Opinion

Opinion

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Photograph of vegetation-covered mountain rising above desert lowlands.

Hunting sky islands for genetic clues to climate resilience

OPINION: Isolated mountaintops are hotbeds of evolutionary adaptation and great places to study how climate change affects ecosystems

Conceptual art shows a disposable cup, straw and a bunch of sugar lumps on a blue background.

Health & Disease

Soda taxes can’t reverse the obesity epidemic

OPINION: They might be able to help, but only if well-designed and in combination with other policies

Photo shows a flooded intersection in New York City closed to traffic with yellow caution tape.

Food & Environment

The hidden threat from rising coastal groundwater

OPINION: Sea level rise won’t hit just homes on shorefronts, but also the infrastructure beneath our feet

Photograph shows landscape of dead conifer trees with mountains behind them.

Food & Environment

Forests are under attack from invasive species

OPINION: International commerce and travel bring ecological destruction to the world’s most cherished natural places. We need to do more to stop the assault.

Conceptual illustration shows a teeter totter with people on both ends. One side, on the ground, has a much larger number of people on it than the other, which just has a few people and is raised up in the air.

Health & Disease

We urgently need data for equitable personalized medicine

OPINION: A massive bias in medical studies toward men of European origin means that genetic variants in understudied populations don’t get the focus they deserve

Illustration shows a policeman painting fingerprints and a gun onto pieces of wood, implying he is concocting evidence for use in a court of law.

Society

It’s way past time to stop police ‘testilying’

OPINION: The culture of deception in US courts needs to end

Photo illustration shows a living room with couch, desk and windows overlaid

Health & Disease

How optimizing indoor humidity can help stop the spread of Covid and flu

OPINION: Recent CDC guidelines for indoor air quality disregard the benefits of humidity. But research shows it can kill viruses and help thwart infections.

Photograph of many planted trees near a river, with mountains in the background

Society

Abandon the idea of ‘great green walls’

OPINION: The notion of planting miles of trees to hold back encroaching deserts is misguided and damaging; we should promote programs that secure livelihoods and respect dryland ecologies instead

A conceptual image shows close-ups of chocolate, cattle, soybeans, cups of coffee and fallen logs. In the background, various forests are visible.

Food & Environment

Why one deforestation solution has yet to stop massive tree loss

OPINION: Zero-deforestation supply-chain commitments aren’t protecting tropical forests as much as hoped. But they might, if the same standards were applied to domestic and export markets.

A yellow city poster stapled to a pole in front of an older brick wall shows an icon of a creepy rat in the sights of a red target. It warns of the use of poison bait to kill rats in the area.

Health & Disease

Dealing with rats, and their health, in America’s ‘rattiest’ city

OPINION: A study in Chicago found that rodents surviving poisoning are more likely to carry disease. Good pest control needs to take such things into account.

Two mollies face each other in a fish tank with rocks and plants

Living World

Nature, nurture and randomness

OPINION: More than genes and upbringing determine animal personalities: There’s a good dose of chance in the mix, too.

Photograph of a person standing in the waters at the beach, staring out at the ocean.

Living World

Our oceans’ future: Hot and troubled

OPINION: Ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation due to climate change — as well as pollution and development — threaten our global waters, but disaster is far from inevitable

Photo of an orange butterfly with black wing borders and white spots perched on a grass blade, above pale blue flowers.

Living World

Get out in your yard and count bugs

OPINION: How worried should we be about insect declines? Community science is vital for gathering information about arthropods.

Hello, beautiful: Head-on photo of a brown marmorated stink bug shows off its dark bulging eyes, speckled body and banded lower legs.

Living World

We need to stop bugs at the border

OPINION: Trade and travel come with a shared responsibility for biosecurity

Photograph of a Malayan tiger with two cubs.

Living World

Zoos need to change

OPINION: To justify their existence, they must make conservation their top priority

Photograph of a small child with a backpack staring through some railings at an empty schoolyard.

Society

How to recover from the Great Education Disruption

OPINION: Children around the world were out of school for months, with big impacts on learning, well-being and the economy. How do we avoid a ‘generational catastrophe’?