Trio win Nobel in medicine for discovering brain GPS

American-British scientist John O’Keefe and Norwegians May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have won the 2014 Nobel prize in medicine for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.

Explaining the importance, the Nobel committee said, 'How do we know where we are? How can we find the way from one place to another? And how can we store this information in such a way that we can immediately find the way the next time we trace the same path? This year’s Nobel Laureates have discovered a positioning system, an “inner GPS” in the brain that makes it possible to orient ourselves in space, demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function.'

“The discoveries have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries,” the Nobel Assembly added.

Prof O’Keefe, from University College London, discovered the first part of the brain’s internal positioning system in 1971.

More than three decades later, in 2005, May-Britt and Edvard Moser discovered another key component of the brain’s positioning system. They identified another type of nerve cell, which they called “grid cells”, that generate a coordinate system and allow for precise positioning and pathfinding. Their subsequent research showed how place and grid cells make it possible to determine position and to navigate.

Both of them will share the 8 million-krona ($1.1 million) prize.

Image: (From left to right) Norwegian couple May-Britt Moser, Edvard Moser and John O'Keefe.