More or Less: Behind the Stats BBC Podcasts
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- Business
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Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4
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Tackling The Three-Body Problem
Netflix has a big new show named after and inspired by a classic problem in astrophysics, 'The Three Body Problem', where predicting the course and orbits of three or more celestial bodies proves near impossible.
But how faithful is the Netflix show - and original novel - to the actual physics?
Dr Anna Lisa Varri from the University of Edinburgh explains what we can and can't say about the complex and beautiful motions of planets, stars and moons, and brings a dose of scientific facts to science fiction.
Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Nathan Gower
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon -
Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking?
Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes per day? That’s the claim circulating on social media.
We trace this stat back to its source and speak the scientist behind the original research on which it is based, Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad.
Presenter / series producer: Tom Colls
Reporter: Perisha Kudhail
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon -
Remembering Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist and More or Less hero, has died at the age of 90.
Tim Harford explains his ideas and influence.
Presenter: Charlotte McDonald
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon -
Bonus episode: Daniel Kahneman on Thinking, Fast and Slow
In an episode of More or Less from 2012, Daniel Kahneman – the Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist who has died at the age of 90 – explains the big ideas in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.
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What's happening to Arctic ice?
The area of ice covering the Arctic ocean has been in a state of long decline, as climate change takes effect. But recent fluctuations in the ice have been seized on by climate change sceptics, who say it tells a different story.
We speak to polar climate scientist Professor Julienne Stroeve to better understand how to read the ice data.
Presenter / producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon -
Does the Russian government really spend 40% of its budget on the military?
According to the head of the British military, the Russian government spends 40% of its budget on its war machine. But is it true?
With the help of Professor Bettina Renz from Nottingham University and Dr Richard Connolly from The Royal United Services Institute, Olga Smirnova investigates the figure.
Presenter: Tom Colls
Producer: Olga Smirnova
Production Co-ordinator Katie Morrison
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon
Image: Russian Military Perform Victory Day Parade Night Rehearsal in Moscow Credit: (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
Customer Reviews
“Math is hard”- but More or Less I love this show -Barbie
They ask the experts and that is so refreshing.
This is the good stuff!
You did miss out on the central question re natural gas- will there be a world where it is not part of the energy solution- not by 2030, I doubt by 2050 so the question is do we need the supply not if it is polluting. A side from this,
More or Less brings the research to the questions of the day! This is the good stuff and what you wish your politicians did.
Not Dismal
The way ‘economics’ should be taught.