The 60th meeting of Nobel laureates and junior scientists on the island of Lindau has now opened. The official English blog is doing a cracking job of reporting all the latest news, views and reflections on this unique meeting. Here’s a roundup of the best posts from the beginning of the conference.

The Long And Winding Road To Lindau

Likening herself to a ‘chemotactic bacterium’ sensing its way to a food source, Nature Network’s Lou Woodley describes her journey to the conference and the opening remarks. Alexander Bastidas spent the trip reading through Einstein’s Relativity, and reflects on the work of that most famous of laureates. Martin Fenner also blogs about his journey, musing on the essential items to pack (including an iPad and a vuvuzela). For those lucky enough to have arrived in Lindau, Jessica Riccó provides a handy guide to the local area, as well as a survival guide for first-time attendees. And finally, if you’re interested in the contrasting backgrounds and aspirations of the young scientists who have been selected to attend, Lou has interviewed three of them and will be following up with them during and after the conference.

The History of Lindau

Akshat Rathi moves the story on with an account of the first panel debate, which featured previous delegates and laureates discussing the history of the conference. Beatrice Lugger also touches on the heritage of the conference with a post about the Bernadotte family, who have long been instrumental in arranging the meeting. In another post, Beatrice examines how the conference has played an increasingly important role in shaping the environmental agenda.

Coverage of Lindau

Of course, Nature, including the Nature Video Team and Nature Network are not the only ones reporting on the meeting. Beatrice Lugger introduces a team of young researchers charged with capturing the ‘raw material’ of the conference on camera.

More on the Lindau conference throughout the week. You can also watch the opening remarks, and lectures as they happen, over on the official web site.