A Word | Star Man: Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

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3.8 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s life-long love of science led him to astrophysics and a career as the nation’s premiere voice on making science accessible for all. On today’s episode of A Word, he joins host Jason Johnson for a conversation about the new edition of his book, Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: A Traveler’s Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far. They also discuss the science in pop culture, the political history of space flight, and why he’s still proud to have led the effort to remove Pluto’s status as a planet. Guest: Astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate.
0:03.3	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:04.8	For many of us, space is a place of imagination, the frontier explored in our favorite
0:09.8	sci-fi fantasy films and shows.
0:12.6	But it's also a place where business and politics collide, and no one is better at telling
0:17.4	the story of how that unfolds than Neil deGrasse Tyson.
0:20.9	It's not a business model if you're just going there to explore.
0:24.0	And if you're running a business, you don't do something that expensive just for the sake of
0:28.1	exploration.
0:28.9	So you need NASA for that.
0:30.8	Neil deGrasse Tyson on his new book, Merlin's Tour of the Universe, coming up on a word
0:35.9	with me, Jason Johnson.
0:44.3	Stay with us welcome to a word a podcast about race and politics and everything else i'm your host jason jason there are few people
0:50.0	that can answer life's most confounding questions with intelligence, authority, and humor.
0:55.5	And I'm thrilled to be talking to one of those stars today.
0:58.8	Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of America's and the world's leading voices in science.
1:05.3	He directed the Hayden Planetarium, hosted the public television series Nova Science Now and Cosmos, a spacetime odyssey, as well as the Star Talk podcast and served as a presidential advisor on the future of the aerospace industry.
1:20.6	He's one of the rare scientists whose expertise has made them a celebrity.
1:24.6	Tyson's a frequent flyer on late nightnight talk shows and has appeared in guest roles
1:28.8	in countless movies and television programs, including Big Bang Theory. You think you're funny?
1:34.4	I'm not Seinfeld funny, but I didn't open mic night one. You're not funny. Yeah, that's what
1:40.1	they said to the chuckle hut. How about this? I've got a book signing at Frommens in Pasadena next week.
	...

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