Nautilus

This week sees the launch of the 2008 Nature Awards for Mentorship in Science. This year the competition will be held in Germany. If you wish to nominate outstanding mentors working in Germany, please visit our special website for the purpose. The deadline for nominations is 4 July. The winners, who each receive a cash prize of €10,000 (US$ 15,450), will be announced in October. Nominees for an award may be working in any discipline within the natural sciences; and nominees should be resident in Germany at the time of the nomination.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on April 01, 2008
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Via Ai Lin Chun at Nature Network:
The Keio medical science prize is awarded to researchers in recognition of their achievements in the medical or life sciences. The prize consists of a certificate of merit, a medal and 20 milion yen (approx. US$ 180,000). Nominations for the 2008 prize are now open, with a deadline of 20 March 2008. The winner(s) will be announced in October. A list of previous prize winners can be seen here, and further details about the prize are available here. Last year (2007), the prize was shared by Brian J. Druker for the development of a molecular-targeted therapy for chronic myelogenous leukaemia, and Hiroaki Mitsuya for the development of anti-AIDS drugs.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on March 12, 2008
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Four Nature Network bloggers feature in an anthology of selected science blog posts of 2007, Open Laboratory 2007. Out of more than 450 nominated entries, 52 were chosen for publication, including these from Nature Network bloggers:
Deanne Taylor, a research scientist with the Harvard School of Public Health, describes what changes need to be made to boost faculty diversity in science.
Kristin Stephan, a Tufts graduate student, discusses how difficult, but necessary, it is for PhD students in grad school to learn about careers outside academic science.
Henry Gee writes about how his 9-year-old daughter's Asperger's syndrome might help her become a good scientist.
Jennifer Rohn, a postdoc at University College London, documents in a series of four posts her return to the lab and academic science after four years as a journal editor. Required reading for anyone contemplating a career change.
In a short review of the book in Nature's 24 January issue (Nature 451, 401; 2008), Nature's Books and Arts editor Joanne Baker wrote: "If you are overwhelmed by the surge in science-related blogging and don't know where to start, then this compilation may help you steer a course through the sea of perspectives on offer — or inspire you to start a blog yourself."
The book is available either as a PDF or a printed paperback, from Lulu.com.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on February 08, 2008
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From Nature 451, 235 (2008): Challengers for the US$1-million prize offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation for proving paranormal powers have just over two years left to claim the cash. Randi has announced that the paranormal-activity challenge, in which contestants must demonstrate their powers 'under proper observing conditions', will end on 6 March 2010 — exactly 12 years after he first offered up the prize money.
Randi says that the challenge was intended to tempt high-profile paranormal-activity celebrities to come forward. In 2007, Randi changed the rules of the prize so that applicants were only eligible to enter if they had a media profile and some form of academic endorsement. But as the prize remains unclaimed, and the highest-profile celebrities have not entered, Randi would rather the million dollars were freed to be used elsewhere in his foundation, he says.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on January 24, 2008
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Owing to my end-of-year holiday, I am a little late bringing you news of the Nature Methods' Method of the Year 2007, which is next-generation sequencing. The journal is publishing in its January 2008 issue a series of free articles showcasing how these novel sequencing methods came into their own in 2007 and the incredible impact they promise to have in a variety of research applications.
From the Nature Methods editorial announcing the winner:
"If the choice of next-generation sequencing as Method of the Year was uncontroversial among our team, we did have other ideas and enthusiastic discussions. To share that excitement, we included a shortlist of Methods to Watch. It is an incomplete and subjective selection, established by Nature Methods with the input of other editors at Nature, Nature Reviews and Nature research journals. Some of these Methods to Watch are, thanks to recent developments, on the cusp of turning around fields of research. Others, by contrast, do not yet have a technical solution but rather represent areas in which methodological developments are sorely needed.
We welcome your comments on our choices as well as your suggestions of other methods to keep an eye on. (To share your thoughts please visit methagora.) We firmly intend this event to become an end-of-the-year tradition, and we hope for your participation in next year's nominations!"
You can add your comments and, as the year progresses, 2008 nominiations at this methagora post.
The announcement and features about the Method of 2007 are at this Nature Methods web focus, including the Methods to Watch articles.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on January 04, 2008
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Visit the blog Easternblot for a little relaxation in the form of a Renaissance people trivia quiz
"Ten famous people, all with an interest in science, but none of them famous for their involvement in science. Instead, you’ll know each of these for their contributions to music, film, literature, fine arts, or photography. Who or what are described here?"
You have until "mid November" before the answers are posted at Easternblot.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on November 12, 2007
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Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has announced that it will be contributing the cash received by winning the Principe de Asturias Award to a philanthropic fund, NPG Awards. Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief of Nature, and Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan, accepted the 2007 Principe de Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities at a recently held ceremony in Oviedo, Spain. The award was made jointly to NPG’s flagship title, Nature, and the journal Science.
The two publications will share a prize of €50,000 and NPG will use Nature’s share to boost the NPG awards, which help researchers from the developing world attend Gordon Research Conferences. Launched in June 2006, the NPG awards provide funds of up to US$1,500 to help delegates from developing countries attend the internationally renowned conferences. The awards are made based on nominations made by conference chairs, and are open to those who live and work in eligible countries and have been accepted to attend.
The addition of €25,000 to the philanthropic fund will allow NPG to support many more researchers to attend the conferences. In 2007, NPG awards were made to 26 participants who attended 21 different conferences and were from Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, India, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, China, Poland, Mexico, Zambia and Romania.
Nature also runs a mentoring awards scheme.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on November 06, 2007
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As announced on Nautilus in July, Nature is a 2007 winner of the prestigious Principe de Asturias award established by His Royal Highness Heir to the throne of Spain. The Principe de Asturias award is the best-known cultural prize in the Spanish-speaking community. The awards honour individuals, groups or institutions whose creative work or research represents a significant contribution to universal culture in the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic fields. Nature shares the 2007 Award for Communication and Humanities with the journal Science.
Annette Thomas, Chief Executive of Macmillan and Philip Campbell, Editor of Nature, went to Spain last week to collect the award. Philip wrote a blog post for In The Field about his journey. "Would I remember to bow to the royals in the right order? (I did.) Would I trip as I climbed the stairs onto the platform? (I didn’t.) " Read his full account here.
El Pais provides some lovely photographs of the event in a picture gallery: one of Philip here and here, Annette, receiving their awards.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on October 29, 2007
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Juan-Carlos Lopez, via Spoonful of Medicine (Nature Medicine's blog), was chatting to some scientists at a conference, when one of them told him that some journals take advantage of the announcement of the Nobel prize to send out an e-mail highlighting the papers by the laureates that they have had the privilege to publish. Juan-Carlos writes: "I don't know about you but such a marketing strategy strikes me as somewhat cheeky...... if other publishing firms are currently entertaining a similar strategy, here's an idea to turn it on its head -- send e-mails highlighting the papers from the laureates that your journal has REJECTED and the name of the publication where they were ultimately published.......It's a shame that confidentiality issues get in the way of such an idea because, if you were to send such an e-mail, people would surely be talking about your journal."

Posted by Maxine Clarke on October 23, 2007
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For 61 years, the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards have celebrated scientists whose accomplishments have made major advances in the understanding and treatment of many of the great crippling and killing diseases of our century. Nature Medicine is pleased to present a free collection of commentaries by Ralph Steinman, Albert Starr, Alain Carpentier and Anthony Fauci, the recipients of this year's Lasker Awards.
Juan-Carlos Lopez, Chief Editor of Nature Medicine, introduces the collection:
"The Lasker Awards are arguably the most coveted prize in biomedical research. Ever since their creation, the Awards have set the standard of scientific excellence. This year, the Basic Medical Research Award recognizes Ralph Steinman’s discovery of dendritic cells—cells of the immune system that initiate and regulate the body’s response to foreign pathogens. The Clinical Medical Research Award honors Albert Starr and Alain Carpentier, inventors of the mechanical and ‘bioprosthetic’ cardiac valves, respectively. Last, the Public Service Award acknowledges the remarkable work of Anthony Fauci, who has led the efforts to create an unprecedented international AIDS treatment and prevention plan that will save millions of lives in the developing world.
To receive recognition from the Lasker jury is one of the greatest triumphs that any scientist can aspire to achieve. We are delighted to publish this collection of commentaries by the recipients of this year’s Lasker Awards, and wish to add our congratulations to the winners for their remarkable achievements."

Posted by Maxine Clarke on October 09, 2007
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Christoph Bartneck and Matthias Rauterberg of Eindhoven University of Technology remind readers of Nature's Correspondence page (Nature 448, 644; 2007) that the Nobel physics prize, should be given "to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics".
Drs Bartneck and Rauterberg point out that 77% of Nobel prizes in physics have been given to discoveries, compared with only 23% to inventions. They go on to write:

"Discoveries and inventions depend on each other. Many discoveries were only made possible through the invention of certain measurement instruments, and without earlier theories, many inventions would have been inconceivable.
The fundamental difference between the two, however, is that the result of an invention is typically an artefact or process, whereas a discovery is an abstract theory. Although both require prior theories and a process of experimentation, and both have a utilitarian function, discoveries aim to be as general as possible, whereas inventions strive to be concrete.
A closer look at the 17 inventions that won Nobel prizes before 2005 reveals that 11 of them (64%) are measurement instruments, for example the scanning tunnelling microscope.
Only three winning inventions have had direct practical applications to society: the gas regulator-controlled buoys made by Nils Gustaf Dalén were subsequently used in lighthouses; the transistor invented by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley is widely used in electronic devices; and Jack Kilby's work on the integrated circuit led to the development of personal computers.
Awarding more Nobel prizes for inventions would encourage inventors to tackle important problems such as global warming or the gap between the developed and developing worlds. The award given to Kilby for the development of the integrated circuit is a good example.
The invention of the electric telephone, first patented by Graham Bell, was a missed opportunity for a Nobel prize to acknowledge an invention that has brought the world closer together. But there is still hope for Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web."

Do readers have any additional suggestions?

Posted by Maxine Clarke on August 09, 2007
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Dr Daniel Kalman of Emory University Atlanta, writes to tell us of his delight that the image of a cell infected with poxvirus that graced the July 2005 cover of Nature Medicine -- the work of Illustrator Katie Ris -- has been included as a finalist in the Nikon Small World Microphotography Competition. Voting is now open to the public to choose the winner, so Dr Kalman would like to encourage you to go to the competition site and vote -- ideally for his lab's picture, of course ;-).
Here is a link to the competition website.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on July 17, 2007
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As outlined on her Mind the Gap blog at Nature Network, Jennifer Rohn and her partner in design Wynn Abbott have devised a competition to challenge fashion designers, from students all the way up to celebs, to reinterpret lab coats for the twenty-first century. The brief: the coats must still discharge a protective function, but they must also be fun, fresh, sexy and original in design.
Further details of this LabLit/SciCult competition to reinvent the humble lab uinform are provided here, together with a nice sketch by Vera Bravo to get people's creativity started.
Jennifer writes: "We will make a formal call for designs within the next few months and our panel of judges will make a decision on the shortlist in autumn. If all goes to plan, we will coordinate with London Fashion Week in Spring 2008 and host a gala catwalk event at which the overall winner will announced. In addition to the main prize, we will also give out awards for the best accessories, such as gloves, masks and safety goggles. If anyone’s interested in getting involved or needs more information, let Wynn or me know! So come on, people, pimp my coat! I’m tired of putting on the same old stained, shapeless one every morning."

Posted by Maxine Clarke on July 13, 2007
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Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is delighted that Nature is a 2007 winner of the prestigious Principe de Asturias award established by His Royal Highness Heir to the throne of Spain. The Principe de Asturias Award is the best-known cultural prize in the Spanish-speaking community. The awards honour individuals, groups or institutions whose creative work or research represents a significant contribution to universal culture in the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic fields. Nature shares the 2007 Award for Communication and Humanities with the journal Science.
"This is a wonderful honor that took us completely by surprise. It no doubt recognizes the dual role of Nature in communicating outstanding science and key societal issues to diverse audiences. But above all, it's a reflection of the value and impact of scientific research itself within today's culture", said Nature Editor-in-Chief Dr Philip Campbell.
The award coincides with NPG's launch earlier this week of NPG Iberoamerica, a new company dedicated to publishing for NPG in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, particularly in the medical research domain.
"We are so honoured to receive this award", comments Dr Annette Thomas, Managing Director of NPG. "I am visiting Madrid for the launch of NPG Iberoamerica and the bestowing of this award on Nature could not be more timely. We look forward with great enthusiasm to working with the Spanish-speaking scientific community not only in Spain but also in Latin America, under the leadership of Lucia Ferreiros, our newly appointed head of NPG Iberoamerica".
The award for scienctific and technical research was won by Peter Lawrence and Gines Morata. The winners for the other categories are Amos Oz, Al Gore and Bob Dylan.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on July 06, 2007
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Excerpted from Nature 447, 779 (2007).
Paul Stevenson reviews the book The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs 2006,
edited by Bora Zivkovic. Lulu: 2007. 336 pp. $19.85, £10.99
The Open Laboratory is a collection of writing from science blogs, selected and published by the energetic biologist-blogger Bora Zivkovic with the help of the blogging community. In the run-up to the first conference of science bloggers earlier this year in North Carolina, Zivkovic took it upon himself to collate the fifty best posts put up by the end of 2006. Topics include micro black holes, bird migration, human sleep patterns, evolution, quantum mechanics and psychology. The writing ranges from PhD students enthusing about concepts from their research areas, to opinion pieces on themes such as the rights and wrongs of particle-physics funding, intelligent design and political interference in science policy.
This wide-ranging book provides something — hopefully many things — for everyone. Particularly enjoyable is browsing entries about areas of science away from one's own research interests. As a physicist, I learned a lot about the origin of mitochondria from the representative entry of Carl Zimmer's award-winning blog The Loom. I was pleased, too, to see entries from some of the highly trafficked blogs that I habitually read and enjoy, such as The Panda's Thumb and Cocktail Party Physics.
By their nature, blogs are dynamic. A post typically bristles with links out to elsewhere on the web and accretes an ever-changing exchange of comments between readers and the author. To capture this energy and texture in a static book is a challenge that the editor fully acknowledges in his introduction. The solution Zivkovic fixes on for The Open Laboratory is to pick posts that he feels work in isolation, to list links as footnotes and to omit the comment strings.
The entries highlight the great variety of styles that can thrive in the blogosphere. Most of the pieces are a little chattier than the usual book or magazine article, but those chosen are formal enough not to grate on the printed page. Occasionally, the prose is loftier than a typical popular science book. Some even veer too much towards the tone of a research article — leaving terms like suprachiasmatic nucleus or a zygomaticomaxillary suture unexplained.
The book works well enough as a standalone anthology of science writing, but I share the editor's hope that it will prompt eager print readers hitherto unfamiliar with the vibrant young medium that is science blogging to have a look, and maybe even have a go. Nominations for next year's anthology are already being sought.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on June 14, 2007
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From Philip Campbell, Editor of Nature and Editor-in-Chief of Nature publications:

David Cyranoski, Nature's Asia-Pacific correspondent, has won the 2007 Michel E DeBakey journalism award from the Washington-based Foundation for Biomedical research, for his article ‘Primates in the frame’ (Nature 444, 812-813; 2006). This was part of last year’s special issue on debates about animal research within the biology community.

Every year the Association of British Science Writers gives a set of much-coveted awards, and Nature has received a bunch of shortlisted nominations.For ‘the best feature on science subject in a specialist periodical' the following three articles were nominated out of a total of four:

Jo Marchant, for ‘In search of lost time' published in Nature 30 November 2006
The ancient Antikythera Mechanism doesn't just challenge our assumptions about technology transfer over the ages — it gives us fresh insights into history itself.
Helen Pearson, for ‘What is a gene?' published in Nature 25 May 2006
The idea of genes as beads on a DNA string is fast fading. Protein-coding sequences have no clear beginning or end and RNA is a key part of the information package.
Quirin Schiermeier, for ‘A sea change' published in Nature 19 January 2006.
A collapse in ocean currents triggered by global warming could be catastrophic, but only now is the Atlantic circulation being properly monitored.

For ‘the best science journalism on the World Wide Web’, one of the three shortlisted nominations is Michael Hopkin and the news team for ‘World Cup 2006 Special', published on news@nature.com on 9 June 2006.

Please join me in congratulating all of them, as well as Oliver Morton (Nature's Chief News and Features Editor) and the news team as a whole for fostering such outstanding work.

(The articles can be seen at the links provided, subscription or site licence required.)

Posted by Maxine Clarke on June 06, 2007
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EMBO Award for Communication in the Life Sciences
Call for entries: DEADLINE 30 JUNE 2007
The award is for scientists who have, while remaining active in laboratory research, risen to the challenge of communicating science to a non-scientific audience. The winners of the EMBO Award are nominated for the EU Descartes Prize for science communication. The prize is Euro 5,000, accompanied by a silver and gold medal inscribed with the winner's name.
Eligibility. Scientists working in Europe or Israel at the time of application, who have made an outstanding contribution to the public communication of science via any medium or activity. Candidates must be working in active research at the time of application, and should have done most of their communication work in Europe or Israel. Scientists who are already widely regarded as professional communicators will not be considered for the award. Applications must be written in English.
See the EMBO website for further details and official application forms.
Nature Publishing Group publishes the EMBO Journal and EMBO Reports, journals of the European Molecular Biology Organisation.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on June 05, 2007
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From this week's Nature, News in Brief (447, 519; 2007).
US hedge-fund managers have teamed up with scientists to launch a competition for the next big idea in cancer research. Applicants must first be accepted by an Internet-based club , whose membership will be vetted by a scientific advisory panel that includes cancer experts such as Bert Vogelstein of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland. Members can then submit their idea — in fewer than 1,000 words — for a research project in basic cancer research, or in cancer diagnosis, prevention or treatment.
The person whose idea is judged to have the greatest potential will win US$1 million, even if they will not themselves be carrying out the research to test it. Another prize of $250,000 will be given in paediatric oncology. The ideas that emerge will be shared with other cancer-research funders.
The organizers say that current funding opportunities tend not to support untested ideas and that the annual Gotham prize will help fill this gap.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 31, 2007
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The shortlist for this year's Royal Society science books awards was announced last month, featuring in Nature's Spring Books issue of 12 April 2007 (page 731). The winner will be announced this evening (15 May). Tipped to win is Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness. Whatever the result, one of the shortlisted books, The Rough Guide to Climate Change, has been doing very well in the UK charts, having sold more than 9,500 copies by the beginning of May since its first publication in September last year.
The Rough Guide to Climate Change is described by the publisher as "a complete, unbiased guide to one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. From the current situation and background science to the government sceptics and possible solutions, this book covers the whole subject." And, appropriately for a travel-guide series, the book "also includes lifestyle advice and tips for consumers who want to make a difference in tomorrow's climate, and comes complete with a glossary of websites for further information."
The author, Robert Henson, is a past contributor to Nature's news pages. Here is one of his stories: "The heat was on in 2005", from news@nature.com.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 15, 2007
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Congratulations to Annette Thomas, head of the Nature Publishing Group, who has won the Kim Scott Walwyn prize, set up in 2004 to celebrate outstanding achievements by women in publishing.
The prize honours a career that includes 14 years at Nature Publishing Group, where Annette rose from the role of assistant editor on Nature to launch editor of Nature Cell Biology, to launch publisher of the Nature Reviews Journals, to her current position as managing director, and her appointment in 2000 to an executive director's position at Macmillan Publishers.
Here is an article in The Guardian about Annette's award.
And here is Richard Charkin, CEO of Macmillan, on the same topic.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 14, 2007
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The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and publishing solutions provider The Charlesworth Group, typesetters of Nature, have announced four new awards to recognize significant achievement in the field of learned and professional publishing.
The awards -- for best learned journal; best online journal; publishing innovation; and best new journal -- are open to all publishers, societies and journal owners across the globe. A panel of independent experts will judge the applications.
All entries should be submitted on or before 31 May 2007. The winners will be announced at the Annual Dinner of the ALPSP in London on 13 September 2007. More information on the awards is available here.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 14, 2007
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The EMBO Journal is running a competition to find cover images for the journal in 2007. The closing date is 31 January. There will be two winners for the prize of a year's print and online subscription, one for "the prettiest and most thought-provoking contribution depicting a piece of molecular biology research"; and one for "the most beautiful or interesting image that was made outside of the lab". An array of each type of picture, and further explanation (including an entry form), can be found at this PDF at the journal's website.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on January 19, 2007
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Over a hundred leading members of the Australasian scientific community attended a party to celebrate the inaugural Nature awards for scientific mentoring in Australia at the ScienceWorks Museum in Melbourne on Friday 1 December.

Tom Healy, a colloidal chemist at The University of Melbourne, won the lifetime achievement award, and Rachel Webster, an astrophysicist at the same institution, was the mid-career awardee. The response of the audience, as well as the very strong field of over 70 excellent nominated candidates, demonstrates the recognition the awards have quickly gained in Australia. See here for Nature's press release announcing these awards.

Information and news about the Nature mentoring awards can be seen at the journal's website, at http://www.nature.com/nature/nestaawards.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on December 11, 2006
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