In Nature Reviews Genetics this week, the University of Montpellier's Robert Feil and the Centro Nacional de BiotecnologÃa's Mario Fraga discuss emerging patterns in epigenetics and the environment. The duo says that though they remain largely unknown, mechanistic insights being made in model systems may help researchers elucidate human epigenetics.
Over in this week's Nature, Jerome Ravetz at the University of Oxford contemplates how the community's quality-assurance system — "peer review, publication and replication" — might keep up with changes to the social practice of science driven by, technological advances, among other things. Changes thus far have been evident, he says:
Ravetz wonders whether in the future, as more scientists and non-scientists alike take part in research discussions online, quality might suffer. "Amid all the uncertainties of science in the digital age, if quality assurance is to be effective, this lesson of civility will need to be learned by us all," he writes.
Elsewhere in the issue, 10 researchers contribute their advice on how scientific plagiarism might be stopped. Harold Garner suggests that the community ought to flag plagiarized studies, while Yuehong Zhang and Ian McIntosh say repeat offenders should be blacklisted.