What is the nature of existence? Why is there something rather than nothing? And what are our limits of knowledge? These are questions that have captured the imaginations of pretty much every culture that has ever existed. Our guest this week, Marcelo Gleiser, co-authored a fascinating New York Times op-ed titled, “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel.” Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He’s also author of numerous books, including his most recent one, “The Dawn of a Mindful Universe: A Manifesto for Humanity's Future.” Gleiser joins WITHpod to discuss why different scientific methods of measuring the age of the universe continually yield different results, contemporary departures from longstanding theories about the origins of the universe, the importance of us cultivating time to think about life’s big questions and more. Note that this episode was recorded on September 28th, 2023 and we held it for release until today.