Stats + Stories
Episodes
What Are Blue Foods? | Stats + Stories Episode 384
09 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
More than 3 billion people rely on seafood to supply a significant portion of the annual protein in their diets. That number will only rise as the glo...
Suffragette Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 318 (REPOST)
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The work of suffragettes in both the United Kingdom and the United States has been immortalized in textbooks, as well as in movies and TV. The women a...
Countering Vaccine Skepticism | Stats + Stories Episode 383 Pt. 2
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In early January 2026, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced changes to the childhood immunization schedules, reducing the num...
Countering Vaccine Skepticism | Stats + Stories Episode 383 Pt. 1
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Three hundred and thirty-two days, that was the international statistic of the year in 2020, as identified by the Royal Statistical Society. That was ...
Measuring Poverty | Stats + Stories Episode 382
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
According to the World Bank, some 3.5 billion people live on less than $7 a day. That's more than 40% of the global population. Almost 700 million of ...
Tracking Health Over Time | Stats + Stories Episode 85 (REPOST)
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Lloyd Edwards is Professor and Chair of Biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Edwards has an extensive background in colla...
The Classic “Will They, or Won’t They?” and the Kiss Effect | Stats + Stories Episode 381
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Television is filled with "will they or won't they" couples. Friends had Ross and Rachel. Parks and Rec had Leslie and Ben. The Gilmore Girls, had Lor...
Protecting Seaside Cities from Possible Future Impacts of Climate Change | Stats + Stories Episode 53 (REPOST)
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Guttorp (@pgseattle) is a Professor at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, Norway, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, S...
Counting Costs of Conflict | Stats + Stories Episode 380
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to studying conflict, there is obvious data to examine: spending on arms, the number of people killed or injured, and the amount of land...
Health Benefits of Riding an Electric Bike | Stats + Short Stories Episode 319 (REPOST)
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hybrid cars are everywhere now but what is your best option if you want to feel the wind in your hair, or at least under your helmet and you want to g...
Hit Songs by the Numbers & What They Reveal About Us | Stats + Stories Episode 379
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Billboard Hot 100 has been ranking the week's most popular music since 1958. The first song to top the chart was Ricky Nelson's Poor Little Fool. ...
Data for Good | Stats + Stories Episode 378
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the podcast, we talk about the ways we live in and with data, as well as the ways data shape our lives and our politics. Public discourse around da...
Just In Time For The Holiday Shopping Season - A Story About Online Marketing | Stats + Stories Episode 47 (REPOST)
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Platt (@glennplatt) is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Network Technology & Management & Director of Interactive Media Studies at Miami Un...
Football Figures | Stats + Stories Episode 377
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
American Football is a game played with 11 players on offense competing against 11 players on defense, with a sequence of plays executed as one team a...
The Art of Uncertainty | Stats + Stories Episode 376
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
News stories are filled with tales of risk and uncertainty. We're told the probable chance of a weather event or how likely it is that we might contra...
Thankful For A Bountiful Harvest - How Bountiful Was It And Who Produced It? | Stats + Stories Episode 45 (REPOST)
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Linda J. Young is Chief Mathematical Statistician and Director of Research and Development of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service . She ov...
Enhancing Statistical Literacy | Stats + Stories Episode 375
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Statistical literacy was described by Iddo Gal as "the ability to interpret, critically, evaluate and communicate about statistical information and me...
No One is Poisoning Your Kids' Candy, Trust the Numbers | Stats + Stories Episode 206 (REPOST)
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The costumes are ready and the annual opportunity to go out and harass your neighbors to get candy is once again upon us. Yes, it's time for Halloween...
Deciphering Dishonest Charts | Stats + Stories Episode 374
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Data visualizations are everywhere, showing up in social media, in the news, and on company websites. With this onslaught, it can be hard to know what...
The Age of the Supercentenarian | Stats + Stories Episode 229 (REPOST)
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When American comedian and actor Betty White died, fans lamented the fact that she had just missed making it to her 100th birthday. They felt she’d ...
Choosing a College in the Era of Polarization | Stats + Stories Episode 373
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fall is admissions season at universities across the United States. As colleges work to recruit a new class, a new working paper suggests that politic...
Intl Prize Stat Winner Grace Wahba Legendary, Statistician & Mentor | Stats + Stories Episode 372
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The international prize in statistics is awarded every two years by a collaboration among five leading international statistics organizations: the Ame...
Viral Statistical Capacity Building | Stats + Stories Episode 293 (REPOST)
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Shearing is a private sector consultant working globally in partnership with the public, private and not-for-profit sectors on improving offic...
Reading Racy Research | Stats + Stories Episode 371
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered if what you eat is aging you, or whether women in red really are sexier? In addition to turning to Reddit for the answers to th...
Comedy, Art, and ... Statistics? | Stats + Stories: Episode 370
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A statistician walks into a bar, and a comedy and art show begins. Creative work for scholars can extend beyond novel research and application. In tod...
Communicating Statistics Effectively | Stats and Stories at JSM (REPOST)
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
John Bailer is “the stats guy” and co-creator of Stats+Stories. He is also University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Stati...
Stat Significant | Stats + Stories Episode 369
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered if people actually hate Coldplay? Do you want statistical proof that Game of Thrones did not stick the landing in its finale? H...
Signing Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 239 (REPOST)
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is a median? How about an interquartile range? Don’t even get me started on how to define a p-value. These statistical concepts are hard to gra...
Excellence in Statistical Reporting | Stats + Stories Episode 368
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The National Association of science writers has about 2000 members, even as the field of science journalism has been experiencing a contraction. In he...
The Ocean Health Index | Stats + Stories Episode 203 (REPOST)
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The health of the world's oceans is a growing concern but measuring ocean health is a complicated undertaking. Some people studying the issue focus on...
Amazonian Ancient Earthworks | Stats + Stories Episode 367
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Amazon has been imagined as a pristine wilderness, one in need of protection from development. This framing has often treated the Amazon as a plac...
Days of R COVID Lives | Stats + Stories Episode 366
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Early in the COVID pandemic, as we figured out how to live our lives solely at home, news stories began to be filled with stories about COVID’s spre...
Measuring the Impact of Universal Basic Income | Stats + Stories Episode 287 (REPOST)
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the best way to support people living in extreme poverty? Could unconditional cash transfers and universal basic income be viable options? How...
Fair Play on the Fairway | Stats + Stories Episode 365
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rory McIlroy was leading the 2025 U.S. Masters golf tournament by two strokes after three rounds. So was his ultimate victory a sure thing? How predic...
Statistical Summer Transportation Safety | Stats + Short Stories Episode 146 (REPOST)
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What comes to mind at the start of summer? Backyard barbecues, quality time spent, and long drive. Transportation safety is the topic of this episode ...
Statistical Literacy | Stats + Stories Episode 364
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every year, statistics classes are filled with math averse students who white knuckle it to the end of the semester in the hopes of getting a passing ...
What is Nutrition Science | Stats + Stories Episode 214 (REPOST)
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An entire industry has grown up around nutrition and health. People pushing everything from shakes, to meal kits, to special diets. While some of the ...
Explaining Science | Stats + Stories Episode 363
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a commencement speech in 2016, Atul Gawande told the crowd that science is a, "commitment to a systematic way of thinking, an allegiance to a way o...
Global Weirding | Stats + Stories Episode 362
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More than 15 years ago, Thomas Friedman wrote, “I prefer the term “global weirding,” because that is what actually happens as global temperature...
Ecological and Environmental Stats for Earth Day | Stats + Stories Episode 228 (REPOST)
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Earth day was launched in 1970 in the aftermath of several environmental disasters in the publication of Rachel Carson Silent Spring. It was designed ...
The OECD: Characterizing Global Economic Trends | Stats + Stories Episode 361
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to the U.S. State Department, three-fifths of global GDP, three-quarters of world trade, and 90 percent of official development assistance c...
Counting on Official Statistics | Stats+Stories Episode 360
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When people think of public goods, they most likely think of things like parks or schools. But official statistics are also a kind of public good. The...
Why Should You Care If A Statistical Agency is Being Reorganized? | Stats + Stories Episode 75 (REPOST)
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa LaVange is the 2018 President of the American Statistical Association and she is PhD, is Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Biost...
Chart Spark | Stats + Stories Episode 359
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chart Spark | Stats + Stories Episode 359 by The Stats + Stories Team
Tracking Police Violence | Stats + Stories Episode 358
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The use of force by police has been in the news a lot lately, in connection to everything from protests on college campuses to the death of individual...
Love, Sex and the Pandemic | Stats + Stories Episode 175 (REPOST)
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID pandemic has complicated everything from school to work to grocery shopping. The need to physically distance from people not in our homes ha...
Learning Baseball Through Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 357
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sports analytics is a booming industry with new technologies allowing for the parsing of ever more sophisticated statistics. Analysts can now examine ...
Women's Endurance Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 356
18 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are you ready to register for a 100-mile race that includes 60,000 feet of elevation gain? How about a 3000-mile race cycling across the United States...
Will You Be One Of The 8% Who Keep Their New Year's Resolutions? Understanding Behavior Change | Stats + Stories Episode 23 (REPOST)
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Rose Marie Ward is a professor in Miami University's Department of Kinesiology & Health. She studies college student health, with a focus on both ...
Robotic Limbs and the Data Powering Them | Stats + Stories Episode 355
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
About 5.4 million Americans live with some form of paralysis. Sometimes that's just a temporary loss of mobility, but for the Americans whose paralysi...
Just In Time For The Holiday Shopping Season | Stats + Stories Episode 47 (REPOST)
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Platt (@glennplatt) is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Network Technology & Management & Director of Interactive Media Studies at Miami...
Music Streaming Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 354
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artists of today are still making albums, however with so much emphasis being put on streaming charts how many of today's album streams are being made...
Name, Image, and Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 353
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, college athletes could not make any money from their sports identities. In 2021 the NCAA passed an interim name image and likeness policy...
Out of this World Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 352
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The blue ice giants in our outer solar system have unusual magnetic fields, missing what we understand as traditional north-south poles. For decades, ...
Thankful For A Bountiful Harvest - How Bountiful Was It And Who Produced It? | Stats + Stories Episode 45 (REPOST)
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Linda J. Young is Chief Mathematical Statistician and Director of Research and Development of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service . She ov...
Burgeoning Baby Names | Stats + Stories Episode 351
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After Hurricane Helene left a path of destruction from Florida through North Carolina in 2024 you may not expect to see a lot of little Helene's in ki...
Eat, Pod, Die | Stats + Stories Episode 350
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Trees have long been imagined as the earth’s lungs inhaling carbon dioxide and exhaling the oxygen needed to support life. That life, too, is import...
Household Cost Intricacies | Stats + Stories Episode 349
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jill Leyland represents the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) on the UK National Statistician’s “Advisory Panel on Consumer Prices – Stakeholder”...
No One is Poisoning Your Kids' Candy, Trust the Numbers | Stats + Stories Episode 206 (REPOST)
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The costumes are ready and the annual opportunity to go out and harass your neighbors to get candy is once again upon us. Yes, it's time for Halloween...
The Statistical Kings of Comedy | Stats + Stories Episode 348
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A journalist, statistician and sound engineer walk into a bar. Well, well, actually, to a studio to record a podcast. Comedians have been a source of ...
Fixing the Lottery | Stats + Stories Episode 347
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Powerball, Mega Millions Cash for Life and more. Missouri offers many games of chance that have potential benefits for the players and guaranteed bene...
How Businesses Function | Stats + Stories Episode 346
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How important is it for businesses to increase their profits each year or offer fair wages to workers of all types? How do you think businesses are do...
Bats and the Next Pandemic | Stats + Stories Episode 345
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James J. Cochran is associate dean for research with the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College. He is also professor of statistics and the Rog...
Throwing the Red Flag | Stats + Stories Episode 344
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A long pass down the sideline is caught in bounds. Or was it? The referees ruled it a catch, but the opposing team was unconvinced. In the NFL there's...
Covering the Olympics | Stats + Stories Episode 343
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bo Li, is an associate professor in Sport Leadership and Management department. He teaches sport administration, sport marketing and sport public rela...
How the Bureau of Labor Statistics Gets its Data | Stats + Stories Episode 113 (Repost)
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wendy Martinez has been serving as the Director of the Mathematical Statistics Research Center at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for six years. ...
Sports Analytics in the Classroom | Stats + Stories Episode 342
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sports generate a lot of data among them individual player metrics, team performance data, and specific game statistics. And there are a lot of tools ...
Back to School | A Stats+Stories Special Episode
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s that time of year again. The summer is still in full swing, but it’s time to get bookbags on backs and butts in seats to start the new school...
Randomized Response Polling | Stats + Short Stories Episode 341
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. James Hanley is a professor of biostatistics in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. His work has received several awards including the S...
The Nation's Data at Risk | Stats + Stories Episode 340
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The democratic engine of the United States relies on accurate and reliable data to function. A year-long study of the 13 federal agencies involved in ...
What is Biocomplexity? | Stats + Stories Episode 339
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One thing that we always value at Stat+Stories is the story of, “How did we get here?”. Today’s episode follows our colleague, from work that sh...
Robodebt | Stats + Stories Episode 338
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, the Australian government launched a program it said would make tracking welfare benefits easier. Instead, it falsely told hundreds of thousa...
Treating Patients During a Civil War | Stats + Stories Episode 337
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The civil war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, which lasted from November 2020 to November 2022, left as many as 600 thousand people dead. The war fo...
Olympic Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 336
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Athletes around the world are preparing to live out their Olympic dreams in Paris this summer. Many of those athletes have been competing in national ...
Official Statistics Down Under | Stats + Stories Episode 335
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dennis Trewin is a pioneer of social statistics that are leading to meaningful measurement of social capital in Australia. He was the head of the Aust...
Historical Data Finding | Stats + Stories Episode 334
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We leave data behind as we travel across the internet, our preferences and purchases transforming into a veritable goldmine of information for compani...
Gene Therapy Trials and Tribulations | Stats + Stories Episode 333
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a gene in the human body goes bad, it can cause illness and disease. Scientists have been working for decades to develop therapies to address fau...
Pandemic Education History | Stats + Short Stories Episode 332
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pandemic Education History | Stats + Short Stories Episode 332 by The Stats + Stories Team
Getting Into Music Statistics | Stats + Short Stories Episode 330
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve always said that data science is a gateway to other fields on this show. From climate change to medical research, knowledge around numbers can...
The Urban Data Platform | Stats + Stories Episode 331
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Community leaders regularly make decisions that impact the lives of community members. From where green space will be located to what businesses to ap...
Patient Safety Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 329
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hospital mortality rates in the US were on the decline in the early 2000s, even as total h...
Statistical Anti-Trafficking Efforts | Stats + Stories Episode 328
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More than 27 million individuals are the victims of human trafficking globally that’s according to the US State Department. The 2022 United Nations ...
Start With the Charts | Stats + Stories Episode 327
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalists are often tasked with making complicated information accessible to a wide audience. Given mere minutes or inches to communicate informatio...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Prediction Population Growth | Stats + Stories Episode 326
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you learn about what’s going on in the world? Did a news headline grab your attention? Did a news story report on recent research? What do yo...
Step Out in the Sunshine | Stats + Short Stories Episode 325
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As you reach the end of a long day with an excess of stress how do you recharge? Have you found that a long stroll in the sun or through the woods can...
W.O.M.B.A.T. | Stats + Short Stories Episode 324
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Would you be surprised if a wombat won a statistical achievement award? well our guest Noel Cressie is here to talk about the WOllongong Methodology f...
The Washington Post Climate Lab | Stats + Stories Episode 323
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Newsrooms struggle with communicating climate data. Some worry about being too alarmist, while others worry about communicating the data clearly. One ...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Reproducibility and Reporting | Stats + Stories Episode 322
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you learn about what’s going on in the world? Did a news headline grab your attention? Did a news story report on recent research? What do yo...
Making Ethical Decisions Is Hard | Stats + Stories Episode 321
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What fundamental values should data scientists and statisticians bring to their work? What principles should guide the work of data scientists and sta...
Opening Day Statistics | Stats + Stories Baseball Special
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Stats+Stories today we are trying something a bit different, with Major League Baseball’s opening day just hours away from the release of...
The Art of Writing for Data Science | Stats + Stories Episode 320
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Communicating clearly about data can be difficult but it’s also crucial if you want audiences to understand your work. Whether it’s through writin...
Health Benefits of Riding an Electric Bike | Stats + Short Stories Episode 319
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hybrid cars are everywhere now but what is your best option if you want to feel the wind in your hair, or at least under your helmet and you want to g...
Suffragette Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 318
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Altea Lorenzo-Arribas is a socio-economic statistician at Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) working in collaboration with researchers ...
Math and Music | Stats + Stories Episode 317
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Long after Harry Nilsson said, “one is the loneliest number,” and after Bob Seger sang about feeling like a number, music streaming services are u...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Social Media and Mental Health | Stats + Stories Episode 316
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you learn about what’s going on in the world? Did a news headline grab your attention? Did a news story report on recent research? What do yo...
The Info Graphic Visionary | Stats + Stories Episode 315
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Good data visualization can catapult a news story or research article from ho hum to extraordinary. A new book series is exploring the careers of info...
The Algorithm of Love | Stats + Stories Episode 314
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to the Pew Research Center, three in ten US adults say they've used a dating app, with Tinder, Match and Bumble being the apps most likely t...
Proctoring Problems | Stats + Stories Episode 313
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Remember the pressure of taking a test when the teacher was glaring at you, daring your eyes to roam. Cheating was not a temptation unless your were d...
Researching Human Trafficking | Stats + Stories Episode 312
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics the number of people prosecuted for human trafficking offenses has more than doubled between 2011 a...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Modeling "Flattening the Curve" | Stats + Stories Episode 311
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you learn about what's going on in the world? Did a news headline grab your attention? Did a news story report on recent research? What do you ...