Category: News

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS More or Less: How Many Animals are Born Every Day?

From penguins to nematodes, is it possible to count how many animals are born around the world every day?

That?s the question one 10-year-old listener wants answered, and so reporter Kate Lamble sets off for the zoo to find out. Along the way, she discovers that very, very small animals are much more important than very, very big animals when it comes to the sums.

(09.05) Artificial Intelligence or A.I. has been hailed as the answer to an easier life ? but will it really make the world a better place, or just reinforce existing prejudices? Tim Harford speaks to author Meredith Broussard about ?techno-chauvinism?.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Infant Mortality, How to Reduce Exam Revision With Maths, London?s Murder Rate

(0.24) Infant mortality is on the rise in England and Wales ? but is this change down to social issues such as obesity and deprivation, as claimed, or the way doctors count very premature babies?

(9.45) A self-confessed lazy student wrote in to ask how he can minimise exam revision, while still ensuring a high chance of passing ? we do the sums.

(15.44) Do a billion birds really die each year by flying into buildings? We explain another zombie statistic which refuses to die.

(18.40) It was reported earlier this year that London?s murder rate was higher than New York City?s ? but how do the two cities compare now, and is there any value in these snapshot comparisons?