Interview with SciBabe; What's the Word; News Items: The Viability of Conspiracies, The Aliens are Dead, Marvin Minsky, Probiotics Hype; Your Questions and E-mails: Fake Skeptic Scam; Science or Fiction
Facebook reports record earnings thanks to strong growth in advertising. Microsoft connects with its cloud business. Apple loses some of its shine after projecting a decline in revenues. And McDonald's brings home the bacon thanks to all-day breakfast. Our analysts discuss the week's top business stories and share some stocks on their radar.
On The Gist, a best-of episode to welcome new listeners who heard our host on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me this weekend. First, the film Spotlight depicts serious investigative journalism without the usual guns, car chases, and explosions. We speak with subjects from the film, including journalists Walter “Robby” Robinson (played by Michael Keaton), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo). They’re the authors of the book Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church. For The Spiel, New York City’s police commissioner explains why obvious errors in the terror hoax helped the city avoid another a school closing.
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New alcohol guidelines were issued recently which lowered the number of units recommended for safe drinking. But are the benefits and harms of alcohol being jusged correctly? We speak to Professor David Speigelhalter and
Sepsis ? do 44,000 people die of it a year? Is it the country's second biggest killer? We speak to Dr Marissa Mason about the difficulties of knowing the numbers.
Dan Bouk tells the story of a statistician who crept around graveyards in South Carolina at the turn of the century recording how long people lived - all to help out an insurance firm.
It's from his book 'How our days became numbered' ? looking at how data from insurance company has shaped knowledge about our lives.
Have refugees caused a gender imbalance in Sweden or is there something funny going on? It has been reported that there are 123 boys for every 100 girls aged between 16 and 17 in Sweden. In China, the ratio is 117 boys to 100 girls. We explore if the numbers add up and why this might be.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Your online dating profile is the latest spin on a 300-year-old tradition of advertising yourself in order to find a spouse, a sexual partner, or someone to take care of your pigs.
Francesca Beauman, author of Shapely Ankle Preferr’d: A History of the Lonely Hearts Ad, digs into lonely hearts ads to see how British society and desires have evolved over the past three centuries.
We have two guests today. Cory Johnston tells us about his conference in Regina Canada (fyi... The unholy trinity will be there). We also have Gayle Jordan the new Executive Director for Recovering From Religion. Investing Skeptically - China part 2 and non traded REITs. Look out for large broker fees!
Kelela is a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. In 2015, she released Hallucinogen, and landed on critics' lists in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Pitchfork, and more. In this episode, Kelela takes apart her song Rewind. To make the track, she worked with five different producers, picking and choosing each for what they could best contribute to her overall vision for the song. This interview was recorded live in San Francisco, at Fusion's Real Future Fair.
This episode is sponsored by Parachute (use code SONGEXPLODER for $25 off).