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 important question: What can I do?
We're talkin' clean energy and coral reefs, COVID vaccines and pediatric cancer research, clean water and carbon capture tech, asteroid deflection and artificial intelligence ethics.
"A vital service in an era where important truths, outright fiction and mere trivia all compete for your attention.” - Craig Mazin, creator, writer, and executive producer of HBO's Chernobyl
Hosted by Quinn Emmett
- Update frequency
- every 5 days
- Average duration
- 46 minutes
- Episodes
- 435
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2025
Introducing the Important, Not Important: Sh*t-Giver Edition!
We’re very excited to announce the launch of our new premium podcast feed — The Shit-Giver Edition!
Our main feed (this one) will always be free, and will always host the latest in our award-nominate…
#83: Knock Knock. Who’s There? Climate Change. Climate Change Who? Climate Change Pooped On Your Head. (A Conversation About Mangroves)
In Episode 83, Quinn & Brian discuss: Blue carbon, the patriarchy, and how one of those two things has ruined the other (we’ll give you three guesses).
Our guests are Dr. Sarah Myhre and Priya Shukla.…
BONUS: Help Dr. Ghazala Hashmi Flip Virginia
We’re interrupting your normally scheduled programming with a Special Election Report! So, today, Quinn & Brian ask: Will You Help Us Flip Virginia?
Our guest is Dr. Ghazala Hashmi, an immigrant, edu…
#82: Sustainable Trees + Death Metal = Climate Progress
In Episode 82, Quinn & Brian discuss: How to fix our somewhat pressing land reconfiguration issues -- from 30,000 feet down to the soil under your feet.
Our guest is Dr. Iara Lacher, a land use ecolog…
#81: Legalizing the Other Weed
In Episode 81, Quinn & Brian discuss: Legalizing the weed of the sea.
Our guests are Bren Smith and Tom Ford, two fine, clean-living gentleman who are out on the water, every day, trying to change the…
#80: Mosquitoes. The Serial Killers of Nature. Should We Make Them Go Away?
In Episode 80, Quinn & Brian discuss Quinn’s wife’s least favorite thing: Mosquitoes!
Our guest is Dr. Natalie Kofler, a trained scientist and the founding director of Editing Nature at Yale Universit…
#79: Air Pollution: The Low Hanging Fruit of Our Hellish Future
#78: How to Be A Better Ancestor
In Episode 78, Quinn & Brian discuss: Planning for chaos.
Our guest is Bina Venkataraman, author of the upcoming book The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age and a teacher in the p…
BEST OF THE BEST: Where Does Ebola Go From Here?
In Episode 62, Quinn & Brian asked: Where does Ebola go from here?
Our guest is Karin Huster, a Field Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, where she is currently bouncing between the Democratic Rep…
#77: Please, Please, Please Do A Good Job, Colorado
In Episode 77, Quinn & Brian discuss: How Colorado can fix this wholllllle thing with one little election.
Our guest is Mike Johnston, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado and the …
#76: Save the Corals, Save the World
In Episode 76, Quinn & Brian discuss: What you don’t see (any more) when you snorkel.
Our guest is Dr. Kim Cobb, a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of…
BEST OF THE BEST: It’s Getting Hot in Here, and America’s Poor Are Dying Faster Than Everyone Else
In Episode 50, Quinn & Brian discussed: 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.…
#75: Can Zebrafish Beat Childhood Cancer?
In Episode 75, Quinn & Brian discuss: Beating the crap out of childhood cancer with science and... zebrafish?
We’re getting really nerdy about beating childhood cancer with Dr. Jaclyn Taroni and Dr. G…
#74: Incentivizing Those Dirty Capitalists to Solve Climate Change for Us
In Episode 74, Quinn & Brian discuss: Making carbon capture suck more (but this time, with carrots).
Our guest is Henry Elkus, the frustratingly young and impossibly optimistic founder of Helena, an o…
BEST OF THE BEST: What’s It Feel Like To Be Asked To Save the World?
Today’s episode is a rerun of Episode 56, where Quinn & Brian asked: 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…
#73: Did A.I. Just Make My Life’s Work Obsolete?
In Episode 73, Quinn & Brian ask: Hold On A Minute -- Did A.I. Just Take Our Jobs?
Of course, we aren’t talking about our jobs. If A.I. took our jobs, the show would have won that Webby. We’re talkin…
#72: The Monsoon Is 11 Days Late
In Episode 72, Quinn & Brian discuss: Monsoons, food, and people.
Our guest is Dr. Deepti Singh, an Assistant Professor in the School of the Environment at Washington State University - Vancouver who …
#71: Why Raising the Status of Girls Can Change Everything
In Episode 71, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why raising the status of girls can help change everything.
Our guest is Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, a Vice President at Drawdown, an author, a public speaker, and a…
#70: Who’s Fixing the People Fixing Our Planet?
In Episode 70, Quinn & Brian discuss: When things are broken, when the people who are working on those things are also broken, and why we need to help them. Our guest is Nikki Silvestri, the founder …
#69: Rebuilding Los Angeles & L.A.’s Green New Deal
In Episode 69, Quinn & Brian discuss: Rebuilding Los Angeles and L.A.’s Green New Deal.
Our guest is Jeanalee Obergfell, who works just down the street from Important, Not Important HQ as a City Plann…