Nobel medicine prize goes to 3 scientists for research into brain activity

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2026. Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP hide caption Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to three scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells. Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, have carried out research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. They are based at universities in Germany and the United States. FILE - U.S. scientist Karl Deisseroth, professor of Departments of Bioengineering and Psychiatry at Stanford University, shows his trophy for "Life Sciences" field during the Japan Prize presentation ceremony Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Tokyo. Eugene Hoshiko/AP hide caption Eugene Hoshiko/AP The Nobel committee lauded their work, writing on X that the method "is now being used in laboratories around the world to reveal the brain's mysteries." The Nobel Assembly said...