This science day belongs to a tool that changed modern neuroscience. The Nobel committee honors the creation of optogenetics, a method that uses light to switch specific neurons on and off, recognizing work that reshaped how researchers probe brain circuits and behavior. Karl De...
This science day belongs to a tool that changed modern neuroscience. The Nobel committee honors the creation of optogenetics, a method that uses light to switch specific neurons on and off, recognizing work that reshaped how researchers probe brain circuits and behavior.
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that underpin optogenetics. Their work identifies and develops light-gated ion channels into a practical way to control selected cells with flashes of light, giving scientists a precise method to study how neural circuits function.






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