A joint study by academics in Switzerland, Germany and at Boston University sheds new light on the formation of financial bubbles and crashes ... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/bu-boa050211.php
I'd suggest reading Soros' Alchemy of Finance....if you can actually get through the whole thing and understand just some of it, its a pretty interesting and groundbreaking look at the whole boom and bust cycle and why it happens.