.
Published on Saturday, 15th February 2020.
Covid-19 stats, spreading jam far and wide, cooking with AI, and James Wong on vegetables
Published on Friday, 14th February 2020.
Can alligators run at 50kmph? Join us in clocking alligators’ gaits.
Published on Saturday, 8th February 2020.
Costing counter-terrorism, interrogating tomatoes, the UK's reading age, politics and GDP
Published on Friday, 7th February 2020.
Fact checking claims about the spread of Coronavirus
Published on Saturday, 1st February 2020.
Fact checking claims about coronavirus and whether more guns equal fewer homicides.
Published on Friday, 31st January 2020.
How much sleep do we really need?
Published on Saturday, 25th January 2020.
The carbon consequence of streaming, stats on sepsis and stretching Bill Bryson to Pluto.
Published on Friday, 24th January 2020.
Quantifying justice in Japan with Tim Harford.
Published on Saturday, 18th January 2020.
The cost of Brexit, alligator speed and Liverpool FC's luck
Published on Friday, 17th January 2020.
Have a billion animals died in Australia’s fires? And which ones are likely to survive?
Published on Saturday, 11th January 2020.
How many animals have died in Australia and how many Labour voters went Conservative?
Published on Friday, 10th January 2020.
Hospital births in China and whether it’s true 50% are delivered by caesarean section
Published on Saturday, 4th January 2020.
The health risks some of the frontrunners in the US presidential race face
Published on Saturday, 28th December 2019.
We explore the maths secrets of The Simpsons on their 30th anniversary.
Published on Friday, 20th December 2019.
Have bushfires destroyed 80% of the koala habitat in Australia?
Published on Friday, 13th December 2019.
Labour's spending plans, Conservatives claims on homelessness, the SNP's education record
Published on Tuesday, 10th December 2019.
Planting trees by numbers: UK style.
Published on Friday, 6th December 2019.
50,000 nurses? 40 hospitals? Corporate tax rises? Tim Harford looks at Election pledges.
Published on Tuesday, 3rd December 2019.
Have these saucy fruits become less healthy over time?
Published on Friday, 29th November 2019.
Which is the busiest shipping lane in the world?
Published on Saturday, 23rd November 2019.
We look at the numbers and statistics from Bolivia’s disputed presidential election.
Published on Friday, 15th November 2019.
Can running and owning a dog reduce your risk of an early death?
Published on Saturday, 9th November 2019.
How shelved data from rape cases in America is helping the police catch criminals now.
Published on Friday, 1st November 2019.
Social worker and economist Edith Abbott and her contribution to crime statistics.
Published on Monday, 28th October 2019.
Discussing Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer’s economics Nobel Prize.
Published on Friday, 18th October 2019.
Exploring how long one identical twin lives after the other twin dies.
Published on Friday, 11th October 2019.
Are the shocking statistics true? and how do you count people who don't wish to be found?
Published on Monday, 7th October 2019.
Dissecting the government’s hospitals announcement and President Trump’s Ukraine claims.
Published on Friday, 4th October 2019.
Were a third of those that fought for Britain in WW1 black or Asian?
Published on Monday, 30th September 2019.
Has Austerity caused 120 thousand deaths in the UK and does God hate men?
Published on Friday, 27th September 2019.
Using statistics to compare world records in athletics and swimming.
Published on Monday, 23rd September 2019.
Health risks for Presidential hopefuls, falling inflation, shark deaths and salary claims
Published on Friday, 20th September 2019.
Are eight people a day murdered in Cape Town and is that number unusually high?
Published on Monday, 16th September 2019.
Are black women five times more likely to die in childbirth? Plus making pop music.
Published on Friday, 13th September 2019.
Has it increased significantly since President Bolsonaro took office in January?
Published on Monday, 9th September 2019.
Challenging the idea of six billion deaths due to climate change; plus what pets eat.
Published on Friday, 6th September 2019.
Are they really 85 percent worse than last year?
Published on Monday, 2nd September 2019.
Are forest fires in Brazil the worst in recent times? What is the state pension worth?
Published on Friday, 30th August 2019.
Were millions of trees planted in just one day in Ethiopia?
Published on Monday, 26th August 2019.
Was your A Level grade correct? Plus were 350m trees planted in one day in Ethiopia?
Published on Friday, 23rd August 2019.
Re-inserting a caveat and discussing a really cool numbers trick.
Published on Friday, 16th August 2019.
Do immigrants commit more crime than native-born Americans in the United States?
Published on Friday, 9th August 2019.
With misinformation so easy to spread, how can it be stopped or challenged?
Published on Friday, 2nd August 2019.
Taking a statistical look at what expectant mothers should avoid.
Published on Friday, 26th July 2019.
How medical testing on just men causes problems.
Published on Friday, 19th July 2019.
We look at politicians’ claims that sanctions are to blame for Zimbabwe’s difficulties.
We look at numbers involved with the two World Cups going on right now.
Published on Friday, 5th July 2019.
We compare how deadly different forms of power generation are.
Published on Friday, 28th June 2019.
We fact check the recent TV drama Chernobyl
Published on Friday, 21st June 2019.
How one woman used statistics to help cope with cancer.
Published on Friday, 14th June 2019.
The hidden influences that a make a big difference to the way the world works.
Published on Monday, 10th June 2019.
Measuring happiness, university access in Scotland, plus will one in two get cancer?
Published on Friday, 7th June 2019.
Does Mount Etna produce more carbon emissions than humans? We check the numbers.
Published on Monday, 3rd June 2019.
What does it mean to say that the UK is the fifth largest economy in the world?
Published on Friday, 31st May 2019.
How collecting data about the dead led the famous nurse to promote better sanitation.
Published on Monday, 27th May 2019.
The stats behind making a successful song, plus misunderstanding Victorian court records.
Published on Friday, 24th May 2019.
A musical interpretation of a chart depicting the yield-curve of American bonds.
Published on Monday, 20th May 2019.
Are more people dying from coronary disease? Plus how we need more economic data on women
Published on Friday, 17th May 2019.
We revisit some classic topics from past years
Published on Monday, 13th May 2019.
Are we having less sex? And what happened to coal? (These items are unrelated.)
Published on Friday, 10th May 2019.
Exploring the economic impact of losing half the world’s population
Published on Monday, 6th May 2019.
We look into sobering statistics about nurses and some curious claims about house-sharing
Published on Friday, 3rd May 2019.
Did Bernie Sanders get the cost of giving birth right?
Published on Monday, 29th April 2019.
Should we be surprised Easter Monday was the hottest recorded?
Published on Friday, 26th April 2019.
Major sports events and the benefits to the local economy.
Published on Friday, 19th April 2019.
A battle is brewing in the Southern Scottish uplands between two rival villages.
Published on Monday, 15th April 2019.
We examine the cancer-causing potential of the weed killer glyphosate
Published on Monday, 8th April 2019.
What a statistical analysis of chess moves can teach us about this ancient game.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd April 2019.
Is the West African king, Mansa Musa, the richest person who ever lived?
Published on Monday, 25th March 2019.
Does the sudden loss of an hour of sleep raise the risk of having a heart attack?
Published on Monday, 18th March 2019.
Are women really less likely than men to be hired for jobs in tech?
Published on Saturday, 9th March 2019.
Could insects go extinct in one hundred years?
Published on Monday, 4th March 2019.
Die, sell on a sunny day, place your work a third of the way through the auction.
Published on Friday, 22nd February 2019.
Tim Harford talks to Matt Parker on how simple maths mistakes can cause big problems.
Published on Monday, 18th February 2019.
Tim Harford on climate change, Victorian diseases, maths mistakes and alcohol consumption
Published on Friday, 15th February 2019.
Assessing the accuracy of a Groundhog; How many English people have right royal relatives?
Published on Tuesday, 12th February 2019.
Tim Harford finds untrue a recent report that there is a 'suicidal generation' of teens.
Published on Friday, 8th February 2019.
A listener doubts her popularity on the dating app Tinder. We investigate the numbers.
Published on Monday, 4th February 2019.
Tim Harford on Holocaust deniers; food prices in Venezuela, and dating app statistics
Published on Friday, 1st February 2019.
Tim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide.
Published on Saturday, 26th January 2019.
Tim Harford on domestic violence, employment numbers, and the chance of a white Easter.
Published on Friday, 25th January 2019.
Which planet is closest to Earth?
Published on Saturday, 19th January 2019.
Tim Harford asks whether 1.7% of people are intersex, and examines false claims about MPs
Published on Friday, 18th January 2019.
We look at the numbers behind body temperature – what is normal?
Published on Saturday, 12th January 2019.
Tim Harford on sugar, train fares, children's outdoors play and Earth's closest neighbour
Published on Friday, 11th January 2019.
Helena Merriman with numbers about water shortage, plastic recycling and American jobs.
Published on Friday, 4th January 2019.
The numbers that made 2018.
Published on Saturday, 29th December 2018.
What to look out for on Christmas Eve.
Published on Saturday, 22nd December 2018.
Are mega-dams really sustainable?
Published on Monday, 17th December 2018.
Are women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?
Published on Friday, 30th November 2018.
Xavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians
Published on Friday, 23rd November 2018.
Updating the kilogram.
Published on Friday, 16th November 2018.
How likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?
Published on Friday, 9th November 2018.
What proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?
Published on Sunday, 28th October 2018.
In foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?
Published on Friday, 19th October 2018.
The economists tackling climate change and growth.
Published on Friday, 12th October 2018.
A BBC loneliness survey, school funding, same-sex divorce and the loyalty of listeners.
Published on Tuesday, 9th October 2018.
Tim Harford talks to economist Marina Ashdade about same-sex divorce statistics.
Published on Sunday, 7th October 2018.
Tim Harford on a BBC loneliness survey; school funding; same-sex divorce; loyal listeners
Published on Friday, 5th October 2018.
Were Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?
Published on Monday, 1st October 2018.
Tim Harford on Spitfire pilots, and whether football triggers violence in the home.
Published on Friday, 28th September 2018.
How can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?
Published on Monday, 24th September 2018.
Tim Harford on child carers, shareholder income, football vs museums and dangerous sports
Published on Friday, 21st September 2018.
What is the difference between 96% similarity or sharing 20% of our DNA?
Published on Monday, 17th September 2018.
Tim Harford with statistics on suicide, good schools and sexism in tennis. Plus goats
Published on Friday, 14th September 2018.
A listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road?
Published on Monday, 10th September 2018.
Tim Harford questions the usefulness of a popular heart age calculator.
Published on Friday, 7th September 2018.
Tim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts
Published on Monday, 3rd September 2018.
Tim Harford fact checks EU trade deals with Africa, and whether one drink is one too many
Published on Friday, 31st August 2018.
Why we have interest rates, how we misunderstand them - and a curious coffin connection.
Published on Wednesday, 29th August 2018.
Computer programmes are being developed to combat fake news.
Published on Monday, 27th August 2018.
What would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor?
Published on Friday, 24th August 2018.
Inflation can change your sex life – and pretty much everything else.
Published on Wednesday, 22nd August 2018.
Are Wildfires in the United States and Southern Europe burning more land than before?
Published on Monday, 20th August 2018.
Why an Essex mum wanted her jewellery melted down and what it says about government debt
Published on Wednesday, 15th August 2018.
How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world?
Published on Friday, 10th August 2018.
The surprising story of GDP and whether it's time to change how we measure our economy
Published on Wednesday, 8th August 2018.
Does a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar?
Published on Friday, 3rd August 2018.
How big are your testicles and what does that mean?
Published on Friday, 27th July 2018.
Having one fewer child could be the biggest thing you do to reduce your carbon footprint
Published on Monday, 23rd July 2018.
How much better are the pros than the rest of us and how effective is slipstreaming?
Published on Friday, 20th July 2018.
Stars vs Sand. We work out who wins the ultimate cosmic battle.
Published on Friday, 6th July 2018.
Is it strange that Russian football players have run such big distances?
Published on Friday, 29th June 2018.
How many words do you need to speak a language and how many do native speakers use?
Published on Friday, 22nd June 2018.
How the ‘beautiful game’ has changed…through numbers.
Published on Friday, 15th June 2018.
From penguins to nematodes - is it possible to count how many animals are born every day?
Published on Sunday, 10th June 2018.
Tim Harford explains how maths can help lazy students can reduce their revision workload
Published on Friday, 8th June 2018.
How do you count the number of people sleeping rough?
Published on Monday, 4th June 2018.
Is WH Smith really the worst shop on the High Street?
Published on Friday, 1st June 2018.
Do one in seven businessmen throw out their underwear after wearing them once?
Published on Monday, 28th May 2018.
How to read the weather forecast, plus measuring the amount of tea we drink.
Published on Friday, 25th May 2018.
Does being very tall improve your chances of becoming a professional basketball player?
Published on Monday, 21st May 2018.
Are more working families in poverty? Plus exploring the new school league tables.
Published on Friday, 18th May 2018.
What is the truth behind the 17th Century Dutch craze for Tulips?
Published on Monday, 14th May 2018.
The British abortion statistics gaining attention in Ireland's referendum debate
Published on Friday, 11th May 2018.
Statistician Hans Rosling’s family talk about the book they co-wrote about preconceptions
Published on Monday, 7th May 2018.
Calculating the benefits and risks of breast screening. Plus, patchy citizenship data.
Published on Friday, 4th May 2018.
Why some fear the statistics authority is about to lose its independence
Published on Sunday, 29th April 2018.
Measuring plastic pollution, female FTSE directors and counting animal offspring.
Published on Friday, 27th April 2018.
Tim Harford talks to economist Dan Ariely about the psychology of money.
Published on Friday, 20th April 2018.
The W.H.O. say 95% of people in cities breathe unsafe air, but what does 'unsafe' mean?
Published on Friday, 13th April 2018.
Finding out if London is now more deadly than New York.
Published on Sunday, 8th April 2018.
We investigate the murder rate in popular crime series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
Published on Thursday, 29th March 2018.
We look at voting data to investigate allegations of election fraud in Russia
Published on Friday, 23rd March 2018.
The US President regularly talks about America's trade deficit - do his figures stack up?
Published on Friday, 16th March 2018.
Did Sir Roger Bannister make the ‘impossible’ possible?
Published on Friday, 9th March 2018.
Ninety years’ worth of Best Picture winning films under the spotlight
Published on Monday, 5th March 2018.
Which is the most successful country? Plus the chances of a dead heat.
Published on Sunday, 25th February 2018.
How to question dubious statistics in just a few short steps.
Published on Sunday, 18th February 2018.
Back of the envelope calculations on rape, and how many died under Stalin?
Published on Friday, 16th February 2018.
Alcohol consumption has fallen sharply according to Russia’s health ministry
Published on Sunday, 11th February 2018.
Why the biggest ever fall in the Dow wasn't, and how much do women spend on tampons?
Published on Friday, 9th February 2018.
We investigate whether the Chinese government can really achieve its extraordinary pledge
Published on Monday, 5th February 2018.
How many transgender people are there in the UK? Plus a statistical take on parkruns.
Published on Friday, 2nd February 2018.
The survey question that could affect the accuracy of its results.
Published on Monday, 29th January 2018.
First sexual experience - checking the facts.
Published on Friday, 26th January 2018.
How individuals manage their money - the personal stories behind economic data.
Published on Monday, 22nd January 2018.
Why are women paid less than men in specific industries and occupations?
Published on Friday, 19th January 2018.
A forgotten French mathematician’s unusual approach to the stock market.
Published on Monday, 15th January 2018.
Do missed appointments cost the NHS £1 billion? And do you always earn more with a degree?
Published on Friday, 12th January 2018.
Why it isn’t as simple to work out as you think.
Published on Sunday, 7th January 2018.
Phones, lawn mowers and how Kim Kardashian helped the public understanding of risk.
Published on Sunday, 31st December 2017.
Measuring the energy used to keep the cryptocurrency secure.
Published on Sunday, 24th December 2017.
Could the US President’s Diet Coke habit affect his health? and 'contained' wildfires
Published on Monday, 18th December 2017.
Are research findings misrepresented by funders, PR machines and the media?
Published on Monday, 11th December 2017.
Are some people just very lucky? The maths suggest that is unlikely.
Published on Monday, 4th December 2017.
What the Pride and Prejudice character would have earned in today’s money.
Published on Sunday, 26th November 2017.
How much will Italy's surprise failure to make it to the world cup cost FIFA?
Published on Friday, 17th November 2017.
More or less finds out the numbers that are changing modern music.
Published on Sunday, 12th November 2017.
Finding out if Nigerian politicians really get paid more than the American President.
Published on Sunday, 5th November 2017.
Counting the favourite words of well-known authors: Stephen King, Hemingway and others
Published on Monday, 30th October 2017.
Did the 2016 US election galvanise young people to become more engaged in politics?
Published on Friday, 20th October 2017.
The behavioural economist who has inspired governments around the world.
Published on Friday, 13th October 2017.
Naming the monster numbers - how the names of digital storage files evolved.
Published on Tuesday, 10th October 2017.
Do the largest ships emit as much pollution as all the cars in the world?
Published on Monday, 2nd October 2017.
Is Uber safe? The post Brexit dual nationality surge and measuring partner abuse.
Published on Friday, 29th September 2017.
How much of a problem is falling sperm count?
Published on Monday, 25th September 2017.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is accused of mis-using official statistics.
Published on Friday, 22nd September 2017.
What’s the best way to measure a hurricane?
Published on Friday, 15th September 2017.
Has the number of natural disasters really quadrupled in the last forty years?
Is the UK the only country with more horses than tanks in its army?
Published on Monday, 11th September 2017.
Will we need more power stations? Plus, are children in Manchester ready for school?
Published on Friday, 8th September 2017.
Experts say that Houston just suffered a one in 500 year storm but what does that mean?
Published on Monday, 4th September 2017.
The difficulties of finding the true number of people who died in the fire.
Published on Friday, 1st September 2017.
Figuring out the best strategy as a wannabe team manager.
Published on Monday, 28th August 2017.
Are boys getting more top A Level grades than girls? Plus why are dress sizes so weird?
Published on Friday, 25th August 2017.
President Trump has taken credit for a booming economy. But is that fair?
Published on Sunday, 20th August 2017.
President Trump says transgender individuals cannot serve, but how many do already?
Published on Monday, 14th August 2017.
Why the cost of running the vote will be $25 a person.
Published on Monday, 7th August 2017.
Exploring if an influx of teenage boys claiming asylum skewed the population’s sex ratio
Published on Monday, 31st July 2017.
Celebrating the only woman to win the biggest prize in mathematics.
Published on Monday, 24th July 2017.
Using statistics to prove or disprove the wisdom of tennis.
Published on Monday, 17th July 2017.
Evaluating the biggest basketball contract in NBA history, plus Ryanair’s seat allocation
Published on Monday, 10th July 2017.
Stand-up mathematician Matt Parker explains the obscure Woodall prime numbers
Published on Friday, 30th June 2017.
How statistics can help us understand the tragic fire at London’s Grenfell Tower.
Published on Monday, 26th June 2017.
Tribute to the Voice of 1960s British children’s TV series 'Trumpton', Brian Cant
Published on Wednesday, 21st June 2017.
The results of the general election are in - but what do they mean?
Published on Monday, 19th June 2017.
After the death of Cheick Tiote, are African footballers more prone to heart attacks?
Published on Monday, 12th June 2017.
This podcast is a compilation of interviews with Eddie Mair from Radio 4’s PM programme.
Published on Wednesday, 7th June 2017.
Can medical statistics be transformed into a jazzy night out?
Published on Monday, 5th June 2017.
Who pays income tax, cutting migration and where in the UK is cold?
Published on Friday, 2nd June 2017.
Education is failing our kids, claim experts. We go sleuthing around the world.
Published on Sunday, 28th May 2017.
Can security services follow everyone known to them?
Published on Friday, 26th May 2017.
Has Uganda accepted more refugees, daily than some European countries in an entire year?
Published on Monday, 22nd May 2017.
Exploring the Labour manifesto's tax plans for high earners.
Published on Friday, 19th May 2017.
Are nurses paid more than the national average? We take a look.
Published on Saturday, 13th May 2017.
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.
Published on Friday, 12th May 2017.
Why some parts of town are hard to navigate.
Published on Monday, 8th May 2017.
It looks like homicides are on the rise - but better check the footnotes
Published on Friday, 5th May 2017.
How to use mathematics to find your partner. And, how reliable are pregnancy due dates?
Published on Monday, 1st May 2017.
Giant bombs, a war hero and the foreign secretary's stats.
Published on Friday, 28th April 2017.
Are middle-aged white Americans dying younger than other groups?
Published on Friday, 21st April 2017.
Are people's incomes falling? Plus singing Pi like Kate Bush
How much do you know about the world?
Published on Friday, 14th April 2017.
Why airlines bet that not everybody will turn up for a flight.
Experts warn that North Korea could wipe out most Americans in one go.
Published on Monday, 10th April 2017.
Is there evidence that one in four people will develop a mental health problem?
Published on Friday, 31st March 2017.
They’ve become a bit of a phenomenon but what’s the evidence that they work?
Published on Friday, 24th March 2017.
Did China use more concrete in three years than the US in the 20th Century?
Published on Friday, 17th March 2017.
Are our attention spans now shorter than a goldfish's?
Published on Friday, 10th March 2017.
Top Hollywood actresses have complained that they are paid less than their male co-stars
Published on Friday, 3rd March 2017.
What happened last night in Sweden?
Published on Friday, 24th February 2017.
.African American women's part in the space race of the '50s and '60s
Published on Friday, 17th February 2017.
A tribute to Hans Rosling, a master communicator with a passion for global development.
Published on Monday, 13th February 2017.
Does North Carolina really rank alongside North Korea if you measure electoral integrity
Published on Friday, 3rd February 2017.
How many went to celebrate – and how many to protest – the Trump inauguration?
Published on Friday, 27th January 2017.
Blue Monday and Oxfam's wealth of billionaires- the stories that come around every year
Published on Friday, 20th January 2017.
Were 90,000 Christians killed because of their faith in 2016?
Published on Friday, 13th January 2017.
How much water do we need and how much is too much?
Published on Friday, 6th January 2017.
Can you reduce working hours without affecting productivity?
Published on Tuesday, 3rd January 2017.
Saving lives with thin air - by taking nitrogen from the air to make fertiliser
Published on Wednesday, 28th December 2016.
Improving data to target help to the poorest people
Published on Monday, 26th December 2016.
Tim Harford poses a tough statistical challenge
Published on Friday, 23rd December 2016.
Are footballers trying to get suspended for Christmas?
Published on Friday, 16th December 2016.
Notable deaths, Rule Britannia and creating your own Christmas speech
We look at the numbers behind the scary headlines about birth control.
Published on Monday, 12th December 2016.
The economic doom that never was; childhood cancer figures and Ed Balls
Published on Friday, 9th December 2016.
The survey by the Indian PM that broke all the polling rules and started a mass protest
Published on Friday, 2nd December 2016.
What are the odds of being related to a medieval king? and how many cows for a fiver?
Renewable capacity has surpassed that of coal–is this good news? Plus an asteroid update.
Published on Monday, 28th November 2016.
High-rolling pensioners? predicting Norovirus, air pollution deaths and lost or found?
Published on Friday, 25th November 2016.
We’re getting better at spotting Earth-bound space rocks – but how safe are we?
Published on Monday, 21st November 2016.
Is dementia on the rise? Plus immigration, incomplete contacts and chocolate muffins
Published on Friday, 18th November 2016.
Is the claim that three out of four women were raped during Liberia's civil war true?
Published on Monday, 14th November 2016.
Who voted in the US elections? Plus are there nine million stray cats in the UK?
Published on Friday, 11th November 2016.
Does the world really spend three times as much on ice cream than on humanitarian aid?
Published on Monday, 7th November 2016.
How the presidential hopeful has used statistics
Published on Friday, 4th November 2016.
Is a girl under 15 married every seven seconds? And beware dangerous algorithms
Published on Friday, 28th October 2016.
How many people die for every kilo of cocaine?
Published on Monday, 24th October 2016.
When maths can get you locked up.
Published on Friday, 14th October 2016.
Is there a better way of looking at the Sustainable Development Goals?
Published on Friday, 7th October 2016.
Polling on the Clinton-Trump TV showdown – and why not all polls are equal.
Published on Friday, 30th September 2016.
Are some US inner cities more dangerous than Afghanistan?
Published on Friday, 23rd September 2016.
How much should spend when a couple get married?
Published on Sunday, 18th September 2016.
How many people have died during President Duterte’s drug crackdown?
Published on Monday, 12th September 2016.
Do women’s periods start to synchronise if they spend time together?
Published on Monday, 5th September 2016.
Do one in four Brits claim Irish ancestry?
Published on Friday, 2nd September 2016.
The story behind the countries that have not executed anyone for 10 years
Published on Tuesday, 30th August 2016.
Making sense of the difference between men's and women's pay
Published on Friday, 26th August 2016.
Has 2016 been a particularly bad year for terrorism in Europe?
Published on Monday, 22nd August 2016.
Is 2016 an unusually deadly year for terrorism?
Published on Friday, 19th August 2016.
Why are swimming world records frequently being broken?
Published on Monday, 15th August 2016.
Do selective schools improve grades and improve social mobility?
Published on Friday, 12th August 2016.
What makes a country successful at winning gold, silver and bronze?
Published on Monday, 8th August 2016.
Has a 5p charge caused a drop in the use of carrier bags?
Published on Friday, 5th August 2016.
How can the techniques of computer science help us in everyday life?
Published on Monday, 1st August 2016.
Tim Harford returns with Brexit, Trumpton, the Antiques Roadshow and some good news.
Published on Friday, 29th July 2016.
Does Ireland have the fastest growing economy in the world?
Published on Friday, 22nd July 2016.
Tim Harford investigates the numbers surrounding police shootings in the USA.
Published on Friday, 15th July 2016.
Could having a lie-in lead to an early death?
Published on Friday, 8th July 2016.
Are they the best in the world per capita?
Published on Friday, 1st July 2016.
What will happen to trade and business in the UK after leaving the EU?
Published on Friday, 24th June 2016.
How are companies using our personal data?
Published on Monday, 20th June 2016.
Tim Harford asks if the UK would be better off in or out of the EU when it comes to trade
Published on Friday, 17th June 2016.
Tim Harford on how much red tape from the EU costs and what might happen if the UK leaves
Published on Thursday, 16th June 2016.
Tim Harford looks at how much of Britain's law comes from the EU.
Published on Wednesday, 15th June 2016.
Tim Harford on costs and benefits of EU migrants and what might happen if Britain left.
Published on Tuesday, 14th June 2016.
Tim Harford asks how much would be saved and what would be lost if Britain left the EU?
Published on Monday, 13th June 2016.
Are we collecting enough data about women?
Published on Friday, 10th June 2016.
Are 74% of African girls aged 15-24 HIV positive?
Published on Friday, 3rd June 2016.
Is it true that the average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years?
Published on Friday, 27th May 2016.
Is the iPhone the most profitable product in history? What are the other contenders?
Published on Friday, 20th May 2016.
Is it true that London is the most diverse city in the world?
Published on Friday, 13th May 2016.
The statistics behind the English Premier League’s surprise winners
Published on Monday, 9th May 2016.
Can the iPhone claim this accolade? Plus, the statistics behind Leicester City's success
Published on Friday, 6th May 2016.
We explore how statistics can support two seemingly contradictory results.
Published on Monday, 2nd May 2016.
What will happen to migration if the UK leaves the EU?
Published on Friday, 29th April 2016.
How much to build The Great Pyramid, a nuclear power station, or an airport?
Published on Monday, 25th April 2016.
Do the Treasury's Brexit numbers add up?
Published on Friday, 22nd April 2016.
Statistics show that the Head of the Catholic Church can expect to live to an old age
Published on Monday, 18th April 2016.
Have more famous people died this year than usual?
Published on Friday, 15th April 2016.
How astronomers introduced the world to the average.
Published on Monday, 11th April 2016.
Have only 1% of men taken the option of shared parental leave?
Published on Friday, 8th April 2016.
Does the European Union dedicate 26,911 words to cabbage regulation?
Published on Tuesday, 5th April 2016.
Published on Monday, 4th April 2016.
UK Alcohol guidelines recommend drinking less – but do the numbers support them?
Published on Thursday, 24th March 2016.
Are there more mobile phones than lightbulbs in Uganda? And thyroid cancer in Fukushima.
Published on Friday, 18th March 2016.
The pitfalls of nutrition science - how do really know what people are eating?
Published on Friday, 11th March 2016.
Is it true that “every one percent unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die"?
Published on Friday, 4th March 2016.
The world needs new antibiotics so how do we entice big pharma back in to the market?
Published on Friday, 26th February 2016.
Could no prize have been a better way to motivate snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan?
Published on Friday, 19th February 2016.
Will there be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050?
Published on Monday, 15th February 2016.
Women taking selfies for more than five hours a day and other junk adverstising surveys.
Published on Friday, 12th February 2016.
Should research described as "misleading" and "not scientific" have been published?
Published on Monday, 8th February 2016.
Do e-cigarettes harm your chances of quitting smoking? Tim Harford looks at the evidence.
Published on Friday, 5th February 2016.
Have refugees caused a gender imbalance in Sweden? Tim Harford finds out.
Published on Monday, 1st February 2016.
Are there problems with the way we judge the harms from alcohol? Tim Harford finds out.
Published on Friday, 29th January 2016.
Were Oxfam right to compare the wealth of the rich with that of the poor?
Published on Monday, 25th January 2016.
Does it matter that 62 people now own as much wealth as half of the world’s population?
Published on Friday, 22nd January 2016.
In search of a previously unobserved part of Einstein’s theory.
Published on Monday, 18th January 2016.
Jeremy Hunt says if you have a stroke at the weekend, you're 20% more likely to die .
Published on Friday, 15th January 2016.
Tim Harford looks back at some of the most interesting numbers making the news in 2015.
Published on Monday, 11th January 2016.
Is there a north-south divide in the amount of money spent on flood defences in England?
Published on Friday, 8th January 2016.
Tim Harford looks back at some of the most interesting numbers of 2015.
Published on Monday, 4th January 2016.
A look back at some of the numbers behind the news in 2015 with Tim Harford.
Published on Friday, 1st January 2016.
Published on Friday, 25th December 2015.
Are Star Wars’ Stormtroopers the biggest secret army on Earth?
Published on Friday, 18th December 2015.
Do so-called ‘100 year floods’ only happen once a century?
Published on Friday, 11th December 2015.
Did climate change contribute to the war in Syria?
Published on Tuesday, 8th December 2015.
Are claims that one in five British Muslims ‘sympathise with jihadis’ correct?
Published on Friday, 27th November 2015.
Has so-called Islamic State been losing territory? Ruth Alexander investigates.
Published on Friday, 20th November 2015.
Are creative people more likely to be mentally ill, and has Cuba wiped out child hunger?
Published on Friday, 13th November 2015.
As China ends its one child policy what has been its impact? Ruth Alexander investigates.
Published on Friday, 6th November 2015.
Are processed meats as cancer-causing as cigarettes? Ruth Alexander investigates.
Published on Friday, 30th October 2015.
Are a million barrels of Nigeria’s oil stolen per day? Ruth Alexander finds out.
Published on Friday, 23rd October 2015.
Nobel Prize winning economist professor Angus Deaton on a lifetime measuring inequality.
Published on Friday, 16th October 2015.
Are tall people really more likely to get cancer? Ruth Alexander looks at a new study.
Published on Friday, 9th October 2015.
Is it harder to play football against ten men? Tim Harford finds out.
Published on Friday, 2nd October 2015.
How reliable are psychological science studies? Tim Harford finds out.
Published on Monday, 28th September 2015.
Tim Harford asks whether one in three people born in the UK this year will get Alzheimer's
Published on Friday, 25th September 2015.
Are rugby players getting bigger and bigger?
Published on Monday, 21st September 2015.
Tim Harford asks are strikes on the rise, rugby players bigger and sea life in decline?
Published on Friday, 18th September 2015.
Should population density affect refugee movements? How many bananas are too many?
Published on Monday, 14th September 2015.
Can the left rely on non-voters to get them into power? Tim Harford looks at the numbers.
Published on Friday, 11th September 2015.
Would life be better if we served the last person to join a queue not the first.
Published on Monday, 7th September 2015.
Are thousands dying after being declared 'fit for work' by the government? Is sugar bad?
Published on Friday, 4th September 2015.
The Chinese stock market may have crashed but was it really ‘Black Monday’?
Published on Monday, 31st August 2015.
The Chinese markets may have crashed but was it really Black Monday? with Tim Harford
Published on Friday, 28th August 2015.
Tim Harford tests the geometric properties of an elliptical pool table.
Published on Monday, 24th August 2015.
Diabetes cases are soaring, but is this down to new diagnoses? Tim Harford investigates.
Published on Friday, 21st August 2015.
Are mass deworming projects a good idea?
Published on Monday, 17th August 2015.
A "swarm" of migrants heading for Europe? Are the numbers really up?
Published on Friday, 14th August 2015.
Are WWE stars more likely to die sooner than their non-wrestling peers?
Published on Friday, 7th August 2015.
How many foreigners have joined militants in Iraq and Syria, and where do they come from?
Published on Friday, 31st July 2015.
How long might you live?
Published on Friday, 24th July 2015.
What has been achieved in the ten years since Live 8 sought to Make Poverty History?
Published on Friday, 17th July 2015.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team look at the numbers behind the Greek crisis.
Published on Friday, 10th July 2015.
Jurassic World took $511m in its first weekend. Why have recent films done so well?
Published on Friday, 26th June 2015.
Can your horoscope predict which diseases you’ll develop?
Published on Friday, 19th June 2015.
Do we need one and a half planets worth of resources? Tim Harford investigates.
Published on Saturday, 13th June 2015.
Tim Harford looks at how recent obesity projections were calculated.
Published on Friday, 12th June 2015.
Tim Harford asks if the World Cup is really responsible for migrant deaths in Qatar.
Published on Saturday, 6th June 2015.
Published on Friday, 5th June 2015.
The life and achievements of the mathematician John Nash
Published on Saturday, 30th May 2015.
Tim Harford asks if people admitted to hospital at weekends are more likely to die.
Published on Friday, 29th May 2015.
Death Row exoneration statistics. Recently it’s been claimed that for every nine in...
Published on Saturday, 23rd May 2015.
The Police Federation says female drivers aren’t heeding the drink drive warnings.
Published on Friday, 22nd May 2015.
How computers are fooled by big numbers. Chris Baraniuk, technology journalist, talks...
Published on Saturday, 16th May 2015.
Are stroke numbers on the rise? This was according to recent headlines.
Published on Friday, 15th May 2015.
The birth of Princess Charlotte could contribute £1 billion to the British economy,...
Published on Monday, 11th May 2015.
Tim Harford and a panel of experts discuss pre-election polls and election fact checking.
Published on Friday, 8th May 2015.
Why don’t all the opinion polls give the same results? Plus, would Labour’s plan a...
Published on Wednesday, 6th May 2015.
It was recently reported that the number of women training to become Catholic nuns in...
Published on Saturday, 2nd May 2015.
On the eve of the UK's general election, Tim Harford takes a look at what polling data...
Published on Friday, 1st May 2015.
Are migrants ‘stealing’ jobs; does South Africa have more asylum seekers than any...
Published on Saturday, 25th April 2015.
Are we witnessing a jobs ‘miracle’? Also under scrutiny - Scotland’s deficit; a...
Published on Friday, 24th April 2015.
A young listener who needs a liver transplant has received an offer from his brother a...
Published on Saturday, 18th April 2015.
Fact-checking the politicians during the election campaign on NHS funding; rail fares...
Published on Friday, 17th April 2015.
Can you trust the figures given to you by the political parties during the UK's We and...
Published on Monday, 13th April 2015.
Professor Hans Rosling - perhaps best-described as a kind of international development...
Published on Saturday, 11th April 2015.
Is it really true that ability in mathematics and chess are somehow linked? Tim pits a...
Published on Friday, 3rd April 2015.
The Germanwings A320 tragedy, in which 150 people died, is the latest in a series of...
Published on Saturday, 28th March 2015.
A major 30-year study claims to show breastfed babies become more intelligent, higher...
Published on Saturday, 21st March 2015.
Babies born in Rwanda are likely to live healthier lives than those in the most 10% of...
Published on Saturday, 14th March 2015.
"In the next 40 years, humans will need to produce more food that they did in the a of...
Published on Saturday, 7th March 2015.
Oscar-winner John Legend said that there are more black men "under correctional in the...
Published on Saturday, 28th February 2015.
It’s often said that we should all be aiming to get eight hours of sleep a night but...
Published on Saturday, 21st February 2015.
How maths can help you find love, and hold on to it. Plus, we hear a collection of our...
Published on Saturday, 14th February 2015.
Tim Harford asks whether claims that keen runners might be damaging their health are...
Published on Monday, 9th February 2015.
Tim Harford on claims that keen runners might be damaging their health.
Published on Friday, 6th February 2015.
How to use mathematics to find your life partner. Plus: what are the chances that two...
Published on Monday, 2nd February 2015.
Fact-checking the Conservatives' employment claims; the price of milk; unhappy how to...
Published on Friday, 30th January 2015.
Who is in the world's wealthiest elite, and where do they live? Which are the world's...
Published on Monday, 26th January 2015.
Are the majority of hate crimes in the UK directed against Jewish people? Plus: who 1%...
Published on Friday, 23rd January 2015.
In the wake of the Paris killings, an imam in Paris told the BBC that most terrorism...
Published on Monday, 19th January 2015.
The Conservatives' plans to achieve a budget surplus by 2019-20 have led to near that...
Published on Friday, 16th January 2015.
Most cancers are caused by "bad luck" according to reports of a new study.
Published on Monday, 12th January 2015.
The NHS in England has missed its four-hour A&E waiting time target with performance a...
Published on Friday, 9th January 2015.
What is the most important number in the world? Robert Peston tells us and Helen Joyce...
Published on Sunday, 4th January 2015.
Tim Harford and guests look back at some of the weird and wonderful numbers of 2014.
Published on Friday, 2nd January 2015.
How optimistic are people about the future? The BBC's Evan Davis tells More or Less as...
Published on Saturday, 27th December 2014.
What is so special about 39,222 Mexican teachers? In the first of three episodes back...
Published on Saturday, 20th December 2014.
Did almost 80% of the males born in the Soviet Union in 1923 not survive World War as...
Published on Saturday, 13th December 2014.
Zimbabwe’s budget provided a fascinating insight into the country’s economy last week.
Published on Saturday, 6th December 2014.
"About one-third of American girls become pregnant as teenagers” a recent article...
Published on Saturday, 29th November 2014.
England captain Wayne Rooney made his 100th appearance last weekend but former England...
Published on Saturday, 22nd November 2014.
The movie Gone Girl claims homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women.
Published on Saturday, 15th November 2014.
Hans Rosling, global health expert and data visionary, has just arrived in Liberia.
Published on Saturday, 8th November 2014.
The chance of a successful kidney match between two unrelated people has increased in...
Published on Saturday, 1st November 2014.
Are airport screenings for Ebola really an effective way of stopping transmission of a...
Published on Saturday, 25th October 2014.
Big data has been enjoying a lot of hype, with promises it will help deliver from to...
Published on Saturday, 18th October 2014.
The coverage of the Living Planet Index and its claim that species populations have in...
Published on Saturday, 11th October 2014.
Why is Berlin the place to break the marathon world record and how long will it be we...
Published on Monday, 6th October 2014.
Two young listeners emailed the programme to ask how we calculate the distance to the sun.
Published on Monday, 29th September 2014.
This week Tim explains the Barnett Formula with a bit of help from Money Box's Paul Lewis.
Published on Friday, 26th September 2014.
Is Britain poorer than every US state, except for Mississippi? Journalist Fraser the...
Published on Monday, 22nd September 2014.
Published on Friday, 19th September 2014.
It's a 'fact' beloved of English teachers around the world: that Shakespeare, the in...
Published on Monday, 15th September 2014.
Tim Harford talks to pollsters about how they are trying to gauge the political mood...
Published on Friday, 12th September 2014.
The ALS ice bucket challenge has become a viral phenomenon. People around the world in...
Published on Monday, 8th September 2014.
The ALS ice bucket challenge viral phenomenon has raised over $100m. Is this good for...
Published on Friday, 5th September 2014.
Is it true that humans use just 10% of their brains? It’s the premise of the new...
Published on Monday, 1st September 2014.
Media reports are suggesting that as many as 12,000 people may have Ebola in West but...
Published on Friday, 29th August 2014.
As the Gaza conflict continues, the fact that there are estimated to be nearly three...
Published on Monday, 25th August 2014.
"Revealed: half a million problem families" reported The Sunday Times.
Published on Friday, 22nd August 2014.
Is anti-semitism on the rise? Ruth Alexander and James Fletcher look at the numbers, a...
Published on Monday, 18th August 2014.
The cost of the government's new student loan system is rising according to a recent...
Published on Friday, 15th August 2014.
What do we know about how deadly the Ebola virus is, and how likely is it that there...
Published on Sunday, 10th August 2014.
After three tragic airline incidents in eight days, is flying becoming more dangerous?...
Published on Saturday, 2nd August 2014.
The Pope was reported to have said that 2% of Catholic clergy were paedophiles.
Published on Saturday, 26th July 2014.
The Tour de France has reached the mountains, but what does it take to be a good and...
Published on Saturday, 19th July 2014.
In Roald Dahl’s novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", Charlie Bucket wins a to...
Published on Saturday, 12th July 2014.
Obesity may mean children have a shorter lifespan than their parents, it has been but...
Published on Saturday, 5th July 2014.
As we reach the end of the group stage are we really witnessing the greatest world cup...
Published on Saturday, 28th June 2014.
When it comes to aid, what works best – giving people food, shelter, medicine, or it...
Published on Saturday, 21st June 2014.
Freakonomics guru Steven Levitt joins us to talk about an unusual experiment – to to...
Published on Monday, 16th June 2014.
"Religion Makes People More Generous"- according to The Daily Telegraph's of a new BBC...
Published on Friday, 13th June 2014.
Is the divorce rate in the US state of Maine linked to margarine consumption? It's one...
Published on Monday, 9th June 2014.
Scottish independence - yes or no? Which will line your pocket more? The Scottish says...
Published on Friday, 6th June 2014.
Did 'rock-star' French economist Thomas Piketty get his numbers wrong? His theories of...
Published on Monday, 2nd June 2014.
Published on Friday, 30th May 2014.
A famous probability puzzle is discussed involving goats and game shows with German...
Published on Monday, 26th May 2014.
Are the statistics put forward by UKIP accurate, and are Romanians responsible for on...
Published on Friday, 23rd May 2014.
Did the number of people around the world living in extreme poverty fall by half a few...
Published on Monday, 19th May 2014.
Does the government have lots of people chasing the relatively small amounts lost to a...
Published on Friday, 16th May 2014.
The Man Who Counted, a book of 'Arabic' mathematical tales written by Middle Eastern...
Published on Monday, 12th May 2014.
Food banks are being used by a million people in Britain according to recent newspaper...
Published on Friday, 9th May 2014.
Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes 60 ago.
Published on Monday, 5th May 2014.
How much British law is made in Brussels - 75% as UKIP say, or 7% as Nick Clegg says?...
Published on Friday, 2nd May 2014.
Are 100 million women missing from the world? A listener asks More or Less to explore...
Published on Saturday, 26th April 2014.
Do you have a favourite number - one you love, one you think stands out from all the...
Published on Saturday, 19th April 2014.
Nigeria's bureau of statistics has overhauled the way it calculates the country's GDP...
Published on Saturday, 12th April 2014.
How many people in the world live in freedom? The BBC's Freedom 2014 season got Tim or...
Published on Saturday, 5th April 2014.
Are there really be 300,000 French people in London and would they really want to for...
Published on Saturday, 29th March 2014.
Could Bayesian statistics find Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing? This niche...
Published on Saturday, 22nd March 2014.
Your questions answered - Do the Maasai in Africa number one million? Is it true that...
Published on Saturday, 15th March 2014.
Are there 21 million slaves in the world today? Director of 12 Years a Slave, Steve at...
Published on Saturday, 8th March 2014.
Becoming a pro on practice alone – is that possible? Or do you need innate talent? a...
Published on Saturday, 1st March 2014.
The rise and fall of an online epidemic: How studying the spread of infectious the out...
Published on Saturday, 22nd February 2014.
Can economics help you find love? Tim Harford and the team look at the maths behind...
Published on Saturday, 15th February 2014.
In the US, more people are dying from drug overdoses than from road traffic accidents...
Published on Monday, 10th February 2014.
How much do migrants cost or benefit a nation? Plus, planning a wedding - when you and...
Published on Monday, 3rd February 2014.
Chancellor George Osborne says a 50p tax rate does not bring in much revenue; Shadow...
Published on Friday, 31st January 2014.
Do two large glasses of wine triple your risk of mouth cancer, as claimed on a health...
Published on Monday, 27th January 2014.
What does a detailed look at immigration statistics tell us about the benefits, or of...
Published on Friday, 24th January 2014.
An apple-a-day will actually keep the doctors away, according to a study in the of the...
Published on Monday, 20th January 2014.
Tim Harford discovers that health statistics contradict a report which says obesity is...
Published on Friday, 17th January 2014.
In Iraq, estimates of the death count since the war started 2003 range from 100,000 to...
Published on Monday, 13th January 2014.
Most deaths occur in this week of the year - Tim Harford asks why. He also asks: are...
Published on Friday, 10th January 2014.
A guide to 2013 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic of by...
Published on Saturday, 4th January 2014.
When the government announced that fees charged by pension providers could be capped,...
Published on Friday, 3rd January 2014.
Published on Saturday, 28th December 2013.
Published on Friday, 27th December 2013.
It has been reported that global wine supplies are running low. But shops still seem...
Published on Saturday, 21st December 2013.
About 80,000 children will wake up homeless on Christmas Day, according to the charity...
Published on Friday, 20th December 2013.
It is claimed white South Africans are being systematically killed because of the of...
Published on Saturday, 14th December 2013.
The publication of the latest international education league table has created waves...
Published on Saturday, 7th December 2013.
Ahead of the 2014 World Cup draw next Friday, we look at world football rankings.
Published on Saturday, 30th November 2013.
Ruth Alexander speaks to a statistician at the forefront of cancer research, Professor...
Published on Saturday, 23rd November 2013.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has amassed 15,847 test runs, which is 2,500 more runs than...
Published on Saturday, 16th November 2013.
To what degree do our personal opinions cloud our judgement? Yale University have to...
Published on Saturday, 9th November 2013.
It is claimed an average of 100,000 Christians have died because of their faith every...
Published on Saturday, 2nd November 2013.
Women in their late thirties shouldn’t be as anxious about their prospects of having...
Published on Saturday, 26th October 2013.
Tim Harford tells the story of how two economists who disagree with each other have...
Published on Saturday, 19th October 2013.
Tim Harford tells the story of the Hawthorne Experiments, one of the most famous of...
Published on Saturday, 12th October 2013.
Has the mosquito killed half the people who have ever lived? Tim Harford assesses the...
Published on Monday, 7th October 2013.
Are hundreds of young children visiting A&E because of alcohol? Plus, an update on the...
Published on Friday, 4th October 2013.
"We just shut our eyes to the fact that the world's population is increasing out of...
Published on Monday, 30th September 2013.
Tim Harford examines the claim that NHS hospital patients are 45% more likely to die...
Published on Friday, 27th September 2013.
'I accept every time I get in my car, there's a 20% chance I could die'.
Published on Monday, 23rd September 2013.
All pupils at infant schools in England are to get free school lunches from next but I...
Published on Friday, 20th September 2013.
Almost a quarter of men in some Asian countries admit rape, it has been reported.
Published on Monday, 16th September 2013.
Psychologist Jean Twenge argues that women in their late thirties shouldn’t be as of...
Published on Friday, 13th September 2013.
As global leaders remain divided on whether to carry out a military strike against in...
Published on Monday, 9th September 2013.
Tim Harford looks at the different claims made about how many people have been killed...
Published on Friday, 6th September 2013.
Is it true that environmental problems will create 200 million migrants? Some and warn...
Published on Saturday, 31st August 2013.
Has the government taken into account the worth of a badger's life in any cost-benefit...
Published on Friday, 30th August 2013.
People who drink more than 4 cups of coffee increase their chances of dying by 50%, it...
Published on Saturday, 24th August 2013.
Tim Harford speaks to Persi Diaconis, top professor of maths and statistics and...
Published on Saturday, 17th August 2013.
If all the world’s population crowded together, where could we all fit? London? More...
Published on Saturday, 10th August 2013.
This week we find out what the most visited country in the world is and ask why they...
Published on Saturday, 3rd August 2013.
The winner of this year's Tour de France, British rider Chris Froome, faced numerous...
Published on Saturday, 27th July 2013.
It’s claimed that Egyptians have taken part in the biggest uprising the world has...
Published on Saturday, 13th July 2013.
The world of porn is often exaggerated but does it really make up 37% of the web? And...
Published on Saturday, 6th July 2013.
Life expectancy at birth around the world has increased by six years in the past two...
Published on Saturday, 29th June 2013.
Ruth Alexander examines US Secretary of State, John Kerry’s claim that 40% of the be...
Published on Saturday, 22nd June 2013.
Ruth Alexander examines the claim that every 15 seconds a child dies of hunger.
Published on Saturday, 15th June 2013.
Parents take note – what can numbers reveal about bringing up children? Plus, Tim if...
Published on Monday, 10th June 2013.
A&E waiting times have been making the headlines - Tim Harford takes a look at some of...
Published on Friday, 7th June 2013.
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and the killing of a British soldier on the...
Published on Monday, 3rd June 2013.
After the killing of a British soldier on the streets of Woolwich in London, it that...
Published on Friday, 31st May 2013.
Tim Harford examines Ryanair’s claim that more than 90% of its flights land on time;...
Published on Monday, 27th May 2013.
Tim Harford inspects the claims the UK Treasury and the Scottish government make about...
Published on Friday, 24th May 2013.
As Angelina Jolie announces that an 87% cancer risk has prompted her to have a double...
Published on Monday, 20th May 2013.
Published on Friday, 17th May 2013.
It's often said that one dog year equals seven human years. But is it true? Tim and or...
Published on Monday, 13th May 2013.
Tim Harford makes sense of the numbers being used in the political battle about the UK...
Published on Friday, 10th May 2013.
Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2...
Published on Monday, 6th May 2013.
Published on Friday, 3rd May 2013.
More or Less creates the Alternative Premier League, with lead scorer goals chalked to...
Published on Saturday, 27th April 2013.
Tim Harford tells the story of the student who uncovered a mistake in a famous paper...
Published on Monday, 22nd April 2013.
Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who has died aged 87, was Britain’s first female prime...
Published on Monday, 15th April 2013.
It’s the fourth anniversary of the earthquake which devastated the city of in Italy...
Published on Monday, 8th April 2013.
What if a super-villain took control of the world's gold a melted it in to a cube? How...
Published on Saturday, 30th March 2013.
With an avalanche of 2. 5 quintillion bytes of data generated daily, could this be used...
Published on Monday, 25th March 2013.
Only last week Ivory Toldson heard the speaker say there are more black men in prison...
Published on Monday, 18th March 2013.
With the news that a baby has been ‘cured’ of HIV what do the numbers tell us the...
Published on Monday, 11th March 2013.
Kenya votes for its next President on 4th March. The opinion polls show that it is the...
Published on Monday, 4th March 2013.
This week Tim Harford asks how the figure of 1. 2 billion Catholics world-wide is...
Published on Monday, 25th February 2013.
This week Ruth Alexander looks at Manchester United versus Real Madrid in the last 16...
Published on Monday, 18th February 2013.
Canada has stopped distributing its smallest coin –the one cent or the penny.
Published on Monday, 11th February 2013.
This week Ruth Alexander looks at the extraordinary case of Andreas Georgiou the head...
Published on Monday, 4th February 2013.
A ‘new’ BMI calculation has been proposed by Oxford Mathematician Professor Nick a...
Published on Monday, 28th January 2013.
This week Ruth Alexander is looking at farmer suicides in India. But is it any more in...
Published on Monday, 21st January 2013.
Episode 1 of Tim Harford's new series, Pop Up Economics, in which he tells a live and...
Published on Wednesday, 16th January 2013.
Reports this week suggest that we are wasting 50 per cent of our food globally.
Published on Monday, 14th January 2013.
What does a 'guess the weight of the ox' competition tells us about a bloated and We...
Published on Monday, 7th January 2013.
Published on Friday, 4th January 2013.
A special review of the year through the interesting, informative and idiosyncratic of...
Published on Monday, 31st December 2012.
A guide to 2012 in numbers - the most informative, interesting and idiosyncratic of by...
Published on Friday, 28th December 2012.
Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the debate on firearms deaths, and discovers...
Published on Monday, 24th December 2012.
Tim Harford investigates gun crime statistics in the US. Plus, why death is not always...
Published on Friday, 21st December 2012.
This week: What is ‘rare’? When we say something is rare what do we mean? strikes...
Published on Monday, 17th December 2012.
Why was the estimate, in 2003, for Eastern Europeans coming to the UK so wrong? Which...
Published on Friday, 14th December 2012.
Where does Nigeria’s plan to revise its GDP leave our understanding of growth in And...
Published on Monday, 10th December 2012.
In light of the Royal pregnancy Tim Harford asks what severe morning sickness tells us...
Published on Friday, 7th December 2012.
Kevin Pietersen has been widely praised as one of the best England batsmen of the era...
Published on Monday, 3rd December 2012.
On More or Less this week Tim Harford looks at three polls carried out to gauge the on...
Published on Friday, 30th November 2012.
This is the first in the new series of the programme. There’s a well-established get...
Published on Monday, 26th November 2012.
This is the first in the new series of the programme. Tim Harford has been busy some...
Published on Friday, 23rd November 2012.
There's not an obvious link between chocolate and Nobel prizes, but this did not stop...
Published on Monday, 19th November 2012.
This week Ruth Alexander looks at the other winner the US elections. Blogger and of of...
Published on Monday, 12th November 2012.
Conrad Black has claimed that 99.5% of prosecution cases in America end up in convictions.
Published on Monday, 5th November 2012.
This week six scientists and one ex-government official were sentenced to prison for...
Published on Monday, 29th October 2012.
Professor Al Roth tells Tim Harford about the work for which he has just been awarded...
Published on Monday, 22nd October 2012.
Predicting the global population: does anyone really know what’s going to happen?
Published on Monday, 15th October 2012.
Nate Silver tells us who will win the 2012 US election - and how he knows.
Published on Monday, 8th October 2012.
Only 100 cod are left in the North Sea according to newspapers. Is this the most wrong...
Published on Monday, 1st October 2012.
US Presidential Election factchecked. Is Mitt Romney right to say that 47% of pay no...
Published on Monday, 24th September 2012.
Ruth Alexander investigates Sweden's high rape rate, and finds out which countries are...
Published on Monday, 17th September 2012.
Why did the USA top the gold medals league in the Olympics, but not the Paralympics?...
Published on Monday, 10th September 2012.
‘What’s the number before infinity?’ asks Claudia, aged 4. We challenge Johnny...
Published on Monday, 3rd September 2012.
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia is the fourth African premier to die this year alone.
Published on Monday, 27th August 2012.
Given that some countries are richer than others, and some have larger populations, us...
Published on Monday, 20th August 2012.
Published on Friday, 17th August 2012.
Last week Knight Capital lost a lot of money very quickly. It was the latest chapter...
Published on Monday, 13th August 2012.
Published on Friday, 10th August 2012.
There was controversy this week after Ye Shiwen, a young Chinese swimmer, won the 400...
Published on Saturday, 4th August 2012.
Published on Friday, 3rd August 2012.
Last week's mass-shooting at a cinema in Colorado has - not surprisingly - intensified...
Published on Saturday, 28th July 2012.
Last week's mass-shooting at a cinema in Colorado has - not suprisingly - intensified...
Published on Friday, 27th July 2012.
The Tour de France, we are told, has finally cleaned up its act and clamped down on of...
Published on Saturday, 21st July 2012.
Published on Friday, 20th July 2012.
How much damage did messing with Libor really do to the financial system? And we the a...
Published on Saturday, 14th July 2012.
How much damage did messing with Libor really do to the financial system? After all, a...
Do residents of the tiny micronesian island of Palau really smoke more cannabis, and...
Published on Friday, 6th July 2012.
What is the highest-earning film ever if you adjust for inflation? And are birthdays...
Published on Friday, 29th June 2012.
How fat could the global population become? Plus, Angela Saini considers whether could...
Published on Saturday, 23rd June 2012.
Is the likelihood of bumping into your boss on holiday greater than you think? Angela...
Published on Monday, 18th June 2012.
Tim Harford interviews Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in...
Published on Monday, 11th June 2012.
How many images of Queen Elizabeth II have ever been created? And is Facebook really...
Published on Monday, 4th June 2012.
Is there any evidence to support the Beecroft Review's recommended changes to law? and...
Published on Monday, 28th May 2012.
It’s a very commonly-held belief that men are less faithful than women But it takes...
Published on Friday, 25th May 2012.
Earlier in the year we found out that Greeks put in more working hours than Germans.
Published on Monday, 21st May 2012.
Troubled families, nursing numbers and the mathematical consequences of unneutered cats.
Published on Thursday, 17th May 2012.
Would it be cheaper to send every Greek rail passenger by taxi instead? This programme...
Published on Monday, 14th May 2012.
Executive pay, chess and trouble on the Greek railway.
Published on Friday, 11th May 2012.
Are we witnessing a grand economic experiment being played out between Europe, trying...
Published on Friday, 4th May 2012.
Are we witnessing a grand economic experiment playing out between Britain and the How...
The Midas Formula - In this week's More or Less: The story of Black-Scholes, the that...
Published on Friday, 27th April 2012.
Rain and drought in numbers, the formula which changed Wall Street and then the world...
Is the rate of species extinction exaggerated - or even unknowable? Producer: Richard...
Published on Friday, 20th April 2012.
We investigate the height of North Koreans, the width of police officers and rate of...
Are there really more Porsche Cayenne owners in Greece than taxpayers earning over Can...
Published on Friday, 13th April 2012.
The Royal Mail says UK stamp prices are still among the best value in Europe, despite...
Published on Friday, 6th April 2012.
Do Manchester United and other leading clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona benefit in...
Published on Friday, 30th March 2012.
If there were perfect income equality worldwide, and everybody earned the same amount...
Published on Friday, 23rd March 2012.
Eating an extra portion of red meat every day is associated with an increased risk of...
Published on Friday, 16th March 2012.
Tim Harford explains why the technology giant Apple is not bigger than Poland, as have...
Published on Friday, 9th March 2012.
Tim Harford assesses how global poverty is measured, as the World Bank releases the on...
Published on Friday, 2nd March 2012.
Fifty-five per cent of Syrians do not think their leader President Assad should to of...
Published on Friday, 24th February 2012.
Can you measure your popularity – or that of anyone or anything – by the number of...
Published on Friday, 17th February 2012.
How do you measure a famine? Following the UN’s recent announcement that famine have...
Published on Friday, 10th February 2012.
Tim Harford investigates one of the most popular questions from More or Less “Are It...
Published on Friday, 3rd February 2012.
Which are the world’s biggest cities, and what are their populations? Two simple we...
Published on Friday, 27th January 2012.
A four-year bet about global warming between two scientists is settled.
Published on Friday, 20th January 2012.
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela thinks the US may have developed a secret to give...
Published on Saturday, 14th January 2012.
High Speed rail - Tim Harford speaks to railway consultant Chris Stokes and Alison HS2...
Published on Friday, 13th January 2012.
Tim Harford tackles the use of statistics in court, the average rise in rail fares,...
Published on Friday, 6th January 2012.
A guide to interesting, informative or just plain idiosyncratic numbers of the year.
Published on Friday, 30th December 2011.
Tim Harford on income inequality in the UK, and elsewhere. He speaks to Professor Sir...
Published on Friday, 23rd December 2011.
In the week scientists at the Large Hadron Collider announced that the most coveted in...
Published on Friday, 16th December 2011.
Tim Harford on National Literacy Trust figures and the maths of supermarket price wars.
Published on Friday, 9th December 2011.
In the week of a nationwide strike over pension changes, Tim Harford explains how the...
Published on Friday, 2nd December 2011.
In a change to our usual format, we are podcasting Matthew Taylor's "Brain Culture"...
Published on Tuesday, 29th November 2011.
In a change to the usual format, we are podcasting Matthew Taylor's "Brain Culture"...
Published on Tuesday, 22nd November 2011.
In a change to the usual format, we are podcasting Matthew Taylor’s series “Brain...
Published on Tuesday, 15th November 2011.
In More or Less this week: Government waste, a logic puzzle, the statistics of spying,...
Published on Friday, 9th September 2011.
In this week's More or Less: a Euro debt odyssey, the placebo effect and 70 years of...
Published on Friday, 2nd September 2011.
On this week's More or Less: Scottish independence, mobile phones and cancer, and is...
Published on Friday, 26th August 2011.
More or Less has the latest on salt, 'zero tolerance' policing, and how to predict the...
Published on Friday, 19th August 2011.
In More or Less this week: riots, debt, disability benefit and when to buy a lotto ticket.
Published on Friday, 12th August 2011.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team unpick more numbers in the news.
Published on Friday, 5th August 2011.
Investigating the public sector pay premium, statins and the 'decline effect'.
Published on Friday, 13th May 2011.
More or Less looks at child poverty, climate refugees and Sir Henry Cooper's greatest...
Published on Saturday, 7th May 2011.
In More or Less this week: a cornucopia of wedding-related numbers. And AV explained.
Published on Friday, 29th April 2011.
Tim Harford and team look at GDP, school standards and the results of 'The Other Census'.
Published on Friday, 22nd April 2011.
Tim Harford and the team examine examine tuition fees, drugs testing and inflation.
Published on Friday, 15th April 2011.
In More or Less this week: youth unemployment, Trumpton and social mobility.
Published on Friday, 8th April 2011.
Tim Harford is back with a new series of More or Less, and the numbers behind the news.
Published on Friday, 1st April 2011.
In this three-part series Michael Blastland lays out the history of economic ideas to...
Published on Wednesday, 30th March 2011.
'More or Less' creator Michael Blastland goes to Chicago to explore a machine-like of...
Published on Wednesday, 23rd March 2011.
More or Less creator Michael Blastland lays out the history of economic ideas to why...
Published on Wednesday, 16th March 2011.
The Government says Britain's health care standards have fallen behind those of our...
Published on Friday, 21st January 2011.
We look at street grooming, examine the new bank taxes, revisit Ambridge in the wake...
Published on Friday, 14th January 2011.
More or Less examines this week's claims and counter-claims about VAT, exposes some -...
Published on Friday, 7th January 2011.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team explore 2010 in numbers. Happy New Year to all...
Published on Friday, 31st December 2010.
Boom. Bust. Bah humbug. Tim Harford narrates 'A More or Less Christmas Carol' in which...
Published on Friday, 24th December 2010.
Local government budgets are being cut. More or Less looks at how the pie is sliced on...
Published on Friday, 17th December 2010.
We look at the numbers behind the increase in the cap on undergraduate tuition fees in...
Published on Friday, 10th December 2010.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team examine the micromort measure of risk and on...
Published on Friday, 1st October 2010.
Tim Harford and the More or Less team examine more numbers in the news. Fast.
Published on Friday, 24th September 2010.
Who earns more: private or public employees? And are your trousers flattering you?
Published on Friday, 17th September 2010.
More or Less looks at how maths is taught in schools today and it asks what the of the...
Published on Friday, 10th September 2010.
How reliable are life expectancy figures? Can cycling ever be safer than driving? And,...
Published on Friday, 3rd September 2010.
