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Joshua McNichols

Growth and Development Reporter

About

As KUOW's Growth and Development reporter and co-host of KUOW's Booming podcast, Joshua's "growing pains" beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, government and the economy. His favorite stories also include themes of history, technology, and climate change.

Joshua holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington. Public Radio is his second career; architecture was his first. He is proud of the many odd jobs he's held in his life, such as salmon fisher, author, bike courier, and bed-and-breakfast cook.

Location: Seattle

Languages Spoken: English

Pronouns: he/him

Professional Affiliations: The Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter

Stories

  • caption: Amazon Prime packages are loaded on a cart for delivery in New York.
    Business

    After online shopping binge, a plastic packaging hangover

    We’re entering the biggest shopping season of the year. For many people, that means online shopping — packages piled on doorsteps, delivery cars and vans whipping down streets. But what do we do with the packaging after we rip it open?

  • caption: Sheila Kelly holds a mincemeat pie bought by her mother, Helen May Kelly, in 1988, on Friday, November 22, 2019, at her home in Seattle. Her mother died before the pie could be consumed and she has kept it in her fridge ever since.
    Arts & Life

    This Thanksgiving pie has been in her fridge since 1988

    For some, the holidays is a time to celebrate family. For others, they bring up feelings of sorrow and loss. For Sheila Kelly, it's a little of both. And nothing walks the line between joy and loss more than the top shelf of her refrigerator.

  • caption: Dr. Eric Topol wrote the book Deep Medicine, which argues that AI has an important role to play in revolutionizing health care.
    Business

    'The AI will see you now.' How tech might alter the doctor-patient relationship

    On this week’s episode of Primed, we talk to Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist whose book "Deep Medicine" explores the impact of AI technology on health care. Dr. Topol believes AI can help doctors build a more nuanced model of their patients’ profiles — a model that more accurately represents the complex human beings who need care.

  • caption: Amazon recently bought Pillpack, a drug distribution company.
    Business

    Should an AI be managing your meds?

    Joyce Lee, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Michigan, thinks a lot about how technology and design can help people remember to take their pills. Her inspiration? A ketchup bottle.

  • caption: Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant holds a press conference on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in Seattle.

    Sawant hopes to make good on promise to tax Amazon

    Most of Amazon’s preferred candidates for city council lost the election. And next year, the senior-most member of the Seattle City Council – will be Amazon’s biggest critic.

  • caption: Astronaut James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, uses a scoop in making a trench in the lunar soil during Apollo 15 extravehicular activity (EVA). Irwin had a heart attack while orbiting the moon, which made NASA realize that they needed a better health monitoring system.
    Business

    What Alexa can learn from a heart attack on the moon

    Minutes after the Apollo 15 lunar module blasted off the surface of the moon, Astronaut James Irwin’s heart began to stutter. Down at Mission Control, Dr. Charles Berry watched the astronaut’s EKG. He saw a series of rapid double beats with long pauses in between. If Irwin was on Earth, Dr. Berry said, “I’d have him in ICU being treated for a heart attack.”

  • caption: Brittney Svach sells Amazon smart homes in Black Diamond, WA.
    Technology

    There's a neighborhood of Amazon 'smart homes' south of Seattle

    This week's Primed podcast explores Amazon's smart home technology. You can listen to the episode here. In the first part of the story, we baked muffins with Alexa in Amazon's smart home lab. Here, we talk to people who live in an Amazon smart home development in Black Diamond, WA. We also explore some very troubling consequences of having a fully wired home.