Stats + Stories
Episodes
The Most-Viewed Washington Post Article Ever | Stats + Stories Episode 142 (REPOST)
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As researchers and medical professionals struggle to get a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists struggle to tell the pandemic’s story with m...
Sizing Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 310
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For some people, shopping for clothes can feel like a step into Dante’s Inferno, all suffering and punishment. Even for those that do enjoy shopping...
A Bourbon for the New Year | Stats + Stories Episode 309
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By the end of 2023 Bourbon is expected to be an almost 9 billion dollar industry. That’s a lot of mint julips and bourbons neat. But what makes bour...
Skew the Script | Stats + Stories Episode 308
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stats educators are continually looking for ways to get students excited about the subject and help them understand all stats can help them do. One hi...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Tracking the Spread of "False News" | Stats + Stories Episode 307
14 Dec 2023
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 ...
Stats Tips for Your Trip to Everest | Stats + Stories Episode 306
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's been 70 years since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Mount Everest. Since then hundreds of people attempt to climb the mountain each ye...
Is Anyone Even Winning in Ukraine | Stats + Stories Episode 305
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been almost two years since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine with the UN estimating that more than 27,000 civilians of Ukraine have been...
The Chief of Chasing Coral | Stats + Stories Episode 304
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
14 percent of the world’s coral has been lost since 2009, according to a report from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. The loss of these ree...
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency | Stats + Stories Episode 303
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More than 117-million people will be forced from their homes or stateless in 20-23 according to the United Nations Refugee Agency – that’s more pe...
One Governor, Two Outcomes and Three COVID Tests | Stats + Stories Episode 302
02 Nov 2023
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 ...
Quoth the Raven, “Please Sir, I Want Some More” | Stats + Stories Episode 301
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While Edgar Alan Poe reported that the raven quoth, “nevermore,” crows may respond with, “more likely” when forced to choose between two optio...
Data Visualization Contest Winner | Stats + Stories Episode 300
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After producing hundreds of episodes we have lots of data lying around. Data we made available to you, asking you to crunch the numbers for a contest ...
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 299
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Brazil’s 2022 census shows its population is well over 203 million people with the most populace states in the southern part of the country. The Br...
Statistics History Chronicles | Stats + Stories Episode 298
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The history of statistics is filled with interesting facts about the development of the field and stories of the people who helped shape it. A new col...
CAUSE Lesson Plan Contest | Stats + Stories Episode 297
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This contest is a call for lesson plans that make use of the Stats + Stories podcasts. The lesson plan should include the appropriate materials needed...
Just a Data Science Bill, Sitting Here on Capital Hill | Stats + Stories Episode 296
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A number of organizations in the United States focus on statistics education, and now you can add the U.S. Congress to the list. A bill introduced in ...
The Dark Statistical Story of the World Cup | Stats + Stories Episode 295
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Women’s World Cup action in Austrailia and New Zealand has wrapped up and Spain’s been crowned the champion. After players and fans headed home, r...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Speedy Sneakers | Stats + Stories Episode 294
07 Sep 2023
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 ...
Viral Statistical Capacity Building | Stats + Stories Episode 293 (Live From the WSC)
31 Aug 2023
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...
Survey Statistics: Where is it Heading? | Stats + Short Stories Episode 292 (Live From the WSC)
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Natalie Shlomo is Professor of Social Statistics since joining the faculty in September 2012. She was the head of the Department of Social Statistics ...
What Does a News Producer Do? | Stats + Short Stories Episode 291 (Live From the WSC)
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Macuga joined the QUT Centre for Data Science at the start of 2022 where he expands connections and amplifies research for the Centre and for the ...
Are We Trustworthy? | Stats + Stories Episode 290
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Communicating facts about science well, is an art. Especially if you are trying to reach an audience outside your area of expertise. A statistician in...
Live From USCOTS 2023 Part 2 | Stats + Stories Episode 289
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kelly Spoon a tenured faculty member at San Diego Mesa College. She teaches mathematics and statistics within the Mathematics department. She’s had ...
Live From USCOTS 2023 Part 1 | Stats + Stories Episode 288
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education, aka CAUSE has held the United States Conference on teaching statistics, also...
Measuring the Impact of Universal Basic Income | Stats + Stories Episode 287
20 Jul 2023
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...
FIFA 2.0 and Women's World Cup Bid | Stats + Stories Episode 286
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Women’s World Cup is about to kick off in Australia and New Zealand with the defending champion U.S. Women’s national team once again the favo...
Getting Better Data on Where We Live | Stats + Stories Episode 285
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Where do you live? Who are your neighbors? Do you rent or own? What housing is available in your community? Today’s episode of stats and stories foc...
Statistics Behind the Headlines: Investigating Series Binge-Watching | Stats + Stories Episode 284
29 Jun 2023
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 ...
How People Interpret Charts | Stats + Stories Episode 283
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The news landscape is continuously in flux as new media technologies are developed and audience needs shift. This mix of new tech and new needs, has m...
Crime in the Community | Stats + Stories Episode 282
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A recent blog post in The Hill stated, “reliable research on data and crime is more valuable than ever.” With more and more headlines about spikin...
Investigating Medical Murders | Stats + Stories Episode 281
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Death happens in medical settings for all kinds of reasons. However, when a death is unexpected, it can leave loved ones grieving and investigators wo...
The Labour Market Impact of Brexit | Stats + Stories Episode 280
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Brexit and the United Kingdom’s severing of many formal connections to the European Union have come economic shocks. Trade between the two has ...
Myths on the Pitch | Stats + Stories Episode 279
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an idea in soccer that getting a red card and being down a player can actually make a team stronger. That going from 11 to 10 players forces...
The Conduit to Persuasion | Stats + Stories Episode 278
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers have spent decades trying to understand why some messages stick with audiences while others are ignored. They’ve experimented with humor...
Manipulating Media and Destroying Democracy | Stats + Stories Episode 277
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers around the world are tracking misinformation and disinformation as they move through media ecosystems. The explosion of disinformation in ...
C.R. Rao: A Statistics Legend | Stats + Stories Episode 276
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The International Prize in Statistics is one of the most prestigious prizes in the field. Awarded every two years at the ISI World Statistics Congress...
The Data We Gather from Bird Banding | Stats + Stories Episode 275
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three billion, that’s how many birds the United States and Canada have lost since 1970. That decline shows up among threatened species as well as am...
Homegrown National Park | Stats + Stories Episode 274
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As we prepare to mark Earth Day 2023, many of us are also coming to terms with the latest climate report from the IPCC which said the world is on the ...
School Shooting Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 273
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By the end of March, Education Week had reported that 13 school shootings had already taken place in the US this year, that’s coming off of 2022, wh...
Misinformation Immunization | Stats + Stories Episode 272
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The spread of misinformation is of increasing interest to researchers around the world. It’s been tied to the 2016 and 2020 US elections, Brexit, th...
Fighting TB with Music | Stats + Stories Episode 271
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pop stars are often involved in raising the visibility of public health issues. Elton John is one obvious example for his work on HIV/AIDS. Rarely, th...
The Statistics Behind a Bank Collapsing | Stats + Stories Episode 270
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in early March left many wondering whether the global financial system was on the precipice of ...
Judging Words by the Company They Keep | Stats + Stories Episode 269
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The close reading of texts is a methodology that's often used in humanities disciplines, as scholars seek to understand what meanings and ideas a text...
Stats+Stories 300th Episode Data Visualization Contest Announcement | Stats + Stories Episode 268
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the latest episode of Stats+Stories, we put out a call for YOU the Stats + Stories audience to participate in our 300th episode. We have put out a ...
News and Numbers on the East Palestine Train Derailment | Stats + Stories Episode 267
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio continue to worry about the health of their community after a Norfolk Southern train derailment. The train was carry...
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living | Stats + Stories Episode 266
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
According to AARP, 70% of Americans who live to be 65 will need long term care at some point, though what kind of long term care depends upon an indiv...
Stats+Stories Valentine's Day Special | Stats + Stories Episode 265
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ty Tashiro (@tytashiro) is an author and relationship expert. He wrote Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward and Why That's Awesome and T...
Careers in Rom Coms | Stats + Stories Episode 264
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Romantic comedies are rife with plucky heroines. Small bookstore owners are being pushed out by big corporations, runaway brides, and Perpetual brides...
Myaamia Data and More | Stats + Stories Episode 263
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Native communities around the world are looking for ways to maintain their culture and their language. Meanwhile, some colleges and universities in th...
Rewards Points vs. Privacy | Stats + Short Stories Episode 262
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone can relate to being in a rush and needing to get just one last item from the store. However, upon reaching the checkout line, after being ask...
My Headline is Better Contest Winner | Stats + Stories Episode 261
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stats and Stories recently marked its 250th episode with a contest. We asked you to share with us(via Twitter or email) a stat-related story with a he...
LISA ColLABorations | Stats + Stories Episode 261
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In many countries in the Global South, partnerships and collaborations are crucial to moving forward projects of various kinds. A network based at the...
A News and Numbers Alum | Stats + Stories Episode 260
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Data have always been important to the work of journalists. from Jacob Riis is reporting on how the other half lived in late 1800s New York City, to...
Talking to a Statistical Knight | Stats + Short Stories Episode 259
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sir Bernard Silverman is an eminent British Statistician whose career has spanned academia, central government, and public office. He will discuss his...
Inclusive Variables | Stats + Short Stories Episode 258
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Dooti Roy is a people leader, global product owner and a methodology statistician at Boehringer Ingelheim (she didn’t give me where she worked i...
A Shared Passion for Math and Statistics | Stats + Short Stories Episode 257
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At Stats and Stories, we love to have statisticians and journalists tell stories of their careers and give advice to inspire younger professionals and...
Analyzing Wildfire Risk | Stats + Stories Episode 256
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With each new wildfire season comes talk that the new season is worse than the last. With recent fires raging in the western u.s., the Australian bush...
Do University Rankings Really Tell Us Anything? | Stats + Stories Episode 255
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
University rankings are big business with highly ranked universities leveraging their ranking and marketing to prospective students, employees and fun...
Keeping Individual Data Private | Stats + Stories Episode 254
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The gathering of statistics of various kinds, is vital to our understanding the world around us. But some stats can communicate sensitive data about i...
Data Science Pedagogy | Stats + Stories Episode 253
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the past, Introduction to Statistics classes spent a lot of time covering distribution tables, teaching students to run stats by hand and focusing ...
Political Statistics Beyond Polling | Stats + Stories Episode 252
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Each election cycle experts appear in the news talking about polling data. Many of these experts are political scientists and are often the only conta...
The Career of the Chief Demographer of the U.S. Census | Stats + Stories Episode 251
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Demographers study the way populations change. The things they might focus on include births and deaths, living conditions, and age distributions. In ...
Statistics Behind the Headlines Contest | Stats + Stories Episode 250
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Submit your entry into the Stats+Stories 250th episode celebration contest via email at [email protected] or on Twitter by following @statsa...
Conducting a National Survey | Stats + Stories Episode 249
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is the nutritional status of children in your town? How many tourism and hospitality companies are in your community? Answering these questions a...
The Etymology of the Word Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 248
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 1600s, a book was published satirizing politics in Europe. Published two decades after the end of the 30 Years' War, it focuses on the pow...
Inclusive Data Collection | Stats + Stories Episode 247
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Measurement accuracy is something all quantitative researchers strive for, as you want to make sure you're measuring what you want to be measuring. Wh...
The Third Thirty Years of Life | Stats + Stories Episode 246
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Retirement is a threshold - crossing a finish line of sorts. As a new emeritus professor. this is at the front of my mind. Our guest today knows and h...
A Dog’s Impact on Loneliness | Stats + Stories Episode 245
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At the COVID pandemic’s seeming height, social media were filled with images and stories of people adopting pets. Individuals who might not have had...
The Impact of College Vaccine Mandates | Stats + Stories Episode 244
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last academic year colleges and universities across the US struggled with whether to mandate COVID vaccinations for their students. While colleges oft...
A Half Century of Worker Health | Stats + Stories Episode 243
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Some important milestones have passed during the pandemic blur of the last few years. The 50th anniversary of the National Institute for Occupational ...
Glass Ceilings in Academia | Stats + Stories Episode 199 (REPOST)
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New episodes of Stats+Stories return next week! The tenure track process at American universities is a grind – one shaped by the old adage to “Pu...
To P, or Not to P, That is the Question | Stats + Stories Episode 194 (REPOST)
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For years now, the utility of the P-value in scientific and statistical research has been under scrutiny – the debate shaped by concerns about the s...
Benford's Law and Election Fraud | Stats + Stories Episode 242
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The issue of voter fraud has taken up increasing amounts of the public's imagination since the 2020 election. Spurred in part by claims from former U....
Anti-Racist Advocacy | Stats + Stories Episode 241
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since the summer of Black Lives Matter in 2020, institutions all over the U.S. have been exploring their pasts. In order to understand how they may ha...
Epidemiological BRIDGE Building | Stats + Stories Episode 240
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Health research is complicated, no matter the scale or the scope. Global health research, however, brings with it particular issues. For the last deca...
Signing Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 239
21 Jul 2022
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...
Popping Filter Bubbles | Stats + Stories Episode 238
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered why a search engine result for undocumented workers in North Carolina provides links to worker rights sites, while a search for...
The Numbers Behind America’s Pastime | Stats + Stories Episode 177 (Repost)
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Enjoy this reposted episode from last Spring about the history of Baseball while we take off the July 4th Holiday in the U.S. Much of the United Stat...
Listening Before Communicating Risk | Stats + Stories Episode 237
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What do farmers in Kenya, fishers in the Philippines and teenagers in Boston have in common? They all need to balance risks when making decisions rang...
The Numbers Behind a World Cup Bid | Stats + Stories Episode 236
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does 2022 have in common with 2018 and 2026? What is special about 2023? These years include a month where work productivity will be reduced in m...
Introducing Our New Guest Host | A Special Stats + Stories Episode
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode of Stats+Stories we announce our new guest host Regina Nuzzo, a professor at Gallaudet University and freelance Science writer...
Becoming a Medical Statistician | Stats + Short Stories Episode 235
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Erik van Zwet (@erikvanzwet) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Data Sciences of the Leiden University Medical Center where he ...
Big, If True | Stats + Stories Episode 234
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most articles that appear in academic journals are kind of mundane in that they’re extending the work of scholars who have come before, or sometimes...
The Aging American Workforce | Stats + Stories Episode 233
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the United States, like many countries, middle-aged and older workers are increasingly a larger proportion of the workforce. The needs of these wor...
The Winner’s Curse | Stats + Stories Episode 232
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A randomized controlled trial is viewed as the golden standard in medical research, particularly as it relates to treatments or interventions. But the...
The Statistics That Go Into City Planning | Stats + Stories Episode 231
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Cities are places where continuity and change co-exist. History shapes neighborhoods and the relationships between them, while economic forces can res...
Becoming a Biostatistician | Stats + Short Stories Episode 230
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Conner Jackson is a Research Instructor in the Department of Biostatistics and Informatics at the Colorado School of Public Health. He serves as the c...
The Age of the Supercentenarian | Stats + Stories Episode 229
29 Apr 2022
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 ...
Ecological and Environmental Stats for Earth Day | Stats + Stories Episode 228
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Earth day was launched in 1970 in the aftermath of several environmental disasters in the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". It was desig...
Academic Writing for Everyone | Stats + Short Stories Episode 227
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rosemary and John both have a passion for teaching. Their experience with classes ranges from mentored studies with a few students, to face-to-face cl...
The Statistical Detective | Stats + Stories Episode 226
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
No matter how careful a researcher or statistician is there's the possibility that an error made exists in reported data. The trick as a reader is fig...
Predicting the Weather with Pietro the Weather Tortoise | Stats + Stories Episode 225
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Meteorologists go to school to be able to predict the weather accurately, but for some people, weather prediction is a hobby. Maybe they have a trick ...
In Defense of Standardized Testing | Stats + Stories Episode 224
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The utility of standardized testing is under debate in the US with opponents of their use in K-12 suggesting educators are now being forced to teach t...
The Data Journalism Podcast | Stats + Stories Episode 223
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Data Journalism is a hot topic in the news business. Reporters working in diverse media and diverse markets are increasingly being asked to work with ...
Writing the Book on R | Stats + Short Stories Episode 222
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Impacting statistical and data science communites is aspiration that many of us share. Outlets for such impact include work environments where we may ...
Building a Career in Data Science | Stats + Short Stories Episode 221
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Impacting the statistical data science communities has an aspiration many of us share. Outlets for such impact include work environments where we may ...
The Best Friend on Friends | Stats + Stories Episode 220
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since the 1990’s people have been trying to figure out who’s the best friend. Is it Chandler because of his dry wit? Phoebe because of her unabash...
Statistics Can Find Anybody | Stats + Short Stories Episode 219
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From Florence Nightingale to David Cox we hear at Stats and Stories love tales of the careers of statisticians who made an impact on the world. Yes, f...
Statistician with a CAUSE | Stats + Stories Episode 218
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Dennis Pearl is a Professor of Statistics at Pennsylvania State University and Director of the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Sta...
The Stats of Skill vs. the Stories of Chance | Stats + Stories Episode 217
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gambling is often tricky topic. It got Pete Rose kicked out of baseball, and more recently, made news when Michigan State University announced a betti...