The GPS system discovered in the brain wins the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.
UK-based researcher Prof John O'Keefe as well as May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser share the award, according to BBC.com for their discovery of how the brain knows where we are and is able to navigate from one place to another.
"I'm totally delighted and thrilled, I'm still in a state of shock, it's the highest accolade you can get," Prof. O'Keefe, from University College London told BBC.com. He first discovered the first part of the brain's internal positioning back in 1971.
What he and his team did could help out some of the problems that come with Alzheimer's disease. Patients with the disease tend not to recognize their surroundings and it could be because of the "GPS system" of the brain.
"The discoveries have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries," the Nobel Assembly said, according to the BBC report.
As far as making the discovery goes, O'Keefe found that nerve cells became activated whenever a test-rat was in one location in a room. A different set of cells were active when the rat was in a different area.
According to the report, Prof O'Keefe argued these "place cells" - located in the hippocampus - formed a map within the brain.
O'Keefe's work would help a married couple take the next step after in this discovery in 2005. May-Britt and Edvard Moser discovered a different part of the brain which acts more like a nautical chart. The chart worked as a longitude and latitude that helped the brain judge distance as well as navigation.
Prof May-Britt Moser said: "This is crazy, this is such a great honor for all of us and all the people who have worked with us and supported us."
