Still Sharp: Lulu Miller on the Questions We Stop Asking | Lulu Miller #104

" Real curiosity, untethered, unsoftened, it's a pretty intense tool. And I think the kids haven't blunted the weapon by politeness or by fear of looking dumb or by the belief that there are certain things we should know. It's still sharp." - Lulu Miller Lulu Miller first found the power of questions on a subway train, listening to an early Radiolab episode about fireflies that blink in unison. That question opened a door she had been looking for since childhood: another world, inside this one. Today she co-hosts Radiolab with Latif Nasser, co-founded Invisibilia, and created Terrestrials, a nature podcast for kids and families. Her international bestseller, *Why Fish Don't Exist*, begins with a question many of us carry quietly: what is the point? Her answer reminds us that the categories we trust are often questions we stop asking. But the power scared her. She once fled journalism for a fiction MFA, convinced her questions could hurt people. Jad Abumrad's reframe brought her back: those worries are the sound of your moral compass. In this conversation, Lulu shares three ways to move a conversation past the rehearsed version: ask something tactile, ask the elephant-in-the-room question, and interrupt with care. Then the kids on Terrestrials take over, asking NASA scientists and the poet laureate the blunt, open questions adults soften away. Real curiosity, unsoftened, is still sharp. Who blunted ours? This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions?)) Keep questioning! **Resources Mentioned** Radiolab (https://radiolab.org/) Latif Nasser (https://latif-nasser.squarespace.com/about) NPR (https://www.npr.org/) Invisibilia (https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia) Terrestrials Podcast (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids) Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Fish-Dont-Exist/Lulu-Miller/9781501160349) This American Life (https://www.thisamericanlife.org/) Radiolab, Fireflies "Emergence" episode (https://radiolab.org/podcast/91501-there-is-no-lord-of-the-fireflies) Olbers' paradox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27\_paradox) Jad Abumrad (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jad\_Abumrad) Robert Krulwich (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert\_Krulwich) Jocelyn Ford (https://mediaeducationlab.com/about/jocelyn-ford) Nell Greenfieldboyce (https://www.nellgreenfieldboyce.com/) Gregory Warner (https://gregorywarner.substack.com/) Ellen Horne (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-horne-78a45a2) The Addams Family (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\Addams\Family) Radiolab parasites episode (https://radiolab.org/podcast/darkode) Hanna Rosin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna\_Rosin) Alix Spiegel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alix\_Spiegel) Zoopharmacognosy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopharmacognosy) Terrestrials, "An Ocean in Space" episode (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/an-ocean-in-space/id1504895463?i=1000702888723) Europa Clipper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa\_Clipper) Europa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa\_(moon)) Ada Limón (https://adalimon.com/) Voyager Golden Record (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager\Golden\Record) Producer Ben Ford (https://www.producerbenford.com/) Beauty Pill (https://www.beautypill.com/)