13.8

Two astronauts in spacesuits stand on a rocky, marbled pink surface, looking out into a dark star-filled outer space.
White numbers “168” in a bold font appear against a light gray background.
Where science meets the human story

We live in a scientifically dominated age. Nearly every aspect of modern life is shaped by science and technology, from medicine and space exploration to climate change, nuclear risk, and artificial intelligence.

Science is the source of our greatest hopes and our deepest fears. It drives progress, but it also raises profound questions about meaning, responsibility, and the future of civilization. In the 21st century, science cannot be separated from culture. The two are braided together, shaping our politics, our art, and our understanding of what it means to be human.

13.8 is a space for examining that relationship. Through essays and conversations, it explores the beauty, power, promise, and peril of science as a cultural force. If we want to understand our moment in history, this is where the inquiry begins.

with

Adam Frank is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester, a leading researcher on stellar evolution, and the author of four books. He is the co-founder of 13.8, where he writes about science and culture.

Marcelo Gleiser is a professor of natural philosophy, physics, and astronomy at Dartmouth College and the author of five books. A recipient of the 2019 Templeton Prize, he is the co-founder of 13.8, where he explores science and culture.

Why organisms are more than machines
Sixty years ago, a little-known philosopher challenged how science understands life. His perspective is finding new relevance in the age of artificial intelligence.

Adam Frank

A split image explores the nature of life, with a gray rock on a dark background on the left and a colored microscopic view of a cell—hinting at intelligence—in vivid detail on the right.
A black background with blue bubbles on it.
Explore how QBism reframes science by placing the observer at the heart of quantum reality.
An image of a red light shining on a dark background.
Millennia ago, philosophers like Anaximander grasped that nature is the ultimate recycler.
A forest overlaid with an image of a city
The answer is set to change in the year 2113, a recent estimate suggests.
An image of a planet in space.
Fire was crucial to the evolution of human technology. That's why alien species stuck in the "oxygen bottleneck" may be forever primitive.
An image of a star in space.
From how life emerged on Earth to why we dream, these unanswered questions continue to perplex scientists.
An artist's rendering of an object in space.
These theoretical megastructures represent one way an advanced civilization might harvest energy from stars.
An artist's impression of a group of planets in space.
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets — very few of which resemble Earth.
Nasa image of a spiral galaxy that challenges cosmology.
Cosmology is unlike other sciences. When our view of the Universe changes, so does our understanding of philosophy and science itself.
Two breathtaking pictures of a galaxy and a star taken by the Hubble telescope, highlighting the beauty and cosmic magnitude that fuels the Hubble tension.
There are two methods to measure the expansion rate of the Universe. The results do not agree with each other, and this is a big problem.
A diagram showing the structure of an electroweak big bang.
The problem of the electroweak horizon haunts the standard model of cosmology and beckons us to ask how deep a rethink the model may need.
A colorful bar graph highlighting the crisis in cosmology.
The standard model of cosmology has a big new problem: Some galaxies seem to be too old.
A diagram of a galaxy with blue arrows suggesting the past hypothesis.
How do physicists solve a problem like entropy?
An image of a galaxy with a centrally-located star, illustrating the standard model of cosmology.
Cosmologists are largely still in the dark about the forces that drive the Universe.
a quantum cat on a blue background.
Though quantum mechanics is an incredibly successful theory, nobody knows what it means. Scientists now must confront its philosophical implications.
quantum entanglement qubit ER = EPR
Experiments tell us quantum entanglement defies space and time.
a man playing a violin in front of a piano.
To Einstein, nature had to be rational. But quantum physics showed us that there was not always a way to make it so.
The central equation of quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger equation, is different from the equations found in classical physics.
atoms
Quantum superposition challenges our notions of what is real.
image of subatomic particles
The quantum world — and its inherent uncertainty — defies our ability to describe it in words.