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Nobel Prize for the brain's GPS system | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to three scientists who discovered the brain's "GPS system". | The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to three scientists who discovered the brain's "GPS system". |
UK-based researcher Prof John O'Keefe as well as May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser share the award. | |
They discovered how the brain knows where we are and is able to navigate from one place to another. | They discovered how the brain knows where we are and is able to navigate from one place to another. |
Their findings may help explain why in Alzheimer's disease patients cannot recognise their surroundings. | |
"The discoveries have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries," the Nobel Assembly said. | |
Prof O'Keefe, from University College London, discovered the first part of the brain's internal positioning system in 1971. | |
He showed that a set of nerve cells became activated whenever a rat was in one location in a room. | |
A different set of cells were active when the rat was in a different area. | |
Prof O'Keefe argued these "place cells" - located in the hippocampus - formed a map within the brain. | |
In 2005, husband and wife team, May-Britt and Edvard, discovered a different part of the brain which acts more like a nautical chart. | |
These "grid cells" are akin to lines of longitude and latitude, helping the brain to judge distance and navigate. |