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Science

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BBC Radio 4

The messy history behind the modern calendar

June 27, 2026 12:00am 8 min

This year, the UK has had its hottest May and June days on record, with the mercury hitting the high thirties.But while the markings on a thermometer seem scientific and regular, the way we split up our calendar does not...

Benefits vs minimum wage: Which pays more?

June 24, 2026 3:00am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:(00:42) Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Jeremy Hunt argues that you can earn far more on out of work benefits than you can on the minimum wage. W...

Is the US worse than North Korea for malnutrition deaths?

June 20, 2026 12:00am 8 min

This surprising claim was spotted circulating on social media: ‘The United States has surpassed China and North Korea in deaths from malnutrition’. The claim used analysis from the Global Burden of Disease database...

Does Europe suffer more heat deaths than the US?

June 17, 2026 3:00am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:(00:31) Claims have circulated on the internet that Europe sees a particularly high number of deaths from heat waves, especially when compared to the US...

Andrew Ross Sorkin: What can the Great Crash of 1929 tell us about today?

June 13, 2026 12:00am 8 min

The Great Crash of 1929 has faded into history, but financial journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin argues it holds vital lessons for today. Andrew came into the studio in London to discuss what we can understand abo...

Education, Education, Education (and immigration)

June 10, 2026 3:00am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:(00:32) The internet is abuzz with the claim that twenty-seven young migrants are hired for every British young person. We explore the truth behind this...

Factchecking claims that 400 churches were burned to the ground in France

June 06, 2026 12:00am 8 min

In certain corners of the internet some suspicious numbers are cropping up again and again. People claiming that 400 churches have been burnt to the ground or attacked in an assortment of countries, including France, the...

Debunking the claim that migrants will get half of new homes

June 03, 2026 3:30am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:The Daily Express claims that ‘Migrants will get half of all new homes’, based on a calculation from the Conservatives. We explain why that’s not what t...

The known unknowns of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 30, 2026 12:00am 8 min

On the 17th of May the World Health Organisation declared a new outbreak of Ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an International Emergency. Ebola virus is an extremely nasty viral disease with a high de...

Does a fall in the UK's healthy life expectancy mean what you think it means?

May 27, 2026 3:30am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:Headlines have claimed that “healthy life expectancy” in the UK has fallen by two years. What does this actually mean?A new government report estimates ...

Is the ‘loneliness epidemic’ real?

May 23, 2026 12:00am 8 min

What does it mean if you say that something is an epidemic? In the case of a virus, it usually means that it is spreading rapidly and that more and more people are getting infected. When a disease isn’t on the rise but i...

Are refugees more likely to commit crime?

May 20, 2026 3:30am 28 min

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. On the programme:Last week, Annunziata Rees-Mogg took to X to post a claim about the proportion of sex offences in Dorset that are committed by asylum seekers, wr...

Erdos Problem 1196: Can AI now solve maths that no human can?

May 16, 2026 12:00am 8 min

It’s said that AI could soon be coming for the jobs of artists, lawyers, and software engineers. But it might now also be threatening a role at the height of academia – are pure mathematicians safe? Last month, a Stanf...

Why it’s wrong to say vaping is as bad for you as smoking

May 09, 2026 12:00am 8 min

According to the World Health organisation, smoking kills some 7 million people every year. It is one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death.Because smoking causes lung cancer and other awful health condition...

Does it take 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef?

May 02, 2026 12:00am 9 min

If you spend much time on social media, and we don’t necessarily recommend it, then you’ve probably come across a strange fascination with water consumption.Mainly, this is people telling you that using AI is terrible fo...

Have RFK and MAHA really changed American views on vaccines?

April 25, 2026 12:00am 8 min

Vaccine policy in the US is something of an ideological battleground. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is a vaccine sceptic, and since taking office he has attempted to remake US vaccine policy. In March a judge bloc...

Is Trump right that wind turbines are killing millions of birds?

April 18, 2026 12:00am 9 min

US president Donald Trump is no fan of wind turbines, or windmills as he calls them.Not only does he think they ruin the view from a golf course he owns in Scotland, but they are also deadly to birds.“If you love birds, ...

Dr Spock’s dangerous advice on baby sleep

April 11, 2026 12:00am 8 min

Sometimes it is obvious to everyone when an idea is harmful, or a piece of advice is damaging. But not always. Occasionally bad ideas and terrible advice end up being accepted in society and supported by people in author...

How likely is ‘likely’?

April 04, 2026 12:00am 8 min

When you’re listening to the news, you will often hear words that are meant to communicate the probability of something happening.   A terrorist attack is “a realistic possibility”, the spread of a certain strain of viru...

How much water does AI consume?

March 28, 2026 1:00am 8 min

As Artificial Intelligence continues to expand rapidly, some people have raised concerns about its potential environmental impact - in particular its use of water, which is used to cool both data centres and the power ge...

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