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The Atlantic Talks Tenure, Too

The Atlantic's Megan McArdle says that academic tenure's heyday has passed — the practice is now too costly and "transparently self-serving," she writes. McArdle also suggests that the practice stifles diversity and innovation rather than enhancing it. "The best you can say of the system is that it preserves a sort of continuity in schools that is desirable for the purposes of cultivating alumni donations," she writes. She also discusses the process of achieving tenure in the current academic career climate. PhDs and postdocs, McArdle says "are back on the job market near entry level at an age when most of their peers have spent ten years building up marketable skills." As with the recent New York Times discussion, comments to this article are fueling a lively debate — there have been 261 posted so far.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.