Our existence is both cosmically trivial and linked to everything that ever was

On a cosmic scale, we live laughably short lives on an almost completely inconsequential planet. On the planetary level, we could be described as a constantly evolving delivery system for our DNA, with – at best – marginal control over our surroundings. Part of the Munich-based design studio Kurzgesagt’s ‘In a Nutshell’ series, Are You Alone? (In the Universe) is a short, animated appraisal of humanity’s place in the cosmos amid scientific findings that seem to keep making human existence less and less significant.