India, Oct. 5 -- American scientist Karl Deisseroth has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. They were honoured for their work on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a method that helps scientists understand how the brain works.

Deisseroth is 54 years old. Hegemann is 71, while Nagel is 73. The Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet chose the three scientists for their work on how light can control nerve cells, Reuters reported.

Their discovery is important because it allows scientists to control individual nerve cells using light. Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, said optogenetics can turn indivi...