It’s been reported that air pollution kills 40,000 people in the UK every year. That’s a big number, but is it trustworthy? David Spiegelhalter, President of the Royal Statistical Society, teases apart the numbers.
If you’re keen on numeracy, numbers, and fact-based analysis, you’ll have heard of the death of the great statistician and all-round amazing person, Hans Rosling. Gapminder is a website that highlights some of the work and the work of his team, and is well worth a visit.
Powerful infographic from the FiveThirtyEight.com website (to whom all respect for numbers-led analysis and comment). Gives the question some context and perspective. And #ContextMatters. (Red dots are suicides, blue are homicides, yellow are accidents)
Overall, 33,000 people a year die from shootings in the USA. That IS a big number.
Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree, is a coast redwood in Northern California. It is hundreds of years old, stands 116m tall, and is estimated to contain 530 m^3 of wood. And did you know that fully half of the height of the Statue of Liberty is accounted for by the plinth she stands on?
https://itabn.tumblr.com/post/167320632957/how-tall-is-tall
How many tennis balls does it take to fill St Paul’s?