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248. Mariah Blake with Mónica Guzmán: A Legacy of Chemicals & Cover-Ups

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Release Date: 06/03/2025

248. Mariah Blake with Mónica Guzmán: A Legacy of Chemicals & Cover-Ups show art 248. Mariah Blake with Mónica Guzmán: A Legacy of Chemicals & Cover-Ups

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

From Silent Spring to Erin Brockovich, people have been captivated — and devastated — by stories of harmful chemicals and the many ways that they have altered and even ended human lives. From investigative journalist Mariah Blake comes a new book that recounts a small town being poisoned, a corporate cover up, and a grassroots movement to fight back. In 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, suspected that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous...

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247. Dori Gillam: Get Ready for Caregiving – Yours, Mine and Theirs! show art 247. Dori Gillam: Get Ready for Caregiving – Yours, Mine and Theirs!

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Overnight, Dori became her parents’ caregiver – a labor of love that lasted for seven years. Her mom was suddenly a partially paralyzed wheelchair-bound amputee and her dad was declining due to increasing dementia. She wasn’t ready. This event is to help prepare anyone – those who have been, are now, or will be a caregiver – in other words, all of us! Whether it is navigating the health care system, working with dementia, speaking about dying, or considering how to accept care if and when you need it, you will learn from Dori’s experiences. Dori Gillam is a speaker and...

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246. Craig Mundie and Dr. Jim Heath: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit show art 246. Craig Mundie and Dr. Jim Heath: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Artificial intelligence is reshaping our world – but what does that mean for healthcare, scientific discovery, and human potential? In Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit, co-authors Craig Mundie, Henry Kissinger, and Eric Schmidt explore the profound implications of AI on society. In this collaborative event between Town Hall Seattle and the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), Craig Mundie joins Dr. Jim Heath, President of ISB, for a thought-provoking conversation about the future of AI. They will discuss insights from the book, the opportunities and...

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245. Psychedelic Salon with April Pride and Sand Symes: The Sacred Path of Women and Psychedelics show art 245. Psychedelic Salon with April Pride and Sand Symes: The Sacred Path of Women and Psychedelics

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Sand Symes, a psychedelic guide who has spent over 40 years working with women in transformational spaces and 20+ years immersed in her committed work with psychedelics, in discussion with April Pride at Town Hall Seattle. With decades of experience guiding women in transformational work, Sand brings a perspective that blends spiritual and practical insights. Rather than focusing on theory alone, she shares her experiences of how these medicines are understood and integrated in different contexts. This gathering invited participants to engage with stories, reflections, and perspectives on the...

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244. Mary-Frances O’Connor with Dr. Anthony Back: Grief and the Body show art 244. Mary-Frances O’Connor with Dr. Anthony Back: Grief and the Body

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Despite grief being one of the most universal of human experiences, there is still much that we do not know about it. Can we die of a broken heart? What happens in our bodies as we grieve; how do our coping behaviors affect our physical health, immunity, and even cognition? While we may be more familiar with psychological and emotional ramifications of loss and sorrow, we often overlook its impact on our physical bodies. In The Grieving Body: How the Stress of Loss Can Be an Opportunity for Healing, the follow-up to its successful predecessor The Grieving Brain (2022),...

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243. Thor Hanson: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door show art 243. Thor Hanson: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

The routines of modern life can often cause us to fall out of touch with our surroundings. But reconnecting with our world can go much further than just stopping to smell the roses – and without having to travel very far at all. In his newest book Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door, conservation biologist Thor Hanson encourages readers to see just how many exciting natural discoveries can be made in our most familiar environments. Close to Home takes a magnifying glass to the yards, gardens, and parks we already know and shows the hidden wonders that lie in...

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242. Psychedelic Salon with April Pride: Psychedelics for Creativity show art 242. Psychedelic Salon with April Pride: Psychedelics for Creativity

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Have you wondered how psychedelics are being intentionally used by artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives to push the boundaries of their craft? This session kicks off our new series, Psychedelic Salon, with a panel of esteemed Seattle artists who will discuss the role of psychedelics in Seattle’s countercultural movements and how they influence artistic expression. Expect a candid conversation on the relationship between altered states and creativity, with insights from prominent Seattle creatives known for their experimentation. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how...

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241. Gary F. Marcus with Ted Chiang  How to Make AI Work for Us (And Not the Other Way Around) show art 241. Gary F. Marcus with Ted Chiang How to Make AI Work for Us (And Not the Other Way Around)

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Artificial intelligence is an actively surging field in today’s digital landscape, and as each new AI interface reaches the public it throws into sharper resolution that all the big tech players are getting involved. And quickly. But where are the roots of this rapidly expanding industry’s interests? How does AI impact individuals, established industries, and the future of our society if it continues to grow faster than it is critically examined? In his newest book Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works For Us, author and scientist Gary F. Marcus uses his expertise in...

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240. Amorina Kingdon: Sing Like Fish – How Sound Rules Life Underwater show art 240. Amorina Kingdon: Sing Like Fish – How Sound Rules Life Underwater

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

The ocean has proven endlessly mysterious and fascinating to all manner of people across the globe, but for centuries true knowledge of the depths was simply out of reach. As modern technologies advance, science has debunked much once held to be true – including the idea of the “silent world” of the ocean. What was once thought to be a muffled marine landscape with little to no perceptible sounds has now been revealed to be a complex interplay of aquatic acoustics. In her debut book Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water, science journalist Amorina Kingdon turns up the...

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239. Lynne Peeples with Bill Radke: Shining New Light on Our Rest and Routines show art 239. Lynne Peeples with Bill Radke: Shining New Light on Our Rest and Routines

Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Whether it’s staying up late in front of the screens or waking up before dawn for that early morning flight – it’s easy to tell when something big has thrown off our routines. But what about the little things that add up over the course of a day, a week, or our lives overall? How do small adjustments to our daily practices affect our long-term relationship with the balance between our bodies and the busy technology-driven world we live in? In her new book, author and science journalist Lynne Peeples explores how our often hectic habits can impact our physical, mental, and social...

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From left to right: Headshots of Mariah Blake (with green turtleneck and curly brown hair) and Monica Guzman (with light skin and short brown hair)

From Silent Spring to Erin Brockovich, people have been captivated — and devastated — by stories of harmful chemicals and the many ways that they have altered and even ended human lives. From investigative journalist Mariah Blake comes a new book that recounts a small town being poisoned, a corporate cover up, and a grassroots movement to fight back.

In 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, suspected that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous levels of “forever chemicals” (synthetic chemicals that are resistant to breaking down and can lead to adverse health and environmental effects). This set off a chain of events that revealed at least 100 million Americans’ drinking water was tainted. The discovery of bad water was a shock to some, but perhaps more shocking was the discovery that the United States government and the manufacturers of these toxic chemicals — used in everything from cookware to lipstick to children’s clothing — had known about these hazards for decades but had hidden them from the public.

In her new book They Poisoned the World, investigative journalist Mariah Blake tells this story, tracing its roots all the way back to the Manhattan Project and through the postwar America.

Drawing on years of reporting and tens of thousands of documents, Blake weaves the history of forever chemicals with the story of how a lone village took on the chemical giants all the way to the nation’s capital — and won.

Mariah Blake is an investigative journalist whose writing has appeared in The AtlanticMother Jones, The New Republic, and other publications. She was a Murrey Marder Nieman Fellow in Watchdog Journalism at Harvard University.

Mónica Guzmán is author of I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times; founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity; Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels; and host of A Braver Way podcast. Mónica serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Multipartisan Education. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Wheaton College, and completed study and research fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, and the University of Florida. A Mexican immigrant, Latina, and dual US/Mexico citizen, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two kids and is the proud liberal daughter of conservative parents.