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The origins of Covid

How similar are the Covid strains?

• 9 mins

Maths and the Mayflower

Are there really 35 million descendants of the Mayflower alive today?

• 9 mins

Is Ivermectin a Covid ‘wonder drug’?

What do we know about the efficacy of Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19?

• 9 mins

Are there 40 million Nigerians on Twitter?

Recent reports have claimed that Nigeria has 40 million Twitter users – but is this true?

• 9 mins

Long Covid and Vaccinating Children

The world watches as the UK lifts its remaining Covid restrictions

• 9 mins

The Rise of Delta

Where’s this new Variant spreading and what can be done to stop it?

• 9 mins

Breaking climate records

The odds and probability behind record-breaking temperatures

• 9 mins

Jab fears explained: a base rate fallacy

Why increasing Covid infections amongst the vaccinated isn’t necessarily bad news.

• 9 mins

How good were the performances at the Tokyo Olympics?

What can the data tell us about the quality of the Covid hit games?

• 9 mins

The extraordinary life of Robert Moses

The life of mathematics educator and civil rights organiser, Dr Robert Moses

• 9 mins

Reason, numbers and Mr Spock

What role do numbers play in helping us think more rationally?

• 9 mins

The bill for Afghanistan

Did the war in Afghanistan cost the US $2 trillion?

• 9 mins

Is immunity from vaccines waning?

How worried should we be about declining antibodies? Plus life-threatening hotdogs.

• 9 mins

How many holes are there in a drinking straw?

Tim Harford talks to Jordan Ellenberg about the pandemic, geometry and drinking straws

• 9 mins

Has the number of periods a woman has in her lifetime quadrupled?

A claim about how many periods a woman has and a suspicious stat on single-use face masks

• 9 mins

The Gender Pay Gap

Can Machiavelli help women get a better deal in the workplace?

• 9 mins

Vaccinating the world

How countries’ vaccination rates measure up – and the trickiness of comparing them.

• 9 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.

• 9 mins

The numbers behind Squid Game

Could you survive a round in Squid Game, and how many have watched it?

• 9 mins

The art of counting

Tim Harford talks to author Deborah Stone about her book which explores counting

• 9 mins

Same data, opposite results. Can we trust research?

Why the same data can produce different conclusions.

• 9 mins

The carbon cost of breakfast at COP26

Can a vegan croissant really be worse for the environment than a bacon roll?

• 9 mins

A TikTok tale

How a well-meaning TikTok disrupted 4,600 studies.

• 9 mins

Simpson’s Paradox: How to make vaccinated death figures misleading

A tricky statistical phenomenon at play.

• 9 mins

Does wearing a mask halve your chances of getting Covid-19?

Is it true wearing a mask reduces Covid-19 incidence by 53%?

• 9 mins

Does catching Covid give you more immunity than being vaccinated?

Infection vs injection: Could Covid infection provide 27 times more protection?

• 9 mins

The psychological economics of gift giving

How to buy gifts people actually want.

• 9 mins

Numbers of 2021

The most significant numbers of the year

• 9 mins

Will the population of Nigeria be larger than Europe’s?

Will Nigeria’s population really reach 600million?

• 9 mins

How much plastic is in the ocean and can Mr Beast make a difference?

Can two social media stars remove $30million worth of plastic from the ocean?

• 9 mins