Rebecca Boyle

“Though much of the lunar exploration agenda of the early 2020s is focused on science, the fundamental questions astronomers seek to answer are just one avenue on the greater road of discovery. Science is only one way of coming to know the universe, but it has the most power, Lisa Messeri, an anthropologist at Yale University, told me. “This becomes a tricky argument. I am someone who believes in the science of climate change, and the science of vaccination. I am also someone who wonders what it means to take a Native American cosmology and treat it equally to our scientific cosmology, when it comes to the Moon.”
― Rebecca Boyle, Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are

“You can try this at home. Clean off a kitchen counter and take out the bag of all-purpose flour you probably have tucked in the pantry. Dump out about a cup, covering an area about six square inches. Using a teaspoon, scoop a little more flour out of the bag, packing it tightly into the spoon. Then, holding your arm about six inches above the floured counter, flip over the teaspoon, dropping a floury meteorite onto your pretend regolith. Watch what happens. Is there a central peak inside your new crater? How tall is the crater ring, and how wide? How far do the wisps of flour radiate from the point of impact? Try changing the crater’s characteristics by making a thicker surface, or by adding more or less flour to your meteorite. It’s okay if your kitchen gets messy. It’s science. *”
― Rebecca Boyle, Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are