We usually think of hydrodynamics as a deterministic description of fluid motion. The focus of this talk is on random fluctuations in hydrodynamics caused by thermal noise, inherent in a system with dissipation. The interest in this subject is driven by the progress of heavy-ion collision experiments towards mapping the QCD phase diagram. In particular, the search for the QCD critical point at RHIC requires quantitative understanding of fluctuations and their dynamics. I will discuss the role of the fluctuations in hydrodynamics and how we can predict their evolution using deterministic equations.
Chun Shen