In this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast, editor Daniel Bennett speaks to Tom Chivers and David Chivers.Tom is a veteran science journalist and author and David is lecturer in economics at the University of Durham. As well as a surname, they share a passion for statistics, or more precisely for the way that numbers are used and presented in the media. Together they’ve written a new book: How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News and Knowing When to Trust Them.They talk to Daniel about how to understand the sometimes confusing stats surrounding health and risk, how to spot a suspicious claim when you see one, and how to think about the current concerns surrounding the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastRead the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Sir David Spiegelhalter: There's no such thing as Blue MondayMatt Parker: What happens when maths goes horribly, horribly wrong?Hannah Fry: How much of our lives is secretly underpinned by maths?Prof Linda Scott: Why is there still economic inequality between men and women?Hannah Fry: What's the deal with algorithms?Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.