• LOG IN
  • START FREE TRIAL
  • EXPLORE
    • Science
    • Natural World
    • Majestic Earth
    • Travel the World
    • History
    • Human Spirit
    • The Dark Side
  • GENRES
    • Biography
    • Space
    • Science & Tech
    • Mind & Body
    • Earth
    • Travel & Adventure
    • Nature
    • Ancient History
    • Early Modern
    • Current History
    • War & Military
    • True Crime
    • Historical Drama
    • Art & Culture
  • ARTICLES
  • EXPLORE
    • Science
    • Natural World
    • Majestic Earth
    • Travel the World
    • History
    • Human Spirit
    • The Dark Side
  • GENRES
    • Biography
    • Space
    • Science & Tech
    • Mind & Body
    • Earth
    • Travel & Adventure
    • Nature
    • Ancient History
    • Early Modern
    • Current History
    • War & Military
    • True Crime
    • Historical Drama
    • Art & Culture
  • ARTICLES
  • search
Preview
Tails You Win: The Science of Chance
PLAY PREVIEW

Watch 5 minute preview, FREE

Or start your Free Trial to watch all our curated award-winning documentaries.

Sign Up
share

Tails You Win: The Science of Chance

59MIN

‘The Joy of Stats’ won the prestigious Grierson Award for Best Science/Natural History program of 2011. Now the same combination of wit and wisdom, augmented-reality graphics and gleeful nerdery is brought to bear on the joys of chance and the mysteries of probability, the vital branch of mathematics that can give us a handle on what might happen in the future.  In ‘Tails You Win – The Science of Chance’, Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University (as well as being a recent ‘Winter Wipeout’ contestant), tries to pin down what chance is and how it works in the real world.

For once this really is ‘risky’ television.

How can you maximize your chances of living till you’re 100? Why do many of us experience so many spooky coincidences? Should I take an umbrella? These are just some of the everyday questions the film tackles as it moves between Cambridge, Las Vegas, San Francisco and, er, Reading. 

Yet the film isn’t shy of some rather loftier and more fundamental questions. After all, our lives are pulled about and pushed around by the mysterious workings of Chance, Fate, Luck, call it what you will…  But what, the film asks, actually is Chance? Is it something fundamental to the fabric of the universe? Or rather, as the French 18th century scientist Pierre Laplace put it, ‘merely a measure of our ignorance’.

 

Along the way David Spiegelhalter is thrilled to discover ‘One Million Random Digits’  probably the most boring book in the world, but one full of hidden patterns and shapes. He introduces us to the cheery little unit the micromort (a one in a million chance of dying), taking the rational decision to go sky-diving because doing so only increases his risk of dying this year from 7000 to 7007 micromorts. And he uses the latest infographic techniques to demonstrate how life expectancy has increased in his lifetime and how it is influenced for good or ill by our lifestyle choices – drinking, obesity, smoking and exercise… Did you know that by running regularly for half an hour a day you can expect to extend your life – by half an hour a day! So all very well if you like running…

Ultimately, ‘Tails You Win’ tells the story of how we discovered how chance works, and even to work out the odds for the future; how we tried – but so often failed – to conquer it; and how we may finally be learning to love it, increasingly setting uncertainty itself to work to help crack some of science’s more intractable problems.

Other contributors to ‘Tails You Win’ include former England cricketer Ed Smith, whose career was cut down in its prime through a freak, unlucky accident; Las Vegas gambling legend Mike Shackleford, the self-styled ‘Wizard of Odds’; and Chief Economist of the Bank of England Spencer Dale.

Rate
share

Related Titles

Codebreaker: Alan Turing - Persecution of a Genius
53MIN
Codebreaker: Alan Turing - Persecution of a Genius
Size Matters
2 EPISODES
Size Matters
Joy of Winning
53MIN
Joy of Winning
Secrets of the Universe: Great Scientists in their Own Words
58MIN
Secrets of the Universe: Great Scientists in their Own Words
Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths
3 EPISODES
Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths
Joy of Data
59MIN
Joy of Data
Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms
58MIN
Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms
Shock & Awe: The Story of Electricity 4K
3 EPISODES
Shock & Awe: The Story of Electricity 4K
Can We Live With Robots?
45MIN
Can We Live With Robots?
Methane: Dream or Nightmare?
2 EPISODES
Methane: Dream or Nightmare?

RELATED ARTICLES

Science
Meet Hannah Fry, the Documentarian Merging Math and Romance

Meet Hannah Fry, the Documentarian Merging Math and Romance

by Eden Arielle Gordon | Jan 14, 2020

Dr. Hannah Fry is a renowned mathematician whose research offers a window into everything from personal...

History
Making Something Out of Nothing: The History of Zero (from Babylon to Outer Space)

Making Something Out of Nothing: The History of Zero (from Babylon to Outer Space)

by Kevin Martin | Nov 12, 2019

One minus one is zero. Simple, right? This wasn’t...

Earth
Fukushima: The Costliest Disaster in History

Fukushima: The Costliest Disaster in History

by Kevin Martin & Arthur M. Marx | Sep 07, 2018

What happened when an earthquake, a tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdowns combined to devastate a populated...

Science
Hawking to Humanity: We Must Venture Into Space, Or Else!

Hawking to Humanity: We Must Venture Into Space, Or Else!

by Kevin Martin | Oct 11, 2018

No less a thinker than the late Stephen Hawking sought to warn us that our time is running out on planet...

Space
How the Apollo Moon Missions Changed Our Understanding of the Solar System

How the Apollo Moon Missions Changed Our Understanding of the Solar System

by Tom Lucas | Oct 12, 2018

Find out how Apollo 11 and the manned moon missions...

Space
Journeys To Jupiter - 2001: A Space Odyssey Turns 50

Journeys To Jupiter - 2001: A Space Odyssey Turns 50

by Arthur M. Marx | Oct 17, 2018

Fifty years ago, Stanley Kubrick released his film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a classic tale of an epic journey...

Science
Life Obsessed: What Is OCD?

Life Obsessed: What Is OCD?

by Justine Damiano | Nov 29, 2018

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a psychological condition that affects around 3% of the population – across all ages, races, and genders. But what...

Documentaries worth watching

AVAILABLE ON

ALL PLANS INCLUDE

No Ads. No
interruptions

Watch on your Computer, TV, Phone & Tablet

New Content Added Weekly

HD, Ultra HD & 4K Quality

ACCESS 1500+ PREMIUM DOCUMENTARIES

START YOUR FREE TRIAL
Return to Preview
Your video preview has reached five-minutes and has been paused

Start a free trial to continue watching

sign up now

Already a member? Log In

OR

CONTINUE EXPLORINGAND PREVIEW MORE CURATED, AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARIES

Related Content to Tails You Win: The Science of Chance
Codebreaker: Alan Turing - Persecution of a Genius
53MIN
Size Matters
2 EPISODES
Joy of Winning
53MIN
Secrets of the Universe: Great Scientists in their Own Words
58MIN
Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths
3 EPISODES
Joy of Data
59MIN
Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms
58MIN
Shock & Awe: The Story of Electricity 4K
3 EPISODES
Can We Live With Robots?
45MIN
Methane: Dream or Nightmare?
2 EPISODES
Popular Genres
START FREE TRIAL KEEP BROWSING

Available On:

And More..

© MagellanTV, LLC 2018 - 2021

  • Gift MagellanTV
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact Support
  • About
  • Accessibility