British scientist John O'Keefe and Norwegian couple Mary-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser, received the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday. The trio experimented on rats to discover nerve cells that "constitute a positioning system in the brain," a.k.a. an "inner GPS," according to the Nobel Assembly.
O'Keefe first embarked upon the quest in 1971, when he discovered the same nerve cell was used when a rat was in a specific location. O'Keefe's discovery led to his finding of multiple "place cells" that rats used to create "a map of the environment," The Associated Press reports. Later, the Mosers joined O'Keefe when they discovered a "grid cell" that allowed the brain to create a "coordinate system."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 streetwise cartoons about defunding PBSCartoons Artists take on immigrant puppets, defense spending, and more
-
Dark chocolate macadamia cookies recipeThe Week Recommends These one-bowl cookies will melt in your mouth
-
Israel's plan to occupy GazaIn Depth Operation Gideon's Chariots will see Israel sending thousands of troops into Gaza later this month to seize control of the strip
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beatspeed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammalsSpeed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands
-
Novel 'bone collector' caterpillar wears its preySpeed Read Hawaiian scientists discover a carnivorous caterpillar that decorates its shell with the body parts of dead insects
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant worldSpeed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocketSpeed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brainSpeed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
-
Dark energy may not doom the universe, data suggestsSpeed Read The dark energy pushing the universe apart appears to be weakening
