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How well do you understand your world?

Tim Harford talks to Bobby Duffy about why we are often wrong about a lot of basic facts

• 9 mins

The safest car in the world?

A listener asks whether his Volvo is the safest car on the road

• 9 mins

DNA: Are you more Chimp or Neanderthal?

Is our DNA more chimp or Neanderthal?

• 9 mins

Trump and the Puerto Rico Death Toll

How can we calculate excess mortality after a natural disaster?

• 9 mins

Surviving the Battle of Britain

Were Spitfire pilots killed after an average of four weeks in the World War Two battle?

• 9 mins

Why are Lesbians More Likely to Divorce than Gay Men?

Tim Harford talks to economist Marina Adshade about same-sex divorce statistics.

• 9 mins

Paul Romer and William Nordhaus’ Big Ideas

The economists tackling climate change and growth

• 9 mins

Foreign Aid: Who’s The Most Generous?

In foreign aid terms what’s the best way of measuring how generous a country is?

• 9 mins

Vaccines: The Importance of The Herd and Social Media

What proportion of a population needs to be vaccinated to stop a disease spreading?

• 9 mins

Timing a Tsunami

How fast do Tsunamis travel?

• 9 mins

Do Assassinations Work?

How likely are assassination attempts on heads of state to succeed?

• 9 mins

When’s a Kilogram Not a Kilogram?

Updating the kilogram.

• 9 mins

Are 90% of War Fatalities Civilians?

Xavier Zapata examines what the data tells us about the deadly impact of war on civilians

• 9 mins

Sex and Heart Attacks

Are women more likely to die from a heart attack than men?

• 9 mins

Lennon or McCartney?

How statistical modelling can work out which Beatle wrote which song

• 9 mins

Dam Lies and Statistics

Are mega-dams really sustainable?

• 9 mins

Mission: Impossible - Quantifying Santa

What to look out for on Christmas Eve

• 9 mins

Numbers of the Year Part One

The numbers that made 2018

• 9 mins

Numbers of the Year Part Two

Helena Merriman with numbers about water shortage, plastic recycling and American jobs

• 9 mins

The Mathematics of Fever

We look at the numbers behind body temperature – what is normal?

• 9 mins

Close Encounters of a Planetary Kind

Which planet is closest to Earth?

• 9 mins

Is Suicide Seasonal?

Tim Harford asks which times of the year are riskiest for suicide.

• 9 mins

You Have 15,000 Likes!

When listener Helen got 15,000 likes on Tinder she questioned the stats behind swiping

• 9 mins

Hyperinflation in Venezuela

Tim Harford on the astonishing speed of price rises in Venezuela; teenagers’ screen use

• 9 mins

When maths mistakes really matter

Tim Harford talks to Matt Parker about how simple maths mistakes can cause big problems.

• 9 mins

How to make your artwork more valuable

Six top tips on how to get the best price for your art

• 9 mins

Insectageddon

Could insects go extinct in one hundred years?

• 9 mins

The gender gap in tech

Are women really less likely than men to be hired for jobs in tech?

• 9 mins

Daylight saving time and heart attacks

Does the sudden loss of an hour of sleep raise the risk of having a heart attack?

• 9 mins

Is Mansa Musa the richest person of all time?

Is the West African king, Mansa Musa, the richest person who ever lived?

• 9 mins