In fact, Del Bufalo realized, the mosaic was a missing piece of a dance floor made for one of Caligula’s boats. The emperor had commissioned two of the boats, adorned with gardens, silk sails, and even bathrooms, and used them for extravagant floating parties on Lake Nemi. But the third Roman Emperor was so disliked for his brutal leadership that, following his assassination, both ships were sunk.

Everywhere we look, from the dirt under our feet to the edge of the expanding cosmos, and on every scale from atoms to galaxies, the universe appears to be saturated with beauty. What are we to make of this?

Valparaiso, a middle-class community about 55 miles southeast of Chicago, began incorporating more STEM courses into its curriculum about six years ago. A school official said the district wanted to place more emphasis on skills such as critical thinking, communication, creativity and problem-solving, and secured several grants from the county redevelopment commission to bolster tools across K-12 classrooms. The high school roughly ranks in the top 10 percent in Indiana, and its standardized test scores in reading and math significantly outpace the rest of the state.

Of the metaverse, he says: “I think what we’ve learned — and somewhat with some sadness, given the work that I’ve done, I would have to agree — is that it’s not for everybody, and maybe it’s never for everybody.”