Astrophysicist Moiya McTier, Folklorist of the Cosmos (#073)

  Moiya McTier is in the final year of her PhD in astrophysics
at Columbia, but she is already a science communication star. With
a background in folklore, she is an accomplished storyteller
working to bring more science into science fiction. Moiya joins me
on the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast to discuss her research on the
Milky Way, her upcoming popular science book, and how her
background influences her career choices. Subscribe to my mailing
list to receive show notes for this episode:
https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 06:42
Combining science and folklore into science fiction. 14:10 Moiya
explains her research on the Milky Way. 19:51 How a unique
childhood encouraged creativity. 26:20 Can anyone be an effective
science communicator? 33:14 World building is “the art of playing
God.” 39:11 Equity and diversity in science and science fiction.
45:38 What ethical will does Moiya plan to leave behind? 47:49 What
object or knowledge would Moiya put on her monolith? Moiya McTier
is in her fifth year of a PhD program in astronomy at Columbia
University. She studied astrophysics and folklore at Harvard. Her
podcast, Exolore, fosters world building – bringing science into
science fiction. She is an accomplished science communicator and
public speaker. Listen to the Exolore podcast here:
https://www.exolorepod.com/episodes Find Moiya on the web:
https://www.moiyamctier.com and Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GoAstroMo Question to pin in the comments: What
is your favorite science fiction universe? Brian Keating’s most
popular Youtube Videos: Eric
Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim
Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam
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Sabine
Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1
Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen
Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Brian Keating’s most
popular Youtube Videos: Eric
Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim
Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam
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