“What are the odds?” This is a surprisingly difficult, and loaded, question. Is the improbable event an indication of some hidden mechanism? Or is it just long odds? In this issue, we explore The Unlikely—from how to predict it, to how to live with what we couldn’t predict.

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Space Colonization and the Meaning of Life
Colonizing the galaxy is the highest good humanity could achieve.
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The Surprising Importance of Stratospheric Life
The science of bacteria in the atmosphere is getting its moment in the sun.