Podcast Episodes

How do you make something 10-times more lethal?

What does the government mean when it commits to developing a “10-times more lethal” army?

Why was the much-missed Sycamore Gap tree said to be worth a strikingly exact £622,191?

Are there really twi…

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago

Is the world’s population being miscounted?

Exactly how many people live on our planet is one of those difficult-to-answer questions. The UN estimates is 8.2 billion, but that’s largely based on census data, which is certainly not a perfect m…

Published on 3 months ago

Does the average American have fewer than three friends?

Tim Harford is here to sprinkle a refreshing shower of statistical insight over the parched lawns of misinformation.

This week, we try to unpick the confusion over a claim made by London Mayor Sadiq K…

Published on 3 months ago

Factchecking the Trump administration’s Autism claims

Picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine sceptic, as the Secretary for Public Health might not be the most ‘out there’ thing the Trump administration has done but it certainly raised some eyebr…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

Is the UN underestimating the global fall in fertility?

Every two years, the UN release their predictions for the future population of humanity – currently expected to peak in the 2080s at around 10.3 billion people.

One of the things they use to work this…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

How dead is the internet?

In the early 2020s, a conspiracy theory started circulating online known as the “dead internet theory”.

This suggested that, instead of a vibrant digital super-community where people freely share thi…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago

Warren Buffett’s brilliant bets

Warren Buffett has announced he is stepping down as CEO of his company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett is one of the richest people in the world, and is widely held up as the greatest investor who ever …

Published on 4 months ago

Bonus episode: The Autism Curve

An interruption to your regular podcast feed: the first episode of a new BBC Radio 4 series investigating the steep rise in autism diagnoses.

The Autism Curve looks into the data that has prompted ar…

Published on 4 months ago

Donald Trump: 100 days fact-check

On the 29th April US President Donald Trump took to the stage in Michigan to celebrate his first 100 days in office.

This is a milestone in American politics, but is everything he claims the administ…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Are 80% of women really only attracted to 20% of men?

Netflix’s psychological drama Adolescence has started a debate about teenage boys and misogyny in modern society. It tells the story of a seemingly normal young boy, Jamie, who is arrested after the …

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago