A new beginning

John A MartignettiMount Sinai School of Medicine, Departments of Genetics and Genomic Science, Pediatrics, and Oncological Sciences, New York, USAIf you, as Oedipus was, were a traveler in ancient Thebes you may have been met by a perched chimeric interrogator posing a question only slightly more foreboding than “Why a new genetics journal?” The mythical Sphinx, literally interpreted as representing the old pre-Olympian culture on the precipice of replacement, guarded the entrance to Thebes, and asked a riddle of all travelers prior to granting them entry.“Which creature is it that in the morning goes on four legs, at midday on two, and in the evening upon three?”Similarly, as you question why submit your work to, or review for, and indeed, even become the Editor-in-Chief of a new online access journal a sense of fear may overwhelm. While the Sphnix’s punishment of being torn asunder and devoured may at least seem quick and to the point, would the efforts of being part of a new endeavor somehow be more inhumane.