Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
Time for a Change?
Peerage of Science, a new online social network for researchers, seeks to change the peer review system, reports ScienceInsider's Jop de Vrieze. Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä and at the University of Eastern Finland have launched the Web site, which de Vrieze says "could eventually replace or supplement the current way journals get scientists to peer review submitted manuscripts." Once researchers submit their manuscripts, members who have volunteered to review papers are alerted to those submissions, based on their areas of expertise. Once the volunteers have reviewed the papers, journals can then use those assessments to decide whether to publish the research, de Vrieze says. To prevent bias, researchers are not allowed to review papers written by their colleagues at the same institution.
Science's de Vrieze notes that "the current peer review system … is hotly debated."
Peerage of Science, he adds, "aims to combine these ideas."
Sounds the same as the
Sounds the same as the present system with consderably greater potential for personal bias since a person's prejudice one way or the other might frequently be the motivation for themto offer to review a particular paper.
There is already plenty of
There is already plenty of such bias, very well-documented. It seems like a very interesting experiment.