Why is it so hard to predict the outcome of competitions like the Premier League?

What variables do we look at when we try to predict the outcome of a sports competition?

• 9 mins

How many butterflies are there in the world?

The world’s butterfly population doesn’t seem to be online – so what is it?

• 8 mins

How safe is the release of Fukushima nuclear plant water?

We ask whether there are any risks posed by the release into the Pacific Ocean.

• 9 mins

HS2 and electric cars, UK vs China emissions & massive maths errors

Can you really buy an electric car for everybody in the UK for the cost of HS2?

• 28 mins

What percentage of our brain do we actually use?

Do we have access to some or all of our brain-power?

• 8 mins

Covid deaths, North Sea gas and Chloe Kelly's World Cup penalty

Covid related deaths are rising in England and Wales - we investigate the figures

• 28 mins

Did 35,000 Americans die building the Panama Canal?

We fact check a claim made by Donald Trump about the world famous canal

• 14 mins

Skin cancer, London rents and your great great great granddaughter

Is it true that 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women in the UK will get skin cancer?

• 28 mins

How to approach the world through numbers

Professor David Sumpter talks to Tim Harford about his new book

• 9 mins

Social housing, NHS workforce and Liz Truss debt claims

Have the Tories really built a record number of social rent homes since 2010?

• 27 mins

Which city has the longest canals?

We dive into the world of waterways after a listener asked who has the longest canals.

• 9 mins

NHS consultant pay, Net Zero claims and Scotland's ferry woes

Are consultants in England really paid an average of £120,000 a year?

• 30 mins

Is the UK really ahead in cutting carbon emissions?

As the UK changes course in its path to net zero, how does it compare with other nations?

• 8 mins

Vaccine claims, Alzheimer's treatment and Tim's Parkrun times

We debunk claims about excess deaths and the covid vaccine made by YouTuber John Campbell

• 28 mins

Are half the words in English from French?

We ask whether almost half the words in the English language are of French origin.

• 9 mins

Greedy jobs and the gender pay gap

Tim Harford discusses the work of Nobel Economics prize winner Claudia Goldin

• 12 mins

What do windscreen splats tell us about insect decline?

We ask whether the ‘windscreen phenomenon’ suggests falling numbers of insects

• 8 mins

The Overlooked Mathematicians of History

Exploring the global history of mathematics

• 9 mins

Do Indian women own 11% of the world’s gold?

The cultural importance of gold is well known – but how much do Indians actually own?

• 8 mins

Can maths prove the existence of aliens?

We look a famous equation which tries to explain whether life exists in outer space

• 10 mins

Are women in the UK the biggest binge drinkers in the world?

Checking out stats on boozing Brits and fishing fleets in the South China Sea

• 8 mins

A boy meets girl meets stats story

A data scientist takes on rom com films to see how women in STEM are represented.

• 8 mins

Will there be a billion climate refugees?

We investigate if floods, droughts and storms will cause mass international migration

• 9 mins

Does endurance sport harm your heart?

We investigate the connection between high levels of exercise and arrhythmia

• 8 mins

China’s missing numbers

How the Chinese state make inconvenient statistics disappear

• 8 mins

Can chocolate be better than salad?

We investigate a nutritional conundrum – can chocolate ever be better for you than salad?

• 8 mins

Numbers of the year 2023

Hand-picked stats that tell you something interesting about the world

• 13 mins

How much money do the ‘Ndrangheta mafia make?

We investigate whether one criminal group could have a turnover of billions of dollars

• 8 mins

Deaths, taxes and missing cats

We investigate claims about gun crime, the UK tax burden, and the number of missing cats

• 28 mins

Do we see 10,000 adverts per day?

We investigate the claim that each of us sees thousands of adverts every single day

• 8 mins

Life expectancy, inheritance tax and the NHS vs winter

How long will we live? Who pays inheritance tax? How did the NHS perform this winter?

• 23 mins

Are there more possible games of chess than atoms in the universe?

We investigate how the vast possibilities in chess compare to the vastness of the universe

• 8 mins

Shopping, shipping and wind chill-ing

We investigate the cost of a weekly shop and explore the workings of wind chill

• 28 mins

Is Oxfam right about the world’s richest and poorest people?

We investigate how Oxfam use wealth stats to illustrate global inequality

• 10 mins

Measles, Traitors and the cost of Brexit

Is measles spreading? How much is Brexit costing? How good are they at traitor guessing?

• 28 mins

A pocket-size history of the calculator

Tim Harford explores the history of calculators from clockwork to the Kashio brothers

• 9 mins

Council tax weirdness: Hartlepool vs Westminster

Council tax comparisons, migration calculations and the carbon footprint of home-grown veg

• 28 mins

The global gender split in young people’s politics

Tim Harford investigates the growing political divergence between young men and women.

• 8 mins

Debt, students, shark and chips

What is the government’s rule on debt? Do 90% of chip shops sell shark and chips?

• 28 mins

The digital ‘robots’ unlocking medical data

Ben Goldacre on OpenSAFELY, protecting patient privacy while analysing health data

• 9 mins

Per capita GDP, MP claims and the entire EU budget

What does per capita GDP tell us? How much did the EU spend on covid recovery?

• 28 mins

NBA basketball: Is height more important than skill?

How much does a man’s height affect his chances of becoming an NBA basketball player?

• 8 mins

School spending, excess deaths and billions of animals at Heathrow

Is school funding at record levels? Did 6.5bn creatures come to the UK by plane last year?

• 28 mins

Ultramarathons: Are women faster than men?

Is it really true that in extremely long races, women run faster than men?

• 8 mins

Is public speaking really our biggest fear?

Tim Harford investigates the claim that public speaking is people’s number one fear.

• 8 mins

Does the Russian government really spend 40% of its budget on the military?

We investigate how much the Russian state is spending on the war in Ukraine.

• 8 mins

What's happening to Arctic ice?

Arctic ice has been in long decline. Do recent fluctuations change the story?

• 9 mins

Bonus episode: Daniel Kahneman on Thinking, Fast and Slow

In an episode of More or Less from 2012, Daniel Kahneman explains his big ideas.

• 9 mins

Remembering Daniel Kahneman

Tim Harford on the great social scientist, who has died at the age of 90

• 8 mins

Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking?

The connection between being alone and an early death

• 8 mins

Tackling The Three-Body Problem

Is the physics in Netflix's new show accurate?

• 8 mins

98%: Is misinformation being spread about a review of trans youth medicine?

Investigating claims that the Cass Review ignored valuable evidence

• 11 mins

Has Milei fixed Argentina’s inflation problem?

What falling inflation means for Milei’s austerity plan and economic “shock” measures

• 8 mins