Oh, when we were young and so naive. In Episode #9 (!), Quinn and Brian got to know Dr. Nahid Bhadelia , an infectious diseases physician, Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, and the Medical Director of Special Pathogens Unit (SPU) at Boston Medical Center. TLDR of the episode was “We should probably prepare for a pandemic.” FUN STORY. In Episode #112 , Dr. Bhadelia’s back -- and she’s got some big news to share. But before we get to her announcement (and what it mea...
May 19, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 111 , Quinn & Brian discuss the past, present, and future of government IT infrastructure. ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??? Our guest is Aneesh Chopra , the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States. Twelve years after serving under President Obama, he’s the co-founder of CareJourney, whose mission is to empower individuals and organizations they trust with open, clinically-relevant analytics and insights in the pursuit of the optimal healthcare journey. Sounds nice! Technolog...
May 10, 2021•56 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast This week: fossil fuel financing under the microscope, India’s COVID summer, MDMA to the rescue, how to fix our water pipes. Psychedelics 101: Books, Documentaries, Podcasts, Science, and More – The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
May 07, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 110 , Quinn’s talking about the end of the universe. His guest is Sarafina Nance , Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley, astrophysicist, author, and women’s health advocate. She also hosts Constellation , a TV show by Seeker. How the hell is the universe gonna end? Is it soon? What does it mean for each of us? What if it only feeeeeels like the universe is ending? What does that moment teach you? Sarafina’s dedicated her life to studying and understanding the farthest reaches of space -- and o...
May 03, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast This week: AI is going backwards; carbon offsets are a mirage; falling birthrates and COVID; the end of malaria?; Jordan’s out of water. Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Apr 30, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 109 , Quinn & Brian try to help answer the eternal question: What can I do? Our guest is Frank Buncom IV , Head of Product Management at AIRx Health, a ground-breaking digital health and remote monitoring service for patients with chronic conditions and COVID-19. This episode is the first in a series of organic conversations with up-and-coming world changers. Frank is just 24 years old — barely out of college — and already has a passion for solving challenging problems that the wo...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Batteries 101; too many vaccines, not enough takers; new antibiotics, but are they the right ones?; water disputes grow; AI gets the crack down Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Apr 23, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 108 , Quinn & Brian discuss: Data for progress. Our guest is Julian Brave NoiseCat , the Vice President of Policy & Strategy at Data for Progress, a progressive think tank that uses data science, public opinion research, policy analysis, and other research to develop and advocate for progressive policies. Julian’s also a writer, artist, activist, and a proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and a descendant of the Lil'Wat Nation of Mount Currie. The name Data for ...
Apr 19, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Biden’s climate disclosures; Johnson & Johnson on pause; Odds of being infected post-vaccination; Biotech’s next decade; The EU draws up AI rules… and just in time Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Apr 16, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 107 , Quinn & Brian discuss: How to buy clothing that lasts while not polluting the oceans or exploiting low-income workers. Our guest is Orsola de Castro , a fashion icon and the founder of Fashion Revolution , a collection of designers, producers, and consumers looking to heighten awareness of sustainability in the fashion industry -- from supporting the people who make our garments, to eliminating the microplastics destroying our oceans, bloodstreams, and hormones. The organiza...
Apr 12, 2021•54 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Climate finance remains unregulated; God vs Vaccines; AI antibiotics are coming; New data on food waste since the 1960s Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Apr 09, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Synopsis: Starting over sucks. But, like in Contra, maybe starting over is just the thing that’ll save the world. Do Better Better essays help you build mental models and ask questions about our changing world — for yourself, your family, and your business. These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future. Get these essays, our newsletter, and more sc...
Apr 07, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 106 , Quinn & Brian ask: Why is it so dangerous to have Black babies in America? Our guest is Congresswoman Lauren Underwood , the millenial Black nurse and former senior adviser to President Obama. Her “Momnibus Act” is a suite of 12 bills designed to improve Black maternal health outcomes in America, where Black women are dying in or after childbirth at 3x-4x rates of white women. In this incredible conversation, Rep. Underwood goes deep to help us understand the complexit...
Apr 05, 2021•53 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Biden’s plan, explained; financial climate risk, uncovered; at-home COVID tests, approved; pesticide poisonings, revealed Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Apr 02, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hi. Hello. Americans are leaving their living rooms again, which means we’re shooting people again, too. As such, we’re re-running our conversation with Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland victim, Jaime Guttenberg. We need to break the fucking gun lobby, so we’ll just keep replaying this must-listen episode until we do. In Episode 98 , Quinn & Brian discuss: common sense solutions to prevent gun deaths and destroy the gun lobby. Our guest is: Fred Guttenberg , a gun safety activist and polit...
Mar 29, 2021•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: The Western drought grows; China’s vaccine exports; menthol cigarettes on the run; bacon and Alzheimer’s; croissants and cancer. Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Mar 26, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 105 , Quinn & Brian ask: How safe is your data (and can your wine fridge take down democracy)? Our guest is: Dr. Carissa Véliz, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at Hertford College at Oxford University. If she sounds kind of awesome, that’s because she is. So, what role does your phone, computer, wine fridge, smart toothbrush, and fun color-changing ceiling lights have to play in takin...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast In brief: The most powerful Joe; when you’re really clear on COVID; Black maternal outcomes; how to understand the AI internal war Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Mar 19, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 104 , Quinn & Brian discuss: the future of data and medicine. Our guests are: Robel Kassa & Dr. Sam Scarpino , two of the brilliant minds behind Global.Health, which is setting a new standard for epidemiological data. Global.Health is the first of its kind: an easy-to-use global data repository and visualization platform that enables open access to real-time epidemiological anonymized line-list data, including a COVID-19 dataset that contains detailed information on over...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast In brief: Batteries are cheaper and increasingly everywhere; the best COVID treatments; a possible opioid alternative; cabbage is off the menu Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media...
Mar 12, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 103 , Quinn & Brian ask: Why do so many more Black people die after heart transplants than everybody else? Our guests are: Dr. Hasina Maredia and Dr. Errol Bush , who recently published a paper in the American Heart Association’s journal, “Circulation: Heart Failure.” Their paper concludes that “young Black recipients have a high risk of mortality in the first year after heart transplant, which has been masked in decades of research looking at disparities in aggregate.” Sorry for ...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Miami kicks the can down the road, relief for farmworkers, poor Twitter, how not to waste food, how not to do ethical A.I. 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...
Mar 05, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 102 , Quinn & Brian discuss: How to invest in defeating climate change. Our guest is: Boris Khentov , SVP of Operations & Legal Counsel at Betterment . If you’ve been reading or listening to our newsletter, you’ve already heard of Betterment, a financial advisory company and investment platform that recently introduced their Climate Impact portfolio — and if you haven’t heard of Betterment yet, start listening to the bonus audio newsletter episodes we release every Friday! Thi...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast This week: the price of climate change, how to re-open your office, a new wave of nurses, bailing out Black farmers. 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...
Feb 26, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Synopsis: Where does America keep paying clean up costs, instead of doubling down on prevention? Do Better Better essays help you build mental models and ask questions about our changing world — for yourself, your family, and your business. These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future. Get these essays, our newsletter, and more science that makes ...
Feb 23, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: How to help Texas. Air pollution and infertility. A drastic life expectancy gap. A big test for higher education. And AI rethinks pesticides. 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...
Feb 19, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Your gas stove and water heater are hiding a dirty secret; where COVID goes from here; and all the good your poop can do. 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...
Feb 12, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: The economic choices that have led us to a climate breaking point (and why the last year has prepared us to do something about it better than before, if we take action); what it will take to live a sustainable AND actually enjoyable retirement; using 5calls.org to call your rep about supporting equitable new climate legislation and putting your money in Betterment’s Socially Responsible Investing ; why the vaccine rollout is going so slow, why it needs to go significantly faster to ef...
Feb 05, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Synopsis: If we're going to defeat the systemic issues of today, we need to Overwhelm The System. Here's how. Do Better Better essays help you build mental models and ask questions about our changing world — for yourself, your family, and your business. These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future. Get these essays, our newsletter, and more scienc...
Feb 02, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Joe Biden has been president for about eight and a half days and the man’s not throwing away his shot when it comes to climate, environmental justice, COVID, or science in general; Santa’s packing EO’s and budget reconciliation; Biden’s seven-point COVID plan; we’re on the cusp of improved cancer treatments and diagnosis; and All We Can Save Circles are here and for you. Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter Got feedback? Email us at funtalk@...
Jan 29, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast