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Nobel Medicine Prize Honors Light-Based Brain Cell Switch

Original: This year's Nobel Prize in medicine went to a light switch for brain cells. One of the laureates is a psychiatrist; the

This year's Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded for optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control brain cells. One laureate is a psychiatrist, and the method has helped reveal brain circuits behind craving and reward, deepening the scientific understanding of addiction as a disease decades after the American Medical Association first classified it that way in 1956.

Why now: The announcement of the Nobel Prize in medicine is major global news, and the link to addiction research gives it added relevance in mental health discussions.

Nobel PrizeoptogeneticsAmerican Medical Association

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Evidence

• This year's Nobel Prize in medicine went to a light switch for brain cells. One of the laureates is a psychiatrist; the circuits this tool has helped reveal include the ones behind craving and reward. The AMA named addiction a disease in 1956. Seventy years later, the science… · lifesjourney · 3

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