Romain Murenzi proposes ways to improve opportunities for young scientists in the developing world (Nature 474, 543; 2011). In addition to these, social media could help to consolidate relationships with colleagues in technologically more advanced countries, and in greater numbers than travelling fellowships allow.

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter were instrumental in this year's topplings of North African dictatorships. They have also been used by Western agencies to support postgraduate education of medical interns in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa (A. E. T. Finlayson et al. J. Telemed. Telecare. 16, 181–184; 2010).

A network of trusted scientists using these tools could mentor ambitious investigators in regions where free speech and unrestrained critical inquiry are novelties.