Making Memories

Meet some of the people featured in the May 2020 issue of The Scientist.

How will humanity record the unprecedented predicament we find ourselves in?

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.

It seems as though the more we embrace external technologies, the more our memory faculties deteriorate. But the truth might just be scarier.

Those who had developed PTSD appear to be less able to suppress unwanted memories—traumatic or not—suggesting a role for the general ability to control memory recall in the disorder.

Virtual reality experiments reveal that the popular drug may make the brain more open to misremembering.

The California-based company Humm has developed a “bioelectric memory patch” to improve working memory, but some experts question the efficacy of the device.

Microglia ingest nerve cell connections, leading to the loss of information stored in neuronal circuits.

A novel sampler records data on a broad range of environmental contaminants.

Honeybees can remember reward-associated odors three days after a single learning experience.

Under constant darkness, Drosophila’s ability to form lasting memories is impaired.

The animals develop a new memory that overrides the fearful one by inhibiting the cells that encode the original memory.

Studying nonhuman primates, the University of Washington neuroscientist has identified important features of the neural underpinnings of learning and memory.

The Yale neuroscientist seeks to understand the brain’s architecture and function using C. elegans.

Digital biomarkers of cognitive decline could alert us to the early stages of dementia before irreversible damage occurs.

A new book explores research through the ages that has tried to map the intricacies of the human brain, including pinpointing the seat of memory.

Kim Peek, the inspiration for the title character in Rain Man, brought public attention to savant syndrome.

Researchers have developed ways to manipulate neurons involved in a particular memory to make mice recall an experience or to remember something that never happened.

Signals from the lateral entorhinal cortex help create “time cells” in the hippocampus, according to some researchers.

Cutting-edge microscopy is revealing how new neurons made in adult mice’s brains tap into existing neuronal connections.

Researchers set out to make an air pollution detector study subjects would want to wear.

Honeybees can remember reward-associated odors three days after a single learning experience.