Important, Not Important

This week: Checking in on COP; How is this still happening?; An Impossible evaluation; Digitizing Medicade; Facebook is deleting your face; Did Big Oil lie in front of Congress?Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This Week: Biden's agreement, revealed; Why vaccinating kids matters for everyone; Plant-based meat emissions questioned; Public health's original sin; Fixing FacebookFind links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 124, Quinn interviews Dr. Elizabeth Ruzzo, a brilliant human geneticist who left the world of academia to launch adyn, her effort to help women find the best birth control for their unique bodies.Family planning affects everybody – whether they use it themselves or not. With 200 forms of birth control to choose from, you’d think women would be able to easily find an option that didn’t make them feel like hot trash garbage -- but you’d be wrong.In 2021, genetic testing means we can make this process much, much, much easier. Enter adyn. Family planning is (wait for it) more or less ignored by medical research, but adyn’s goal is to address that disparity head on and usher in a new age where women don’t have to experiment with 43 different forms of birth control until they (maybe) find one that doesn’t cause side-effects ranging from depression to blood clots and worse. Listen in as Elizabeth describes a world where a simple and private genetic test shared with adyn can lead to a medicine that ge

This Week, Summarized: Moving on from Manchin; Kids shots; Forever chemicals regulated (finally); Google vs. IranGet Action Steps and more at newsletter.importantnotimportant.comGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode #123, Quinn gets a masterclass on Snapchat AND running for office with RFS co-founder, returning guest, and our favorite human alive, Amanda Litman!Amanda’s helped thousands of progressive young people run and get elected to office across the country. Now, she’s here to tell us how Snapchat can further save democracy, thanks to its fancy new partnership with her org. Snap it! (I don’t know if that’s what the kids say -- I’m so sorry)Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comLinks:How to run for office -- through Snapchat!Amanda on TwitterRun for SomethingEpisode #60: “Why You Should Run for Something in 2020”Connect with us:Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettFollow Brian: twitter.com/beansaightLike and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportantIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comImportant, Not Important is produced by Cr

This week: climate finance exposed; Moderna’s COVID profits are… a lot; beef’s emissions problem examined; startups for aging, and who gets to write the AI Bill of Rights?Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: How to reduce methane; America’s out of diapers; COVID questions; A new day against malaria; Food systems examined; How you’re trackedFind links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

We’re bringing back one of our all-time most popular conversations, and not just because it kicks ass. When this interview was recorded back in 2018, Dr. Sian Proctor was almost an astronaut. Now, in 2021, Dr. Proctor has just returned to Earth after becoming the first black, female pilot of a spacecraft. Let’s reflect back on her incredible story and it will become clear how this amazing achievement came to be.In Episode 42, Quinn & Brian ask: 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. Today 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

This week: It’s Climate Day; How to defeat the next pandemic; Telehealth in red states; Is lab-grown meat a myth; Facebook’s very bad month continuesFind links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: Manchin wields a dirty pen; Our new COVID rules; Fighting for expanded telehealth; 200 million climate migrants; Even more trollsFind links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

I’m very excited to share an awesome show with you today, from the fine folks at PBS! God, I love PBS. The show is called “NOVA Now” and I’m a longtime huge fan.This episode is near and dear to the moment we’re in. As the Western U.S. faces increasingly dry conditions, the show takes a look at the technologies and practices being developed to cope with drought — especially in vulnerable communities.Folks: 93% of land in seven Western states is affected by drought. We’re transitioning into desertification. We’ve talked about it, you’ve asked about it.But these increasingly dry conditions have widespread consequences, affecting everything from water quality to our national food supply.With the help of hydrologists on the ground and in the lab, Dr. Alok Patel digs deep — he learns about the traditional ecological knowledge of the Navajo Nation in the especially hard-hit Southwest.…and he talks with innovators applying advanced technology to agricultural practices, like drone surveillance and artif

This week: Solar’s wilding out; $65 billion for the next pandemic; Better, cheaper, more inclusive clinical trials; Protecting farmworkers; Biden’s AI boardFind links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: Climate tech billions; COVID goals; A new hope for neurodegenerative diseases; An IPCC for food; Facial recognition knows no bounds.Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

If we're going to make this world a better place, things have to change. That's why we talk with the changemakers who have the power – and the courage – to get things done.We wrap up every conversation with one question meant to get to the root of that superpower: when was the first time you realized you had the power of change? To make a change, we have to believe change is possible. We're going to look back at some of the responses we've received to give you all some proof that it is!Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comConnect with us:Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettFollow Brian: twitter.com/beansaightLike and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportantIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: Wind NIMBY’s; More nurses, stat; Diabetes on the rise; Evictions; Cybersecurity commitments.Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Each week we kick off our conversations with the smartest people in the universe with one humble question: “Why are you vital to the survival of the species?”The responses typically range from laughter, modest denial, to audible discomfort. But when the air clears, we typically get some gems of insight that give us a glimpse at how we all have some role to play in our survival as a species. Today, we’re taking a look back to highlight some of those responses and hopefully give us some hope for a better world.Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comConnect with us:Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettFollow Brian: twitter.com/beansaightLike and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportantIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: Operate from a place of self-awareness; God, we are so bad at math; A half-century later; Drive pediatric cancer research; What’s the future of meat work? TikTok misinformation enters the chat.Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 122, Quinn has big questions about AI ethics and, like many other situations, is left wondering: was Dr. Ian Malcolm right all along?Our guest is Dr. Rumman Chowdury. She is the director of the Machine Ethics Transparency & Accountability (META) team at Twitter, where she’s helping to build a new ethical backbone into Twitter from the inside out.On every social media platform you interact with on a regular basis, there is some type of machine learning or algorithm determining what you see and how you interact with it. Obviously, that is quite a responsibility to bear. We’ve seen algorithms in the past be straight-up racist, suck people into alt-right conspiracy funnels, and cater to the worst of our human tendencies.These are all running on systems designed by humans – mostly white men – and that shows in the ways that they work. It’s Dr. Rumman’s job to clamp down on the worst of these to make algorithms that perform ethically – and she’s certainly got her work cut out for her.Have feedback or

In Episode #121, Quinn’s got a fantastic new guest to help answer his favorite question: “What can I do?”Isaias Hernandez – or, as he’s known pretty much everywhere on the internet, Queer Brown Vegan -- shares the mic today. He’s built a massive following using an intersectional approach to reach people through empathy and education.In this series, we look at how young people are using their passions and lived experiences to participate in this transformational moment in history. Isaias exemplifies this by taking his passion for the environment, his frustration with the inaccessibility of academia, and his skill for graphic design, to create the kinds of educational content he wished he had access to when he was younger.Isaias has taken every aspect of who he is and incorporated it into that educational platform. From understanding his own role in the food system, the way that humans are exploited in agricultural systems, and the inevitability of climate change, he looks to his own interests and what makes hi

This week: 50% isn’t good enough; Facebook fossil fuel ads; How to get shots to Africa; Oysters!?; Why has AI failed to help during COVID?Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletterGot feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter at @importantnotimpImportant, Not Important is produced by Crate Media