More or Less

BBC Radio 4

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

1,133 episodes
Updated Saturday

Episodes1133

Newest first

May 9 · 8 min
Why it’s wrong to say vaping is as bad for you as smoking
Vaping vs smoking: how the evidence on cancer and other health risks compare
May 2 · 9 min
Does it take 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef?
How a stat about cows and water is not all it seems
April 25 · 8 min
Have RFK and MAHA really changed American views on vaccines?
Why a Politico headline overstated vaccine scepticism in the US
April 18 · 9 min
Is Trump right that wind turbines are killing millions of birds?
Investigating the scale of bird deaths caused by wind turbines
April 11 · 8 min
Dr Spock’s dangerous advice on baby sleep
How evidence eventually showed front sleeping was linked to sudden infant deaths
April 4 · 8 min
How likely is ‘likely’?
Adam Kucharski explains what people really mean when they use probability language
March 28 · 8 min
How much water does AI consume?
We take a deep dive into AI’s water consumption
March 21 · 8 min
Paul Ehrlich: The man who bet England wouldn’t exist by the year 2000
Why Paul Ehrlich’s dire predictions about a population collapse failed to materialise
March 14 · 8 min
Transgender women in sport: Does ‘comparable’ mean ‘equal’?
Investigating a scientific paper analysing the strength and fitness of transgender women
March 7 · 8 min
US-Israel war with Iran: Do the gulf states have enough interceptor missiles?
What we know about missile stockpiles following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran
February 28 · 8 min
Has a company really discovered a million new species?
Investigating whether Basecamp Research found hundreds of thousands of bacteria species
February 21 · 8 min
Did AI researchers let AI hallucinations into scientific papers?
Investigating a claim that 100 made-up claims were found in AI papers
February 17 · 8 min
Is an ancient charioteer the best paid sportsperson of all time?
Did a Roman charioteer really earn the equivalent of $15 billion dollars?
February 7 · 8 min
Is this Premier League striker a secret maths genius?
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.
January 31 · 8 min
Could Europe use its financial muscle to strong-arm the US?
Europe holds trillions of dollars of US shares and bonds - but can they use them?
January 28 · 28 min
Can you get £71,000 on benefits?
Tim Harford investigates benefits, church attacks, saunas and marathon running.
January 24 · 8 min
Is Greenland as big as Africa?
Tim Harford asks if Greenland is really as vast as most maps seem to suggest
January 21 · 29 min
How close is Greenland to the United States?
Tim Harford investigates Greenland maps, climate costs, house prices and Traitors maths.
January 17 · 8 min
No, a study has not shown that the covid jab causes cancer
Why a study from South Korea does not show that vaccines cause cancer
January 14 · 28 min
Have more than 100 private schools been forced to close because of VAT?
Tim Harford investigates closing schools, X users, Covid deaths and churchgoers