If only they’d done these kinds of studies in my statistics class! I might have gotten a better grade.
So is the fabled Red Shirt Phenomenon on Star Trek real? According to a recent statistical analysis, yes, but not as much as one might think.
If you’re wearing a red shirt and beam down to the planet, you have a 53% probability of dying. However, if Kirk gets lucky with the local space hottie? That drops way down to 12%; which puts you in about the same range as the yellow and blue shirts.
They should put this into the Starfleet manual. (via)