Category: News

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - More alive than dead?

Tim Harford investigates one of the most popular questions from More or Less listeners: ?Are there more people alive today than have ever lived?? It is a zombie statistic that every time it is laid to rest it rises again. He also looks at whether science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke was right when he suggested that behind every living person are 30 ghosts. He also investigates the strange story of Michelle Obama?s shopping trip to a lingerie store in New York. Can she really have spent $50,000 on underwear? This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Sizing up cities

Which are the world?s biggest cities, and what are their populations? Two simple questions that we discover are surprisingly difficult to answer. Plus, has the world got heavier or lighter since the industrial revolution? It?s a question posed by a More or Less listener that got us wondering, too. Dr Chris Smith, part of a group of Cambridge University researchers, known as the Naked Scientists, reckons he?s worked out the answer. This programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.