In Chapter 3 of Not My Thesis, Mia de los Reyes discusses the galaxies lurking in the empty parts of space, the constraints of working with light, and how she’s helped expand the membership of the scientific community. Astronomy, Mia reminds us, may not always be useful. But it is certainly cool.

You can find more information about galaxies eating each other here and read about our collision with Andromeda here.

If you want to hear Mia or her fellow astronomers amaze you even more with the wonders of the universe, check out Astronomy on Tap or other online events. And if you are interested in making your scientific discipline more accepting, check out Mia’s write up on inclusivity.

To read about mental health in academia, see this Nature article or this Caltech Letters one.

Caltech Letters has a number of articles by other astronomers. Check them out here!

Find us on Caltech Letters, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. You can contact us by emailing notmythesis@gmail.com. Music for this episode was provided by Blue Dot Sessions, and our artwork is by Usha Lingappa.