Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
A $3.2 billion budget deficit; a 10 per cent improvement in quality of life; 760,000 jobs added this quarter. Confusing, out-of-context, incomplete and flat-out inaccurate statistics no doubt account for a good chunk of our era of information overload – although you wouldn’t want to put a percentage to that. In this video from BBC Ideas in collaboration with the Open University, the UK writer and broadcaster Tim Harford offers three helpful tips for sifting through the noise to find the signal when it comes to investigating statistical claims.
Video by BBC Reel
video
Thinkers and theories
A rare female scholar of the Roman Empire, Hypatia lived and died as a secular voice
5 minutes
video
Anthropology
Why are witchcraft accusations so common across human societies?
4 minutes
video
Subcultures
Drop into London’s eclectic skate scene, where newbies and old-timers find community
5 minutes
video
Technology and the self
A deepfake porn victim confronts the pain of having her likeness stolen and vandalised
19 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
video
Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
12 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
video
Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes