Have you ever needed an answer to a basic question.. and ended up more confused after hours of searching?

You read five articles. Watch ten videos. Hear twelve opinions.

And somehow you still don’t know what is actually useful.

Part of the problem is that the information we are shown is filtered through algorithms, commercial incentives and an endless competition for attention.

I felt that very personally this summer while looking for answers to medical questions. Too often, what I found first was commercialization instead of explanation.

So I did what I already do as a journalist:

I went to the source.

Find the person who actually knows. Vet them. Ask questions. Keep asking until the answer makes sense.

During my recent conversation with Dr. Alain Labrique, WHO’s Director of Digital Health & Innovation, we talked about how difficult it is for serious expertise to compete in a media environment built around speed, certainty and six-second hooks.

And it made me realize that perhaps the balance I’ve been looking for in ONEST was already there.

Curiosity.

There’s an idea that growing up partly means learning to stop asking the questions that came naturally as children.

I don’t think we should.

So I finally have a name for something I’ve already started doing:

Simply Put.

One basic question:

How does it actually work?

HEALTH. SCIENCE. CLIMATE. TECHNOLOGY. AI. OCEANS. LANGUAGE. FOOD. DESIGN. MUSIC.

From doctors and scientists to engineers, researchers, designers, chefs, writers, technicians and practitioners, I am going to people with real knowledge, experience and expertise.. and asking them to explain what they know.

Simply put.

It’s a public library of questions and answers from people who genuinely know their subjects.

And that requires more than just pressing record or talking to the most visible voices.

It means research, vetting, pre-interviews, checking credentials and conflicts where relevant, preparing questions, fact-checking, travel when necessary, recording, editing, transcription and written production.

I take that seriously. I hope you will with me too.

Every conversation will be public and available in writing, with video and/or audio where appropriate, so it can be read, watched, listened to, translated and shared.

Politics changes, news cycles move on. But our need to understand our bodies, technology, science, creativity and the world around us does not.

If you believe this is worth building, I’d love your help making it possible.

And if there’s something you’ve always wanted explained properly, feel free to send me your question too, publicly or privately.

Let’s make science cool again, because it is. For us, and for those who come after us.

Go to the source. Ask the question. Preserve the answer.

Simply Put.