How pond algae led to a Nobel prize and a new way to study the brain

Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were honoured for their research into “light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”. Peter Hegemann, at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg Nagel, at the University of Würzburg, wanted