Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable

experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC

makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

This is the BBC.

Hello, this is the longer Radio 4 edition of More or Less, back for a new series.

I'm Tim Harford and this program was first broadcast on Friday the 14th of April.

Hello and welcome to a new series of More or Less, your weekly guide to the numbers all around

us in the news and in life.

This week we love facts, but to facts actually persuade people. We'll look at how

myth-busting can succeed or backfire, and we'll try a little light fact-checking of

our own on various stories that are broken while we've been off air, including dentistry.

And if you can concentrate for long enough, you'll get to our story on claims that attention spans are shrinking.

But first, this week passengers on a United Airlines flight

from Chicago to Kentucky witnessed an extraordinary sight. Security officers seized hold of a man sitting in a window seat, hoisted him out by force, and

dragged him down the aisle by his arms.

Videos of the incident have been shared around the world. No, this is wrong.

Oh my God, look at what you did here!

Oh my God!

...