More or Less: Behind the Stats

Economics expert Tim Harford discusses the costs of the UK's EU membership and debunks the myth of one dog year equaling seven human years. He also explores suicide rates among war veterans and the expenses of Margaret Thatcher's funeral.

Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy uncovers the maths in Mozart's The Magic Flute. Discussion includes the surprising connection between birds and window collisions, a student's discovery of an error in an influential economic paper, and the numerical and geometric symbolism in Mozart's final opera.

Birds + windows =? The BBC Quiz show The Unbelievable Truth reckons that more than 2 million birds die crashing into window panes every day in the US. Tim Harford finds this, well, unbelievable. Marcus du Sautoy explores the maths in Mozart's The Magic Flute; a student who uncovered a mistake in a famous economic paper, which has been used to make the case for austerity cuts, explains how he did it; and separating fact from fiction about Margaret Thatcher with a look at the numbers of her time in office.

More or Less creates the Alternative Premier League, with lead scorer goals chalked off to work out whether it’s true that Van Persie’s really single-handedly won Manchester United’s the League? And would Tottenham be challenging for a Champions League spot without Gareth Bale’s goals? And how much bite has Luis Suarez’s contribution given Liverpool’s season? There are surprises, and one player really stands out as player of the season. Can you guess who it is? And, as an Italian Court overturns the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, accused of killing student Meredith Kercher, mathematician and author of Math on Trial, Coralie Colmez, argues that one judge in the case failed to understand some of the probabilities attached to the forensic evidence – and, in doing so, has missed an opportunity to get to the truth of the matter.

A student uncovers errors in a famous economic paper that influenced austerity measures. Debates on debt and growth impacted by flawed research. Reinhart-Rogoff findings questioned, challenging austerity economics.

Exploring the impact of Thatcher as Britain's first female prime minister and her influence on free-market economics. Analyzing her divisive nature and the data surrounding her tenure, debunking myths about her economic policies and revealing true trends. Examining the widening wealth gap, unemployment rates, and comparisons with other European countries

It’s the fourth anniversary of the earthquake which devastated the city of L’Aquila in Italy and which led to the conviction of six scientists and an official who failed to predict the disaster. Scientists and statisticians worldwide were alarmed at the six-year sentences for manslaughter the seven accused received. It was feared the prospect of being put on trial would put off scientists from even trying to communicate risk – a very difficult business. But the risk assessors’ pendulum seems to have swung the other way. Data and alarms about tremors are being issued regularly, triggering school closures and building evacuations. But how useful is this information? Ruth Alexander speaks to Ian Main, professor of seismology and rock physics at Edinburgh University in the UK, who puts the risks into context.

Expert in gold and its properties, Wesley Stephenson, discusses estimating the size of a cube made from all the world's gold. The podcast explores discrepancies in global gold estimates, historical records, past mining methods, valuable treasures, modern extraction technologies, distribution in jewelry and government reserves, skepticism surrounding Fort Knox's gold, counterfeit gold, and economic factors impacting gold reserves.

With an avalanche of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data generated daily, could this be used to change our lives and does it have a darker side?

Only last week Ivory Toldson heard the speaker say there are more black men in prison in America than in college. ‘Here we go again’ he thought. Only the week before he had written his second article on why this statistic is not true. This week Ruth Alexander looks at where this ‘fact’ came from and why it is still being used. Also, why the opinion polls got the Kenyan elections wrong.