More or Less

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

Radio 4,685 episodes

Episodes

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QAnon: Did 365,348 children go missing in the US in 2020?
Fact checking a QAnon claim
16 Jan 2022,8 mins
Omicron, pandemic birth rates and boosters
An Omicron update, pandemic birth rates and the booster drive.
12 Jan 2022,27 mins
How much plastic is in the Ocean and can Mr Beast make a difference?
Looking at Mark Rober and Mr Beast’s plastics pledge.
09 Jan 2022,8 mins
Will the population of Nigeria be larger than Europe’s?
Will Nigeria’s population really reach 600million?
02 Jan 2022,8 mins
Numbers of 2021
The most significant numbers of the year
26 Dec 2021,8 mins
The psychological economics of gift giving
How to buy gifts people actually want.
19 Dec 2021,8 mins
Does catching covid give you more immunity than being vaccinated?
Infection vs injection: Could prior infection provide 27 times more protection?
12 Dec 2021,8 mins
Does wearing a mask halve your chances of getting Covid-19?
Is it true wearing a mask reduces Covid-19 incidence by 53%?
05 Dec 2021,8 mins
Simpson’s Paradox: How to make vaccinated death figures misleading
A tricky statistical phenomenon at play.
28 Nov 2021,8 mins
A TikTok tale
How a well-meaning TikTok disrupted 4,600 studies
21 Nov 2021,8 mins
The carbon cost of breakfast at COP26
Can a vegan croissant really be worse for the environment than a bacon roll?
14 Nov 2021,8 mins
Same data, opposite results. Can we trust research?
Why the same data can produce different conclusions.
07 Nov 2021,8 mins
The art of counting
Tim Harford talks to author Deborah Stone about her book which explores counting.
31 Oct 2021,8 mins
The numbers behind Squid Game
Could you survive a round in Squid Game, and how many have watched it?
24 Oct 2021,8 mins
The prize-winning economics of migration and the minimum wage
A look at the work of this year’s winners of the most prestigious prize in economics.
17 Oct 2021,8 mins
Bonus episode: the first ever More or Less
A chat with More or Less's founding producer and presenter plus the first episode in full
07 Oct 2021,36 mins
Twenty years of More or Less
A look back at our origins, plus the usual mix of numerical nous and statistical savvy.
06 Oct 2021,27 mins
The Gender Pay Gap
Can Machiavelli help women get a better deal in the workplace?
03 Oct 2021,8 mins
Is it easy being green?
Expensive electricity, inadequate insulation, and a tale of tumbling trees.
29 Sep 2021,29 mins
Covid trends, face mask use, and the universal credit cut
A coronavirus check-in, our daily mask use measured, and the universal credit cut.
22 Sep 2021,27 mins
How many holes are there in a drinking straw?
Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws.
18 Sep 2021,8 mins
Death, Tax and Dishwashers
Why is estimating the number of unvaccinated people so tricky? And how deadly is 2021?
15 Sep 2021,27 mins
Vaccine waning, hot dogs and Afghanistan
How worried should we be about antibodies? Plus food that shortens life.
08 Sep 2021,27 mins
The Bill for Afghanistan
Did the war in Afghanistan cost the US $2 trillion?
04 Sep 2021,8 mins
Covid, HGV driver shortages and protest costs
Has Brexit caused a fall in lorry drivers? Plus policing Extinction Rebellion
01 Sep 2021,28 mins
Reason, numbers and Mr Spock
What role do numbers play in helping us think more rationally?
28 Aug 2021,8 mins
The extraordinary life of Robert Moses
The life of mathematics educator and civil rights organiser, Dr Robert Moses
21 Aug 2021,8 mins
How good were the performances at the Tokyo Olympics?
What can the data tell us about the quality of the Covid hit games?
16 Aug 2021,8 mins
Jab fears explained: a base rate fallacy
Why increasing Covid infections amongst the vaccinated isn’t necessarily bad news
07 Aug 2021,8 mins
Breaking Climate Records
The odds and probability behind record-breaking temperatures
31 Jul 2021,8 mins