In Hollywood you save the day with someone like Bruce Willis - the hero. In this country, the call goes out to Lembit Opik - the Liberal Democrat. The MP got his obsession from his grandfather - who has an asteroid named after him. And his two year campaign for action on the asteroid threat has led to the publication of today's report. Well according to today's report the chances of being killed by an asteroid are 750 times more likely than winning the National Lottery.
Risk has two elements.
One is the the probability of the adverse event occurring and the other is the magnitude of the consequences if it does. Click the video button in the navigation bar to hear these questions discussed.