Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Ash Die Back and Fergie Time

This is the first in the new series of the programme. Tim Harford has been busy felling some ash tree statistics. He asks whether the UK could lose 30% of our woodland trees and did the ash die back disease really kill 90% of ash trees in Denmark? Plus, there?s a well established idea that Manchester United get more added time than every other Premier League team. More or Less looks at the numbers behind this so called ?Fergie Time?. Do Manchester United get more injury time than other top teams when they?re drawing or losing?

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Brain Food and Bacteria

There's not an obvious link between chocolate and Nobel prizes, but this did not stop news outlets around the world reporting the amount of chocolate a country consumes influences the number of Nobel prizes they will win. In many cases the scientific study was reported without question or comment. Ruth Alexander asks what this story tells us about the way the media reports scientific studies, and why the correlation between the two might be so strong. Also ? it's often said that chopping boards or dishcloths have many more bacteria than toilet seat but is this really true?