麻豆约拍

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 鈥榳indscreen phenomenon鈥� 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鈥檚 gold?

The cultural importance of gold is well known 鈥� 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鈥檚 missing numbers

How the Chinese state make inconvenient statistics disappear

• 8 mins

Can chocolate be better than salad?

We investigate a nutritional conundrum 鈥� 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 鈥楴drangheta 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 politics

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

• 8 mins

Debt, students, shark and chips

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

• 28 mins

The digital 鈥榬obots鈥� 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鈥檚 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