It is cool to geek once in a while

Technology review did a very good 2 part article (links below) on the latest generation of math whizes (what do you call a collection of math wizards?). These men and women play a very interesting and vital role in our economy and have a direct hand in the sub-prime mortgage market collapse that occurred recently.
If you want to understand what CDO and Derivatives have to do with modern economics this is a good place to start.

1. http://www.technologyreview.com/article/19530/page1/
2. http://www.technologyreview.com/article/19531/page1/