Rebecca Boyle on How the Moon ‘Made Us Who We Are’

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ever since our moon formed roughly 4.6 billion years ago, it has “conduct(ed) the symphony of life on Earth.” That’s according to lifelong moon enthusiast and science journalist Rebecca Boyle, who says that the moon has influenced modern science, reproduction, migration, religious rituals and even possibly the blood in our veins. Boyle’s new book is “Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are,” and she joins us to talk about how the moon has inspired and guided human history and to share the pleasure of looking up at the night sky. Guests: Rebecca Boyle, author, "Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are." Boyle is also a science writer for The Atlantic, the New York Times, New Scientist, Popular Science, Smithsonian Air & Space and many other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KikiWED podcasts comes from Rancho LaPuerta, boated the number one wellness resort and spa by readers of travel and leisure magazine. In August, three or four people sharing a casita enjoy special vacation packages. Rancho LaPuerta.com. Switch to Comcast Business mobile and save hundreds a year in your wireless bill. Comcast business
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0:32.1	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
0:51.6	Coming up on forum, we take a moment to really get to know the moon.
0:55.9	Our nightly companion that, yes, influences our tides, but also life on Earth and how we evolved,
1:01.6	far more than it gets credit for. Rebecca Boyle in her new book, Our Moon, takes us to the surface of the
1:07.4	moon, alongside the Apollo 11 astronauts who described it as smelling like fireworks
1:11.9	that have just gone off. Boyle traces the moon's role in evolution and its influence on our
1:16.5	biology, how it dominated our way of telling time and our imaginations. We'll also get an update
1:22.6	on NASA's next moon mission. So what do you appreciate about the moon or wonder about it? Tell us after this news.
1:35.2	I'm Mina Kim. Welcome to Forum. Rebecca Boyle has described herself as a lifelong moon enthusiast
1:41.9	who wanted to be an astronaut and went to space camp before deciding
1:45.4	she'd rather study it from afar. And her research did not disappoint. In addition to driving our
1:51.0	tides, quote, the moon directs migrations, reproductions, the movements of the leaves of plants,
1:57.7	and possibly the very blood in your veins, Boyle writes in her new book called Our
2:02.8	Moon. Rebecca Boyle is a columnist for Atlas Obscura and contributor to Scientific American,
2:08.5	the Atlantic and the New York Times, among others. She joins me now. Welcome to Forum, Rebecca.
2:13.9	Thanks for having me. Glad to have you. Do you want to say a little more about what the moon meant to you growing up?
	...

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