It's Monday, March 20th, 2017, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.

I'm Indra Viscontas.

And I'm Kishore Hari.

Each week, we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.

We endeavor to endeavor, and why it all matters.

You can find us online at motherjones.com slash inquiring minds or

inquiringshow.telmer.com. You can also find us on Twitter at inquiring show and on Facebook.

And you can subscribe to the show on iTunes or any other podcasting app.

Before we get further into this episode, I want to let our listeners know about my new podcast called

Cadence, what music tells us about the mind. I'm super excited about this project, and we already

have three episodes available for you to listen to on iTunes or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Again, it's called cadence.

Flint, Michigan used to stand for the height of U.S. manufacturing,

a booming car industry that fueled middle-class factory jobs across its population.

It was a symbol of American pride. And that story crumbled in the height of the recession

with the downfall of the

automotive industry and the automotive bailouts. That collapse wreaked havoc across a number of

industries, including all of the companies that were supplying parts into those automotive

companies. And that story of Flint turned into one of U.S. manufacturing decline.

But now when I say Flint, Michigan, you think of something else, don't you?

Yeah, I think about people who live and have to pay for water that they can't drink.

That's right. We think of orange water. We think of poisoned water. And we think the failure of U.S. infrastructure.

...