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Stats + Stories

Stats + Stories

The Stats + Stories Team 443 Episodes Oct 15, 2026

Stats + Stories explores the intersection of statistics and storytelling, emphasizing how numbers gain meaning through narrative and vice versa. Hosts John Bailer and Rosemary Pennington interview a new guest each week to discuss the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics. The podcast airs every Thursday, making complex statistical concepts accessible through real-world examples and engaging conversations.

Episodes

Stats Of Cool Cats: Emotions, Mood Management And Cat Videos | Stats + Stories Episode 41 (REPOST)
Stats Of Cool Cats: Emotions, Mood Management And Cat Videos | Stats + Stories Episode 41 (REPOST) Oct 15, 2026 00:26:53 Jessica G. Myrick (@jessmyrick) is an associate professor of media studies at the Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University. Her research focuses on the role of emotions in shaping our responses to various types of media messagesMyrick's research has touched on topics ranging from skin cancer prevention campaigns and climate change appeals to the effects of incivility in respon
Bots, Algorithms, and Political Narratives | Stats + Stories Episode 396
Bots, Algorithms, and Political Narratives | Stats + Stories Episode 396 Oct 8, 2026 00:31:37 There's a lot of concern about how bots and algorithms shape our experiences, both online and off. Increasingly, those concerns are focused on our politics. Can bots fuel political polarization? Can algorithms shape political narratives? A recent study seeks to understand the agenda-building capabilities of social bots in a political context, and that is a focus of this episode of Stats and Storie
Immigration's Economic Impact | Stats + Stories Episode 395
Immigration's Economic Impact | Stats + Stories Episode 395 Sep 24, 2026 00:26:30 During the 2010s, the United States netted just under one million new immigrants each year; between 2022 and 2024, that number was closer to three million. But since the election of Donald Trump, immigration to the U.S. has taken a nosedive, and potentially so has the economic growth of the country. The economic impact of the rise and fall of immigration to the U.S. is a focus of this episode of S
'13 Reasons Why' Association with Youth Suicide | Stats + Stories Episode 144 (REPOST)
'13 Reasons Why' Association with Youth Suicide | Stats + Stories Episode 144 (REPOST) Sep 17, 2026 00:23:46 When reporters cover mass shootings news outlets often struggle to find ways to cover the event that won’t inspire others to do the same thing. Something similar follows in the wake of a suicide. Journalists don’t always cover suicides in their communities but when they do one of the concerns is whether that coverage might lead to a spike in suicides after the story is out. The media’s influence o
Communicating Scientific Contributions | Stats + Stories Episode 394
Communicating Scientific Contributions | Stats + Stories Episode 394 Sep 10, 2026 00:29:27 When you think about science’s contribution to society, do you think first about new inventions with an immediate economic benefit? What about scientific advances that deliver enormous societal or environmental benefits—but whose economic value may not be immediate or easily measured? How can these latter advances be evaluated? What is the role of governments in recognizing and promoting these adv
The Dangers of GLP-1s | Stats + Stories Episode 393
The Dangers of GLP-1s | Stats + Stories Episode 393 Aug 31, 2026 00:21:30 Research suggests that more than half of Americans could benefit from taking a GLP-1 RA medication. The drugs were originally designed to help manage type two diabetes, but in 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved one GLP-1, Semaglutide, for weight loss. With that approval came a spike in prescriptions for the drugs, and a spike in calls related to GLP-1s to poison control centers. That'
What is Nutrition Science | Stats + Stories Episode 214 (REPOST)
What is Nutrition Science | Stats + Stories Episode 214 (REPOST) Aug 20, 2026 00:25:48 An entire industry has grown up around nutrition and health. People pushing everything from shakes, to meal kits, to special diets. While some of the claims surrounding such products can be questionable at best, the field of nutrition science is growing. Filled with researchers who are working to truly understand the science of food that is a focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest M
Leadership and Women in Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 392
Leadership and Women in Statistics | Stats + Stories Episode 392 Aug 13, 2026 00:25:33 Women regularly hold leadership roles in stats departments at universities and in major statistical organizations, but it wasn't so long ago that women had to fight to be included. At one point, women faculty had to climb through the windows of the faculty club at Berkeley to attend meetings there; the stories of the struggles of women to be accepted in the profession aren't always visible. But on
The Best Sports Stats from the Past Year | Stats + Stories Episode 391
The Best Sports Stats from the Past Year | Stats + Stories Episode 391 Jul 23, 2026 00:24:55 Sports and statistics go hand-in-hand. But some of those statistics are more interesting than others. Each year, the Royal Statistical Society highlights some of the most compelling sports stats in its Sports Statistic of the Year competition this year’s winners are the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with Jessica Hargreaves and Robert Mastrodomenico. Jessica Hargreaves is the chair of
The Impact of College Vaccine Mandates | Stats + Stories Episode 244 (REPOST)
The Impact of College Vaccine Mandates | Stats + Stories Episode 244 (REPOST) Jul 17, 2026 00:24:36 Last academic year colleges and universities across the US struggled with whether to mandate COVID vaccinations for their students. While colleges often require vaccines, the political controversy surrounding the COVID shots made adopting a vaccine policy a complicated undertaking. But according to one study, it had a profound impact on the national COVID death toll last fall. That's the focus of
Taylor Swift and Markov Chains | Stats + Stories Episode 390
Taylor Swift and Markov Chains | Stats + Stories Episode 390 Jul 9, 2026 00:27:53 Taylor Swift is an entertainment juggernaut. She's become one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, with her Eras tour grossing more than $2 billion. During that tour, Swift surprised her audience each night with costume changes to mark different eras of her career. Now, a couple of researchers have figured out how to predict what costumes Swift would wear, when, and if these outfit col
Urban Displacement | Stats + Stories Episode 389
Urban Displacement | Stats + Stories Episode 389 Jun 25, 2026 00:30:05 It can take decades for an urban community to develop, but a fraction of that time for it to be torn apart. Each year, urban residents are forced out of their homes and out of their communities to make way for gentrification or other kinds of urban development. When these individuals are forced to leave their homes, they're also forced to leave behind their histories and cultures. These changes of

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