Summary: <a href="http://www.theotherhalf.acmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/weather.png" rel="attachment wp-att-70"></a><br> We know that The Weather is the most basic, most mundane small talk topic in, you know, the world. We understand that The Weather is just boring to discuss.<br> Except when it isn’t.<br> Join us in this episode as we discuss the fascinating, and varied, uses of math in weather predictions, from model-building to handling competing forecasts. We speak with <a href="https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/contacts/people/arnold">Hannah Christensen</a>, a postdoctoral researcher in the Physics Department of Oxford University, whose 2015 Guardian article, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/jan/08/banking-forecasts-maths-weather-prediction-stochastic-processes">Banking on Better Forecasts: The New Maths of Weather Prediction</a>, outlines how forecasters use probabilistic models to minimize, or at least better explain, the “chance” in next week’s chance of rain. We also have a conversation with <a href="http://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/frank-damico">Frank D’Amico</a>, a statistician at Duquesne University, who explains the conditions under which the simple act of comparing two bell curves turns into one of the greatest unsolved puzzles in statistics, the Behrens-Fisher problem.<br> Turns out, The Weather isn’t so boring, after all. To hear why, listen in to our conversation in Episode 4. We promise: It’s not just small talk.<br> Music from <a href="https://soundcloud.com/lowercasen">LOWERCASE n</a>.<br> Subscribe to the podcast <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-other-half/id994999190?mt=2">in iTunes</a> or <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/acmeScienceTheOtherHalf">via RSS</a><br>
