A popular hypothesis in the field of human genetics—that the general population carries somewhat rare variants that greatly increase or decrease a person's disease risk—is not yet panning out.

At a meeting last month, science funding agencies, publishers, librarians, and journal editors discussed two proposed yardsticks for quality in open-access journals but failed to come up with clear answers.

Researchers are melding genetics and archaeology to close in on the origin of the world's most common bird—and potentially help protect a major source of animal protein.