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American Karl Deisseroth and Germans Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine yesterday for developing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control individual nerve cells in the brain.  The Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said Deisseroth, 54, Hegemann, 71, and Nagel, 73, had been selected for their “discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.” “This method (optogenetics) makes it possible to switch on, or off, the activity of individual nerve cells in a living brain,” said Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.  Anna Wedell, a professor in genetics and a member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, said a new era in neuroscience had opened but it was only the beginning. “For the first time we can actually start to understand how the brain processes information and how different neurons interact across the brain,” she said.The trio will share a prize sum of 12mn Swedish crowns ($1.2mn). Announcements will follow in the coming days on this year’s Nobel physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics prizes, with the winner or winners of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to be announced on Friday.  Deisseroth said he was still awake in the early hours when he was called from Stockholm. “I was not yet asleep, being a night owl, and now I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for quite a while,” he said.  Deisseroth was training to become a neurosurgeon when he encountered patients he could not help at a psychiatric clinic. That encounter — witnessing suffering he had no tools to treat — prompted a question that would define his career: Why does the brain work so differently in different people?  The answer would come from an unexpected place: an alga, and two German scientists driven by equally simple curiosity.  Hegemann, fascinated by exploration and unknown territory, began investigating in the early 1990s how the alga Chlamydomonas reacts to light in half a millisecond.He hypothesised that a single protein both captured light and acted as an ion channel. Nagel tested this hypothesis by injecting Chlamydomonas genes into frog eggs, discovering channelrhodopsin-2 — a light-sensitive ion channel.  In 2003, Nagel and Hegemann published findings showing the protein could be introduced into human cells to generate electrical impulses using light. Deisseroth showed the technique in rat nerve cells in 2005, and the method was named optogenetics in 2006.  One scientist at Hegemann’s Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt in 2007 recalled researchers taping optical fibers salvaged from Christmas decorations to microscopes. “We didn’t really know how it worked. We didn’t really have any tools,” said Dima Kuzmin, a neurochemist at the time. “And it was massively exciting.”  The three laureates’ research is now providing insights about brain disorders. Animal models are being used to understand schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and addiction — conditions that affect millions of people worldwide and have limited treatment options.  Deisseroth used optogenetics to control the movements of mouse whiskers by activating specific nerve cells in the motor cortex. He also used light to wake sleeping mice, confirming that specific nerve cells control wakefulness.  “There are mouse models of dementia, epilepsy, addiction. By understanding which cells are active in these diseases in mice, we can understand where to look in humans,” Wedell said. Researchers are also applying the technique to try to restore vision to people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa by inserting a light-sensitive protein into the retina. They also hope optogenetics could improve cochlear implants, potentially allowing more precise stimulation of the auditory nerve than current electrical devices.  “When you think about it in the retina, all patients need to do is open their eyes and you have the light. So it makes a lot of sense as a potential therapy,” said Paul Bresge, CEO of US biotechnology company Ray Therapeutics.  The most advanced of the treatments are autism spectrum disorder therapy by a US-based biotech company MapLight, co-founded by Deisseroth, and a vision restoration medicine for retinitis pigmentosa by Nanoscope, also based in the US, though both are still some way from reaching patients.  Manuel Valero, researcher at Barcelona-based Hospital del Mar, where he heads the Neural Computation Laboratory, said optogenetics had “allowed us to push the boundaries between science and science fiction.” 

For 124 years, the Nobel Prize has stood as one of the world’s most respected distinctions, recognising discoveries and ideas that advance humanity. The prize was founded by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist whose inventions in explosives, including dynamite and safer detonation systems , built a vast international fortune. In his will, Nobel directed that this wealth should be used to honour individuals who had “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”, turning personal success into a global legacy of progress. On 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the world honours the 2025 Nobel Laureates. Nobel Day has become a defining moment in international recognition, celebrating achievements in science, literature, economic thought and peacebuilding. The 2025 awards speak directly to the challenges shaping the modern era: the defence of democracy, advances in medical research, breakthroughs in quantum physics, climate-relevant materials, deeper insights into innovation and a literary voice that captures the anxieties of contemporary life. From María Corina Machado’s struggle for democratic freedoms to discoveries in immunology, chemistry, physics and economics, and the visionary writing of László Krasznahorkai, the 2025 Nobel Prizes illustrate what becomes possible when knowledge, creativity and courage converge. The 2025 laureates, announced in October, are celebrated at a moment of political strain, rapid scientific progress and global transformation. Nobel assigned the Peace Prize to Norway’s Parliament because, at the time he wrote his will, Sweden and Norway shared a union but had separate governments. Norway’s reputation for diplomacy made it, in his view, the most credible guardian of a prize dedicated to peace. That tradition continues today: the Peace Prize is presented in Oslo, while all other Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm in the presence of His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.The 2025 Nobel laureates and their motivations**media[391542]**Nobel Peace Prize:Democracy defended in VenezuelaMaría Corina Machado receives the Peace Prize for her determined efforts to restore democratic freedoms in Venezuela. Despite intimidation, political exclusion and exile, she has become a leading figure in peaceful resistance to authoritarian rule. Her recognition underscores global concerns about the fragility of democratic institutions.Nobel Prize in Literature:The visionary voice of László KrasznahorkaiHungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai is honoured for his compelling and visionary body of work. His long, flowing prose and themes of collapse, transformation and spiritual unrest have shaped contemporary literature across Europe, Asia and the Americas.Nobel Prize in Medicine:Understanding the immune system’s self-controlMary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi receive the Medicine Prize for pioneering discoveries on regulatory T cells, the immune system’s mechanism for preventing attacks on the body’s own tissues. Their work has reshaped modern immunology and opened new avenues for treating autoimmune disease, cancer and transplant rejection.Nobel Prize in Physics:Quantum mechanics at human xcaleJohn Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis are recognised for demonstrating quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation in macroscopic electrical circuits. Their findings proved that quantum effects extend far beyond the microscopic realm and laid the foundation for superconducting qubits, accelerating efforts to develop practical quantum computers.Nobel Prize in Chemistry:Materials for a climate-challenged centurySusumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi are awarded the Chemistry Prize for developing metal–organic frameworks, or MOFs, a class of materials with immense internal surface area and critical environmental applications. MOFs have become central to carbon capture, hydrogen storage and water harvesting, making this research vital in a climate-constrained world.Prize in Economic Sciences:Innovation as the engine of prosperityJoel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt receive the Prize in Economic Sciences for theories explaining how technological innovation drives long-term economic growth. Their work clarifies why societies prosper when they embrace new ideas, offering insights that resonate strongly in an age defined by artificial intelligence, automation and global economic change. From democracy and literature to immunology, quantum physics, climate-focused chemistry and the economics of innovation, the 2025 Nobel Prizes reflect the most pressing questions of our time. They also reaffirm Alfred Nobel’s vision: that human progress depends on curiosity, creativity and the courage to challenge accepted limits. Awarded for more than a century, the Nobel Prizes continue to define what the world values most. In 2025, they once again highlight the individuals whose ideas and achievements are helping shape the future.

The Nobel prize in economics was awarded on Monday to American-Israeli Joel Mokyr, France's Philippe Aghion and Canada's Peter Howitt for work on how technology drives and affects growth.Mokyr, 79, won one half of the prize "for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.Aghion, 69, and Howitt, 79, shared the other half "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction", it added.John Hassler, chair of the prize committee, told reporters their work answered questions about how technological innovation drives growth and how sustained growth can be maintained."During almost all of humankind's history, living standards did not change noticeably from generation to generation. Economic growth was, on average, zero, and stagnation was the norm," Hassler said.But over the last two centuries "things have been very different.""During the last 200 years, the world has seen more economic growth than ever before in human history," Kerstin Enflo, a member of the economics prize committee, explained to reporters.However, she cautioned that "200 years is still just a short period compared to the long run history of stagnation that we saw before.""The laureates' work reminds us that we should not take progress for granted. Instead, society must keep an eye on the factors that generate and sustain economic growth," Enflo said.Mokyr, who is a professor at Northwestern University in the United States, "used historical sources as one means to uncover the causes of sustained growth becoming the new normal", the jury said in a statement.He was spotlighted for demonstrating that if "innovations are to succeed one another in a self-generating process, we not only need to know that something works, but we also need to have scientific explanations for why"."The latter was often lacking prior to the industrial revolution, which made it difficult to build upon new discoveries and inventions," the jury said.Speaking to the Nobel Foundation, Mokyr said he had first missed the call from Sweden and that the news was "overwhelming"."Everybody says this, but I'm really being truthful ... this came as a total surprise," the economic historian said."I had a whole list of people that I thought were going to win, and I wasn't on it," he added.Meanwhile, Aghion and Howitt created a mathematical model for "creative destruction", which refers to the process "when a new and better product enters the market, the companies selling the older products lose out".Howitt is a professor emeritus of economics at Brown University in the United States, while Aghion is a professor at College de France and INSEAD in Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science."I'm still speechless. It came really as a huge surprise," Aghion told reporters via telephone during the prize announcement.Speaking about what could risk upsetting growth, he mentioned the threats of steep tariffs introduced since US President Donald Trump's return to the White House."Openness is a driver of growth. Anything that gets in the way of openness is an obstacle to growth," Aghion said.French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated his compatriot."With his vision of growth through innovation, he illuminates the future and proves that French thinking continues to enlighten the world," Macron said in a post on X.The economics prize is the only Nobel not among the original five created in the will of Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.It was instead created through a donation from the Swedish central bank in 1968, leading detractors to dub it "a false Nobel".But like the Nobels in chemistry and physics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences chooses the winner and follows the same selection process.The economics prize wraps up this year's Nobel season which honoured research into the human immune system, practical applications of quantum mechanics and the development of new forms of molecular architecture.The literature prize went to Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was given the highly watched Nobel Peace Prize.The Nobel economics prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2 million cheque.

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry Wednesday for developing a method of designing molecular structures whose multiple uses include tackling climate change by capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air. Japan's Susumu Kitagawa, UK-born Richard Robson and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi were honoured for their groundbreaking discoveries dating from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Thanks to the trio's discoveries, said the jury, chemists had been able to build tens of thousands of so called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). **media[366411]** "Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind's greatest challenges," it added. It listed applications such as "separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air". In 1989, Robson, 88, tested using the properties of atoms in a new way using copper ions. "When they were combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal," the jury said. "It was like a diamond filled with innumerable cavities." While Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne, realised the potential of his discovery the molecular construction was unstable. It was Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University, and Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who provided a proper foundation for the building method. Between 1992 and 2003, working separately, they made a series of revolutionary discoveries. Kitagawa "showed that gases can flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that MOFs could be made flexible," said the jury. Yaghi created "a very stable MOF" and showed that it could be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties," it added. Reacting to the award, specialists in the field agreed on the importance of the work. For Dorothy J. Phillips, president of the American Chemical Society, the most exciting application was the capture of carbon dioxide. "We're in the midst of climate change, we really want to do things like track and reduce the carbon dioxide... that's a tremendous application," she told AFP. Ross Forgan, a professor of materials chemistry at the University of Glasgow, told AFP that MOFs could be described as "solids that are full of holes". "They have a ridiculously high storage-capacity inside them because they are hollow, and they can soak up other molecules like a sponge," Forgan said. David Fairen-Jimenez, a professor who studies MOFs at the University of Cambridge, explained that they could also be assembled to make new "functional materials. "It's very easy to imagine as a molecular building game," he added, making a comparison to "playing with Lego". In an interview with the Nobel Foundation, Yaghi said he was "astonished, delighted, overwhelmed" on learning he had won the award. He was in an airport switching flights when the Academy called him to announce the news. Yaghi was born into a family of Palestinian refugees in Amman, Jordan. "I grew up in a very humble home," he said. "And, you know, we were a dozen of us in one small room, sharing it with the cattle that we used to raise." School provided a refuge for Yaghi, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its statement. He moved to the US to study at the age of 15. "So it's quite a journey," he said -- and science had allowed him to make it, he added. "Science is the greatest equalising force in the world," Yaghi said. The chemistry prize follows the physics award, which on Tuesday honoured Briton John Clarke, Frenchman Michel Devoret and American John Martinis for work putting the theory quantum mechanics into action. On Monday, the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, of the United States, and Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi for research into the human immune system. The Nobel literature prize will be announced on Thursday, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The economics prize wraps up the 2025 Nobel season on October 13. The Nobel consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2-million cheque, to be shared if there is more than one winner in a discipline.

Prize awarded for developing 'next generation of quantum technology''I'm completely stunned,' says UC Berkeley professorQuantum technology ubiquitous in everyday electronicsPhysics is second prize awarded in 2025 NobelsUS-based scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for "experiments that revealed quantum physics in action", paving the way for the development of the next generation of digital technologies."My feelings are that I'm completely stunned. Of course it had never occurred to me in any way that this might be the basis of a Nobel Prize," Clarke told the Nobel press conference by telephone on Tuesday."I'm speaking on my cell phone and I suspect that you are too, and one of the underlying reasons that the cell phone works is because of all this work."Quantum mechanical behaviours are well studied at the level of the incredibly small - atoms and sub-atomic particles - but are often seen as bizarre and unintuitive compared with classical physics and its far larger scale.The Nobel winners carried out experiments in the mid-1980s with an electronic circuit built of superconductors and demonstrated that quantum mechanics could also influence everyday objects under certain conditions."It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the way that century-old quantum mechanics continually offers new surprises. It is also enormously useful, as quantum mechanics is the foundation of all digital technology," Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said.Quantum technology is already ubiquitous, with transistors in computer microchips an everyday example."This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has provided opportunities for developing the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum cryptography, quantum computers, and quantum sensors," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize, said in a statement. Quantum computers use principles of quantum mechanics to make complex calculations, predict outcomes and perform analysis that in some cases could take traditional computers millions of years.The field is considered to have the potential to help solve some of humanity's most pressing concerns, such as tackling climate change. But it also faces challenges, including improving the accuracy of its chips, and timelines for commercially viable quantum computing remain disputed.British-born Clarke is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States.Devoret, who was born in France and was congratulated on X by French President Emmanuel Macron, is a professor at Yale University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, also in the United States, where Martinis is also a professor.Martinis, an American, headed Google's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab until 2020. At Google, Martinis was part of the research team who in 2019 said they had achieved "quantum supremacy", in which a computer harnessing the properties of sub-atomic particles did a far better job of solving a problem than the world's most powerful supercomputer.Devoret, besides his professorship, is also the chief scientist of Google Quantum AI. It is the second straight year that a Nobel has been won by scientists with Google ties. The 2024 chemistry prize was awarded to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper at Google DeepMind while Geoffrey Hinton, who worked for Google for more than a decade, won for physics the same year.The Nobel physics prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and includes a prize sum totalling 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million) that is shared among the winners if there are several, as is often the case.The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Alfred Nobel, who amassed a fortune from his invention of dynamite. Since 1901, with occasional interruptions, the prizes have annually recognised achievements in science, literature, and peace. Economics was a later addition.Physics was the first category mentioned in Nobel's will, likely reflecting the prominence of the field during his time. Today, the Nobel Prize in Physics remains widely regarded as the most prestigious award in the discipline.Past winners of the Nobel physics prize include some of the most influential figures in the history of science, such as Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, Max Planck and Niels Bohr, the latter three all pioneers of quantum theory.In keeping with tradition, physics is the second Nobel to be awarded this week, after two American and one Japanese scientist won the medicine prize for breakthroughs in understanding the immune system. The chemistry prize is due next, on Wednesday.The science, literature and economics prizes are presented to the laureates by the Swedish king at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, followed by a lavish banquet at city hall.The peace prize, which will be announced on Friday, is awarded in a separate ceremony in Oslo.