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Finalists announced for 2021 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing

Today we are announcing the finalists of the 2021 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing,…

Brian TarranJuly 8, 2021

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A long tradition: Discussion meetings at the Royal Statistical Society

Discussion meetings are the most prestigious of the many types of meetings organised by the…

Paul A. SmithJune 16, 2020

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Science in the face of Covid-19: faster, better, stronger?

Photo by Tedward Quinn on UnsplashOn 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared…

Simon Schwab and Leonhard HeldMay 8, 2020

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Statistics in court: An interview with a juror

Statisticians have a crucial role to play in ensuring fairness and justice in the legal…

Kelly H. ZouApril 9, 2019

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Significance Research Briefs: submissions wanted

In 2019, Significance is looking to introduce a new regular feature that offers readers a…

Brian TarranJanuary 30, 2019

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Why my father had to defend decades’ worth of data in court

Back in the 1990s, British miners were fighting for compensation for diseases linked to coal…

Jonny JacobsenOctober 8, 2018

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You can trust the polls in 2018, if you read them carefully

On the morning of 8 November 2016, many Americans went to bed confident that Hillary…

Josh Pasek and Michael TraugottSeptember 27, 2018

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Cargo-cult statistics and scientific crisis

Poor practice is catching up with science,1-3 manifesting in part in the failure of results…

Philip B. Stark and Andrea SaltelliJuly 5, 2018

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Facebook data harvesting: what you need to know

Facebook makes most of its money from advertising, and – as the Cambridge Analytica scandal…

Gráinne Maedhbh Nic LochlainnApril 5, 2018

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Yes, the polls were wrong. But it is time we understood their limitations

“General election polls in 2015 ‘the most inaccurate’,” said the BBC. “Polling shake-up planned after…

Brian TarranApril 5, 2016

Bacon, cancer, and the vital importance of statistical reasoning

In September 2015, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC)…

David SpiegelhalterJanuary 29, 2016

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How theft and robbery have changed since the 90s

Contrary to popular opinion, we have witnessed a fall in many types of crime over…

Rebecca ThompsonOctober 21, 2014

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From science to advice: reinventing the scientific generalist (part two)

Solly Zuckerman (pictured) was meticulous in measuring things to assemble evidence when there was none,…

Thomas KingOctober 17, 2013

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Google wants to extend your life

Can statistics save your life? Well, Google certainly thinks it can. Moreover, the company has…

Carlos Alberto Gómez GrajalesSeptember 30, 2013

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Statistical tests: beads for furs?

You have no doubt heard the legend about the Native American tribe being seduced by…

Altea Lorenzo-ArribasAugust 16, 2013

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Rape more common than smoking in the US

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of sexual violence. New findings from the National…

Stephanie KovalchikJanuary 6, 2012