2 Americans Win Medicine Nobel for Discovering Receptors for Heat and Touch

(L - R) David Julius, PhD professor and chair of University of California, poses in his office at in San Francisco. (UCSF/Steve Babuljak/Handout via Reuters); Professor Ardem Patapoutian of the Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Insitute. Ardem Patapoutian/Handout via Reuters

The 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to two U.S.-based scientists for the discovery of receptors for temperature and touch, it was announced on Oct. 4.

The findings of California-based scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian focused on the field of somatosensation, more commonly known as tactile sense, or the body’s ability to sense.