Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026

<p>English Podcast Starts at 00:00:00</p><p>Bengali Podcast Starts at 00:44:36</p><p>Hindi Podcast Starts at 01:06:01</p><p>Danish Podcast Starts at 01:24:26</p><p><br></p><p>Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2026. Mon. 5 Oct 2026. &lt;<strong>https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/summary/</strong>&gt;</p><p>Press release: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/press-release/</p><p>Popular information: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/popular-information/</p><p>Advanced information: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2026/advanced-information/</p><p><br></p><p>‌Youtube Channel</p><p>⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠</p><p>Podcast Website</p><p>https://mayukhmukhopadhyay.com/reviseandresubmit</p><p><br></p><p>🎙️ <strong>Welcome to </strong><em><strong>Revise and Resubmit</strong></em><strong>.</strong></p><p>Today, we are talking about a discovery that sounds almost like science fiction: <strong>using light to control the brain.</strong> 💡🧠</p><p>On <strong>5 October 2026</strong>, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the <strong>Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</strong> to <strong>Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel</strong>, “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” This is, quite simply, one of the most prestigious recognitions in science. </p><p>And what did they discover?</p><p>Well, imagine having a tiny switch inside a nerve cell. Now imagine that switch responding to light. 🔦</p><p>That is the extraordinary idea behind <strong>optogenetics</strong>.</p><p>Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel&#39;s work on light-sensitive proteins called <strong>channelrhodopsins</strong>, found in green algae, revealed that light could open channels through cell membranes. Karl Deisseroth then helped transform that biological curiosity into a powerful neuroscience tool, allowing researchers to activate or inhibit precisely targeted neurons with light. </p><p>Suddenly, scientists were no longer limited to watching the brain and asking what might be happening. They could intervene. They could switch particular neural circuits on or off and begin asking something much more powerful:</p><p><strong>Does this circuit actually cause this behaviour, this memory, this emotion?</strong> 🧩</p><p>That shift has changed neuroscience. Optogenetics has helped researchers investigate the neural foundations of behavio