Policy articles within Nature Communications

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  • Comment
    | Open Access

    While the research community continues to develop novel proposals for intrinsic biocontainment of genetically engineered organisms, translation to real-world deployment faces several challenges.

    • Dalton R. George
    • , Mark Danciu
    •  & Emma K. Frow

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    WHO guidelines for classification of malaria elimination in a country require that the risk of human infection from zoonotic, as well as nonzoonotic, malaria parasites is negligible. In this Comment, the authors discuss the implications of this policy for countries, such as Malaysia, with no recent reported nonzoonotic cases but ongoing zoonotic transmission.

    • Kimberly M. Fornace
    • , Chris J. Drakeley
    •  & Kamruddin Ahmed

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    This comment explores ethical aspects in developing and testing minimal-risk devices, such as wearables and biomedical sensors. Authors outline the process of independent review, emphasizing the different levels of review depending on the research design and risk level. They also share examples of practical scenarios, highlighting key ethical considerations.

    • Anna Wexler
    •  & Emily Largent

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    We address a controversy over use of the term “gene drive” to include both natural and synthetic genetic elements that promote their own transmission within a population, arguing that this broad definition is both practical and has advantages for risk analysis.

    • Stephanie L. James
    • , David A. O’Brochta
    •  & Omar S. Akbari

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are conflicting results on the effectiveness of pharmacologic interventions for suicide prevention in adolescence. Here, the authors show, in a retrospective registry study from Sweden during 2016–2020, that regional utilization rates of clozapine, electroconvulsive therapy and lithium in 15–19-year-olds were associated with lower excess suicide death rates in male adolescents

    • Adrian E. Desai Boström
    • , Peter Andersson
    •  & Jussi Jokinen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the authors provide a global overview of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing, and estimate the proportion of cases sequenced and time to genome upload. They identify disparities and highlight the need to strengthen surveillance in lower and middle income countries.

    • Anderson F. Brito
    • , Elizaveta Semenova
    •  & Nuno R. Faria

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    A Global Forum on Synthetic Biology is needed to engage policymakers with practitioners across borders at the highest level. The international community needs a global confidence-building measure focused on discussing policy futures for the age of engineering biology.

    • Thomas A. Dixon
    • , Paul S. Freemont
    •  & Isak S. Pretorius

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Mentor relationships are crucial to retention, success, and wellbeing of women and underrepresented minority scientists in academia. A network of diverse mentors may support achieving long-term career goals, advancement, and retention of both mentors and mentees, thus enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

    • Rocío Deanna
    • , Bethann Garramon Merkle
    •  & Gabriela Auge

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data without jeopardising open sharing is a major obstacle for the Convention on Biological Diversity and other UN negotiations. Here, the authors propose a solution to address the concerns of both developing countries and life scientists.

    • Amber Hartman Scholz
    • , Jens Freitag
    •  & Jörg Overmann

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Racism thrives in geoscience. We present an antiracism plan to support the recruitment, retention and success of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in geoscience. Our action plan can be adapted by any organization to remove barriers to participation for all marginalized geoscientists.

    • Hendratta N. Ali
    • , Sarah L. Sheffield
    •  & Blair Schneider

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    A key security challenge with biosecurity threats is determining the responsible actor. In this Perspective, the authors review recent developments in using genetic sequence to assign a lab-of-origin and the potential protection it provides against misuse of synthetic biology.

    • Gregory Lewis
    • , Jacob L. Jordan
    •  & Thomas V. Inglesby

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Big data reveals new, stark pictures of the state of our environments. It also reveals ‘bright spots’ amongst the broad pattern of decline and—crucially—the key conditions for these cases. Big data analyses could benefit the planet if tightly coupled with ongoing sustainability efforts.

    • Rebecca K. Runting
    • , Stuart Phinn
    •  & James E. M. Watson

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Sharing activities are under wide debate regarding the environmental impacts. Here the authors reviewed their benefits and problems and suggested that a simultaneous improvement of both ecological and economic efficiency is necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    • Zhifu Mi
    •  & D’Maris Coffman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Credibility of long-term projection in quantitative models is continuously under debate and they rely on validation to prove projection accuracy. Here the authors investigated the views on the validation approaches and they show that empirical data plays an important role in the validation practice in all main areas of sustainability science.

    • Sibel Eker
    • , Elena Rovenskaya
    •  & Simon Langan

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Indigenous peoples are still underrepresented in genetic research. Here, the authors propose an ethical framework consisting of six major principles that encourages researchers and Indigenous communities to build strong and equal partnerships to increase trust, engagement and diversity in genomic studies.

    • Katrina G. Claw
    • , Matthew Z. Anderson
    •  & Joseph M. Yracheta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Data sharing is recognized as a way to promote scientific collaboration and reproducibility, but some are concerned over whether research based on shared data can achieve high impact. Here, the authors show that neuroimaging papers using shared data are no less likely to appear in top-ranked journals.

    • Michael P. Milham
    • , R. Cameron Craddock
    •  & Arno Klein

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