There is a certain cachet to Nobel prizes that no other awards in science share. They are the Oscars of the science world, and the recipients are treated like stars after having made a contribution to science that is both profound and lasting. And like stars of the silver screen, Nobel laureates are admired. They frequently address large audiences eager to hear first-hand about their scientific ideas and to be inspired — to understand what makes them tick and what obstacles they overcame in making their breakthrough discovery.

The annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings provide a forum for this experience. In the beautiful surroundings of Lake Constance, which straddles Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Nobel laureates mingle with young scientists, providing advice and encouragement.

These meetings are more than simply hero worship. Their aim is to promote excellence in science: to spark creative thoughts while at the same time emphasizing the need for diligence. The young scientists — who themselves have been specially selected — are in many ways the real focus of the gathering. Nature, as a media partner, aims to share these encounters with a wider scientific audience.

As part of our involvement with the Lindau meeting in 2010, we created lindau.nature.com where young scientists — or indeed anyone — had an opportunity to propose questions about anything connected with science or life as a scientist, to be then put to participating laureates.

Nature Outlook: Science masterclass includes selected Q&As with Nobel laureates, which grew out of this website. It also presents a series of features that explore the scientific theme of interdisciplinary work, reflected in this year's meeting. It closes with a report of a new event at Lindau arranged by Nature Outlook called Turning the tables, where the spotlight shone on the young scientists — with the laureates asking them questions. There is also another first, a Nature Outlook video of this event, which can be found at http://www.nature.com/video/lindau2010/.

We are pleased to acknowledge the financial support of BMBF, VP Bank Stiftung and Mars Incorporated in producing this Outlook. As always, Nature retains sole editorial responsibility for all editorial content.