Opinion and analysis

Recent opinion and analysis pieces written by UW-affiliated experts. See The Conversation for only the analysis pieces.

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Full archive of opinion and analysis stories

• Opinion: Homelessness in Seattle: We can’t unsee it | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "Visible homelessness, like a car wreck, both horrifies and transfixes us. Or many of us. We hate to witness the “squalor” of disheveled, desperate people. And then we crane our necks to see it more closely," writes Walter Hatch, affiliate professor of international studies at the UW. Gregg Colburn, associate professor of real estate at the UW, is mentioned.
• Letter to the Editor: Seniors’ mental health: Limit access to firearms, medication | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "At Forefront Suicide Prevention, we’ve long been concerned about suicide among seniors. In the highest risk group, men ages 80 to 84, a shocking 85% of suicides involve firearm use. Medication overdoses are the most frequent type of suicide attempt," write Rebecca Vaux, communications director of the UW's Forefront Suicide Prevention center, and Dr. Jeffrey Sung, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: Epstein files’ lessons echo in WA: Stop protecting sex buyers | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "Survivor accounts of the lasting effects of their prostitution at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy friends repeat the story of every trafficked girl and woman on Aurora Avenue in Seattle," writes Debra Boyer, affiliate faculty in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at the UW.
• Analysis: The ‘one chatbot per child’ model for AI in classrooms conflicts with what research shows: Learning is a social process | The Conversation3 weeks ago
  "As a public school teacher, I was often the first to bring technology into my classroom. I was dazzled by the promise of a digital future in education. Now as a social scientist who studies how people learn, I believe K-12 schools need to question predominant visions of AI for education," writes Niral Shah, associate professor of education at the UW.
• Opinion: Susan Kane-Ronning: Wolf recovery is ongoing in Washington and across the West | The Spokesman Review4 weeks ago
  "The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s recent vote against translocating Washington wolves to Colorado was not a referendum against Colorado’s wolf recovery. Washington’s wolf population declined by 9% in 2024, and breeding pairs dropped from 23 to 18. The request for Washington wolves also came after conservationists beat back a legislative attempt to downlist wolves from endangered to sensitive, weakening wolf protections," writes Susan Kane-Ronning. A University of Washington study is mentioned.
• Opinion: The ignorance of South Asian cardiovascular disease outcomes by the US healthcare system | NW Asian Weekly4 weeks ago
  "The United States healthcare system continues to overlook the urgent need to improve South Asian cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes, and it shows," writes Adelyn Emil, an undergraduate in the UW School of Public Health. UW Medicine is mentioned.
• Automated systems decide which homeless Philadelphians get housing and who stays on the street — often in ways that feel arbitrary to those waiting | The Conversation1 month ago
  "Seeing a person huddled under a makeshift roof of tarps or curled up on a warm grate can evoke powerful emotions and questions. How did they get here? Why doesn’t someone help them? What can I do about this? The answers to these questions are complex. However, a significant body of research suggests that there is a highly effective solution for many individuals who experience homelessness. It is called supportive housing," writes Pelle Tracey, assistant professor in the Information School.
• Opinion: The state of healthcare in America | KCSB2 months ago
  "America spends twice as much per person on health care than any other nation, yet millions of people here do not have access to health care. Given how the government has savaged the agencies comprising the Department of Health and Human services, I can't see how there can be any progress to make America healthy again," says Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, associate teaching professor emeritus of global health and of health services at the UW.
• Opinion: Biodegradable, done right: Make sustainable product choices | Los Angeles Times2 months ago
  "Microplastics can start in the kitchen. Swap short-life wipes, liners and everyday packaging for biodegradable options and match them to real home or industrial compost routes," writes Junjie Yang. A University of Washington study is referenced.
• Editorial: ICE is checking law enforcement databases — WA has a law against that | The Seattle Times2 months ago
  "As federal immigration authorities step up their roundup of Black and brown people they suspect of being undocumented, Washington should make sure local law enforcement agencies follow the state’s law designed to protect its immigrant residents and the state’s economy," writes The Seattle Times editorial board. A report from the UW Center for Human Rights is referenced.
• Opinion: How AI Is changing higher education | The Chronicle of Higher Education2 months ago
  "When we tell students they can get 'answers' from a chatbot, we are failing to model or encourage the kind of sophisticated information-seeking behavior that underlies critical thinking," writes Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW.
• Opinion: Idaho WWAMI a lifeline for rural physician shortages today | Idaho Statesman2 months ago
  "The Idaho WWAMI program — a groundbreaking partnership between the state of Idaho, the University of Idaho and the University of Washington School of Medicine — has been a lifeline for our state’s health care system for over 53 years," writes Dr. Joey Florence. UW Medicine is mentioned.
• Editorial: Police should protect the public, not the feds | Yakima Herald-Republic2 months ago
  "At the very least, local and federal authorities shouldn’t be bending or breaking state laws. And local law officers shouldn’t have to choose whether to serve the public that they’ve sworn to protect or obey federal officials who increasingly see themselves as accountable to no one," writes the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board. A report by the UW Center for Human rights is referenced.
• Opinion: Federal access to license plate data alarming, not surprising | Tacoma News Tribune3 months ago
  "Civil libertarians have long warned about the risks of allowing law enforcement agencies to track people through license plate readers as a tool for criminal investigations. One of their arguments: how can we be sure we’ll know when other government agencies access this data?" writes Laura Hautala. A report by the UW Center for Human rights is referenced.
• Opinion: In today’s world, we need real stories, not just facts | The Seattle Times3 months ago
  "When our expectations of reality, shaped by the stories we collectively tell ourselves about how the world works, no longer align with our experiences, reality itself can begin to feel like it’s unraveling. I call this fracture between expectation and experience the 'authenticity gap,'" writes Danielle Lee Tomson, research manager at the UW Center for an Informed Public.
• Opinion: Reframing the narrative on physics readiness | Physics Today3 months ago
  "Alternative undergraduate physics courses expand access to students and address socioeconomic barriers that prevent many of them from entering physics and engineering fields," write Suzanne White Brahmia, associate professor of physics at the UW, and Geraldine L. Cochran.
• Opinion: The siren song of forced drug treatment | PubliCola3 months ago
  "...'Forced treatment,' also known as involuntary treatment, should remain an option of last resort, used only in extreme cases of grave disability or imminent harm to self or others," writes Susan Collins, co-director of the Harm Reduction Research & Treatment Center at the UW School of Medicine.
• Analysis: Can violent extremists be deradicalized? I spoke with 24 former terrorists in Indonesia to find out | The Conversation4 months ago
  "Can a person who once embraced terrorism and violence truly change? As a researcher who studies soft power and ideological violence, I set out to answer that question by asking 24 Indonesian former terrorists and holding focus group discussion with ex-jihadists," writes Bernard Loesi, a doctoral student in international relations at the UW.
• Analysis: Silenced labs, exiled minds: How global science was set back a century | Forbes4 months ago
  "Modern science has yielded immense benefits to society, yet it has also suffered greatly at the hands of several major nations. Politics and ideology, not religion, have been the reason," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.
• Analysis: How RFK Jr.’s misguided science on mRNA vaccines is shaping policy — a vaccine expert examines the false claims | The Conversation4 months ago
  "As a vaccinologist who has studied and developed vaccines for over 35 years, I see that the science behind mRNA vaccine technology is being widely misstated. This incorrect information is shaping long-term health policy in the U.S. — which makes it urgent to correct the record," writes Deborah Fuller, a professor of microbiology in the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: Home humanoid robots survey reveals surprising preferences | IEEE Spectrum4 months ago
  "While humanoid companies (and their investors) dream of a single humanoid capable of doing it all, our survey participants seem to be more on board with a toolbox of smaller, specialized machines for most tasks: a Roomba for cleaning, a medication dispenser for pills, a stairlift for stairs," writes Maya Cakmak, associate professor of computer science and engineering at the UW.
• Opinion: How wildfires hurt children’s brain development | STAT5 months ago
  "Sometimes the most severe effects of environmental disasters on brain development, health, and function don’t manifest until months to years after exposure, with some impacts not fully apparent until the next generation," writes Clayton Page Aldern, research affiliate at the UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology.
• Analysis: The sneaky gender bias in picture books: Animal characters | Publishers Weekly5 months ago
  "I recently published a data analysis with The Pudding, a digital publication known for data-driven storytelling, about animal characters in picture books. We read approximately 300 popular English-language picture books from the past 70+ years and noted the gender of any anthropomorphized animal character that was important to the story," writes Melanie Walsh, an assistant professor in the Information School at the UW.
• Opinion: Trump needs an Epstein files distraction — enter Fox News and Russiagate | MSNBC5 months ago
  "At gaggles, in interviews and on his social media platform, (President Donald Trump) has made explicit his desire to shift attention away from Jeffrey Epstein — the disgraced financier found dead from suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges," writes Brandy Zadrozny. Kate Starbird, professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public, is quoted.
• Analysis: The bacteria killing sea stars in the Pacific: How our team uncovered a decade-long mystery | The Conversation5 months ago
  "...Sea Star Wasting Disease has been described as the largest epidemic ever recorded in a wild marine species, and one of the 10 greatest unsolved ocean mysteries. Attempts to identify the pathogen responsible have turned up more questions than answers, until now. We have recently published the findings of our five-year research project into the cause of SSWD," write Grace Crandall, doctoral student of aquatic and fishery sciences at the UW; Drew Harvell, affiliate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and a research scientist at the UW Friday Harbor Laboratories; Melanie Prentice; and Alyssa-Lois Gehman.
• Opinion: Breast cancer strikes men, too — my husband is one of them | The Seattle Times5 months ago
  "Most people know someone with breast cancer, and I am no exception. My mother had breast cancer, and my aunt died of breast cancer. With one in eight women diagnosed with the disease during her lifetime, it is common knowledge that women are at risk for breast cancer as they age," writes Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UW School of Medicine.
• Analysis: When socialists win Democratic primaries: Will Zohran Mamdani be haunted by the Upton Sinclair effect? | The Conversation5 months ago
  "It has happened before: an upset victory by a Democratic Socialist in an important primary election after an extraordinary grassroots campaign," writes James Gregory, professor of history at the UW.
• Opinion: Stop studying Lake Washington Boulevard traffic safety and just act | The Seattle Times6 months ago
  "Recently, I felt hopeful knowing Seattle  planned to extend traffic calming all the way north to Mount Baker Beach. So it was a gut punch when Seattle Parks announced watered-down plans, most notably halting  additional speed-cushion implementation until further study. To protect those who live, drive, walk, take transit and/or bike through Southeast Seattle, Seattle must recommit to implementing the full traffic-calming and pedestrian infrastructure plans this year," writes Katherine Hoerster, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: Marvel’s ‘Ironheart’ reimagines AI through a black girl’s lens | Forbes7 months ago
  "What might the virtual assistant in your phone sound like if the artificial intelligence that powered it emerged from the consciousness of a Black girl from Chicago?" writes Timeka Tounsel, associate professor of Black studies in communication at the UW. Golden M. Owens, assistant professor of cinema & media studies at the UW, is quoted.
• Analysis: Could Iran really make a nuclear weapon? | Forbes7 months ago
  "Whether Iran has actively sought a nuclear weapon remains unanswered, but there is no doubt it pushed the limits of its enrichment program too far, and not by a little," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.

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