Three win Nobel Prize in medicine for discovery of brain’s navigation

Have you ever thought you were lost in the woods while out running but somehow managed to make your way back where you wanted to be?

A British-American and two Norwegian scientists were recently award the Nobel Prize in medicine for their discovery of the brains inner navigational system that helps people understand where they are and assists in helping us get around. The system in our brains helps us orient ourselves in space.

The three who were awarded the prestigious prize are John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser. O’Keefe was credited for his discovery of what he called “place” nerve cells in 1971. He noticed that certain cells in the brain were always active when placing rats in different areas of the room.

It wasn’t until 2005 when the Mosers, married neuroscientists who work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, discovered similar “grid” nerve cells that the brain uses to help humans position themselves in a given space and find their way around.

“Thanks to our grid and place cells, we don’t have to walk around with a map to find our way each time we visit a city, because we have that map in our head,” Juleen Zierath, who led the selection committee for the prize in medicine, told reporters. “I think, without these cells, we would have a really hard time to survive.”

Though it may help humans find their way, the discovery also could lead to better understanding and diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease which often sees patients suffer from spatial confusion and disorientation. For runners, it’s an interesting discovery into how we manage to find our way.