Beyond Coincidence

Laura Buxton, aged 10, released a balloon from her garden in Staffordshire, which landed 140 miles away in Wiltshire, in the garden of another Laura Buxton, aged 10.



Coincidence? Or beyond coincidence?



Two sisters driving separate vehicles on a rural highway in Alabama collided head-on, killing both women as they went to see each other.



Is someone playing snap with the universe? Is it the hand of God? Or magic? Or are we being granted an insight into a hyper-connected universe of whose web-like workings even scientists are only vaguely aware?



And what do those scientists say about it? What are the odds against mathematician Ian Stewart being struck by a meteorite moments after discussing the phenomenal odds against such a thing happening? Beyond Coincidence comes up with some fascinating answers.