The Most Important Question

This week:

In response to our ongoing and delightful home electrification series with our friends at Rewiring America, we have received a hell of a lot of questions that are beyond our ability to ans…

This week:

Can little-old-you really make a difference? Hell yes you can.

Plus: cheaper insulin, cleaner camping gear, a new (lidless) coffee cup, good news on BetterHelp, and maybe even some paid lea…

What can we learn from trees?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Beronda Montgomery.

Beronda's a transformative writer, researcher and scholar who pursues a common theme of understandin…

How many nights have you spent up recently worried that AI is just gonna take your job?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Mohammed AlQuraishi.

Almost three years before chatGPT and New…

This week:

Pulled in a million directions? Wondering what the hell you do with your days?

Find your north stars (and become devastatingly effective) with one simple question.

What We Can Do:

• ⚡️ Please …

This week:

The future of search and chatbots looks a lot like our ancient past. Why do we keep making the same tools over and over again?

What We Can Do:

• ⚡️ Addiction is brutal. Help yourself or a love…

Imagine you’re in a sci-fi movie. The one where everything’s on the line.

And while dinosaurs or aliens or a virus takes over down on the ground, you’re the scientist unexpectedly riding in the helic…

This week:

There are a default group of problems that exist in our society because of the basic needs required to be a human.

They are:

• Air
• Water
• Food
• Sleep

These, our most primal needs, are more or l…

This week:

For the next few weeks, I’m rewriting and sharing a selection of essays I wrote in 2020 and 2021, so about two hundred years ago. I think they’re more relevant than ever — I can’t wait to …

How does innovation actually work?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Christopher Mims. Chris is a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and I had him on the show in 2021 to understand ho…

This week:

Everyone needs insurance. But what kind? And what does it mean to have it, or not?

Well, there’s actual insurance, which is a policy where you and an insurer contract with one another in ca…

How do we reimagine capitalism in a world on fire?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Rebecca Henderson, Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class "Reimagining Capitalism".

I had Re…

This week:

What does it mean when people say “revolution”?

For these purposes, which are pretty narrow and entirely of my own invention, I don’t mean some single moment in time, unless it was a bellw…

How can I be a better ancestor?

This question has haunted and inspired me since way back in 2019 when I first read the Optimist's Telescope. A beautiful, helpful, inspiring book by Bina Venkataraman.…

Across the front of our website, in big bold letters, is our calling card: “Science for people who give a shit.”

You may have seen it and immediately thought “That’s me!” or “You sir, are a child.”

Ei…

We’re taking giving a shit quite literally this week! 

Our guest is Newsha Ghaeli, the president and co-founder at Biobot Analytics. If you read our newsletter, you’ll have heard me go on and on about…

What’s one big change we can make that can make our food healthier, make farming more lucrative, draw down carbon in the atmosphere, and reduce climate emigration?

That’s today’s big question, and my …

Aluminum. It’s everywhere!

And we’re going to need a hell of a lot more of it in the future.

Aluminum is a primary ingredient in solar, wind, hydro, concentrated solar, bioenergy, the grid, batteries, …

This week:

• Global climate news roundup beyond COP27
• The human cost of vaccine inequity
• Water runs dry
• Chatbots aren't your friends
• Caveats to exciting AI developments

Here's What You Can Do:

• More Democrati…

There’s nothing quite like breaking bread with family and friends, old or new. By mid-2020, we’d have all taken the opportunity to break bread with just about anyone.

Why are recipes, and the stories …