No peeking…
A publishing giant goes after the authors of its journals’ papers
ONCE upon a time, it was common for scientists to receive letters from researchers working in other institutions, asking for reprints of papers they had published. It was the usual practice in those days for journal publishers to furnish authors with a couple of dozen such reprints, precisely for this purpose—but, if these had run out, a quick visit to the photocopier kept the wheels of scientific discourse turning, and though it was technically a violation of copyright, no one much minded.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “No peeking…”

From the January 11th 2014 edition
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Elon Musk’s plans to go to Mars next year are toast
SpaceX’s Starship fails for a third time in a row

The decoding of ancient Roman scrolls is speeding up
More data, and a more powerful particle accelerator, should pay dividends

Old oil paintings are suffering from chemical “acne”
Conservators are scrambling to rescue them
Snakes may have once faced a vicious enemy: the humble ant
Scientists believe that could be why the slithering reptiles developed toxic tails
Aron D’Souza, the brash brain behind the “doping Olympics”
The president of the Enhanced Games wants to push forward human evolution
Should men be screened for prostate cancer?
The answer is less obvious than you might think