More or Less

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

BBC Radio 4 LW

More or Less: Coronavirus, Jam, AI and Tomatoes

Coronavirus, Jam, AI and Tomatoes

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, Coronavirus, Jam, AI and Tomatoes

Covid-19 stats, spreading jam far and wide, cooking with AI, plus James Wong on vegetables

Covid-19 statistics, how far does jam spread, cooking with AI, plus James Wong on how nutritious today's vegetables are.

Loyal More or Less listeners have questions about the Coronavirus Covid-19, and so do we – particularly given this week's news that the numbers have all changed: deaths are 20 per cent higher than we thought, and the number of cases has increased by a third. Tim Harford talks to Dr Nathalie MacDermott, a clinical lecturer at King’s College London about what we now know.

How much jam is there in the world? A listener asks and author Rob Eastaway tries his best to answer.

Artificial Intelligence – or AI for short – is often depicted in films in the shape of helpful droids, all-knowing computers or even malevolent ‘death bots’. In real life, we’re making leaps and bounds in this technology’s capabilities with sat-navs, and voice assistants like Alexa and Siri making frequent appearances in our daily lives. So, should we look forward to a future of AI best friends or fear the technology becoming too intelligent? Tim Harford talks to Janelle Shane, author of the book ‘You Look Like a Thing and I Love you’ about her experiments with AI and why the technology is really more akin to an earthworm than a high-functioning ‘death bot’. 

Is the drop in the copper content of tomatoes down to a change in pesticide use? And just how nutritious are today's vegetables? Ethnobotanist and regular Gardeners’ Question Time panellist James Wong answers our listeners’ questions.


Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Ruth Alexander

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

More or Less

Coronavirus, Jam, AI and Tomatoes

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4