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Correlations can’t imply causation? Not so fast. A primer on causal networks
The old statistics axiom that correlation doesn’t imply causation is true, but causation can be drawn from more than one correlation. A clever and impressively efficient explainer, this short animation from MinutePhysics clears up a common maths misconception by showing how the concept of causal networks can be used to draw a straight line between correlations and causation via a process of elimination.
Video by MinutePhysics
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video
Cosmology
Building ‘bigger and better’ has pushed cosmology forward. Can it take it any further?
7 minutes
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Art
How Hokusai’s Great Wave emerged from Japan’s isolation to become a global icon
17 minutes
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Biology
Watch the elegant flow of a sheep herd, seen from the sky above Israel
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Physics
How would a piano sound on Mars? Embark on an interplanetary sonic journey
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The ancient world
Not a lost kingdom but a parable – how to read Athens in Plato’s story of Atlantis
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Meaning and the good life
Albert Camus built a philosophy of humanity on a foundation of absurdity
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Design and fashion
Gear up for a stylish celebration of vintage motorcycle design
6 minutes
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Biology
An ode to the humble rotifer – one of nature’s simplest and strangest creatures
9 minutes
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Mathematics
Check in to the Hilbert Hotel, and learn why some infinities are bigger than others
6 minutes