More or Less archive Aug 2009 - Sept 2009

Here is a list of programmes featured in the Summer 2009 series of BBC Radio 4's More or Less.

You can listen to individual programmes by clicking on "Listen to the programme" or find out further information by clicking "Read more".

11 September, 2009

Reports that the world will cool over the next two decades before global warming resumes. We examine a claim that beautiful people have more daughters. Plus using maths to solve a Beatles musical mystery.

4 September, 2009

What are the real figures behind the widely-reported estimates of illegally shared files on the internet? Dodgy equations thought up by the public relations industry, and we investigate why the English football team loses.

What does the notoriously low conviction rate for rape in England and Wales mean? Do graduates earn £100 000 more, over a lifetime, than people who don't go to university? And we look at the pitfalls of meta-analysis, and how data can be put to artistic use.

How reliable are the data being collected on swine flu? Could statistics give England the edge in the Ashes, and what's the evidence for 'grade inflation' in A-levels? We also speak to one of the creators of the 'financial weapons of mass destruction'.

14 August, 2009

Does 75 per cent of UK law come from Brussels? How accurate was our football forecast? Simon Calder explains the air fare algorithm and we investigate one of the most-quoted statistics of all: that "93% of communication is non-verbal".

7 August, 2009

Investigating a You Tube video that claims France will be an Islamic republic in 39 years. Are innocent people just as likely as guilty ones to go on to commit crimes in the future? And more on the maths of music.

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