European Science Writer of The Year: Those Aren't Aliens, That's A Neutron Star!

Katia Moskvitch was European Science Writer of the year. She wrote for WIRED, Nature, and the BBC, then walked away from it all to research Neutron Stars. She joins Mark and Jeremy to Think On Paper about her book Neutron Stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos. From her background in science writing and working for the World Economic Forum on quantum computers, to her time at CERN and speaking with Jocelyn Bell and her new book where she aims to bring together quantum gravity and Einstein's theory of general relativity, we cover a lot of space bases. We get into the reeds of:What neutron stars are.- Why Jocelyn Bell Burnell didn't win a Nobel Prize, but should have.

-What makes a great science writer.-Why surface-level tech writing is a betrayal of the reader- How women are treated in science.

And much more.

Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend.

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Links

Katia: https://www.quantamagazine.org/authors/katiamoskvitch/

Neutron Stars: The Quest for the Zombies of The Cosmos: https://www.amazon.com/Neutron-Stars-Understand-Zombies-Cosmos/dp/0674919351

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Former Guests:

IBM, D-Wave, Kevin Kelly, Don Norman, Coinbase, Starcloud, David Bianchi, IONQ

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Chapters

(00:09) Why Curiosity Still Matters in Science Communication

(01:52) What Makes a Great Science Journalist

(04:56) Katia’s Journey from BBC to Nature to Wired

(09:20) Reporting Science from the Field (and Under Solar Panels)

(11:26) When Awards Don’t Mean Understanding

(14:42) Quantum Computing Without the Hype

(17:31) What Most People Misunderstand About Qubits

(21:21) The Women Erased from Scientific Discovery

(22:23) Neutron Stars: Why One Spoon Weighs More Than Earth

(26:33) Jocelyn Bell Burnell and the Pulsar That Changed Everything

(30:28) Astrophysics, Gender, and the Fight for Recognition

(32:09) Quantum Weirdness and the Future of Technology

(40:13) Space, AI, and What Comes After Us

Hosted by Mark and Jeremy, Thinking On Paper is a weekly conversation asking the big questions:

What kind of world are we building?

What does it mean to stay human in the age Of AI?

How do we raise kids who can think critically and stay curious?

Grab a front-row seat as CEOs, founders, outliers and artists unpack the “why” behind everything from AI and quantum computing to space manufacturing, bio-engineering and clean energy.

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• No. of episodes: 145
• Latest episode: 2025-07-15
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