Who is in the running for the Nobels?

For the outside world, exactly who wins Nobel Prizes in the science is fairly academic (geddit?) - and even for those with a professional interest it may sometimes seem that the reason for the awards can be sliced pretty thin these days. The early prizes do seem often to have been for more 'big' work than the more subtle modern ones. But having said that, we also always get some goodies.

I didn't realize it until they sent me a press release, but Thomson Reuters do an annual prediction of the likely runners and riders - useful in case you fancy a flutter. So here are this years' favourites according to TR. On the physics side, I rather fancy the Quantum Spin Hall effect, but that's just me...

P.S. I don't know why Economics is treated as a science either.

PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINEJames E. Darnell, Jr.Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus, Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA
-and-
Robert G. RoederArnold and Mabel Beckman Professor, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University
New York, NY USA
-and-
Robert TjianProfessor of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, and President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Berkeley, CA, and Chevy Chase, MD USA
For fundamental discoveries concerning eukaryotic transcription and gene regulationDavid JuliusMorris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine,
Professor and Chair of Physiology, University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, CA USA
For elucidating molecular mechanisms of pain sensationCharles LeeProfessor and Scientific Director of the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine
Farmington, CT USA -and- Stephen W. SchererSenior Scientist and Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Professor and Director, McLaughlin Centre, University of Toronto
Toronto ON CANADA -and- Michael H. WiglerProfessor and Head, Mammalian Cell Genetics Section, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor, NY USAFor their discovery of large-scale copy number variation and its association with specific diseases

PHYSICSCharles L. Kane
Class of 1965 Endowed Term Chair Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA USA -and- Laurens W. Molenkamp
Professor of Physics and Chair of Experimental Physics, University of Würzburg
Würzburg, GERMANY -and- Shoucheng ZhangJ.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics, Stanford University
Stanford, CA USA
For theoretical and experimental research on the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators James F. Scott Director of Research, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK
-and- Ramamoorthy Ramesh Professor, Physics and MSE, and Associate Lab Director for Energy Technologies, University of California BerkeleyBerkeley, CA USA
-and-
Yoshinori Tokura* Director, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, andProfessor, Department of Applied Physics, The University of TokyoSaitama and Tokyo, JAPAN
For their pioneering research on ferroelectric memory devices (Scott) and new multiferroic materials (Ramesh and Tokura). *Tokura was previously named a Citation Laureate in 2002.Peidong YangS. K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair in Energy, Department of Chemistry,  Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute, and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, CA USA
For his contributions to nanowire photonics including the creation of first nanowire nanolaser
CHEMISTRYCharles T. Kresge
Chief Technology Officer, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran
SAUDI ARABIA
-and- Ryong RyooDirector, Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science and Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon, SOUTH KOREA
-and- Galen D. StuckyE. Khashoggi Industries, LLC Professor in Letters and Science, University of California Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA USA
For design of functional mesoporous materialsGraeme MoadChief Research Scientist, CSIRO
Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
-and- Ezio RizzardoCSIRO Fellow, CSIRO
Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
-and-
San H. ThangChief Research Scientist, CSIRO
Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
For development of the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization process Ching W. Tang Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bank of East Asia Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, University of Rochester, and Chair Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Rochester, NY USA and Hong Kong, CHINA -and- Steven Van Slyke Chief Technology Officer, Kateeva
Menlo Park, CA USAFor their invention of the organic light emitting diode
ECONOMIC SCIENCESPhilippe M. Aghion
Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Cambridge, MA USA
-and- Peter W. HowittLyn Crost Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Brown University
Providence, RI USA
For contributions to Schumpeterian growth theoryWilliam J. BaumolProfessor of Economics and Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship, New York University
New York, NY USA
-and- Israel M. KirznerEmeritus Professor of Economics, New York University
New York, NY USA
For their advancement of the study of entrepreneurismMark S. GranovetterJoan Butler Ford Professor and Chair of Sociology, and Joan Butler Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Stanford, CA USA
For his pioneering research in economic sociology
 "Nobel Prize". Via Wikipedia