The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for developing optogenetics and light-gated ion channel techniques that clarify how the brain controls memories, feelings and behaviors. Hegemann and Nagel identified channelrhodopsin; Deisseroth converted it into a light-controlled switch for neurons, enabling a new era in neuroscience.
