The Most Important Question
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The Most Important Question
Science for people who give a sh*t. Want to feel better AND unf*ck the world? The 6-time Webby nominee delivers deep conversations with the world's smartest people (scientists, doctors, CEO's, farmers, and more!), and digestible news updates every single week, to help you answer the world's most im...
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Let's Talk About Menopause
What if talking about menopause out loud was as normal as talking about sports scores or school pickup?
Imagine it in movie plots, in your grou...
The American Revolution's Unfinished Promise
If the American Revolution was, as Ken Burns put it, the biggest event since the birth of Christ, then there's probably never been a better time to ex...
History Is A Story We're Told
I've recorded hundreds of conversations with incredible people working on the front lines of the future. People who've asked the most important questi...
Running for Water (Because Shutoffs Are Immoral)
Chronically parched is not something anyone in this country or anywhere should ever have to feel, but here we are.
So how are towns and states...
Running on School Meals (Because Learning Requires Eating)
I think we can all agree that kids shouldn't go hungry ever really, but especially at school.
You might feel right now like you are giving it e...
Running for Gun Control (In The Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens)
Maybe you feel like you're already giving it all you've got. You look around, and things are tough out there. You, our listeners and readers and viewe...
Running for Transit (Because Your Commute Doesn't Have to Suck)
Things are a little tough out there. So you, want, no need, more examples of fight and progress you can actually see and touch and feel. And in these...
Running for Housing (Because Someone Has To)
In a moment when the news out of Washington can seem untenably rough, when the gerontocracy that got us here won't give up their hold on power, when b...
(Re)Introducing The Science of Fiction
This week we're rerunning our 2024 episode with Maddie Stone, writer of The Science of Fiction blog, to celebrate the fact that Maddie has joined our...
The Answer is Always Run for Something
Turns out it's our 200th episode. It has been a journey.
The show is now called The Most Important Question, and I can't think of a better answe...
Making Your Climate Dollars Count When Government Won't
Congress just jammed the brakes on America's clean energy boom, however short-lived it may have been.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed...
When Foreign Aid Gets Zeroed Out Overnight
Imagine waking up to discover that the United States has just pulled $35 billion out of foreign aid overnight, and that hundreds of HIV clinics, and c...
Taking Care of Business (Sustainably)
Toilet paper. You use it. I use it. Sometimes, even my children use it. The point is, toilet paper is everywhere.
Almost everyone needs it, and...
We Live In A World of Trees
You've heard people say it. It shouldn't have been called Earth. It should have been called Ocean, but it is simultaneously a planet of trees.
...
Climate Solutions That Make Everything Better
Picture a city that beats brutal heat waves with cool tree-lined streets, slashes household energy bills, and cuts carbon pollution by as much as 80%,...
How Saving Salamanders Could Save Us All
In every flood scarred bend of an Appalachian river sits a chance to rebuild something stronger, cleaner water for people, and room for a 160 million-...
Essay: What's in a name?
There are a million legitimate reasons why standing up to bullies may require a pseudonym (and a cowl), or even anonymity.
As has been clear for...
Changing the Abortion Conversation
63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and yet here we are. So what can we do to make the language around abortion more p...
Table To Farm
Sometimes you buy organic, sometimes you hit a restaurant that's plant-based, or at least you choose the veggie option.
Maybe the fish option a...
History's "Viral" Lessons We Keep Ignoring
We've spent the last few years learning up close how a crisis like a global pandemic reveals and deepens all of our faults, inequalities, biases, and...
You Might Also Like: The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women
The United States has long been the largest aid donor in the world, accounting for about 40 percent of humanitarian assistance globally last year, acc...
Essay: Give A Little
You’ve never had a better opportunity to improve one person’s life than you do right now.
I would argue, in fact, that there’s never been a bett...
Don't Move The Goalposts
One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized...
Going Quietly Is Not An Option
We didn't always call our work science for people who give a shit.
But ever since we did, we've welcomed at least two types of people to our fl...
No Country for Poor Men (or Women)
What can we do about land power?
It's the most important question and my guest today is Mike Albertus.
Mike is a professor of political...
Essay: The Story of Not Right Now
Not. Right. Now.
I hope you enjoy our new show. It’s super, super informal, and fun, and full of profanity, and personal, and — I hope — somethi...
Push Them Down
Please enjoy the debut episode from our new show, Not Right Now.
Every week, Claire (Evil Witches) and Quinn (Important, Not Important) dive i...
Introducing: Not Right Now
Not Right Now is a podcast for parents navigating the impossible task of raising kids while *gestures wildly at everything*.
Join Quinn Emmett...
Essay: Have Mercy
I’m not religious. But I did (barely) successfully major in religious studies.
For better and often for worse, the history of faith and organize...
Essay: Build Something Useful
You're wasting your talent on bullshit while the world burns.
You — yes, you — can actually use your very unique set of skills for good. Even an...
We Need To Talk About Bird Flu
We (Quinn) has been avoiding this question for quite a while.
I even wrote a few thousand words about it a couple months ago and didn't publish...
Essay: Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Be prepared — because these fires that are still burning are only the beginning. Start somewhere, start right in front of you, do what you can.
...
Essay: About 2025
It’s been a minute. Thanks for your patience. Please check out my 2025 preview, and if you’d be so kind, share it widely.
Bridging Misinformation Gaps with Local Journalism
What's the missing link in local journalism?
That's today's big question, and my guest is Lyndsey Gilpin.
Lyndsey is the Senior Manager...
Essay: Only 86,000 To Go. You in?
This entire (short!) episode is a call to action. It's time to do this thing...do the thing, but also take care of yourselves and your loved ones thes...
Thinking In Systems To Save An Indivisible World
Is multisolving the future? Is it today? Should we do more?
That's all today's big question and my guest is Dr. Elizabeth Sawin.
Dr. Saw...
Poverty Is A Policy Choice
How do we make it easier for more Americans to reliably put food (in particular, hot food) on the table?
That's today’s big question, and my gu...
Best of: Check Your Insurance Policy
We first ran this episode in May 2023, but following back-to-back hurricanes in Florida this month, it remains as relevant as ever.
You've got i...
Best of: Fresh Banana Leaves
There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages.
Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking afte...
Essay: Why We Made An App
You’d think that -- considering we just spent two years building our new What Can I Do? app -- that I’d have a really good answer for why we were doin...