The Most Important Question

Latest Episodes:

#78: How to Be A Better Ancestor Aug 27, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 78, Quinn & Brian discuss: Planning for chaos.

Our guest is Bina Venkataraman, author of the upcoming book The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age and a teacher in the program on Science, Technology, and Society at MIT.

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 sounds fantastic. As you can probably tell from the title of Bina’s book, this is actually a pretty positive episode! Of course, because we can’t let the silver lining distract you from the thundering cumulonimbus above our heads for too long, we will remind you that a book like this is only necessary because we’re pretty much one Instagram filter away from it being Mad Max out there.

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Trump’s Book Club: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

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Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Preorder The Optimist's Telescope: writerbina.com/the-optimists-telescope

Twitter: twitter.com/binajv

Bina’s TEDTalk: ted.com/talks/bina_venkataraman_the_power_to_think_ahead_in_a_reckless_age

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

BEST OF THE BEST: Where Does Ebola Go From Here? Aug 21, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 62, Quinn & Brian asked: Where does Ebola go from here?

Our guest is Karin Huster, a Field Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, where she is currently bouncing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. She spent a decade in the trauma ICU before flinging herself head first into humanitarian efforts across the globe. She’s sorta the Forest Gump of humanitarian field nurses; if there’s a health-related outbreak, or a storm-related outbreak that turns into a health-related outbreak, she’s there – and she’s inspiring as hell!

The latest Ebola outbreak started in the Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2018, which is the worst on record for the DRC and the second largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history. Ebola is a beast of a disease, the kind of thing Hollywood uses as a go-to when they need a horrible disease outbreak. However, we do actually have some experimental drugs for treatment and a promising vaccine, thanks to recent medical advancements, but they don’t seem to be doing a lot to slow the spread of this disease. But why? We get into it in this episode, and Karin explains in further detail in a beautifully written New York Times opinion piece, “Why Couldn’t My Ebola Treatment Center Save This Baby?”

Trump’s Book Club:

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Support: http://doctorswithoutborders.org

“Why Couldn’t My Ebola Treatment Center Save This Baby?”: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/opinion/ebola-treatment-democratic-republic-of-congo.html

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-huster-a225352/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/reunionislagirl

Read all of Karin’s articles: https://muckrack.com/karin-huster/articles

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

#77: Please, Please, Please Do A Good Job, Colorado Aug 13, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 77, Quinn & Brian discuss: How Colorado can fix this wholllllle thing with one little election.

Our guest is Mike Johnston, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado and the first in our series of conversations about the 2020 elections.

The 2020 Senate elections are going to be really important because flipping the Senate is one of the only protections we might have from another four years of a Republican President – or, if we want to think a little more optimistically, it will allow a new President to make more significant and impactful changes to policies that affect everyone, everywhere.

Colorado is the state where we're most likely to flip a seat, so it’s really going to set the tone for the rest of the 2020 elections.

And we like what Mike has done with his political career so far. As a State Senator, he passed major legislation that opened the doors of college to undocumented students, invested in renewable energy, and won a fight with the NRA to pass common sense gun safety. As Mike said when he announced his campaign, “Colorado deserves a U.S. Senator who will run to our hardest problems and show the leadership to pass real progressive policy.”

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Trump’s Book Club:

Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Support Mike at https://www.mikejohnstonforcolorado.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikejohnstonco/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeJohnstonCO/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeJohnstonCO

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore: https://www.amazon.com/These-Truths-History-United-States/dp/0393635244

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

#76: Save the Corals, Save the World Aug 06, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 76, Quinn & Brian discuss: What you don’t see (any more) when you snorkel.

Our guest is Dr. Kim Cobb, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology who specializes in climate change, specifically how the extremes of climate change are changing in the ocean due to anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. She describes herself as 40% Climate Scientist, 40% Mom, and 20% Indiana Jones, somehow managing to balance research in remote areas of the world with raising four children. So she’s definitely badass, probably super human.

Dr. Cobb, like some of our other guests who are researching the future of climate change impacts, is doing so with increasing urgency and desperation in a valiant effort to help us avoid the worst effects of climate change. As science and Dr. Cobb’s body of work are actively attacked by politicians, policy makers, and the public, she and her colleagues are being forced to stand up and scream that we need different policies, now, to keep our communities clean and safe – and we’re happy to at least offer our roof as another place to shout from.

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Trump’s Book Club:

Merchants of Doubt by Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Dr. Cobb’s lab: shadow.eas.gatech.edu/~kcobb

Twitter: twitter.com/coralsncaves

Citizens’ Climate Lobby: citizensclimatelobby.org

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Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

BEST OF THE BEST: It’s Getting Hot in Here, and America’s Poor Are Dying Faster Than Everyone Else Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 50, Quinn & Brian discussed: How D.C. and LA are dealing with urban heat issues.

Our guests are Yesim Sayin Taylor and Molly Peterson. Yesim is the founding Executive Director of the D.C. Policy Center and Molly is a renowned reporter focusing on the environment and climate change (and our first returning guest!).

We all remember when Nelly said, “It’s getting hot in herre,” but not a lot of people remember the whole verse: “It’s getting hot in herre, so take off all your clothes / all of the poor minorities in America are suffering and dying before everybody else / Uh, uh, uh, let it hang all out.” But it’s a shame, really, because if we’d just paid more attention to Nelly’s important message back in 2002, maybe we wouldn’t be facing this problem today.

Trump’s Book Club:

The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns

Links:

Learn more at https://www.dcpolicycenter.org

Yesim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yesimsy

Check out https://pactio.us/host/molly-peterson

Molly on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mollydacious

Greater Greater Washington: https://ggwash.org

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

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Important, Not Important is produced by Podcast Masters

#75: Can Zebrafish Beat Childhood Cancer? Jul 23, 2019

Show notes

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

We’re getting really nerdy about beating childhood cancer with 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: these badasses are trying to beat kid cancer, so if you don’t care or understand why this is important, you’re a monster.

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Trump’s Book Club:

Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand by Liz Scott, Jay Scott, and Pam Howard & Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

L.A. Loves Alex's Lemonade 2019: https://www.alexslemonade.org/event/279/register

Jaclyn-taroni.com

Dr. Taroni on Twitter: twitter.com/jaclyn_taroni

Childhood Cancer Data Lab: ccdatalab.org

Dr. Kendall on Twitter: twitter.com/genkendall

“Zebrafish expose tumor pathway in childhood muscle cancer”: https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2018/zebrafish.html

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

#74: Incentivizing Those Dirty Capitalists to Solve Climate Change for Us Jul 16, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 74, Quinn & Brian discuss: Making carbon capture suck more (but this time, with carrots).

Our guest is Henry Elkus, the frustratingly young and impossibly optimistic founder of Helena, an organization that assembles “some of the world’s most remarkable people to develop and lead projects that help build a better tomorrow.” They’re a little different from other think-tanks, though, because they focus on one problem at a time, creating projects that aim to operationally address a societal problem.

The first project Helena focused on was a carbon capture solution – one of the most positive and lucrative possible solutions for addressing the excess carbon in our atmosphere, which has to be done if we want to slow down and possibly reverse climate catastrophe. They helped build and scale the world’s first commercial carbon capture company, Climeworks, creators of the first carbon capture plant that is carbon net-negative.

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Trump’s Book Club:

On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

www.helena.org

www.climeworks.com

Henry on Twitter: www.twitter.com/henryelkus

The Elk List: www.instagram.com/elklist

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

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Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

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Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

BEST OF THE BEST: What’s It Feel Like To Be Asked To Save the World? Jul 10, 2019

Show notes

Today’s episode is a rerun of Episode 56, where Quinn & Brian asked: What’s it feel like to be asked to save the world?

Our guest is Rhiana Gunn-Wright, who is writing policy and leading the Green New Deal project at New Consensus, which is one of the main think tanks working on the Green New Deal.

The Green New Deal is one of the most important pieces of policy being worked on right now, and it could have wide sweeping effects that impact not just our generation but the future for everyone. Conversations around environmental topics tend to get real political real fast, but Rhiana reminds us that this isn’t a political issue – this is not a political game and millions of people will die. Sorry, no joke there, just a stark reality that too many people are happily ignoring.

Trump’s Book Club:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rgunns

Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rgunner

New Consensus: https://newconsensus.com/

Green New Deal explainer: bit.ly/2tgm66v

The official GND resolution: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text

Data for Progress GND Report: https://www.dataforprogress.org/green-new-deal

Sunrise Movement: https://www.sunrisemovement.org

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

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#73: Did A.I. Just Make My Life’s Work Obsolete? Jul 02, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 73, Quinn & Brian ask: Hold On A Minute -- Did A.I. Just Take Our Jobs?

Of course, we aren’t talking about our jobs. If A.I. took our jobs, the show would have won that Webby. We’re talking about really, really important jobs – like curing cancer and slowing down our climate collapse. But we are talking about people like our guest 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 so refreshing it’s like stumbling onto a digital oasis in the internet’s hateful and pessimistic desert.

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Trump’s Book Club:

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Learn more at https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/moalquraishi

“The Future of Protein Science will not be Supervised”: https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/the-future-of-protein-science-will-not-be-supervised/

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: https://chanzuckerberg.com

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant

Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr: importantnotimportant.tumblr.com

Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#72: The Monsoon Is 11 Days Late Jun 25, 2019

Show notes

In Episode 72, Quinn & Brian discuss: Monsoons, food, and people.

Our guest is Dr. Deepti Singh, an Assistant Professor in the School of the Environment at Washington State University - Vancouver who is motivated by the potential for climate studies to minimize future disaster risk to vulnerable communities around the world.

Because here’s the thing: while there are still many people and governments who are still denying the existence and impact of climate change – or our active climate crisis – it’s already having a noticeable and negative impact on our planet and the people who live on it. And this is, perhaps, the most obvious (really, it’s pretty obvious) when we look at what’s happening to already extreme weather phenomenon, such as monsoons.

Good news: we also talk about Dr. Singh’s dog!

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Trump’s Book Club:

Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3

Links:

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to funtalk@importantnotimportant.com

Climate Extremes in a Warming World: https://deeptis47.github.io/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatechirper

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!

Check out our Morning Show and other daily bite-size content on Instagram: instagram.com/ImportantNotImportant

Leave us a voice message: anchor.fm/important-not-important/message

Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett

Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken

Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant

Pin us on Pinterest: pinterest.com/ImportantNotImportant