How choosing the unexpected leads to discovery and serendipity.

Imagine walking through life on a well-trodden path. With each decision, you move forward, leaving countless other possibilities behind. Now, imagine choosing the less probable path—one that stirs the unknown and challenges the predictable. That’s where Telmo Pievani’s curiosity thrives.
Telmo’s insatiable drive to explore the uncharted leads him to disrupt the familiar and delve into networks of connections that are often overlooked. He seeks the novel, the unexpected, and the beautifully unplanned.
On this week’s Connecting with Coincidence podcast, discover how courage and curiosity can open doors to transformative experiences. Learn how deviating from the expected path can invite meaningful coincidences and serendipitous discoveries into your life.
Science, as Telmo reminds us, often advances on the winds of serendipity. By embracing risk, talking to strangers, and exploring the unfamiliar, you can increase those happy accidents. Most importantly, let your curiosity flag fly!
Meet Telmo now on the Connecting with Coincidence podcast:
Telmo Pievani (b. 1970) is a Full Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Padua, and a renowned thinker in evolutionary biology. He served as President of the Italian Society of Evolutionary Biology (2017-2019) and is a Fellow of numerous academic institutions and scientific societies. He contributes to prominent editorial boards, including Evolution: Education and Outreach, Evolutionary Biology, and the Italian edition of Scientific American.
Telmo has authored 347 publications and several acclaimed books, including:
Imperfection: A Natural History (MIT Press, 2022)
The Earth After Us (Contrasto, 2019; with F. Lanting’s photography)
Finitude (Cortina, 2020)
Serendipity (MIT Press, 2024)
Nature Is Bigger Than Us (Solferino, 2022)
All Possible Worlds (Cortina, 2024)
He is the Director of Pikaia, an Italian website dedicated to evolutionary studies, and the University of Padua’s web magazine, Il Bo LIVE. Telmo has curated international science exhibitions with luminaries like Niles Eldredge, Ian Tattersall, and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza. His collaborations extend to RAI radio and television, as well as columns for Il Corriere della Sera, Le Scienze, and Micromega.
In recognition of his contributions, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after him: 120098 EJ50 2003.
And don’t miss our other coincidence podcasts and synchronicity podcasts here…
Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash
Comments