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: Schools should put science at the forefront when determining schedules | The Spokesman Review15 hours ago
  "Spokane Public Schools can move the middle school bell to 7:30 a.m. with the stroke of a pen. What it cannot move is the adolescent biological clock. For Spokane middle school students this is not a small adjustment. The district is proposing shifting their school day to a full 90 minutes earlier, precisely as they enter a developmental period when their circadian clocks are shifting later," write Dr. Kiran Gill, clinical associate professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine, and Kevin Measor, affiliate assistant professor of neurobiology and biophysics in the UW School of Medicine
• Opinion: With elbows up, Canada has called Trump's bluff on US intimidation of it, US allies | Cascadia Daily News2 weeks ago
  "A combination of distance and familiarity enables Canadians to perceive America more clearly than we do ourselves. This is less true of Europeans, who often fail to see the weakness that underlies America’s apparent strength. As for Americans, we hardly try to understand our allies at all," writes John Koenig, a lecturer of international studies at the UW.
• Opinion: It's time for Seattle to believe in Seattle | GeekWire2 weeks ago
  "Seattle is one of the most talented, creative and inventive places in the world. But if we want the rest of the country to see us that way, we have to start acting like we believe it ourselves," writes Jacob Colker, affiliate instructor in the UW Foster School of Business.
• Opinion: Rethinking Washington transport: favor rails over runway | Tacoma News Tribune1 month ago
  "The best travel option? Trains are the least energy intensive and lowest emitter ppm. Night trains are common in Europe and can be here," writes Breck Lebegue, co-chair of the Climate and Health Task Force of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. A UW study is referenced.
• Opinion: Recovery after fires requires robust public health resources | The Spokesman-Review1 month ago
  "The Spokane Complex fires have devastated homes, displaced families and harmed the landscape we share. The impact of this disaster will cause more than immediate destruction. It also illuminates pre-existing public health fault lines," write Sarah Bliss Matousek and Robin Pickering. Matousek is affiliate faculty at the UW School of Medicine's Spokane campus.
• Analysis: White House releases its vision for science: What role for energy? | Forbes2 months ago
  "More than any time in American history, the White House has sought direct political control over the scientific enterprise—a move associated with authoritarian regimes and profound damage to national systems of research," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.
• Opinion: What a recent op-ed got wrong about our Covid study | STAT2 months ago
  "We welcome the call for new research into the role of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the Covid-19 response using U.S. county-level data, but we regret that Marc Lipsitch and Sara Cody’s recent First Opinion mischaracterized our 2023 Lancet study as a strawman in order to make the case for theirs," write Thomas J. Bollyky and Joseph Dieleman, professor of health metrics sciences at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
• Opinion: The Columbia — the river we keep asking for more | The Seattle Times2 months ago
  "Washington is now among the Top 10 states for data centers, most located east of the mountains along the Columbia. Researchers at UW’s College of Engineering recently found the river runs warmer near them. How will this change a river that has already powered so much: aluminum, wartime production, electrification, and now powers portions of the cloud?" writes Jennifer Phipps, an administrative specialist in the UW Graduate School.
• Opinion: The AI apocalypse that isn’t coming | The Washington Post2 months ago
  "Artificial intelligence can increasingly perform a white-collar employee’s tasks. What it cannot do is vouch for the result. Yet a new slasher genre, the jobs apocalypse, threatens that AI will displace the regular nine-to-five and claims to be scarier than your grandfather’s zombie flick," writes Victor Menaldo, professor of political science at the UW.
• Opinion: Primary care can’t fix the US health crisis | STAT2 months ago
  "By every metric we track, primary care in America is succeeding, and it has been for years. Nearly all Medicare beneficiaries have a primary care provider. Over three-quarters can see their PCP within two weeks. Patients in rural environments have less trouble finding a PCP and even shorter wait times. Services and spending on evaluation and management codes are increasing, and compensation among PCPs is rising faster than the rest of the field. Yet this runs counter to the pervasive narrative that investing more in primary care is the key to solving the American health care crisis," write Dr. Christopher Childers, assistant professor of surgery in the UW School of Medicine, and Dr. Thomas Tsai.
• Analysis: Trump’s new power to fire board members threatens due process | Bloomberg Law2 months ago
  "The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 decision allowing President Donald Trump to fire members of formerly independent agencies may in fact reduce the power of the president, because the agencies which he can now control will have less ability to function at all," writes Eric Schnapper, UW professor of law.
• Opinion: It's time to stop dismissing women's pelvic pain | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution3 months ago
  "Womb suffering is not a term I had ever heard. What I have heard, often, are complaints from women about the lack of compassionate and quality gynecological care for anyone who is past childbearing age or childless by choice," writes Nedra Rhone. Dr. Kemi Doll, professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the UW School of Medicine, is mentioned.
• Opinion: How two high school students got inspired to help refugee families in Tukwila — and how you can help too | International Examiner3 months ago
  "Together for Tukwila was created out of the admiration and inspiration from witnessing a teacher’s leadership in bringing a whole school together for a cause," write Ahilya Dhole and Avishi Jain, an incoming UW first year.
• Opinion: Governor's disrespect for clemency process extends mass incarceration | Cascadia Daily News3 months ago
  "More than a year into his term as governor, Bob Ferguson has not granted any clemencies. His refusal to do so is a dangerous continuation of mass incarceration and disrespects the state’s own process for acknowledging rehabilitation. And a growing number of people are sounding the alarm," writes Dan Berger, professor of interdisciplinary arts and sciences at UW Bothell.
• Opinion: New federal rules threaten to obstruct scientific research | The Seattle Times3 months ago
  "Federal support of scientific research, under a merit system, has made the United States the world’s leader in medical breakthroughs and technology. That leadership is now under threat. A new federal policy would give political appointees authority to decide which research gets funded — based on ideology rather than scientific merit — and would constrain scientists’ ability to publish and share their findings. The proposed rules will limit the scope and quality of U.S. science and diminish its capacity to improve all our lives," writes Dr. Frederick S. Buckner, professor of medicine and of allergy and infections diseases in the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: UW students need more from human beings, not AI | The Seattle Times3 months ago
  "When students use artificial intelligence, they’re accused of cheating, sanctioned under academic integrity codes and warned that AI will erode their ability to think. But when universities use artificial intelligence, they call it 'innovation.' The UW’s new Purple AI tool is the latest example of this double standard," writes Caroline Sheehan, a UW student.
• Opinion: Connecting communities across Washington serves the UW's public mission | The Spokesman Review3 months ago
  "While much has been written recently about declining trust in higher education, research points to a simple conclusion that the University of Washington has long embraced: Trust is built locally," writes UW Provost Tricia Serio about the UW's annual Faculty Field Tour.
• Opinion: Public health risk of unpermitted food vendors in Kitsap | Kitsap Sun3 months ago
  "I want to take a moment to discuss an issue that has become increasingly urgent in the public health community: unpermitted food vendors," writes Dr. Herbie Duber, professor of emergency medicine, of global health and of health metric sciences in the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: The Diabetes Association crosses a line | Los Angeles Times3 months ago
  "The tally from Trumpian attacks on science now includes billions of dollars in damage to farmers and ranchers and assaults on scientists’ freedom of speech," writes business columnist Michael Hiltzik. Dr. Steven Kahn, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine, is quoted.
• Opinion: How AI clouds the future of WA’s rivers | The Seattle Times4 months ago
  "Back in 2024, when our team of UW scientists was introducing a satellite-based tool to track river temperature for improving fisheries management by tribal governments along the Columbia River, I was asked a question that stayed with me," writes Faisal Hossain, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UW.
• Opinion: Elders need more robust protections from abuse and neglect | The Spokesman-Review4 months ago
  "As physicians, we choose to work at a Level I trauma center serving the region’s most vulnerable adults, but witnessing suffering up close never gets easier. The most difficult cases to stomach are those of abuse," write Dr. Manasvi Khullar, a UW neurology resident, and Dr. Reema Navalurkar, an assistant professor of clinical practice in the UW School of Medicine and assistant medical director of Harborview Senior Care Clinic.
• Editorial: We can protect WA forests from wildfires, preserve snowpack, too | The Seattle Times4 months ago
  "Climate change is a dual threat to Washington’s expansive forests, delivering a combination of longer and hotter dry seasons with less snowy, warmer winters. Increasing temperatures elevate the risks of wildfire, threaten water supplies and create the potential to wreak havoc on coveted landscapes across the Pacific Northwest. A UW study, released in March, suggests one potential forestry solution can successfully mitigate both extreme wildfire risk while also preserving snowpack," writes The Seattle Times editorial board.
• Analysis: Every neuroscience lab needs an ethicist | The Transmitter4 months ago
  "The ethics issues that arise in neuroscience research are usually novel, unresolved and understudied. Embedding ethicists in labs helps scientists navigate these challenges and develop strategies in real time to prevent harm," writes Timothy Brown, assistant professor of bioethics and humanities in the UW School of Medicine.
• Opinion: AI is about to do all our thinking for us — here’s why that’s bad | The Seattle Times4 months ago
  "From auto-generated news articles to social media posts to entire websites, AI already produces more online articles than humans, and much of it is low-quality and misleading. This is a problem. Not just for humans in discerning what is true or not. But also for the machines auto-generating this synthetic information that’s sometimes disconnected from the real world," write the UW's Jevin West, a professor in the Information School and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public, and Damian Hodel, a doctoral student in the Information School and research assistant in the CIP.
• Editorial: Juniper Blessing: A life well-lived | Santa Fe New Mexican4 months ago
  Juniper Blessing left her mark on this world. Cruelly slain at 19, the Santa Fe teen loved to sing, became obsessed with the weather and kept her friends close even after high school graduation.
• Opinion: Hydropower changes could raise electricity costs in Idaho | Idaho Statesman4 months ago
  "The truth is that salmon returns to Idaho are higher since the Lower Snake River Dams went into operation. We know this because experts track adult returns at the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers," write Will Hart, executive director of the Idaho Consumer-Owned Utilities Association, and Clark Mather, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners. A study by the UW School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences is referenced.
• Editorial: It’s past time for Seattle to make e-bikes, scooters safer rides | The Seattle Times4 months ago
  "It’s bike season, and you can see two kinds of people around Seattle. Those with their own ride, who almost invariably wear a helmet and stick to the rules of the road. And those on rented e-scooters and e-bikes with no brain buckets and little regard for niceties such as safe sidewalks," writes the Seattle Times editorial board. A UW study is referenced. Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, professor of radiology at the UW School of Medicine, is quoted.
• Opinion: Nursing homes are in trouble — and there’s a good chance you’ll end up in one | MarketWatch5 months ago
  "Think you won’t end up in a nursing home? Think again: There’s a 1 in 3 chance you will, and the chances rise with age. Which is why you might want to take an interest in what’s actually happening inside these homes — even if only for selfish reasons. Another medical investigation has uncovered yet more worrying signs of neglect in America’s nursing homes," writes Brett Arends. Research by the UW is mentioned.
• Analysis: ‘Beauty of the Beasts’ review | Wall Street Journal5 months ago
  "'Beauty of the Beasts' is chock-a-block with wonderful scientific and cultural facts. We get a clear-eyed look at disgust, a nearly universal human response to the likes of maggots, cockroaches, ticks, leeches, slugs and lice," writes David Barash, professor emeritus of psychology at the UW.
• Opinion: Amid Trump's threats on judges, these legal minds offer hope | USA Today5 months ago
  "You may not have heard it yet, but America’s legal community recently let out a roar here in the Emerald City, a collective call from retired federal judges and a bipartisan array of academics and legal organizations: The rule of law matters, and it will be protected," writes Rex Huppke. Robert Harlan Henry, jurist-in-residence in law at the UW, is quoted.

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