I work as an editor sometimes. I've worked in technical writing, though not specifically science journalism.
My guess for why this keeps happening, is that it's a two-step process, fueled by a failure of communication:
1. The science writer themselves does understand epigenetics — but doesn't think it's important to the point the article is making for the reader to understand epigenetics. The writer wants to remove the requirement/assumption of "understanding epigenetics" from their writing, while still being technically correct in everything they say. So they choose to gloss an epigenetic change as "causing changes to the DNA." (Which it certainly does! Either chemically — to the DNA molecules themselves, through methylation; or structurally/topologically — through modifications to the histones around which the DNA is wrapped.)
2. The science writer's not-so-scientific editor comes along, doing a stylistic editing pass; sees the word "DNA"; and says "hey, that's jargon, and we're aiming for accessibility here — we need to replace this." And they (incorrectly) decide that a valid 1:1 replacement for "DNA" is "genes" or "genome."
This invalidating change could be caught... if the publication had a formal workflow step / requirement for the editor to perform a back-check with the original writer after copyediting + stylistic editing, to ensure that validity has not been compromised. I believe that big-name science journals and science magazines do tend to have these back-check steps. But smaller publications — like the PR departments of universities — don't.
I can't speak for every institution, but our PR department does as many back and forth passes as it takes for the scientists who did the work to sign off that any edits made still preserve scientific accuracy.
I've never been in a science position, but if there are too many back and forths I assume it is a who has more willingness to put up with process before they just give up and sign off on anything.
If the editor is only editing for style and readability while adding factual mistakes along the way, they could be entirely replaced with ChatGPT in a tight loop with the science writer. Write article -> make style changes -> writer reviews again for correctness.
It’s inexcusable that the quality of science communication is so low.
> The science writer themselves does understand epigenetics — but doesn't think it's important to the point the article is making for the reader to understand epigenetics
That's not a valid defense, otherwise they could write with a straight face that sun exposure causes genetic changes that make you darker, and how your descendants will inherit those changes too. It is dishonest writing, bordering on disinformation. Said article would attract clicks and attention like a cursed magnet, though.
My guess for why this keeps happening, is that it's a two-step process, fueled by a failure of communication:
1. The science writer themselves does understand epigenetics — but doesn't think it's important to the point the article is making for the reader to understand epigenetics. The writer wants to remove the requirement/assumption of "understanding epigenetics" from their writing, while still being technically correct in everything they say. So they choose to gloss an epigenetic change as "causing changes to the DNA." (Which it certainly does! Either chemically — to the DNA molecules themselves, through methylation; or structurally/topologically — through modifications to the histones around which the DNA is wrapped.)
2. The science writer's not-so-scientific editor comes along, doing a stylistic editing pass; sees the word "DNA"; and says "hey, that's jargon, and we're aiming for accessibility here — we need to replace this." And they (incorrectly) decide that a valid 1:1 replacement for "DNA" is "genes" or "genome."
This invalidating change could be caught... if the publication had a formal workflow step / requirement for the editor to perform a back-check with the original writer after copyediting + stylistic editing, to ensure that validity has not been compromised. I believe that big-name science journals and science magazines do tend to have these back-check steps. But smaller publications — like the PR departments of universities — don't.