US psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in the field of optogenetics.
The Nobel Committee said: "Using light, researchers are now able to switch individual neural circuits on or off in the brain. They can bring memories to life, create feelings, drive behaviours and study the types of neurons that are involved in various psychiatric and neurological disorders."
Scientists are already using optogenetics to try to restore people's sight:
In ongoing clinical trials, scientists have been working to restore vision in people who have become blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that destroys the eye's rods and cones.
By inserting a special protein in the damaged region of the eye, the patient regained some vision when wearing special glasses emitting light. This switched on the therapeutic algae proteins.
This reminds me of the glowing protein winning a nobel prize, but kind of reversed; absorbing light rather than emitting it.
I wish there is more detail on what's required to get the light into the brain. Like, can I control my brain with an injection of algae and some special headgear or do I need to wire in? It suspect it has to be invasive given the example involves the only brain tissue that's exposed on the body's surface, the eye.
They restored sight by inserting algae protein + light glasses. That's literally a biological hardware wallet - light = private key to unlock vision.
Future business is here: eye clinics in Aba and PH can run this. No big pharma server, just light + protein. Same as Bitcoin - you hold your own keys, you hold your own sight.
Nobel to Karl, Peter, Georg for making brain open-source.