'The Course of Humanity's Journey Will Change Forever' — Nobel Laureate Physician Karl Deisseroth Speaks

This year, American neuroscientist and physician Karl Deisseroth has won the Nobel Prize in medicine. He believes this journey of understanding the brain will change the course of humanity's journey forever.

Every human brain has some extraordinary aspects. In Deisseroth's case, that has been evident quite a few times. His deep relationship with words. He can read a piece of writing very quickly and remember it. He recalls that when he was in class five, they were given about 45 minutes to memorise a poem. But within a few seconds he raised his hand and said, 'Done.' When he went up front and recited the poem, the teacher was astonished. To test him, the teacher gave him another poem — he memorised that one almost instantly too.

He says he tries to see words as a cluster. Just as many people can read a word or a sentence at a glance, he can read a large chunk of writing at a glance. Feeling is a part of memory, and memory is a part of feeling. If something creates no feeling in the mind, there is no reason to remember it. His idea is that this feeling is what helps words be remembered.

But the question that drives him to this day is: where do feelings originate inside a human being? As human beings, this is perhaps one of the deepest questions — how do feelings arise inside this thing called the brain? That unanswered question may still be guiding him today.

He had been writing since childhood; he had also joined a writing club. While at college he took writing courses. At the time he thought that perhaps he would become a writer when he grew up. Even in graduate school, alongside his studies, he went to a local community college to take writing classes. Writing is a part of his whole life.

He feels the brain creates a special connection between science and art. Just as a beautiful word awakens a special feeling in the mind — all of this happens through cells. The brain somehow transforms art and words into feeling. In a sense, this is the essence of neuroscience. And it is also the essence of art.

The clearest 'eureka' moment came in 2007 — while working on the part of a rat's brain that controls its walking. That research laid the foundation for the revolutionary technology called optogenetics, through which specific neurons can be controlled with light.

This literature-loving scientist's journey is therefore not just of the laboratory — it is a lifelong search for words, feelings and the mysteries of the brain. In his words, this search will one day change the course of humanity's journey forever.