Visualising regional data using the geofacet R package
Spatial data make an enormous contribution to our understanding of the world. They allow us to…
Stella Cangelosi, Luciana Dalla Valle and Julian StanderAugust 25, 2017
Graphical interpretations of data: An introduction
This is the first of a series of articles on the design of simple graphs…
What is the most popular birthday in England and Wales?
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently published an analysis of live births from…
Mario Cortina Borja and Peter MartinMarch 3, 2017
The frequency of “America” in Trump’s inaugural address
In “The frequency of 'America' in America” - from the October 2016 issue of Significance…
Adam B. KashlakJanuary 26, 2017
How sharp was the decline in live births in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of communist regimes?
December 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist…
Jekaterina Kremneva, Angie Wade and Mario Cortina BorjaDecember 16, 2016
Chilcot, part 2: How Tony Blair fumbled Iraq’s child mortality statistics
At a dramatic moment in Tony Blair’s testimony before the Iraq Inquiry back in 2010,…
Michael SpagatJuly 14, 2016
Lost in the crowd? A statistician explains how to find your friends at a music festival
While mobile phones have all but eradicated the fine art of getting lost, there are…
Nathan CunninghamJune 23, 2016
The EU referendum – one week to go: extracting insights from Facebook using R
A referendum is being held on 23 June to provide an answer to the question…
JulianJune 20, 2016
Forecast error: European referenda, past and present
Should we stay or should we go? That is the question being put to voters…
Timothy Martyn HillMay 25, 2016
Revisiting the vaccine visualisations
Last year, the vaccination debate was all the rage again. “Pro-vaxxers” were loudly proclaiming that…
Randy OlsonMarch 9, 2016
Getting more for less: Reflecting on the numbers in the IT revolution
A 2.7GHz processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 500GB solid state drive that is almost…
Steven FurnellJanuary 12, 2016
Patricia: a record-breaking hurricane?
Hurricane Patricia was the most powerful storm in recent history. But how do its 200mph…
Mario Cortina BorjaNovember 4, 2015
How to identify goal scoring ability in football
The transfer market in football is a strange beast. For anyone who doesn't know how…
Ian McHale & Łukasz SzczepańskiAugust 19, 2015
Statistics bootcamp: estimating pi with R and Buffon’s needle
Creative applications of statistics abound in virtually every discipline. But coming up with tangible examples…
Eric WikaDecember 15, 2014
Omega-3: wonder-supplement or cancer risk?
A new shock horror health story. ‘Taking health supplements with omega-3 fatty acids can increase…
Julian ChampkinJuly 15, 2013
Distribution of badness
In a recent article, I mentioned the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest, the aim of which is…
Mikhail SimkinMay 30, 2013
Fireballs falling to Earth: Part 2
In the first part of this article we saw that meteorites fall to Earth at…
Jordi PratsMarch 26, 2013
This cold weather: a good reason to have a flu jab
Recently we noted here that there is a strong seasonal pattern in mortality in England…
Andrew McCullochFebruary 27, 2013
What killed William Henry Harrison?
I listened to David Cannadine on Radio 4 a few weeks ago telling the story…
Andrew McCullochFebruary 6, 2013
Bizarre statistic: How much will vultures pay us a year?
A somewhat bizarre statistic heard on the radio this morning. The discussion was on the…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 14, 2013
