Have you ever looked at a numerical claim and thought ‘what on earth does that mean?’ Complex numbers are often badly communicated, making it difficult for the public to appreciate what they signify - but dial things down too much and you’re at risk of oversimplifying important issues. It’s a tightrope walk authors Chip Heath and Karla Starr have explored in their new book ‘Making Numbers Count’. Tim Harford talks to them about how we can improve the way we communicate numbers to the general public.  Producer: Lizzy McNeill  (Image: Child in front of numbers, Credit: Getty Images)

Subitising and simplifying: how to better explain numbers

Tim Harford and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us. From BBC Radio 4

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The Cass Review is an independent report on the state of gender identity services for under-18s  in England’s NHS. It found children had been let down by a lack of research and "remarkably weak" evidence on medical interventions in gender care. But before it was even released, claims were circulating online that it ignored 98% of the evidence in reaching its conclusion.  Is that claim true? We speak to Dr Hilary Cass, the author of the review, Professor Catherine Hewitt of York University, who analysed the scientific research, and Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of the British Medical Journal. Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon

98%: Is misinformation being spread about a review of trans youth medicine?

Netflix has a big new show named after and inspired by a classic problem in astrophysics, 'The Three Body Problem', where predicting the course and orbits of three or more celestial bodies proves near impossible. But how faithful is the Netflix show - and original novel - to the actual physics?
Dr Anna Lisa Varri from the University of Edinburgh explains what we can and can't say about the complex and beautiful motions of planets, stars and moons, and brings a dose of scientific facts to science fiction. Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Nathan Gower
Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon

Tackling The Three-Body Problem

Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes per day? That’s the claim circulating on social media. We trace this stat back to its source and speak the scientist behind the original research on which it is based, Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad. Presenter / series producer: Tom Colls
Reporter: Perisha Kudhail 
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon

Is loneliness as bad for you as smoking?

Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist and More or Less hero, has died at the age of 90. 
Tim Harford explains his ideas and influence.  Presenter: Charlotte McDonald
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

Remembering Daniel Kahneman

In an episode of More or Less from 2012, Daniel Kahneman – the Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist who has died at the age of 90 – explains the big ideas in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Subitising and simplifying: how to better explain numbers

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