During the last two days, the phrase 'calculus of risk' has popped up all over the place. This is because the expression was used several times by Tony Blair in his evidence to the Iraq Inquiry. What, if anything, did Blair mean by the calculus of risk? » read more »

How objective is science? Many would like to believe that certainty can be found in the hallowed halls of serious science. But scientific discoveries involve a good measure of faith, hope and chance. » read more »

The continuing debate about order and chaos, about chance and purpose, gets to the heart of what we mean by uncertainty. How random is that? » read more »

Happy New Year!
Welcome to the International Year of Biodiversity. » read more »

Only in the last 200 years has weird acquired the negative sense of different = bad. Perhaps we should try to recover something of the old idea that 'weird happens'. Doing something weird involves taking a risk but it can be wonderful. » read more »