Here at the Hamilton Ecology Lab, we often attempt to represent a real-world system with a model. This could be the effect of weather on organisms, the spread of an invasive plant pathogen or the cyclic nature of predator-prey relationships. Whilst models can help to represent different systems in the environment, it is important to always remember that a model is just a reflection or a representation of a system, often with certain assumptions attached. Climate modelling has received extensive attention lately and the following interview with Ailie Gallant and Christian Jakob from Monash University provides some insights into the strengths and weaknesses of such models.