That mathematics is dangerous stuff. According to the article, a single formula — the Gaussian copula — killed Wall Street. But according to this article, it’s all the fault of physicists. The only explanation I can come up with that makes sense of these two conflicting versions of events? Mathematics is dangerous only when it falls into the wrong hands.

John Baez alerts us to a a bill before Congress that would overturn the National Institute of Health’s open access policy. The NIH, one of the major sources of funding for medical research, requires that any papers that result from its funding must be made publicly available within a year of publication.