The Most Important Question

What can we learn from trees? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Beronda Montgomery. Beronda's a transformative writer, researcher and scholar who pursues a common theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to and are impacted by the environments in which they exist.She recently moved from Michigan State University to Grinnell College where she's a professor of biology and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, which is perfect because I can't think of anyone who is more intentional about mentorship than Beronda. She is the author of one of my favorite books, Lessons From Plants. She's also one of my all-time favorite podcast guests, so I'm excited to share one of our most popular conversations from all the way back in 2021 as we more urgently and comprehensively try to understand how to adapt ourselves, our society and our economy and our ecosystems to mitigate further harm from climate change. We can learn a lot from plants which are living things that are literally planted in place and so they are forced to adapt to whatever comes their way. -----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:"Breathe: A Letter to My Sons" by Imani PerryFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:berondamontgomery.comInstagram: @beronda_mTwitter: @BerondaMRead: “Lessons from Plants”Follow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

How many nights have you spent up recently worried that AI is just gonna take your job? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Mohammed AlQuraishi. Almost three years before chatGPT and New Bing really hit the scene, Mohammed showed up to a conference excited to share his life's work on protein folding, one of the biggest problems in biology.But Mohammad quickly discovered that Deep Mind or to be more specifically AlphaFold had solved the whole damn thing. Mohammad is an assistant professor in the Department of Systems Biology and a member of Columbia's program for mathematical genomics, where he works at the intersection of machine learning, biophysics and systems biology.Obviously, all this is more important and more relevant than ever before. Literally, it changes every week, so I'm excited to share this conversation from 2019 or a million years ago. The world and AI is moving so quickly, but it's messy and in many places it's moving faster than our societal and ethical guardrails can keep up.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven PinkerFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Learn more at https://moalquraishi.wordpress.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/moalquraishi “The Future of Protein Science will not be Supervised”Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: chanzuckerberg.com Follow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: Pulled in a million directions? Wondering what the hell you do with your days? Find your north stars (and become devastatingly effective) with one simple question.What We Can Do:⚡️ Please don’t use public wifi without a VPN. Please? If you can’t just hotspot, use the lightning-fast Mullvad VPN to secure your data. ⚡️ On the hunt for new furniture? Save some trees and check out Kaiyo’s marketplace to buy and sell fancy used furniture! ⚡️ Cancel out your transportation emissions and find your next (or first!) e-bike at Ride Review⚡️ Want to go to climate farm school, or be a climate VC? Get the education you need and build an incredible network with our friends at Terra.do. News RoundupHealth & MedicineAre we getting closer to curing Alzheimer’s? 5th person confirmed cured of HIV After a brutal winter, an RSV vaccine might finally be around the corner Social media has been a major cause of mental illness in girls for a long time. Here’s the evidence. ClimateHow disinformation is slowing the clean energy rollout Global corps climate pledges are ‘misleading’, not the word I would have used Biden wants all of the floating offshore wind Why the hell has climate change made tampons more expensive? Governments spent a record $1 trillion on fossil fuel subsidies last year Food & WaterOne year later, the infant formula crisis is still a thing, and could happen again Cereal companies are NOT pumped about the FDA’s new “healthy” label Congress killed a bill to give farmworkers a path to citizenship Healthier school lunches may reduce obesity Beep BoopWhy haven’t digital therapeutics got payer coverage yet? How Google’s ad business funds misinformation (I wrote a deep dive into disinformation last week) COVIDThat meta-study on masks is decidedly not as decisive (or honest) as expected What happens with COVID-era food benefits end? Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: The future of search and chatbots looks a lot like our ancient past. Why do we keep making the same tools over and over again?What We Can Do:⚡️ Addiction is brutal. Help yourself or a loved one or someone you’ve never met with Shatterproof. ⚡️ I’m so excited to share that my favorite event on Earth, “LA Loves Alex’s Lemonade Stand” is finally back. Support pediatric cancer research and buy yourself some tickets to eat food from some of the greatest chefs on the planet. ⚡️ It’s a pretty pretty pretty good moment to read Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence and The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values. ⚡️ Want to switch your retirement fund to one without fossil fuels? Check out Fossil Free Funds to find mutual funds and ETFs that qualify. News RoundupHealth & MedicineIt’s probably helpful to understand that half of all American hospitals are projected to be in the red this year American teenage girls are suffering in a very real way. There are a million things we can do, here are a few ways to start to helpE-bikes incentives are SO POPULARSure, we need to get toxic gas out of our homes, but also — why is asthma the way that it is?ClimateThis amazing new solar farm is also a prairie restoration project and a carbon sink, you’re welcome (also, let’s hear it for hedgerows!) Harvard voted to build climate change into its medical school curriculum Food & WaterSorghum is one of our oldest and most reliable grains and could be a stalwart in the age of climate change Can food be medicine, after all?Beep BoopTesla’s recalling 300,000+ cars because self-driving was bullshit all along Supermarkets, like everyone else, are selling your dataCOVIDChina’s recent COVID death toll could top a million Is Long COVID a neurological disease?Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

Imagine you’re in a sci-fi movie. The one where everything’s on the line. And while dinosaurs or aliens or a virus takes over down on the ground, you’re the scientist unexpectedly riding in the helicopter with the actual president, the scientist who’s run the calculations and asked the questions nobody else thought to ask, who’s uncovered the virus’s single weakness.But nobody’s listening to you. Because it’s complicated when everything is on the line. But you know that what you know could save millions of lives. What do you do next?That’s today’s big question, and my guest is Dr. Linsey Marr.A renowned scientist and multidisciplinary engineer who pioneered research into a better understanding of the flu’s airborne status, and how humidity plays a role in the flu’s seasonality. She is among a very small group of scientists who truly understand the aerosol transmission of bacteria and viruses.Three years later, we’re still wrestling with the implications of this virus and how we level the playing field by cleaning up our indoor air.And nobody understands the challenges we face – and the opportunities in front of our faces, literally under and inside of our noses – like she does.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Our Missing Hearts by Celeste NgFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Follow Dr. Marr on TwitterRead and implement the EPA Clean Air In Buildings ChallengeLearn more about air pollutionRead the CDC recommendations for ventilation in buildingsInstall a PurpleAir air quality monitor in your homeMonitor CO2 in your home with an Aranet4Purchase an Air Purifier for your homeFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: There are a default group of problems that exist in our society because of the basic needs required to be a human.They are: Air Water Food Sleep These, our most primal needs, are more or less biologically inarguable, and the good news is, we understand them very well and have made enormous progress to ensure they are accessible to a greater percentage of humans than ever before. There have been trade-offs along the way, of course, including plundering most of the solar system’s single habitable planet’s resources. Without fulfilling our most basic requirements, we can’t truly move into the future, no matter how much one small but powerful group wants to skip ahead to electric planes or flying cars or extended life spans. I want to get to the future as fast as anyone, but without equal access and enjoyment of these make-or-break requirements, there are simply no bootstraps to pull yourself up by, no ground to stand upon, much less to collectively reach higher. Here's What You Can Do:⚡ Understand the health impacts of what’s actually in your food, cosmetics, and cleaning products with the free Yuka app ⚡ Reduce food waste and take care of your grocery shopping with the Misfits Market⚡ Interested in community solar? Plug your zip into Arcadia’s tool to find out how you can go clean and reduce your power bill⚡ Want to invest in clean tech but don’t know where to start? Check out ImpactAssets and their donor-advised fund and put your cash to work saving the world News RoundupHealth & MedicineIs this why lung cancer doesn’t respond to immunotherapy? The first federal gun crime report in 20 years dropped New blood donation rules will loosen restrictions on gay and bisexual men Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes at just 2 years of age ClimateThe US Treasury made more cars eligible for tax credits, and still, there’s nothing for e-bikes and other micro-mobility options The Colorado River crisis is not going swimmingly as seven states just can’t agree on cuts Europe’s fossil fuel use should plummet this year Food & WaterCRISPR could help feed the world but boy genome editing in crops is a tad bit controversial The FDA rolled out a plan to re-org the food side and not everyone is pleased How road salt is poisoning Michigan’s water Beep BoopA new group called Health3PT is trying to address ransomware attacks along hospital supply chains GPT is coming to…everythingThe ACLU is suing the US intelligence community to try and further expose abuses of a warrantless surveillance program COVIDVaccine makers kept $1.4 billion in prepayments for canceled COVID shots for the world’s poor and I am losing my mind VA Senator Tim Kaine, suffering from Long COVID, pushes for more research and treatments A good piece on we need an air-quality revolutionGet more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

This week: For the next few weeks, I’m rewriting and sharing a selection of essays I wrote in 2020 and 2021, so about two hundred years ago. I think they’re more relevant than ever — I can’t wait to hear what you think.This week: What would you say you do here? (Originally published July 2020, updated February 2023)Why do we exist?After a hundred years of progress, humanity faces stress tests unlike any we’ve faced before, and all at once. The good news: Your company can help rewrite the future.Here's What You Can Do:⚡️ The death toll in Turkey and Syria continues to rise. Relief agencies are having a hell of a time, but you can donate to the Syrian American Medical Society, Doctors Without Borders, and World Central Kitchen.⚡️ There’s never been a better time for educators to bring climate crisis solutions into the classroom, and no better tool than the All We Can Save Project.⚡️ Renter? Landlord? Either way you can find out how to green your building with BlocPower.⚡️ Clean up the air in your town with Mom’s Clean Air Force.⚡️ Every boob is different, so help recruit more women to breast cancer studies with WISDOM. News RoundupHealth & MedicinePlease read this David Brooks piece on friendship and depressionSure, yes, electric cars can clean up the air, but please also way fewer cars A quarter million US students haven’t returned to school since the early pandemic. Where the hell are they?Workers fighting America’s overdose crisis need much more help Yelp is coming for “crisis pregnancy centers” and the GOP is not pleased (this is exactly what I mean in the essay above) ClimateShell’s board of directors were sued for mismanaging climate risk EU leaders are still unsure how to deal with the United States’ climate industrialization moves (which we’ve gotta get right)NPR’s stunning multimedia piece on Senegal’s climate fight is worth a read Paris is growing new mini-forestsFood & WaterHot damn — bacteria really does eat plastic.How to save food from the landfill with WhatsApp (?) Yeah there’s lead in most dark chocolate, so what should you eat?Beep BoopAI is a lot right now. The invaluable Ted Chiang puts it all in perspective, and Charlie Warzel on the gold rushFederal agencies only followed 40% of cybersecurity recommendations, the same percentage as my children’s chores Legacy IT systems at London hospitals are not ready for global heating or even like a gentle breeze What happens when you Google “grief” COVIDBiden will end the COVID emergency declaration soon. Issac Saul on what it means. The FDA’s recommendation for annual COVID shots — like the flu — got mixed reviews Get more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

How does innovation actually work? That's today's big question, and my guest is Christopher Mims. Chris is a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and I had him on the show in 2021 to understand how he asks big questions.Chris is constantly asking questions about the most pressing technological and societal issues we face from robot trains to the future of batteries, brain implants, and whatever happens to land in between. And his thesis is this: every little bit counts. And innovation is more predictable than you think - or is it?In this conversation, Chris and I explore the team dynamics of innovation, the "great man" question, the invisible force behind Moore's Law, and more.The bad news: Nobody gets to save the world. The good news: Everyone gets to save the world a little bit.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:Life as We Made It by Beth ShapiroArriving Today by Christopher MimsFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:mims.clubTwitter: @mimsFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

This week: Everyone needs insurance. But what kind? And what does it mean to have it, or not?Well, there’s actual insurance, which is a policy where you and an insurer contract with one another in case things go south with (usually) your home, your car, or your body. That’s the layman’s technical explanation, but more colloquially, and for our purposes today, “insurance” can mean just having a buffer or a back up plan, or a “thing you might do to make sure a big decision (like buying a home, having a child, or just generally being a person) doesn’t go to hell in a hand basket.” All of these decisions are usually the result of understanding that just by being alive you’re really putting yourself out there. While you believe in your choices, and the odds of actual calamity are (usually) reasonable, the costs of calamity can be devastating. My friends: We are in a time of calamity. It’s time to get some insurance.Here's What You Can Do:⚡️Understand your home's flood and fire risk with Risk Factor⚡️ Work for a local government? Get real-time flood forecasting with FloodMapp⚡️ Wildfire season is around the corner -- get an outdoor monitor and check the map with PurpleAir⚡️ Get ahead of COVID and more. Get your town's wastewater monitored with Biobot⚡️ Over 60? Use your life experiences to organize for climate action with Third Act⚡️ Find the best "green" bank near you with Bank.GreenNews RoundupHealth & MedicineParents #1 concern for their kids: mental healthTeen's leukemia gains into remission after experimental gene-editing therapyAn ALS patient set a record for communicating via brain implantMedicaid continuous enrollment is ending. That's bad.Climate$1.1 trillion was invested in climate tech of all kinds last year. That's the new floorThe UK will offer £600 million to industry to switch to green steel (Europe's going to need to throw way more money to catch up to the US)1/3 of the Amazon is degraded, and Lula's just started fighting backFood & WaterThe FDA unveiled limits for lead in baby food, the same week the top food safety official publicly resignedMinnesota is one step closer to requiring 100% clean electricity by 2040Beep BoopYou'll never guess who's the world's biggest face recognition dealerThe BlackCat ransomware attack showed how vulnerable health care records areApparently the Xbox is woke nowCOVIDTwo new studies suggested the bivalent COVID vaccines are more effective against severe illness than the previous ones, please get themGet more:Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpSubscribe to our YouTube channelGet fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/storeTake a nap you deserve itAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member

How do we reimagine capitalism in a world on fire? That's today's big question, and my guest is Rebecca Henderson, Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class "Reimagining Capitalism". I had Rebecca on the show in 2020 to discuss her book of the same name and her research, which explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy, focusing on the relationships between organizational purpose, innovation, productivity, and high-performance organizations.What Rebecca discovered over the last decade or so of research is that focusing exclusively on shareholder profits is a pretty terrible way to run a company in the long run. And it could burn this whole thing down in the short, in the long term. The silver lining is, as we try to present here all the time, of the four to five catastrophes happening in this country at any given moment, many also present unprecedented opportunities to build a better today and tomorrow for everyone.Here's my 2020 conversation with Rebecca Henderson.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at importantnotimportant.com/podcast.-----------INI Book Club:"Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist" by Kate RaworthFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:reimaginingcapitalism.org“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”Twitter: @RebeccaReCapLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebecca-henderson-recapRead Ed Yong’s “How the Pandemic Defeated America”Follow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comFind our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-statsAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsorsMentioned in this episode:Become An Important Member