Something that I’ve been thinking about a lot in the past month or so is whether scientists are “anti-social”, particularly with respect to adopting online tools and social media, many of which are designed to promote greater collaboration. Are scientists restricted by the research cycle, which encourages researchers to hold data close to their chest to avoid being scooped?  Does this emphasis on publication as the currency of science and the currently accepted measure of a person’s research reputation discourage sharing of data? (You can read more on this subject in write-ups from the recent Science Online NYC discussion panel on this topic). (More)

How do you put a price on inspiration? I don't believe you can. That elusive feeling is invaluable for the hundreds of medical and physiology researchers from around the world that are swooping into town for the 61st Lindau meetings in Germany. How can being surrounded by 23 Nobel Laureates not be inspiring? And, I expect that the stimulus goes both ways - a panel of up-and-coming scientists that will be quizzed by the Nobel Laureates in a turn of the tables.

But, although encouragement and awe is difficult to measure, it is a truism that the combination of different scientific fields can create new breakthroughs and new technologies, or even birth whole new fields. This phenomenon is called cross-pollination. An apt metaphor, because in the vast majority of cases, the seed from cross-pollinated plants are ‘more vigorous’ than from a self-pollinated plant. (More)

Last year, I had my first opportunity to participate in the yearly scholar's festival that takes place in Lindau, the tranquil island situated in beautiful Lake Constance. This unique event is a gathering of intellectuals, ranging from Nobel Prize Laureates, to highly appreciated scientists and talented young students eager to learn, and top media reporters. Indeed, the reality overcame the "stories". Immediately after arrival, I was soaked in immense curiosity, exceptional enthusiasm and significant boldness to inquire by everybody about everything. (More)

You want to be a ‚Guest Blogger’ like Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover, who told us, why he comes to Lindau? As an attendee of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings you are welcome to join us and write about your personal expectations and experiences! You may do so before, during and after the meeting. You might blog in Chinese, English, German or Spanish. Just send us a short Email to get in contact with us and we will help you.

We know, not everybody is a writer or a blogger. But surely you have an opinion on several issues to be discussed during the meeting, and we pick up here in the blogs. Maybe we have written something, you don’t agree with? Or you just want to add something? Please comment the post. Tell us, what you think.  (More)

What happens when you put 650 young researchers and 59 nobel laureates together on an island for a week?  Lila Warszawski and I came to Lindau fascinated with the possibilities of having so many "supergeeks" (young and old) in such a small place: it seemed like an amazing social experiment.  The result for me at least was: inspiring and fascinating conversations, not much sleep, the beginning of what I hope will be great friendships, and a lot of fun!  In our video diary, we ended up focussing on the lighter side of Lindau - because an important part of the week is that it is simply really, really fun.

Video Part 1

Human beings are curious by nature and curiosity has always been the main driving force in science. Indeed, science is merely a dynamic process made of questions and answers that lead to more questions. As Albert Einstein said "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking".

With a camcorder in hand and surrounded by young researchers and Nobel Laureates, I had the idea to build a story about motivation. I wanted to know what was the spark that made them become scientists that would dedicate their lives to unveil the secrets of nature. I wanted to know how they got into science.

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The Lindau meeting is mostly about Nobel laureates and young researchers communicating. But even as blogger, if you're lucky, there's the chance of an informal chat with a laureate. In this particular case, the conversation turned to the topic of the Lindau meeting itself. So here, faithfully transcribed from my recording, with minimal editing and rearrangement, is a Nobel laureate's view of the meeting, from the moment of first contact with the organizing team to the burning question of what laureates talk about when they're on their own. In the grand tradition of informants everywhere, my source shall remain anonymous.

"The first time the Lindau people contacted me was at the Nobel event week, and there was a reception, the second night, and I met the old countess and the young count. I didn't know who they were, but they told me that they were associated with the royal family, and that they had a special event. Some of the laureates were contacted in a different way, though. (More)

On Tuesday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the academic dinner hosted by the Lockheed Martin Foundation in Weinstube Frey. However, unlike the traditional and very formal Oxbridge academic dinners, for me this experience turned out to be much more relaxed and really brought the Laureates to life as personalities that extended beyond their scientific achievements.

Martin Fenner has already described his experience at a single table in the adjacent room, but our meal was hosted with a slightly different set-up. We had 3 small tables where diners were spread amongst the Laureates and I enjoyed an evening in the presence of Oliver Smithies, his wife Nobuyo Maeda and Martin Evans' wife, Lady Judith. We were joined by Michael Marty, an enthusiastic young chemist from the US, about to start his PhD, as well as one of the organisers from the Lindau foundation, Andreas Bohn. The food was excellent and we all dined on huge plates of fresh salad to start, pork knuckle with potato dumplings and white cabbage to follow and then a choice of fresh fruit or chocolate and ginger cake to finish, both served with raspberry sorbet. However, in addition to the set menu, there was plenty of additional food for thought during the meal. (More)

‘Welcome to the dinner everyone. We are very lucky to have the highest density of Nobel laureates in any of the parallel academic dinners happening tonight’, announced Prof. Michael Schreiber the host for the grand dinner. We had 7 Nobel laureates and 11 young researchers who had been invited by the Alexander von Humboldt foundation at the Valentin restaurant on the Isle of Lindau. (More)

Early mornings are not a particularly welcome occurrence at the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings: the sheer amount of fascinating activities going on during the day and way into the night mean that an early rise generally means bleary eyes and a head full of fog! However the breakfast hosted by Mars, Inc on board the MS Lindau in Lindau harbour was certainly worth the pain of the 7.15am start. The brekky itself was fine - the usual continental selection of delights to help kick start your morning, much appreciated by the young researchers many of whom were staying at accommodation where breakfast was not provide – but the real highlight came with the discussion session afterwards. (More)

After the opening ceremony on Sunday which lasted a little too long, I was pretty excited about the first lectures beginning on Monday morning. Even though the line up was Chemistry, Medicine, Physics, break then M, M & M, I was eager to hear the Nobel Laureates talk about their own work.

Lecture 1: Ada Yonath (Chemistry Nobel 2009) showed a video of the working of the amazing ribosome and discussed in depth the role it plays in the cell. Yonath spoke with such energy that her love for the subject was overflowing. She also touched upon the topic of women in science and said “Young women, go do science. It is a lot of fun even without prizes”. It is possible to be loved by family and still do science she stressed and went on to show the ‘grandma of the year’ award given to her by her granddaughter. (More)

From the year 1975 it is said that on an evening of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Werner Heisenberg, Nobel Laureate in Physics 1932, interrupted explaining his theory of everything to link his arms with the student to his right and the young man to his left and participate in a so-called "Schunkelwalzer" - a rhythmic way of swaying to the music. (More)

I'm now sitting in the train to Lindau. The whole trip will take 7 hours, almost the longest train ride I can take in Germany from my hometown Hannover. But most participants have traveled from much further away (from a total of 70 countries), whereas I don't need to bring a passport, dictionary or exchange money. When packing my suitcase last night I thought about what to take with me other than the usual stuff you carry to conferences. And please also read the Lindau survival guide by Jessica Riccò. (More)