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The Unlikely

By Peter DuCharme
February 15, 2015

science and culture for people who love beautiful writing.

“What are the odds?” This is a surprisingly difficult, and loaded, question. Is the improbable event an indication of some hidden mechanism? Or is it just long odds? In this issue, we explore The Unlikely—from how to predict it, to how to live with what we couldn’t predict.

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A Ganado-style Navajo rugNational Park Service Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . For many thousands of years, and across cultures around the world, symmetry has been seen as beautiful. The mirror-image accuracy of the Parthenon is seen also in the Taj Mahal and the geometric patterns of traditional Navajo […]