Spider bites kill people. No really, they do. But then so do car crashes, heart attacks and narcotics. It’s all a matter of stats, to really get a grip on what to be worried about then mathematics can be pretty useful.
The main trouble with statistics is that most people, myself included, have a very limited grasp on how they work. This is something that Professor David Nutt, head of the UK’s drug advisory body, discovered in 2009 when he quite correctly pointed out that you are as likely to be killed horse riding as you are taking ecstasy. Tabloid outrage ensued.
People die taking ecstasy, about 30 every year in the UK. They also die, riding horses, driving cars and yes, by being bitten by spiders. But how many people actually die from spider bites?
Read the rest of this post at Bug Explorers: The Deadly 40
Posted by Jim
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