Why the Nobel prizes need a shakeup

Guardian : âBoundaries between the sciences are blurring,â observes Jim Al-Khalili, a UK professor of both physics and the public engagement of science. He proposes that Nobel prizes should change to âreward the best research, not pigeonhole disciplines.â He offers the instructive example of biologist James Watson and physicist Francis Crick, âwho worked together to crack the DNA codeâ and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Al-Khalili sees a âsilo mentalityâ obscuring the reality that âresearch disciplines previously unconnected are now starting to overlap and merge, with physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, medics, computer scientists and mathematicians pooling their expertise to attack common problems.â He mentions quantum biology, with physicists and molecular biologists investigating âbaffling phenomena in living cells.â He asserts that the Nobel Prize committee âcould introduce new categories and vary them annually.â