Â鶹ŮÓÅ

As a historian, I have always felt that a full, unvarnished, honest telling of history is the only way for us to move forward as a people, as a nation and as institutions. All of us are profoundly shaped by the past, for good and for ill, and the Smithsonian — like so many other museums and universities — is grappling with a legacy once deemed acceptable but that is so clearly ethically wrong today. The Post’s recent coverage regarding the human remains still housed in our collections is certainly illustrative of the Smithsonian’s darkest history. This is our inheritance, and we accept the responsibility to address these wrongs to the fullest extent possible. (Lonnie G. Bunch III, 8/20)

America’s fracking boom has given the country inexpensive and secure energy. It has also spewed climate-wrecking greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And evidence is mounting that it is gravely harming the health of people who live nearby. Is this a price we’re willing to pay for cheap gas? (Mark Gongloff, 8/18)

Over the past two decades, most countries have made great strides in maternal health, bettering outcomes for mothers and children. The most glaring exception to this trend is, disappointingly, the United States. (8/18)

It’s a quandary for many of the 2024 Republican presidential candidates set to debate this Wednesday night: how to talk about abortion in America now that their long-held goal of overturning Roe v. Wade has been achieved. What should new abortion laws and limits look like? (Jane Coaston, 8/21)

I’ve always wanted to be a pediatrician – children bring me immense joy and hope. When I became a pediatrician, I was trained for treating sick kids with illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and pneumonia. I was not, however, prepared to treat kids with gunshot wounds. (Dr. Kelsey Gastineau, 8/19)

Thousands of Americans have died because they didn’t get Covid vaccinations. A sea of anti-vaccine misinformation contributed to the problem, from rumor-mongering about the shots causing mass death to propaganda touting the benefits of ivermectin. Public health officials seemed powerless to stem the tide of lies. One of the big challenges public health officials now face is how to restore trust so that people listen to future guidance on everything from flu shots to childhood vaccines. (F.D. Flam, 8/19)

As a health care economist who studies innovation, and as a management consultant who helps health systems and insurers adopt new technologies, we have had a ringside seat to a frustrating phenomenon: The large private sector of the U.S. health system can move faster to adopt valuable innovations than the public sector burdened by red tape and politics. But before adopting an innovation at scale, the private sector too often waits for the public sector to take the first step — sometimes for decades. (James B. Rebitzer and Robert S. Rebitzer, 8/21)