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    Science

    The Most Important Question

    The most important question in today’s world of climate chaos, AI psychosis, and crumbling democracy is: what can I do? Your host, Quinn Emmett is completely unqualified to answer it, so he’s calling the people that already are.

    If you’ve got the news, the analysis, the outrage, but still no plan — join us as we figure it out together with long-form conversations with amazing people working on the frontlines, and quick updates responding to today’s most important headlines, and what you can do about it, tonight.

    220+ episodes. 110+ countries. A bunch of Webby and Signal Award nominations. Zero hot takes.

    Advertise

    Copyright: © Important, Not Important LLC 2023

    • Apple Podcasts
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    Latest Episodes:
    Essay: How Does The Brain Work? Nov 22, 2023
    Show notes

    This week:

    How the hell does the brain work? And what does it have to do with lemonade stands and school supplies?

    Here's What You Can Do:

    • Donate to support The Markup’s invaluable work examining the ways technology is being used to change society.

    • Volunteer with your local Surfrider chapter to keep our waterways, oceans, and beaches clean.

    • Get educated about the easiest ways your company can improve sustainability by reading this article from Protocol.

    • Be heard about clean water as a human right by urging your Members of Congress to support the WATER Act.

    • Invest in industries that will measurably move the needle using the IEEFA’s financial research.

    Get more:

    • Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com

    • Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Take a nap you deserve it

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Best of: Life Finds A Way Nov 20, 2023
    Show notes

    I think about time a lot. Some days I feel ancient, some days I can’t believe how old I am.

    I’ve got kids, too. I can’t believe how fast they’ve grown up already. They love so many things. Swimming. Cooking. Plain pasta. The beach. Vegetables, somehow. Their friends. Their family. Dinosaurs.

    Man, oh man, do they love dinosaurs.

    I love to challenge them, to help them think about how long ago it all was, and how long it lasted. How different the world was. How the land under their feet was an ocean, once.

    And of course, knowing what we know now, how fast it can all change. How an asteroid - or a virus, or a fire, or a flood - can change your life forever.

    As much progress as we’ve made in these 300,000 years of Homo sapiens, from fire to wheels to meat to agriculture to handwashing – we are in a moment when we are challenged yet again on a global scale, and unlike the dinos, our future is of our own making.

    In this episode from 2022, our guest is Riley Black.

    Riley is a science writer and amateur paleontologist based in Salt Lake City, Utah, right in the center of dinosaur country, where she chases tales of vanished lives from museum collections to remote badlands.

    Riley’s published books include Written in Stone, my favorite and critically acclaimed My Beloved Brontosaurus, When Dinosaurs Ruled, Prehistoric Predators, and The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.

    Riley’s journey and storytelling are powerful and so important at this moment when we’re so ready to move on to the next thing that we haven’t taken the time to cherish the people, the places, the world around us, and how lucky we are to have them.

    -----------

    Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

    New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

    -----------

    INI Book Club:

    • Why Won't You Apologize? by Harriet Lerner

    • The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black

    • My Beloved Brontosaurus by Riley Black

    • Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

    Links:

    • Follow Riley on Twitter

    • Find more of Riley's work on her website

    Follow us:

    • Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

    • Edited by Anthony Luciani

    • Produced by Willow Beck

    • Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    The Female Origin of Species Nov 13, 2023
    Show notes

    How did the female body drive 200 million years of human evolution? And why the hell are we just finding out about it now?

    That's today's big question, and my guest is Cat Bohannon.

    Cat is the author of the incredible new book, “Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution”. Cat is also a researcher and author with a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the evolution of narrative in cognition. Cat's essays and poems have appeared in Scientific American, Mind, Science Magazine, The Best American, Non Required Reading, The Georgia Review, Story Collider, and Poets Against the War.

    Look, for a very long time, scientists ignored everything about the female body, except for how to have sex with it. And even that, they barely understood (and still don't). They didn't think or care to ask helpful questions like: How did we get here? What else about the female biological body is different from the traditional male body? Why might those differences matter? And how might they have gotten us to where we are today, atop the animal kingdom, for better or worse, and a huge outlier in about 500 different ways from even our closest primate cousins?

    Why are we so weird?

    Cat's book asks all of these questions, and I genuinely cannot wait for you to listen to this conversation, and read the book.

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    Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

    New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

    -----------

    INI Book Club:

    • Behind The Beautiful Forevers by Katharine Boo

    • Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

    Links:

    • Read Cat's book "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution"

    • Keep up with Cat's work

    • Our World in Data: Life Expectancy

    • Support the Trevor Project

    Follow us:

    • Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

    • Edited by Anthony Luciani

    • Produced by Willow Beck

    • Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Essay: Coffee: Back To The Future Nov 10, 2023
    Show notes

    This week:

    Will coffee survive climate change?

    Here's What You Can Do:

    • Donate to support African farmers by increasing incomes and improving food security through the Alliance for a Green Africa.

    • Volunteer to join the Coffee & Climate Network, an organization that connects stakeholders in coffee farming to create a climate-smart future.

    • Get educated about what is in your supplements using Examine’s independent, evidence-based database.

    • Be heard about your eco-anxiety by connecting with others having similar feelings at a Climate Cafe near you.

    • Invest in deforestation-free investment options with Deforestation Free Funds.

    Get more:

    • Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com

    • Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Take a nap you deserve it

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Can Your Gut Predict Alzheimer's? Nov 06, 2023
    Show notes

    Can your gut composition predict Alzheimer's?

    That's today's big question and my returning guest is Gautam Dantas.

    Gautam heads up the Dantas Lab at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. His lab works at the interface of microbiogenomics, ecology, synthetic biology, and systems biology to understand, harness, and engineer the biochemical processing potential of microbial communities.

    Since our last conversation, Gautam was named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology for his studies of microbial communities and antibiotic resistance. I wanted to have him back on the show, not just because Gautam is one of my favorite guests of all time, and not just because of this new study we're going to really dig into, but because you have probably been affected by Alzheimer's in some way.

    Alzheimer's is growing more prevalent throughout the world every day as the U. S., China, and so many other countries get old.

    We've asked so many questions about dementia, Alzheimer's, and other brain diseases and found so few answers that are repeatable and can either prevent or just slow this disease in some way.

    And that's what makes me so excited about Gautam's new research, however preliminary it might be. We get to keep doing it.

    We get to keep asking these important questions that can help people.

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    Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

    New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

    -----------

    INI Book Club:

    • The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

    • Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

    Links:

    • Read Gautum's study on the gut microbiome and Alzheimer's

    • Keep up with the Dantas Lab

    • Listen to our first episode with Gautam

    • Volunteer for research at the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Washington University

    • Find more research opportunities and clinical trials near you

    Follow us:

    • Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

    • Edited by Anthony Luciani

    • Produced by Willow Beck

    • Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Essay: How I think about how to think about what’s next Nov 02, 2023
    Show notes

    This week:

    How I think about how to think about what’s next

    Here's What You Can Do:

    • Donate to help the BlueGreen Alliance unite labor unions and environmental organizations to create clean jobs, develop clean infrastructure, and pursue fair trade.

    • Volunteer with 3.14 Action and help get people who care about facts and evidence elected.

    • Get educated about the direction of our food systems by reading the Paradigms of Agriculture.

    • Be heard about restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit and urge your representative to support the American Family Act.

    • Invest in clean energy using research that separates hype from reality from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

    Get more:

    • Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com

    • Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Take a nap you deserve it

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    What Causes Depression? Oct 30, 2023
    Show notes

    Content Warning

    What is depression?

    And how do the interactions between our genes, our chemistry, and the environment around us affect our odds of developing and being treated for anxiety and depression?

    That's today's big question, and my guest is Srijan Sen.

    Srijan is the Francis and Kenneth Eisenberg Professor of Depression and Neurosciences at the University of Michigan and the Director of the Francis and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center. His research focuses on the interactions between genes and the environment and their effect on stress, anxiety, and depression.

    Even before COVID, kids, teens, and adults were suffering increasing levels of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and stress.

    The symptoms are fairly common to folks who have them, but the causes are far less so. From genetics to the gut, to brain chemistry, to inflammation, and innumerable possible environmental factors like say, a pandemic, or school shootings, or a loved one passing, or childhood abuse, whatever it might be. Just a lack of sleep can trigger depressive symptoms. Or not.

    I have suffered through it, Srijan has suffered through it, and so many of you have too.

    So, with the way science is progressing rapidly in myriad ways, I thought it was time to dive in.

    -----------

    Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

    New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

    -----------

    INI Book Club:

    • Range by David Epstein

    • Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

    Links:

    • Follow along with the work of The Sen Lab

    • Follow Srijan on Twitter

    • Read Quinn's essay about Apple and mental health

    • Suicide Crisis Lifeline (Call 988)

    • The Trevor Project Hotline for LBGTQ+ youth

    Follow us:

    • Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

    • Edited by Anthony Luciani

    • Produced by Willow Beck

    • Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Essay: The Disconnect Oct 24, 2023
    Show notes

    This week:

    Exactly why the youths are so pissed off.

    Here's What You Can Do:

    • Donate to the Steve Fund to support the mental health of young people of color.

    • Volunteer with Everytown so youth can grow up in communities free from gun violence.

    • Get educated about being a better ally to trans and non-binary young people with this guide from the Trevor Project.

    • Help youth be heard about their future by supporting Voters of Tomorrow.

    • Invest in a better world for young people with Carbon Collective.

    Get more:

    • Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com

    • Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Take a nap you deserve it

    Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Essay: The Illusion of Choice Oct 18, 2023
    Show notes

    This week:

    It can be difficult as hell to understand when we don’t actually have a choice — and when we’ve got more options than we think. Deciphering the two is the key to the good stuff getting built way, way faster.

    Here's What You Can Do:

    • Donate to The Greenling Institute to help communities of color build wealth and live in healthier, climate-resilient communities.

    • Volunteer with People for Bikes to make biking better for everyone by improving infrastructure, advancing policy, and removing barriers to participation.

    • Get educated about funding opportunities in your state to hire more apprentices in your trade, or receive tuition support to enter a trade.

    • Be heard about increased access to EV charging infrastructure, and have your city sandbox a pilot with it’s electric.

    • Invest your money through an eco-friendly bank using Might Deposits bank comparison tool.

    Get more:

    • Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at https://www.importantnotimportant.com/

    • Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com

    • Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Take a nap you deserve it

    Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


    Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From? Oct 16, 2023
    Show notes

    Every single one of us needs air, water, food, shelter, and energy. So why are the infrastructure that provides them, the systems we are most reliant on hidden in plain sight?

    How can we reconnect with them, appreciate them, rebuild them, reinforce the ones we already have, and build new ones that actually benefit everyone?

    Those are today's big questions, and my guest is Deb Chachra.

    Deb is a material scientist and professor of engineering at Olin College of Engineering. She has studied bones, and heart valves, and infrastructure. Wired said reading her newsletter, Metafoundry, was like being plugged Oculus-style into her brain while she meditates on science and culture. Deb also writes a recurring column, Reinvention, in the American Society for Engineering Education's PRISM magazine.

    Deb's wonderful new book, How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World is out on October 17th in the U.S.

    And it couldn't be more timely as the truly incredible infrastructure of the 20th century, and the centuries before that, are coming under threat now from climate change and negligence and the awareness of the inequities behind them.

    It's more vital than ever that we develop a personal appreciation and a collective appreciation for how we got here.

    -----------

    Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

    New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

    -----------

    INI Book Club:

    • Games: Agency as Art by C.T. Nguyen

    • Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

    Links:

    • Get your copy of How Infrastructure Works

    • Follow more of Deb's work here

    • Subscribe to Deb's newsletter

    • Go deeper and read about how infrastructure will be impacted by climate change

    Follow us:

    • Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com

    • Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

    • Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp

    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

    • Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

    • Edited by Anthony Luciani

    • Produced by Willow Beck

    • Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

    Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors


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