The Nobel Prize is quite possibly the most anticipated annual event in the scientific community. This year the winners again highlighted the importance of methodological development in scientific progress. Remarkably, the physics, chemistry and medicine prizes all rewarded method and tool developments. This continues, and possibly strengthens, a trend that has become more evident in recent years.

An editorial in the November issue of Nature Methods provides our thoughts on the Nobel Prize and suggests that the addition of a prize dedicated to biology might reduce some of the strain the prize has been experiencing recently and help protect the prize from an erosion of the community support it relies on.

What do you think? Is it ill advised to tamper with something of such stature and history or is it a long overdue change?