Important, Not Important

In Episode 57, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why more food ≠ more nutrition. Our excellent guests are Professors Kristie Ebi and Irakli Loladze. Dr. Ebi is the Rohm & Haas Endowed Professorship in Public Health Sciences at the University of Washington, where she has been conducting research and practice on the health risks of climate variability and change for over twenty years. She focuses on understanding sources of vulnerability, estimating current and future health risks of climate change, and designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce the risks of climate change in multi-stressor environments. Dr. Loladze is a professor of health sciences at the Bryan Medical Center at Bryan College, where he applies mathematical, computational, and statistical methods to life sciences – which is to say, he’s a math biologist. Dr. Ebi recently testified in front of Congress – specifically, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology – in the first of a series of hearings on climate sci

In Episode 56, Quinn & Brian ask: 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_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3Links: Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rgunns Rhiana Gunn-Wright on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rgunner New Con

In Episode 55, Quinn & Brian ask: What are the energy requirements of well-being?Our guest is Julia Steinberger, a Professor of Social Ecology & Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment. Her research examines the connections between resource use (energy and materials, greenhouse gas emissions) and societal performance (economic activity and human wellbeing) – or, what happens when you drive your car every damn day. She is interested in quantifying the current and historical linkages between resource use and socioeconomic parameters, and identifying alternative development pathways to guide the necessary transition to a low carbon society.Basically, all her research can be boiled down to one important question: are we going to make it and maintain our standard of living, given the resources available to us and the technology we have now? And, well... it’s possible, but it’s not going to be easy and some things are going to have to change. Fast.Trump’s Book Cl

In Episode 54, Quinn & Brian discuss: why the state that’s not a state is a hell of a lot greener than your state.Our guest is Jamie DeMarco, a State-Level Carbon Pricing Coordinator with our friends the Citizens' Climate Lobby (who are working to save our collective asses every single day, NBD). Jamie is dedicated to passing state-level legislation that will serve as a model and inspiration for future national lawmakers – so he definitely has his work cut out for him.Dealing with society’s environmental self-harm, it turns out, is a lot like acknowledging a toxic relationship with your significant other: you acknowledge the problem (maybe publicly), stop participating in the toxic behavior, and then move to being proactive about the problem. What can we do on both a micro and macro scale to begin influencing environmental policy for the better, and encourage others to do the same? We already have all of the technology we need to power our society from 100% renewable sources – we just lack the politi

In Episode 53, Quinn & Brian ask: How the hell do we pull clean drinking water out of thin air?Our guest is Dr. Shing-Chung “Josh” Wong, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Akron In addition to pursuing bio-inspired materials research, he has worked on mechanical behavior and functional properties of polymers, electrospinning, processing-structure-property relationships, coatings, bio- and nano-materials, and composites. Dr. Wong has authored and co-authored over 70 archived articles in book, journal, and patent literatures, and in 2007, he was selected as a recipient for the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award.There are a lot of words you may not understand in that bio – don’t worry, you’re not alone – but the reason Josh is awesome and we wanted him on the show comes down to one simple fact: he has invented some very cool shit that benefits anyone who enjoys being alive on Earth. He comes from a place of such moral integrity, constantly striving to use his capacit

In Episode 52, Quinn & Brian ask (using their best Seinfeld impression): What’s the deal with the Green New Deal?Our guest is Varshini Prakash, a founder of the Sunrise Movement, a veritable army of young folks fighting to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. We think Varshini will be, no exaggeration, one of the most instrumental people in American politics (and for the future health of our planet) over the next couple years.The Sunrise Movement’s army is comprised of ordinary people who are scared about what the climate crisis means for the people and places they love. They aren’t looking to the Left or the Right to solve the problem – they’re looking forward to unite millions of people and reclaim our democracy from the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executive and those who empower them. The cornerstone of this movement is the Green New Deal, a plan that will transform our economy and society at the scale needed to stop the climate crisis. So this summer, thousands

In Episode 51, Quinn & Brian ask: Are we thinking about CRISPR all wrong (and what the hell is CRISPR)?Our guest is C. Brandon Ogbunu, an evolutionary systems biologist working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University. Although the title is different, his role is almost identical to Brian’s here at INI: He uses experimental evolution, mathematical modeling, and computational biology to better understand the underlying causes and consequences of disease, across scales: from the biophysics of proteins involved in drug resistance to the social determinants underlying disease. In doing so, he aims to develop theory that enriches our understanding of the evolutionary and ecological underpinnings of disease, while contributing to practical solutions for clinical medicine and public health.So, like Brian, it’s pretty apparent why C. Brandon is vital to the survival of our species. (The similarities are just uncanny, aren’t they?)We’ve talked about CRISPR

Back in Episode 19, Quinn & Brian asked: What’s the future of antibiotics?To find out, we sat down with bowtie enthusiast and professor of pathology and immunology and biomedical engineering Dr. Gautam Dantas. Dr. Dantas leads the Dantas Lab at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, where they work at the interface of microbial genomics, ecology, synthetic biology, and systems biology, to understand, harness, and engineer the biochemical processing potential of microbial communities.We had a lovely, not terrifying chat about designing new antibiotics in the post-antibiotic area. Topics covered include bacteria as the O.G., Thanos, precision medicine, cows, horror shows from the ancient past buried in ice cores, and your vote and where it should go. This was one of our favorite and most-downloaded episodes of all time, and we wanted to share it as we prepare for some exciting stuff to come in 2019.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Trump’s Book Club:

Back in Episode 26, Quinn & Brian asked: what drives a man to give 200 climate speeches to Congress?Our guest was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the junior senator from Rhode Island and all-around stellar human. He’s been a member of Congress since 2007 and he was just sworn in for his 3rd term – plus, he’s recently been moonlighting as some sort of Captain Planet figure.We discuss his speeches, his future carbon bill, bi-partisanship, calling bullshit when we see it, Rhode Island’s fossil-fuel lawsuit, and so much more.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Trump’s Book Club: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_2Gr8Ab6RS5WF3Links: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SenWhitehouse Sandra Thornton Whitehouse: https://www.oceancollectiv.co/sandra/ Republicans for Carbon Tax: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-group-calls-for-carbon-t

Back in Episode 38, Quinn & Brian asked: Is it harder to build clean power plants or play in a reputable cover band?Our guest Sean Casten then went on to win the election for congressman of Brian’s home district, Illinois’ 6th! There’s a little more hope in the world, so we want to re-introduce you to these kickass STEM politicians. Sean is a scientist, clean energy entrepreneur, and cover band member who ran against Peter Roskam, who called climate change “junk science,” which is really all we needed to hear to know that Sean is the right man for Illinois’’ 6th district. Plus, Sean is backed by our friends at 314 Action, an incredible group of people who are smarter than us trying to get other people who are smarter than us elected. You can check out our previous episodes with 314 Action founder Shaughnessy Naughton (episode 35) and fellow Congressional candidates Chrissy Houlahan (episode 37) and Joseph Kopser (episode 32).Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Tr

Back in Episode 37, Quinn & Brian asked: Why does Congress need a female Air Force Officer / Engineer / Chemistry Teacher / Mom among its ranks? We found out – and now our guest Chrissy Houlahan is the new congresswoman from Pennsylvania District 6! So we’re playing that episode again to celebrate. We dig into the very personal reasons she ran, what’s so special about Pennsylvania, and the first thing she’s going to do when she gets elected. Plus, how did she collect such an impressive list of bona fides? Chrissy was one of our featured conversations in partnership with 314 Action, an organization working hard to put STEM candidates in office. You can learn more about the organization in our interview with the founder, Shaughnessy Naughton, back in episode 35 and support them at 314action.org. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message! Trump’s Book Club: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3R5XF4WMZE0TV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_

In Episode 50, Quinn & Brian discuss: 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.  Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message! Trump’s Book Club:  The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepúlveda  Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The

In Episode 49, Quinn & Brian ask: What can the HUGE food and beverage companies do, right now, to improve U.S. food systems and drive trends towards a more sustainable future? It’s a big and complicated question, but our guest Jennifer Mleczko is going to share the one simple thing you can do to address all of it at once. Jennifer is a consultant at the World Bank focused on sustainable development, specifically agriculture and, even more specifically, livestock. There are environmental, social, economic, and political implications to the food systems we’ve created here in the United States; globalization, international trade, market consolidation, and the ways we produce food affects communities all around the globe. We aren’t always aware of how buying a package of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets from Walmart affects a small farm halfway across the country or the world, but every choice we make has consequences – and the more we work to bring awareness to these choices, the more we can do to transi

In Episode 48, Quinn & Brian ask: Why the hell does childhood cancer exist, isn't the world effed up enough as it is, and what can we do to make it go away forever? Our guest is one of our favorite humans, Jay Scott, Co-Executive Director of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Jay runs the organization with his wife, Liz, in honor of their daughter Alex, who was diagnosed with cancer just two days before her first birthday. She set up a lemonade stand in their yard to help support her doctors and, before she died, she managed to raise more than $1 million. Since then, Alex’s Lemonade Stand has raised over $150 million and funded nearly 1,000 medical research grants for more than 135 institutions across the U.S. and Canada, and they’re not slowing down for a second. This is an awesome, inspiring, and necessary conversation, but be warned: our keyboards are covered in salty man tears and your phone may get wet as well. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice messag

In Episode 47, Quinn goes solo for a minute to discuss: America’s data and the future of digital health. Quinn sits down for a one-on-one chat with Dave Gershgorn, the lead artificial intelligence reporter at Quartz (AKA qz.com), to figure out why our data is different, how the future we were promised is both here and pretty damn far away, and whether/why data is too white. The worlds of healthcare and artificial intelligence are looking – big surprise – really biased right now, but with some effort, we can get to the colorful and diverse future of digital health we talked about with Dr. Indra Joshi and Maxine Mackintosh back in episode 43. Today, Dave provides some journalist-approved action steps that will help us get a little more informed on the subject so that we can all help make that future our reality. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Trump’s Book Club: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kon

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is an Associate Dean and Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Carolina, and today she schools us on radioactivity in the ocean. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!

Our guest is Dr. Diwakar Davar, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and a a medical oncologist/hematologist.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!

Our guest is Dr. James Rogers, founder and CEO of Apeel Sciences and one of our most mind-blowing guests yet.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!

Our guests are Dr. Indra Joshi & Maxine Mackintosh, the co-founders of One HealthTech.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!

Dr. Sian Proctor tells us how we can all help get more women and more people of color into space, one way or another.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!