We have created a monster. Financial markets have grown so complex that neither intuition nor standard economic models can get to grips with them. So what's to be done to avoid a repeat of the financial disasters of the past couple of years?

In the following pages, Mark Buchanan looks at some of the creative ideas being explored to tame the markets, not just by economists, but by physicists, engineers, biologists and others. What does science have to say - and will anyone listen?