IN THE mid-1990s, an algorithm trained on hospital admission data made a surprising prediction. It said that people who presented with pneumonia were more likely to survive if they also had asthma.

The rooster thinks he summons the sun because the sunrise always follows his crow. Correlation, at its worst, is a very confident rooster. For decades, our data economy has run on the same illusion: ...

Correctly distinguishing between correlation and causation is critical because it influences how treatments for illnesses are devised and tested. Also, in the context of the law, it ensures that as ...

Shark attacks and ice cream sales follow the very same trajectory when charted. When ice cream sales go up, so do shark attacks. When ice cream sales decrease, shark attacks decrease. With a ...

"I read it as a joke!" one student chortled. "It definitely wasn't completely serious, was it?" another asked as she shook her head in disbelief. The intimate group of nine students—which includes a ...