Scientists who discovered how our bodies feel hugs and heat win Nobel Prize
Scientists who discovered how we sense heat, cold, and touch have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet awarded David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian the prize jointly for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
The Laureates explored how nerve impulses are sent in the body to allow temperature and pressure to be felt. The findings could bring new breakthroughs in treating pain conditions.
You May Also Like
So, how did they make these groundbreaking discoveries? David Julius used capsaicin – a compound made from chilli peppers that causes a burning sensation — to locate a sensor in the never endings of the skin that reacts to heat.
Ardem Patapoutian used pressure-sensitive cells to find a new class of sensors that react to stimuli in the skin and internal organs.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
The Laureates identified the missing links in scientists' understanding of senses and their relation to the environment.
According to a statement from The Nobel Assembly, "these breakthrough discoveries launched intense research activities leading to a rapid increase in our understanding of how our nervous system senses heat, cold, and mechanical stimuli."
Topics Health Innovations
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
