From Nature 457, 379; 2009.

Jay M. Pasachoff of California Institute of Technology writes: Albert Ruggi’s suspicions about the process by which the offspring of professors are deemed to be the best candidates for new positions may well be justified (Nature 456, 870; 2008). On the other hand, a few rare families just do produce generations of eminent scientists. For example, there are at least seven parent–child pairs of Nobel laureates.

Four of these were in physics: the Thomsons (J. J. in 1906 and George in 1937), Braggs (William and Lawrence together in 1915), Bohrs (Niels in 1922 and his son Aage in 1975) and Siegbahns (Manne in 1924 and his son Kai in 1981). Marie Curie and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie both won the Nobel prize in Chemistry (1911 and 1935), after Marie and her husband, Pierre, had won the physics Nobel in 1903.

The Kornbergs branched out more (Arthur, physiology or medicine, 1959; Roger, chemistry, 2006), as did Hans von Euler-Chelpin (chemistry, 1929) and his son Ulf von Euler (physiology or medicine, 1970).

The Lasker Awards recognize major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease. This year, the Lasker Foundation honours the contributions of Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, David Baulcombe, Akira Endo and Stanley Falkow. Read their freely available commentaries, written in celebration of the award, exclusively in Nature Medicine. Not only is the Lasker Foundation celebrating the contributions of these five scientists, it is also acknowledging the leadership and long-term advocacy of these prizes by Daniel Koshland and Michael DeBakey (both of whom are sadly now deceased), by naming two of the Lasker awards after them. For more information about these new tributes, the Lasker awards in general, and to access all the essays as separate PDFs or as a downloadable supplement, please visit the Nature Medicine website.

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.

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.

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.

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.