How Legendary Is The Milky Way? with Dr. Moiya McTier

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Science, Self-improvement, Comedy, Education, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2022

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gossip Galaxy here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of the universe’s elite. I have it on *expert* authority that the Milky Way is stirring up cosmic drama. Has this Local Group galaxy had enough of its central black hole? Will they or won’t they with Andromeda? And is spaghettification the real dish of the summer? Dr. Moiya McTier and Jonathan tell all in this week’s stellar episode. Dr. Moiya McTier is an astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator based in New York City. Her new book The Milky Way: An Autobiography of our Galaxy is out now. After graduating from Harvard as the first person in the school’s history to study both astronomy and mythology, Moiya earned her PhD in astrophysics at Columbia University where she was selected as a National Science Foundation research fellow. Moiya has consulted with companies like Disney and PBS on their fictional worlds, helped design exhibits for the New York Hall of Science, and given hundreds of talks about science around the globe (including features on MSNBC, NPR, and NowThis News). To combine her unique set of expertise, Moiya hosts and produces the Exolore podcast that explores fictional world-building through the lens of science. When she’s not researching space or imagining new worlds, Moiya can likely be found watching trashy reality TV with her cat, Kosmo. You can follow Dr. McTier on Twitter and Instagram @goastromo, and at moiyamctier.com. Join the conversation, and find out what former guests are up to, by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN. Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Love listening to Getting Curious? Now, you can also watch Getting Curious—on Netflix! Head to netflix.com/gettingcurious to dive in. Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our associate producer is Zahra Crim. Our editor is Andrew Carson. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Getting Curious merch is available on PodSwag.com. Headshot Credit for Dr. McTier: Mindy Tucker

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Getting Curious, I'm Jonathan Van Ness, and every week I sit down for a
0:04.2	gorgeous conversation with a brilliant expert to learn all about something that makes me curious.
0:09.2	On today's episode, ooh, and this is such a good one, I'm joined by Dr.
0:13.2	Moya McTier, where I ask her, what is going on in the galaxy?
0:19.9	Oh, welcome to Getting Curious, this is Jonathan Van Ness, we have a very exciting episode this
0:25.3	week. Every week is exciting, but this one's like really fucking exciting because it's about
0:29.6	our galaxy, it's about like the world in which we live. So in the words of Mrs. Dually without
0:35.3	any further ado, welcome to the show Dr. Moya McTier, who is an astrophysicist,
0:41.2	both lorist and science communicator based in New York City. Her new book is The Melky Way,
0:47.7	an autobiography of our galaxy. She also is the host of the podcast, Exelore, which you all
0:53.6	are going to want to listen to a lot after this episode of Getting Curious. Dr. McTier,
0:58.9	how are you? Oh my god, Jonathan, I am so excited to be here. I'm trying not to blow out my mic right
1:04.4	now, but just seeing your gorgeous face and knowing it's talking to me, I am living right now.
1:09.5	Oh my god, I am living with your fucking gorgeous face. Also, just other people know, you're a
1:12.8	literal doctor who is an astrophysicist. You literally went to Harvard, and you're the first person
1:20.8	in the school's history to study astronomy and mythology. What? I like to break rules.
1:30.3	That is a major DA space FUQ moment. I didn't even know that there were still students in college
1:38.7	now that could break a record like that. They're the first to study. That's just because you would
1:43.2	have thought that it's all been done before. You were like, you would have thought, but no,
1:47.2	Harvard is old. They're stuffy. They are set in their ways. They have this list of pre-approved
1:52.3	double majors that you can do. Surprise, folklore and astronomy, not on that list.
1:58.4	I just, I love the duality of the brain that you can be serving hardcore math, hardcore science.
	...

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