The Most Important Question

Latest Episodes:

GOOD NEWS: What The Hell Is CRISPR? Jun 15, 2020

Show notes

Back in Episode 51, Quinn & Brian asked: Are we thinking about CRISPR all wrong (and what the hell is it)?

This is one of our most popular episodes, probably because it features one of our coolest guests: C. Brandon Ogbunu, an evolutionary systems biologist with a unique perspective on data and disease, and how both were influenced by evolution and ecology.

We’ve talked about CRISPR before on the show, but if you’re not familiar, here’s a brief and overly simplistic overview of this potentially world-changing technology: it’s scissors for DNA. It’s still a very young technology — it was only patented in 2012 — but it has the potential to do everything from eliminating genetic diseases from our lineage to making our food supply more efficient and productive to creating a real-life Jurassic Park. But what can’t we do with it? And, perhaps more importantly, what shouldn’t we be doing with it? That’s what we’re going to find out today.

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:

From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America by Elizabeth Hinton

Links:

Learn more at vivo.brown.edu/display/cogbunug
Instagram: @big_data_kane
Twitter: @big_data_kane
Read C. Brandon’s writing: medium.com/ogplexus

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Black Lives Matter: A Letter to My Fellow White Men Jun 13, 2020

Show notes

We published our company statement on the Black Lives Matter protests on June 8th. This is an audio version of that statement, titled "A Letter to My Fellow White Men." You can read the original at https://www.importantnotimportant.com/blog/a-letter-to-my-fellow-white-men.

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Issue #184: Climate Change Needs More Color, Asthma is Racist, Yakety Yak (MIT Tracks Back) Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

Please enjoy this preview of our weekly premium audio newsletter. Find out more at https://important.supportingcast.fm.

This week: Racism is distracting us from the climate fight; if you’re black, you probably live near a coal plant; protests will worsen the coronavirus but we don’t really have a choice; COVID tracking apps are here, but how useful are they?; fighting for food equality

Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at funtalk@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

GOOD NEWS: What's It Like To Almost Be An Astronaut? Jun 01, 2020

Show notes

Back in Episode 42, Quinn & Brian asked: What happens when you’re almost an astronaut... and what comes next?

Our guest is Dr. Sian Proctor, an explorer, scientist, full-time professor, STEM communicator, and almost an astronaut. She joins the show to tell us how we can all help get more women and more people of color into space, one way or another. If you didn’t know — and we weren’t sure — being a white, male military pilot isn’t the only way to get to space! You can be exposed to radiation and get superpowers, become an (evil?) genius who starts their own electric car and space flight companies, or become a college-educated engineer, biologist, physical scientist, computer scientist, or mathematician. So we’re still out, but that’s a pretty wide range of qualifications.

This episode is also extremely timely given what’s going on in the United States right now. This is not just the story of almost becoming an astronaut but the story of navigating a historically white and male space as a woman of color. Dr. Proctor is one hell of an inspiration and scientist — and a whole lot of fun — and we hope you are able to find a ray of light in this conversation.

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:

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

sianproctor.com
Want to be an astronaut too? Check out astronauts.nasa.gov/content/broch00.htm
Scared of space but still want to be an astronaut? Check out analogastronaut.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Dr.Sian.Proctor
Instagram: @sian.proctor
Twitter: @sianproctor
Watch Dr. Proctor on Strange Evidence: sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/strange-evidence/

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

GOOD NEWS: Food Waste is the Stupidest Thing We Do May 25, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 44, Quinn & Brian discussed: Why food waste is the stupidest thing we do and how can we cut it in half.

Our guest was Dr. James Rogers, founder and CEO of Apeel Sciences and one of our most mind-blowing guests yet. You may think you know about avocados, but you have no idea. This episode is even more applicable now, when so many Americans have lost their jobs and the question of how to put food on the table is being asked by far too many families.

For the first time in a long time, we’re actually talking about one of the things that America is best at — wasting food. We’re wasting about $165 BILLION of food every year. Or, put another way, about 40% of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. It’s staggering and a little heartbreaking. But, of course, we chose this episode because there’s good news: avocados.

Apeel avocados, to be precise.

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:

"An Apeel Avocado"
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

apeelsciences.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/james-rogers-801a572a/
Instagram: @apeelsciences
Facebook: facebook.com/apeelsciences/
Twitter: @apeelsciences
Read: The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber
Learn about the egg biome: ginkgobioworks.com

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

GOOD NEWS: How to Be A Better Ancestor May 18, 2020

Show notes

To continue our Good News series, we’re looking back to Episode 78, when Quinn & Brian discussed: Planning for chaos. (Cheery, right?)

For real, though. This episode offers an actionable, helpful, revealing, and — dare we say it? — PLEASURABLE way of looking at the world. And that perspective comes from the delightful Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist's Telescope and the Editor of The Boston Globe’s editorial page.

Fair warning, so you don’t get upset like Brian did: this is not a real telescope. But you should still be excited, like Brian is now, because Bina is awesome and her book is fantastic — and it’s more applicable now than ever.

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 Lorax” by Dr. Seuss
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Read: "The Optimist's Telescope"
Twitter: @binajv
Watch Bina’s TEDTalk: "The power to think ahead in a reckless age"

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

GOOD NEWS: Can Zebrafish Beat Childhood Cancer? May 11, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 75, Quinn & Brian discussed: Beating the crap out of childhood cancer with science and... zebrafish?

Our guests are Dr. Jaclyn Taroni and Dr. Genevieve Kendall.

Dr. Kendall is a Postdoctoral scholar at UT Southwestern Medical Center who utilizes zebrafish genetic models to understand how pediatric muscle cancers develop and better identify any therapies we can use to treat it.

Dr. Taroni is a Principal Data Scientist at the Childhood Cancer Data Lab, an initiative of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, and her job is to help childhood cancer researchers like Dr. Kendall use data to answer some of the most important questions in the field.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: fuck kid cancer. This conversation gets really nerdy and is surprisingly fun, and it offers some much-needed perspective — because there ARE people out there smarter than us using science to solve problems that may seem impossible from our positions at home right now.

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:

Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand by Liz Scott, Jay Scott, and Pam Howard
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Jaclyn-taroni.com
Dr. Taroni on Twitter: twitter.com/jaclyn_taroni
Childhood Cancer Data Lab: ccdatalab.org
Dr. Kendall on Twitter: twitter.com/genkendall
Read: “Zebrafish expose tumor pathway in childhood muscle cancer”

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

WEBBY NOMINEE: "Who's Fixing The People Fixing The Planet?" May 04, 2020

Show notes

If you haven’t already heard, we received a Webby nomination for Best Podcast Episode in the Science & Education category. We’re really proud to be nominated again… but, we also really want to win. So, today, we’re re-airing the episode that received a nomination and asking you to help us with your vote.

Back in Episode 70, Quinn & Brian discussed: When things are broken, when the people who are working on those things are also broken, and why we need to help them.

Our guest was Nikki Silvestri, the founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, the Co-Founder of Live Real, and the former Executive Director of People's Grocery and Green for All. She is a nationally recognized thought leader and general good doer, including being named as one of The Root's 100 Most Influential African Americans and receiving both ELLE Magazine's "Gold" Award and OxFam America's "Act Local, Think Global" Award.

We don’t hesitate or feel like we’re overselling things when we say that what Nikki has to say is something that most people need to hear, and this could be a truly transformative message if it falls on the right ears. Brian said it, Quinn took credit for it, and now we hope you take it to heart.

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:

I Hate You - Don't Leave Me by Hal Straus and Jerold Jay Kreisman

Links:

www.soilandshadow.com
www.nikkisilvestri.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nikki_silvestri

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Holy Cow We're Nominated For Two Webbys Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

That's right, we are now a four-time Webby-nominated podcast! But what we really want is to be a Webby-winning podcast. So, please, go vote! It's free and you can stick it to the AARP.

Vote for Important, Not Important for Best episode (Science & Education): https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2020/podcasts/individual-episodes-mini-series-specials/science-education

Vote for Important, Not Important for Best newsletter: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting/#/2020/websites/general-websites/email-newsletters

GOOD NEWS: Did A.I. Just Make My Life’s Work Obsolete? Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 73, Quinn & Brian asked: Did A.I. take our jobs?

Of course, we aren’t talking about our jobs. If A.I. took our jobs, the show would have won that goddamn Webby.

No, no — we’re talking about really, really important jobs – the jobs being done by people like Dr. Mohammed AlQuraishi, who is a Department Fellow at the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology and the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School.

Still, Dr. AlQuraishi is hopeful about the future and his role in it — an attitude that was refreshing the first time we aired this episode and is downright necessary right now.

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: