"The real key to the physicians' response is the phrase some level. If you interview a scientist about almost anything, they will tell you there is some level of risk. A while back, I talked to a prominent physicist who carefully explained that although the odds against all the oxygen molecules suddenly racing over to clump on one side of the room were really, really, really high, it could happen. And that if it did, it would be most unpleasant."

This was an excerpt from today's Gail Collins column in the Times about Joe Biden and the big flu. Something about how 63% of doctors think there's "some level of risk" that the flu could develop into a global pandemic. But her story about the oxygen molecules brings up some memories from my high school years.

At Camp Tawonga, I had a counselor who was a particle physicist. If we weren't asleep when he came back to the cabin, he would tell us stories about special relativity and quantum mechanics. Astrophysics too. One of the things I learned was about how most of an atom is empty space, with just a couple tiny particles bouncing around inside the force field. Thus began my pasttime of walking into walls.

If all the atoms in my body and all the atoms in the wall lined up just right, I could pass right through. (Or, if half the atoms lined up, I'd get stuck pretty awkwardly inside the wall.) And I know, it's a long shot, and it's highly extremely unlikely, but it could happen. There is some level of possibility that the atoms could line up, even though it's very close to impossible. And that's why I still walk into walls once in a while. Because someday, it just might happen...