Monday, October 5, 2026
A Nobel for showing how nerve cells shape feelings
Karl Deisseroth, a US psychiatrist and neurologist, and German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this morning for optogenetics. The committee said their work revealed the brain circuits behind specific memories, feelings and behaviours. Researchers are using it to try to restore sight.
Three scientists won a famous prize this morning, the Nobel Prize. One is American and two are German. They found a way to show which tiny cells in your brain are working when you feel something, like finding which switch runs which light in a huge building. Doctors are now trying it to help people who can’t see.
Why it worksA six-year-old reasons from what is in front of them, so the script skips the word optogenetics and hands them a switch panel, an object they know. The words come from the adult, as Vygotsky said, and “cells that work when you feel something” is far enough. Expect “can they see what I’m thinking?” No. It shows which cells are busy.
- “Can they see what I’m thinking?”
- No. They showed which brain cells are busy behind a feeling. Nobody is reading minds.
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Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the Nobel Prize in medicine for optogenetics. Their method revealed which brain circuits sit behind a memory or a feeling. A fuse box with every switch labelled: find the one that runs the kitchen, and you can work on the kitchen.
Why it worksThis age is working out cause and effect, so the script turns the prize into a chain: a method, the circuit it finds, the thing you can then work on. The labelled fuse box is the mechanism, and restoring sight is the last link, already being tried. Expect “does it work on people yet?” It is being tried on people who can’t see. Say try.
- “What did they actually win it for?”
- A method that shows which brain circuits sit behind a feeling.
- “Does it work on people yet?”
- Researchers are using it to try to restore sight. Try is the word.
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Can this really cure blindness? Not yet, but researchers are trying it to restore sight, and the three scientists behind the method won the Nobel Prize in medicine today for revealing the circuits behind memories and feelings. Second: if a lab can find the circuit behind a feeling, who gets to touch it?
Why it worksA teenager can reason about what is not yet real, so the script moves from the prize to the question it opens: find the circuit behind a feeling, and who gets to touch it? Kuhn: argument is practised against someone who argues back, so argue back. Expect “would you let them switch off my anxiety?” Say what you would decide, and why.
- “Can this really cure blindness?”
- Not yet. Researchers are using the method to try to restore sight.
- “Could they change how someone feels?”
- The prize is for finding the circuits. What comes next is the argument.
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Based on the headline: A Nobel for showing how nerve cells shape feelings