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The Thought Show: Simpson’s Paradox; The Prank Call Crimewave; How the Rest of the World Sees America

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05/05/2016 GMT

Simpson’s Paradox; The Prank Call Crimewave; How the Rest of the World Sees America

BBC World Service - The Thought Show, Simpson’s Paradox; The Prank Call Crimewave; How the Rest of the World Sees America

Simpson’s Paradox explains how two opposite findings can statistically both be true

Simpson’s Paradox explains how two opposite findings can both be true, damaging illegal prank calls are broadcast on the internet and how does the world see the United States.

A Dutch statistician recently became suspicious over headlines in the Dutch news that women were being discriminated against when it came to getting science research funding. Professor Casper Albers of the Heymans Institute for Psychological Research, Groningen, discovered that the study into the funding process showed that when you looked at the overall numbers of successful candidates, women seemed to be less successful than men. And yet, when you looked at a breakdown of the different subjects people could apply for, it showed that women were not losing out disproportionately to men. How could two opposite findings be true? More Or Less explains Simpson’s Paradox with the aid of a choir metaphor, performed by the BBC Singers.

This year a series of fast food restaurants across America have been damaged when their employees smashed out windows after receiving a call from the fire department who warned them about a gas leak. But the thousands of dollars in damage were really the result of illegal prank calls, broadcast live on the internet. BBC Trending investigates the online communities responsible, asking what motivates them and how they can be stopped. 

What does the rest of the world think of the United States, one of the most recognisable nations on the planet? In the Why Factor, Mike Williams presents the second of two programmes looking into the concepts of identity for the BBC World Service's Identity season.

(Image: A river view in the Netherlands)

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