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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
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Physics
The abyss at the edge of human understanding – a voyage into a black hole
4 minutes
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Stories and literature
Robert Frost’s poetic reflection on youth, as read in his unforgettable baritone
5 minutes
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Sex and sexuality
After a sextortion scam, Eugene conducts an unblushing survey of masturbation
14 minutes
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Film and visual culture
‘Bags here are rarely innocent’ – how filmmakers work around censorship in Iran
8 minutes
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Language and linguistics
Closed captions suck. Here’s one artist’s inventive project to make them better
8 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
A rare female scholar of the Roman Empire, Hypatia lived and died as a secular voice
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Anthropology
Why are witchcraft accusations so common across human societies?
4 minutes
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Subcultures
Drop into London’s eclectic skate scene, where newbies and old-timers find community
5 minutes
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Technology and the self
A deepfake porn victim confronts the pain of having her likeness stolen and vandalised
19 minutes